A Different Path (Past RP)

[Pal Veda]

About three and a half years ago, Corellia...

For twenty three years he had been a Jedi. All day, every day, he had given himself to the Order, from the years stranded on Dagobah during his youth to the day he was forced to kill his own Padawan after discovering she had been turned to the darkside. It had been two weeks since he'd struck down Kora and her Sith Master. After a week of intergalactic hitchhiking, he'd wound up in Coronet City. He'd been drowning his sorrows in Corellian whiskey ever since. For the first time in his life, Hwoarang was not a Jedi.

"Another," he requested, tossing two credits onto the bar. While the bartender made himself busy pouring the drink, Hwo lit a death stick and took a long pull. Perhaps this wasn't the finest establishment on Corellia, but they never cut off a paying customer and they didn't mind smoking inside. Even better, they didn't garner the interest of the Jedi, allowing Hwo to stay below the Republic's radar even while drunk. The Protectorate was hardly a threat--they didn't even know who he was, much less to look for him.

The bartender slid another whiskey his way, and he took a sip before hitting his death stick again. Hwo enjoyed the feeling of inebriation, but a week of binge drinking had begun to take its toll on him physically--he was pretty sure he'd hit rock bottom emotionally well before he'd begun this excessive indulgence.

"'ey, you!" An intoxicated Twi'lek stumbled toward him, grabbing his shoulder for support. "That there's a fancy coat for an ol' drunkard!"

"You would know," Hwo said coolly, not bothering to look up. Although he'd switched over to civilian clothes before leaving Atrisia, he had decided to keep his cloak for warmth...and to hide his lightsaber.

"Huh?" The green humanoid raised his eyebrows inquisitively. "Whad's dat supposed ta mean?"

"Look, I just want to drink in peace. Go harass someone else."

"I reckon I'll ha--" hiccup--"harass who I want!" He stumbled back a bit, then forward again, crashing into Hwo and spilling the glass of whiskey.

Hwo calmly put his death stick out, then rose from his seat, turning to face the Twi'lek. It turned out he was a bit more inebriated than he'd thought, and he had trouble keeping his own balance when standing. "Wanna buy me another?" he asked dryly, slurring a tad more than he'd have liked.

"Get yer own drinks!" he replied, turning to walk away.

The Jedi--excuse me, ex-Jedi--had had enough of this character. He reached out for the Twi'lek's collar and pulled him back, then they both fell over his stool and crashed onto the ground.

"Get off o' me!" the green man yelled, then he called out to his friends, "'ey mates, get over herr an' help me!"

Another green Twi'lek and a giant of a human who had been watching from a nearby table rose from their seats and walked over. They were both obviously drunk, as well, but the Twi'lek helped his friend up while the human lifted Hwo up off the ground by the neck of his shirt. "I should pound yer face in!" he said menacingly, examining the smaller--and keep in mind Hwo is a good 6'4", 185 pounds, if that gives you any idea how big this guy was--man he held in the air. Then his eyes drifted down, inside the cloak. "A lightsaber?" he asked, a bit confused, "Looks like we gots ourselves a drunken Jeedai boys!"

He reached for the weapon, but Hwo caught his hand, then he used the Force to push the man away. When the giant released him, he fell unevenly to his feet, but he managed to steady himself up against the bar. The three amigos lined up in front of him, the two Twi'leks drawing pistols, the human pulling out quite a large knife. "It's Jeedai killin' time, boys!" one of the green ones said.

By this time, most of the patrons had scattered from the bar, and the bartender was yelling into a comm unit, a sawed-off scatter gun in hand. Hwo didn't notice him, but one customer remained, sitting alone in the back.

[member="Kamon Vondiranach"]

 

[Kamon's OOC]

Kamon was sitting alone in the bar. The Rogue Grandmaster was on Corellia for nostalgic reasons only. Chief among them his desire to see his old homeworld from time to time. True, he was only half-Corellian, the other half being Echani, but that didn't mean he called Eshan home. He grew up on Corellia. The people there were as good as his family, really. No, he would never shun that heritage, regardless of what was going on in his life. And, suffice to say, there was a lot going on in his life.

That was what brought him to the bar in the first place. He sipped on his glass of Whyren's, yes, this place still had some hidden away, if you knew how to ask for it at least. It was a delicacy of the greatest proportion now, and he always managed to pass it off as regular old Fire Whiskey, though this was the best of the best. It wasn't strong enough to get him drunk, but it did take the edge off.

Ever since the young man at the bar walked in, Kamon had been watching him. It was hard to hide who you were from someone as aged in the Force as him. Naturally his own presence was hidden to avoid tipping anyone off to the fact that he was there. When he was on Corellia, and he wasn't visiting family, he preferred to enjoy his anonymity. That was something he couldn't actually do anywhere else. On Eshan he was practically a living legend by this point. Everyone was out for his blood there. It got annoying, and he didn't like the odds of continuous battle.

Naturally the drunken Jedi was going to draw trouble. It had to happen at some point. He was being too obvious and acting like a fool, in truth. Still, Kamon sensed the man was more than troubled, despite his obvious strength. So, he stuck around while everyone else scattered.

Finishing off his drink, he sighed in delight. It was at this point that he noticed the people assaulting the Jedi had drawn weapons, and the barkeep had a scatter gun trained on him that the drunk kid didn't even seem to notice. He sighed again, this time in disdain. Why was it that he seemed to always have to rescue people? Drawing the Force to him, and delving into the deepest reaches of it, he wrapped himself and the drunken Jedi in a mask of White Current illusion. To his attackers he would simply vanish. To him, everyone but Kamon would disappear. That was what he wanted.

"You know, if you want to hide away and drown your sorrows, you should really pick somewhere off the beaten path to do it," he called, not moving from where he sat. He wasn't wearing any robes, either, at least not in the traditional sense. Kamon didn't really hide who he was. He was dressed in his battle armor, minus the helmet. "What grief troubles you?"

[member="Hwo"]

 

[Pal Veda]

Either someone had slipped something into his last drink or he'd been knocked out and was now deep in his own dreams. Everyone disappeared. Was he even in the bar anymore? In all his years as a Jedi, he had never experienced anything of this sort.

Then a voice brought him back to the present. He thought for a moment, examining [member="Kamon Vondiranach"]. The man stayed seated, talking from across the room. "Maybe I'm hiding in plain sight..." Hwo finally said. Of course it sounded witty to him in his inebriated state, but it came out slow and slurred. "Corellia seemed as good a place as any."

Hwo looked around again, trying to figure exactly what was happening. Whatever was going on, this stranger seemed to be behind it all. Hwo could not get a feel for him. That's the funny thing about intoxication on Force users; it renders their abilities a tad useless. No foresight, no mind reading, nothing.

Of course normally he would have kept his mouth shut at a time like this. He knew better than to trust strangers...he knew better than to trust friends. But right now, he was in pretty bad shape. "I killed a man," he said simply. "Rather, I killed a woman and a man."

 

[Kamon's OOC]

"If you're hiding, Corellia isn't the best place for it. If you're wanted, definitely not. People will turn you in for the cash and then hit the casino with their profits."

He held his hand up and rubbed his index finger and thumb together for emphasis. It made an odd metal on metal sort of noise, but it should still get the point across. This guy was royally messed up. It reminded Kamon of himself in his younger days, and that wasn't something that someone could be proud of. It was pretty pitiful, really. He still didn't move from where he was, watching the man from across the way. Drunken Jedi were dangerous, after all.

"So, did they deserve to die, or did you snap and go all darkside on them because they insulted you or something?"

Killing wasn't knew to Kamon, which is why he was being so nonchalant in his interactions with @Hwo. It didn't phase him that the guy had killed someone. The only reason that it would be a problem is if he'd killed them for no reason whatsoever. That seemed doubtful, but he figured he'd wait and find out for sure.

 

[Pal Veda]

Who is this man? If Hwo had been sober, he would have recognized by now that he was conversing with [member="Kamon Vondiranach"], the Grandmaster of the Rogue Jedi. Most Jedi and Sith in the galaxy at least knew of him, even if they could not recognize him by sight. He was a bit of a living legend.

"But you are nobler than that?" Hwo replied to the remark about turning him in. Although he should have, he did not fear the stranger; he was a highly skilled Jedi, even if he was a tad drunk.

It was the comment about "going all darkside" that caught Hwo's attention. Such phrasing would be quite odd coming from someone not trained in the Force. "An insult is not a reason to kill," he said, "or even a reason to fight." Realizing he was still leaning on the bar for balance, Hwo regained solid footing and began walking toward the stranger.

"Who are you?" he asked as he grew closer. For the first time, he noticed the superb quality of the man's armor. This was certainly no drifter or vagrant. "And why can I see you, but the others have simply vanished?"

 

[Kamon's OOC]

"No. But I see no purpose in turning you in for a bounty that may or may not be wrong."

There was no darkside present in the man, but there was certainly some conflicting emotions. Hwo was definitely questioning his own existence at this point in time. It was not unfamiliar territory for the Rogue Grandmaster to be in. Many times over the years he'd been in the same predicament, and he was certain that he would be again. That was what came from being who he was, and he'd accepted that fact a long time ago, and without question.

"It is not, I agree, but there are many who do not agree with that statement. Take a seat."

He motioned across from him, smiling at the questions.

"You are in a White Current illusion. Everyone but me has disappeared to you, and you have disappeared from everyone else," he said, drumming his fingers against the table in front of him. "My name is Kamon Vondiranach, and I think it is fortuitous that I meet you today."

[member="Hwo"]

 

[Kamon's OOC]

Double post...

 

[Pal Veda]

Curiosity outweighing caution, Hwo accepted [member="Kamon Vondiranach"]'s offer and took a seat across from him. "I've heard your name spoken by others, but I must admit, I know very little about you myself." He was beginning to sober up, the fog in his head slowly fading into a slight headache. They say the Force works in mysterious ways; that was certainly the case today. What were the chances that this lost soul would run across the Rogue Grandmaster in such a malleable state? Then again, this was Corellia, a place where odds simply do not matter.

"That's a neat trick," Hwo commented, looking around again. He had heard of the white current, but the Jedi Order did not teach its students such things.

Turning back to his new acquaintance, Hwo continued, "Now that I know who you are, I guess I should introduce myself. I am Hwoarang..." he thought for a second about the next part. Until now, he had not considered such trivial matters as how to introduce himself after everything that had happened... "formerly of the Jedi Order."

 

[Kamon's OOC]

"As I know little about you."

He smirked a little bit at the comment about the White Current being a neat trick. It was more than a neat trick. It was the deepest part of the light that one could reach to. Kamon could only go there because he wasn't a darksider, contrary to what some people thought about his relaxation of his control over his emotions. Let's face it, though. The Jedi ceased to exist in ages past. Since then, all the so called Jedi have been Rogue Jedi and nothing more. They just didn't follow the Rogue code.

"Nice to meet you, Hwoarang. Now that you're not part of the Jedi Order, would you like to do something useful with your life?"

Yes, that was definitely a slam against the Jedi Order. He'd never much cared for them as it was. Always such a waste with their pandering and infighting about emotions and such. They were no better than the Republic that they worked for. That's why he'd left.

[member="Hwo"]

 

[Pal Veda]

Something useful? Hwo's immediate reaction was to be insulted by [member="Kamon Vondiranach"]'s remark. But it was not a personal jab, and he quickly realized that. People cared less and less for the Jedi Order these days, as they had become soldiers rather than peace keepers. While he disagreed with this position, Hwo at least understood where the other half were coming from. Besides, he no longer felt an obligation to defend the Order against the naysayers.

"Is that an invitation?" he asked, his head beginning to throb a bit more. He knew he could not continue drinking forever, and the hangover had to come eventually. Perhaps it was better to let the alcohol withdrawals and dehydration begin now than to delay them any further. Not an experienced binge drinker, he didn't realize the real hangover wouldn't kick in for several more hours.

But his mind was clear enough to understand what Kamon meant. He needed direction; he needed guidance. He needed to start over. "Yes," he finally said, "I would."

 

[Kamon's OOC]

"Is it an invitation? Yes. I wouldn't have said it otherwise."

He smirks and moves to stand from where he'd been sitting. After all, the man was still drunk as a skunk, and completely useless to him at the moment. What he needed was for [member="Hwo"] to sober up and then come and find him when he had. If he accomplished that feat, including the whole getting over the fact that he'd killed a few people, then they would be in business. If he couldn't do that, then there might be trouble brewing on the horizon for the man.

When he accepted, Kamon nodded.

"Good. Now, when you sober up, come find me on Eshan. I'll give you the information as to why you'll be doing something useful then."

He started to walk away, and then paused.

"By the way, those goons are still here. When I leave, you'll be visible to them. Might want to make yourself ready."

With that, he turned to continue on. There was no intention within him to stick around and wait for Hwo to start talking again, or to continue the conversation. That could wait until Hwo was sober.

 

[Pal Veda]

"What?" Hwo asked, turning to see that the three men and bartender had reappeared behind him. When he turned back around, [member="Kamon Vondiranach"] was gone.

They were as confused as he, and everyone hesitated for a few seconds before a move was made. Finally, the two Twi'leks wizened up and began firing at him from across the bar. Hwo was quicker, however, and he managed to turn his table on its side then dive over and behind it before the blaster bolts came.

"I don't know what kind of voodoo you just pulled," one of them called out, "but we see you now!"

"Yes, you do," Hwo muttered to himself. He retrieved his lightsaber from his belt, and with a snap-hiss, the green blade came to life. Menacingly--albeit with a bit of a drunken sway--he rose from behind the table and glared at the attackers. The bartender had ducked behind the bar, gripping his scatter gun, figuring he would stay out of the way for now. "Lay down your weapons," he told them, "and I will leave you be."

In unison, the trio burst into laughter. The large human began charging, knife in hand, while the Twi'leks returned to firing their blasters. Hwo deflected the first three shots, and one of them bounced into the human's leg, sending him crashing through several chairs and onto the floor. The fourth bolt grazed Hwo's arm, causing him to wince from the pain. But he wasn't going down today. Concentrating through his drunken stupor, he managed to lift a couple of chairs with the Force and launch them toward the gunners. The wooden stools broke as they connected with their marks, and the Twi'leks went down.

Hwo quickly deactivated his lightsaber and fled the bar, out of the door before the bartender could peer out and see what happened.

-----------------

It took about a week for Hwo to make his way to Eshan. He had escaped the thugs on Coronet easily enough, but it took him the rest of that afternoon and the entire next day to get rid of his cumulative hangover. His arm still wasn't fully healed, but the wound had never been that bad to begin with. The hardest part had been finding reliable public transportation from Corellia to the Echani homeworld. The systems weren't too far apart, but he was trying to stay off the grid. That meant large tips and Jedi mind tricks.

Once he was off the transport--with everything he owned on his back--he made his way to the spaceport cantina. "I'll have a drink," he said, "whatever kind of fresh fruit juice you've got." He slid a couple of credits over, and a few seconds later, he accepted a glass of purplish, blueish liquid. Ehh...he gave it a try. Not bad.

"So," Hwo caught the bartender's attention again, "if I was looking for someone in these parts, where would be a good place to start?" He slid several more credits over.

The pale-skinned man pocketed the chips and leaned in closer. "Does this person have a name?"

"Kamon Vondiranach," he replied, careful to keep his voice down.

 

[Kamon's OOC]

"We should really stop meeting like this."

Yes, Kamon was in the same bar. Not surprising. This was Kamon and he enjoyed a good drink, or two, now and then. Ok, maybe more than now and then, and maybe it had something to do with the stress of his every day life. Really. It was stressful. He wasn't drinking, though. Not anything alcoholic at least. Just a glass of cranberry juice, or the Star Wars equivalent of such. He loved the stuff. It tasted good and was calming.

Leaning up against the bar, he looked the man over, studying him curiously. There didn't appear to be any signs of the raging alcoholic present, which was good. He didn't particularly want to deal with that nonsense again. Nope, [member="Hwo"] seemed perfectly alright.

"Make it alright? Not still hung up on killing someone are you?"

 

[Pal Veda]

"It was easy enough," Hwo replied, not bothering to mention the difficulty he'd had in securing safe--and secret--passage to Eshan. He also ignored the second part of [member="Kamon Vondiranach"]'s question for now. No, he was not over killing his Padawan. He wondered if he ever would be. Striking down your teenage student in self defense wasn't quite the same as taking down a super-powered Sith in order to save a planet of innocent civilians. He'd actually done just that immediately after taking Kora's life, and the only regret he had there was the rage that had taken him over as he finished the Sith off. But that was why he was here.

Hwo smiled at the bartender and said, "Keep the credits." Of course he hadn't actually been of any help, but he'd let that go for now. He picked up his juice and walked over to Kamon's table.

"Don't worry," he said as he sat down, "there's no alcohol in this." He took a pull and savored the fruity flavor. "Thank you for the invitation to join you on Eshan." Hwo had never been to the planet, and he honestly did not know too much about it. This was the Echani homeworld; that was about the extent of his knowledge.

"I don't know what I'm doing anymore. I can't control my emotions. I dream in vivid nightmares each night. I feel as if I can no longer be a Jedi." That was a lot to spill out at once, but he had been dwelling on this with no one to talk to for weeks. "I do not know you, but if your reputation has any truth to it, perhaps you can help."



---------------------------
(ooc: My replies are going to be slow over the next week or two. I'm moving across the country on Friday and starting a new job. I've got to get my internet and things set up at my new place. If I go several days without replying, don't think I've forgotten about this.)

 

[Kamon's OOC]

"Most people hate the cold more than anything. It can wear you down. I prefer it myself."

He twiddled his fingers a little bit while [member="Hwo"] spoke about how he felt in things. In truth it had been no different for Kamon once upon a time. It was different now, of course, because he didn't have to deal with the nonsense of the Jedi Council and their ridiculous games and schemes. Seriously, being the sole lead of an order was much better than using a Council. He didn't let it go to his head, much, and actually did listen to his people when they had problems, but he made decisions and they were final.

"You're not a Jedi anymore. Forget about it. That's the past. You aren't going back there because your abilities were wasted there," Kamon said before taking a drink. "Don't get me wrong here, the Council has good intentions most of the time, but they're very poor at doing what needs to be done. That's why you're here.

"You did something that no master wants to do, but sometimes we have to do. You killed your padawan because they fell. Let this be a lesson to you: no matter how hard you try to instill a sense of right and wrong, light and dark, in your padawans, some will always fall. It is the nature of free will. The different between the Rogue's and the Council is that we recognize this, do not fear doing what is necessary, and understand that we aren't just trying to counter the darkness, we're actively seeking to end it. That means killing, whether we like it or not. Understand me?"

ooc: No worries, mate.

 

[Pal Veda]

"I do understand," Hwo replied honestly, "and I have killed when necessary in the past without remorse."

He rubbed a hand over his forehead and through his hair, thinking back for a moment to other times he'd killed. There had been Sith, nightsisters, Imperials, pirates...too many to count. He had spared lives where he could--at least those that were not so heavily influenced by the darkside that they were beyond saving. Most often he had spared soldiers, those drafted into the military and relieved of any alternative to fighting. Rarely sympathetic, he believed it was a degree of empathy--something he'd learned from Jedi Master Spark Vallen years ago--that caused him to pity the troopers. Perhaps he felt as if he could relate, having been a Jedi his entire life, never knowing anything else, never being given a choice of his own. Until now.

"I know I did the right thing. Had I not killed my Padawan and the Sith Lord, they would have killed me, and the bloodshed would not have stopped there." He could not shake the feelings of sadness...anger...they were ever looming in the back of his mind. Logic told him he had done the right thing, but that did not necessarily make him feel better about it.

"I have given all that I can to the Jedi Council, and I owe them nothing. And I believe you were wrong when we met on Corellia. I do not think it is fortuitous that our paths crossed that day. I believe we were meant to meet. I believe I was meant to be trained by you...to be trained as a Rogue."