Catching up

[Jak Sandrow]

Left. Left. Left right left.

Dodging the shots as they came, Elijah leapt back and forth, attempting to get right up and personal with the tank that was currently resisting arrest.

Activating the plasma cutter built into his tech suit, he began to slice through the thick armor. The tank couldn't reach him from here, but it could still attempt to shake him off.

However, it didn't. Crawling inside, he plugged into the mainframe of the tank. Taking control in seconds, he then blasted the other tanks rolling around before they knew what hit them.

As he crawled out of the simulation, he looked around.

"Not bad. Not bad at all."

@[member="Pandeima"]

 

[Onrai]

A series of quiet claps would be heard from the far end of the simulation room. @[member="Elijah Rowlin"] would notice the figure of a woman silhouetted against the hallway, wearing a black robe. The dark aura emanating from her body was rather blatantly felt, and with it, a sense of longing, there was only one person who felt that way for him.

"I must say, I'm impressed. Did you become a Fringe lord while I was away on business?"

 

[Jak Sandrow]

"Something like that."

He still wore his armor. "Made this thing with a bit of help. Can't say I don't like it. Hacks into whatever I want in seconds, makes a cloaking field of sorts to sensors, gets me up any sort of wall; heck, I could take over a Dreadnought in this thing."

Clambering down the side of the sim chamber, he went over to her. "Something up?"

 

[Onrai]

"Nothing more than usual, I'm afraid. Work's been... Intriguing, to say the least. I'd say my strength in the Dark Side has grown immensely over the past while." She smiled, running her hands through her hair with a soft grin on her face. "But I have some time alone now, with my greatest experiment, the one I wholeheartedly love."

She smiled, taking his hand. He would feel the taint of corruption in her as only a true servant of the darkness would.

@[member="Elijah Rowlin"]

 

[Jak Sandrow]

She couldn't see behind his mask, but he cringed a little. "Not...right now... I'm sort of in a tech making mood, and I really want to get caught up in all the latest stuff. I also heard you made a suit."

He squeezed her hand and let it go at that. "What with being recently made a Knight, I've been trying to bring my skills to bear, but it's been difficult to say the least."

@[member="Pandeima"]

 

[Onrai]

"I'm working on it. The prototype still needs to be finished, but it should surpass any form of powered armor currently in use with Fringe forces." She sighed, eying the Fringer she had married over. "Well, if you want to remain busy and not spend some time with your wife, I guess that's your perogative."

And with that, she turned away, preparing to leave the training room. The aura of darkness surrounding her seemed to spark for a moment as she began to walk away.

@[member="Elijah Rowlin"]

 

[Jak Sandrow]

"Okay." Bending back over the books, he was about to continue, when she attempted a guilt trip.

"No, wait. Hold on. Circe. Circe! Wait." He sighed, trying to get the right words. "Circe, let me ask you something. Is there more to our relationship than a night in bed? Is the only reason you want to be around me for the fun? Or is there something more? You had a past of brutality, I know that. But that was another life. You, me; is there an actual relationship between us, or are we no more than bed-partners? Because I've been looking into myself, and I haven't really seen any proof of love. Not real, dynamic, two-way love. Circe. Do you love me?"

 

[Onrai]

At the moment he questioned whether the two of them truly loved one another, she stopped, freezing in her tracks. Turning to look at him, she slowly eyed her husband over, peering beyond the surface of his body. She frowned, looking him over with disdain.

"Jak, I love you more than I've ever loved anyone else. You are the one person in the galaxy that has my heart. Regardless of whatever happens to me, I will, now and until the end of time, love you and you alone."

And with that , she hugged him. It was unusual... That was all she did - hug him, nothing more.

@[member="Elijah Rowlin"]

 

[Jak Sandrow]

He quirked a brow. "Not to sound sarcastic, but I haven't seen much proof of that beyond the bedroom. You run off doing whatever, and join the Sith. And I know you well enough to assume there were 'other' ways you got training. Am I right?"

He held her at arms length. "Saying you're going to do something means nothing. It's what you actually do that counts. The only proof I have honestly seen of your love for me is when you got me from Nal Hutta. That was about 4 months ago."

 

[Onrai]

"I joined the Sith because at the heart of the matter, I intend to rule them from within. My charms have a Sith Master, an expert at sorcery, willing to spill his guts to me. My manipulation's gotten me places I could never dream of, let me learn secrets no one else would ever tell me..."

She sighed. "And when it's all said and done, I will rule the Empire as Empress, and you will be my Emperor." She took both his hands in her own, looking deep in his eyes.

@[member="Elijah Rowlin"]

 

[Jak Sandrow]

"Why do you even love Sith in the first place? Why not be like me? I'm totally neutral. Nobody cares for me, and I don't care for anybody. I'm just happy being a techie with a knack for hack. Emperor? Hah. Not for long. A, I'm not a Sith. B, Emperors are in front of too many bulls-eyes these days. So no. No Emperor for me, thanks."

He averted his gaze, somewhat, with the piercing of hers.

@[member="Pandeima"]

 

[Onrai]

"The Sith have power and knowledge I can use to further my studies in the Dark aside with. As for Emperor - will you not be my loving consort when I finally rule the Empire? It would be so lonely without you, darling..."

She frowned, eying him over as happily as she could at his words.

@[member="Elijah Rowlin"]

 

[Jak Sandrow]

"Yes, but I think there's something a bit more serious here." He opened the faceplate. "Circe. I think you're going dark. Not dark as in Dark Side dark. Dark as in, you're going out. Like a candle flame. Oh sure, you're bright now, but this... ambition of yours.... it's going to kill you. The Sith crave power just as much as the Jedi do. The only real difference is that the Jedi give it away. For the most part. But the Sith hold on to it. They keep it. And it consumes them from the inside. Ever hear of Sidious, the one from 3ABY-ish? He let it corrupt him. And look what happened to him. Circe - I love you. That means I have to stick up for you. And I can't have it. I don't want you rotting into some disheveled witch by the age of 30. Circe - you're beautiful. And I love you - not for your beauty, but for who I still believe you can become. Now, I'm not saying join the Jedi. Fat chance they'd accept you, anyway. But at least turn away from the Sith. Please. Do it - do it for me."

@[member="Pandeima"]

 

[Onrai]

"The Dark Side, if properly tempered by one who has truly benevolent feelings, will not consume their flesh. I personally am not going to grow old the way you're thinking: I'm a plant. I don't become less beautiful because of that. And I have you with me... You are one of the few things that stop me from going mad each day."

She stepped forward again, placing a loving hand on his shoulder.

"You won't see the day my ambition consumes me. It won't happen. That, I promise you."

@[member="Elijah Rowlin"]

 

[Jak Sandrow]

"Circe..." He took her hand. "When I said your light is going out, I mean, you're dying. Circe, every minute you are near me, and you lower your defences, the good in me attacks the bad in you. The only thing is, you've let yourself become all bad. And that is going to kill you the longer you spend with me. So something has to change." Looking her straight in the eye, dead serious, he asked her, "So what's it gonna be?"

@[member="Pandeima"]

 

[Onrai]

"That's... that's not true. I would be feeling it if you affected me that way... Are you saying you want us to get divorced?" She let go of his hand, taking a step back.

"But I love you... I don't want to abandon our marriage!"

@[member="Elijah Rowlin"]

 

[Jak Sandrow]

He smiled, somewhat grimly. "If you haven't been feeling it, it's because you don't want to. That, or you're just too much in love." Letting her hand slip out of his, he spread his arms. "No, I don't. But I see only three viable solutions. We divorce. You join the good side. Or we separate, and come back in a few weeks to think it over."

He sighed. "I don't want this any more than you do. But something has to change, or we'll both be dead. You from light side exposure, and me from an avenging Sith."

@[member="Pandeima"]

 

[Onrai]

"I'm not divorcing you. I haven't truly died, which would mean my essence became one with the Force - or in my case, plunged into Chaos. Neither can I join the "good side," though in all sincerity I question who's truly benevolent in this conflict. I guess that leaves the third option."

She paused, raising an eyebrow and moving towards him, placing her arms around his body. "There is one other option, Jak. You join me. I love you too much to let something such as Force alignment tear us apart."

@[member="Elijah Rowlin"]

 

[Jak Sandrow]

Sighing, he let her know why that wasn't a viable option. "Circe," he said, "I am this close to falling to the dark side." Here he held his fingers about 1/2 an inch apart. "The only thing separating me from that is my mom. I DON"T want to lose her. She's my only real link to the force besides myself. And it's cold. The Force, I mean. Plus, I've heard rumours of what the Force does with the Dark Side. And it ain't pretty, honey."

@[member="Pandeima"]

 

[Onrai]

"I understand, Jak. And I still love you dearly despite our differing alignments." She smiled, taking his hands and holding onto him tightly. "That's not going to change. Understand?" Her arms slowly moved around him, tenderly embracing him as she whispered into his ear. "I'm not losing you, and you're not losing me. The sooner you understand that, the sooner the two of us can get through this."

@[member="Elijah Rowlin"]