Private Flashback to Jutrand

[Tae'l Vizsla]

Jutrand.
Several years ago...​

It had been months since she was captured by Omon Kaa aboard the liberator, and ferried to Saijo where she would live with the Sith lord as a guest. It had taken some time for Tae'l to shake the feeling that she was a hostage caged without bars, but in that the time the unthinkable happened: They began to trust one another. Well, Omon Kaa / Darth Diem did most of the trusting, while Tae'l still had some edge to smooth over. Still, she acknowledged that he had been most hospitable. She was well taken care of by his servants, and Omon often shared fine dinners with the young mandalorian in between his duties to the empire. She had grown accustomed to Wine of all things, though it lacked the spicy kick of a Mandalorian brew.

It was all so... normal. normal was alien to the gunslinger who had spent most of her brief life on Level 1313, tracking down and killing those affiliated with Apollyon The Betrayer .
Now she poured champagne like some imperial aristocracy.

She hated it... she loved it...

But even domesticated, a wolf still had claws and fangs, and all the habits that came with. She wanted a semblance of her old life back while she thought over the deal. Omon had given her a new start, Cin'vhetin as her people called it, but that didn't mean she would discard the armor.

That's why she was here today. Omon took her helmet as a trophy, something about his sorcerous "visions" that she didn't understand, but what she did understand was that she had lost. He earned it, in his own way. By some variations of the creed, she was unfit to wear it. So, she would simply earn a new one. But for that, she needed to find another Mandalorian, and she had an idea of how to find one. But she would- begrudgingly- need help.

Omon could finally trust her to leave the house without killing anyone. or... anyone important, at least. He also entrusted her with a contact: Darth Malum of House Marr .

So she approached the unassuming cafe where she was supposed to meet the mysterious knight, dressed in a black cloak that hid her armor and helm-less face from the prying eyes of cameras across the city, Omon wanting to hide his guest from Mandalorian intelligence, if such a thing existed. For her part, she just felt naked without it.

She didn't know much about the man she was meeting today, just that he was a good friend of Omon and had access to some sort of spy network. Her instructions were to approach the counter and order a specific drink which they inevitably did not carry. So, she put her armor-clad hands down on the counter, sliding a few credits towards the serving droid behind the counter, and ordered.

"I'd like uhm... a Rodian spice, please" She asked nervously, hazel eyes shifting around the cafe

The apron wearing droid would merely tilt her head in confusion
"So sorry honey but we don't serve anything with that kind of kick around here. Can I get you sunrise caf instead?"

"Uhh?"

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

"That would be perfect, thank you, one for myself and my... friend... over here." A dark-cloaked figure, with hair as raven as his apparel emerged out from seemingly nowhere, to the Moridinizid he offered a lazy gaze, yet it revealed his face, a noble, attractive, aquiline face, thin-lipped, with the most prominent feature of them all.

Red eyes, that in the darkness of the cafe seemed to glow.

Glow with an emotion that...

...Would be difficult to place.

He would not give her much time to place the expression, turning to the barkeep and sliding over far more credits than both drinks could possibly be worth, with seemingly not a care in the galaxy.

As a smile drifted onto his face, effortlessly charming, and to a non-trained eye, rather more genial, than forged, signalling with his head to the corner booth, a silent request of where he would prefer the drinks be served.

Before without any greeting, he turned to said booth, all apart from gazing back towards the Moridinizid, invitation... or perhaps more aptly, command.

Clear.

It had been curiosity that had made him ask his friend, Omon Kaa / Darth Diem for a meeting with the Moridinizid which he had captured in their recent campaign in the Kathol Outback, Moridinizids were a strange breed, that much his education had taught him well. Said education was very much biased, he knew that much, after all, though Darth Carnifex 's empire which he had grown under had taught that the Moridinizids, once called Mandalorians were no better than animals.

With the rest of the galaxy opened to him, with a simple search on the Holonet, one was able to find that the Moridinizids had despite all their failures, all their losses, all their defeats, had been able to achieve much on the Galactic stage.

There was a budding respect there.

Even if they were no better than animals.

Even if they only knew destruction.

After all, it was a truly barbaric people who would do unto Dromund Kaas... what they did.

Still, curiosity had been what had brought him here, having read of the Moridinizids all his life, having fought against them too, he had been most curious to actually meet one, and though his friend had been rather cagey on the matter, he had finally relented.

And even Malum would admit, despite all the distrust he felt in the deepest crevices of his bones.

This Moridinizid... Tae'l Vizsla was her name? Was... beautiful.

Having seen her enter the cafe, he had almost broken composure.

Only a lifetime of training in the courtly arts had let him reveal nothing.

And now... here they were.

Truly, he had not thought far beyond this point.

Simply curious what he could learn.

Both for his knowledge... and to learn wants this Moridinizid had.

After all, what ambitions did an animal hold?

"Ah how rude..." Malum seemed to suddenly note, seeming to not even consider the contradiction, the irony, of those words, with his thoughts, as he fully turned to face her, reaching forth with hand, cautiously, gently, grasping the cool armour of her hand, and bringing it to his lips, "Malum, of House Marr, at your service."

She truly was beautiful...

...For an animal.

 

[Tae'l Vizsla]

Tae'l was quick to look the man over once his presence was known, analyzing as much information as one could glean from a prolonged glance. Her time as a bounty hunter had taught her that a lot could be learned from one's appearance, although she admittedly relied on technology to fill in the gaps and was already missing the plethora of advanced scanners in her old helmet.

For now she knew only this: He looked painfully Sith-like, a fact reinforced by the sizable stack of credits paid to the server droid, probably a bribe of sorts to keep it's vocabulator hushed.

Unlike the Sith, Tae'l made no attempt to advertise this as a meeting between friends, staring stone faced and jaw clenched in discomfort either because the bribe was cover enough or because she was simply unused to forcing her own expressions, given that she was the type to sleep fully equipped if need be.

She really was a fish out of armor.

When the sith signaled where they were to conduct the meeting, she was quick to follow and eager to get down to business, marching briskly with the cadence of a gunslinger on the job and to the unmistakable tune of a pilot's ejection-spurs fastened to heavy leather boots.

"Ah how rude..." Malum seemed to suddenly note, seeming to not even consider the contradiction, the irony, of those words, with his thoughts, as he fully turned to face her, reaching forth with hand, cautiously, gently, grasping the cool armour of her hand, and bringing it to his lips, "Malum, of House Marr, at your service."

Tae'l looked... unused to the gesture, narrowing her eyes as Malum's lips met the ivory paint about her gauntlet. This was definitely the first time she'd allowed it and probably the closest anyone had ever been to her wrist mounted plasma-castor without their face being incinerated.

Still it was best not to let it bother her, he was probably this way with most women, she thought.

Though she supposed he was cute, in that he looked as if someone should princess-carry him if only he weren't so tall. Probably the rich and spoiled apprentice of some much older, no doubt hideous and evil cadaver in robes cosplaying as a god or something ridiculous like that. Surely he'd become like that one day if his master didn't betray him early. All Sith were like that, no?

Nevertheless she'd attempt to reign in her disgust for now.

"Tae'l... House Vizsla" She finally introduced herself, though the only gesture of greeting afforded to the sith was the crossing of her arms.

"I'm told you're good with information."


Darth Malum of House Marr

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

She was quiet.

That was the first thought that gleamed over his mind.

Or at the very least she was as quiet as he was, it made sense he supposed, that she was as guarded as he was, they came from oppositional peoples, for what they had done to Dromund Kaas, had not the Sith done in kind to Moridinae? For all the lot of good that it had done their people both, Dromund Kaas was rebuilt, but as a home for the zealotry of the Ashlan Crusade.

While Moridinae last he heard was nought but a broken husk.

Still, she might have been quiet and guarded, just as he was.

Yet there was another similarity that was just as obvious, gazing at those hazel eyes, framed by her deep purple lekkus.

She was a thinker, even as her thoughts were more broadcast on her face, the discomfort in all of this clear, in contrast to his own.

Just like him, he could see the gears in her mind grind on.

What was she thinking of?

Was she thinking about him?

Did all those old theories of how the Moridinizid functioned hold water? After all, where such theories could have had once easily been made, if being a Moridinizid was a biological process, it was not, it was another similarity between Sith and Moridinizids, it was far more... cultural. Such that it was their very culture, their brutality, their arrogance, their barbarity...

...That made them like animals.

Animals in sentient form by the looks.

And how... odd that was.

How odd that she looked so...

He allowed a hollow breath to leave him, hidden behind a rather fixed smile, as she was seemingly taken slightly aback by his actions, an etiquette practised among the nobility, perhaps not exactly correct for conduct to a Moridinizid.

But her reaction made it at least slightly worthwhile.

As he raised an eyebrow at her answer.

Had it been correct accidentally?

"House Vizsla..." Malum pondered a moment, he had certainly heard the name Vizsla, Ra Vizsla had been among their most famous this last century, serving as Mandalore twice, Mandalore the Undying and... another name... Infernal? Enflaming? Wrathful? No doubt he would need to do some research, if only to satiate his own curiosity.

There were other famous Vizslas in history.

Was this one related to any of them?

He was unaware if Ra Vizsla had any children...

"I was unaware the Moridinizids had nobility... Houses and the like... are you not more well known for your Clans?" Malum questioned, a question for a question, as he considered her unasked one, "...And yes, information is one of the many avenues in which I venture," He spoke, curious what she would ask of him, as his head turned, followed by the rest of his body, as he took his seat by the corner table.

The invitation to follow wafted through the air.

He had not even truly considered her name.

Tae'l...

It fit her, he decided.

Tae'l Vizsla

 

[Tae'l Vizsla]

"Morid-? oh..." She sighed upon remembering what the word meant. Yet another slur to denote her kind as if they were somehow a lesser species- or a species at all- of mere things. Usually when someone commented on her origins, which was rarely resulted in bloodshed the last time, it was something pathetic like "tail-head" or far worse: "vat-rat".

Moridinizid was not a new word to her ear-cones but it wasn't something she heard often. It didn't quite sting like vat-rat but it was... gross. Just wrong in some way that she couldn't quite explain.

"I suppose our name has earned it's stay," She said, choosing to focus on home as it was known to Mando'ade instead.

"But Vizsla is both a Clan and House. Maybe the Mandalorian Empire had nobility, when we had more... Sith influence, but traditionally speaking a House is just an alliance of clans bound by oath or familial overlap. Wren, Naudir and some others are currently loyal to clan Vizsla, thus we are a house once more"

She spoke as if reading from a holo-text in front of a class, having grown used to educating outsiders while working with them abroad. Usually with more enthusiasm, especially when it meant learning of her temporary partner in kind, but of course today was different and they were far from partners. This was a formality, part of an exchange if nothing else.

Though the imbalance of information had not escaped her notice.

"I'll tell you all about, but not for free"

She leaned forward on the table, Hazel eyes peering from under the hood and fixed to his, flanked by a strange tattoo that gave her togorian-like visage.
If nothing else, she could at least look assertive.

"I know some of Apollyon's people still work for you guys. I'm looking for one"


Darth Malum of House Marr

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

He raised an eyebrow at her reaction, he was uncertain what exactly he expected, but such a... calm response to a word that though was second nature to him, was he likely knew, insulting to her kind...

...Was at least somewhat unexpected.

It was a word that was growing more and more out of fashion, he knew, after all upon the Kathol Outback, he had heard none of his compatriots use the word, even when actively being attacked by the Moridinizids. It was one of the least important things that they had lost from the fall of Darth Carnifex 's Sith Empire.

"...Something like that, the apprentice achieved what the master could not, yet Darth Moridin's memory lives on." Once a Sith Emperor, before his fall, there might have been pride in that Dark Lord of the Sith, for his apprentice had grown to become the true terror of the galaxy.

If it had only taken his place being usurped, would he have considered it worthwhile?

Even if at the end, all Malum would ever see him as would be the Twice-Failed Emperor.

He blinked out those thoughts from his mind, as an explanation to his question was given forthrightly.

Fascinating.

"Intriguing, a system which certainly attempts to hold the gravitas of nobility, and I imagine in effect does uphold it, while attempting to unshackle itself from the nepotism and weakness which often preys upon our blood." Malum mused that Clans allowed themselves to be subordinate to another, to elevate the superior to House was certainly an interesting concept.

A concept that he would not mind attempting implementation... there were many Sith houses that were rather weak after all...

...Though he supposed for the Marrs, their various cadet branches already served such a role, Marrtaniel, Marrstraus, Valmarr, and many others.

He offered a smirk, as they transitioned to a realm more familiar to him, though... he had not truly done much negotiation, he knew the theory of it, and in this case, it should be simple enough.

Knowledge for knowledge.

And as she peered forward, near draping herself across the table, it was the first time he could truly appreciate her features, how the purple so richly contrasted against the black, the tattoos of a different culture certainly most unlike the Sith tattoos he had seen, but that he had not yet wished to blemish his skin with.

And her question.

And the seriousness of her words.

Was enough to quirk his eyebrows.

"Apollyon the Betrayer..." Malum breathed out, his mind flooding with the information from events a decade ago, "...She was certainly archetypical of the perfidy of your people, was she not?" He challenged, that she was archetypical as an ally of the Kainite against the rest of the Moridinizids he conveniently left out, "...And which one would you be looking for?" Curiosity tinged with the barest hint of mockery, if one of the Betrayer's lieutenants was among Sith space, then he could already imagine where they were holed out.

Darth Carnifex.

...Was Malum ready for such a challenge already?

The answer was a resounding no.

Tae'l Vizsla

 

[Tae'l Vizsla]

"She was. But also... effective" Tae'l admitted, that once intense glare softening into an empty stare over the man's shoulder. It was not a look of observation anymore, not of the present at least.

Not until the Sith continued with another question.

"Hmm" She paused a moment

"I suppose any will do, but I've a particular interest a craftswoman. I think they called her... Gravemind?"


Just one of few names that hadn't been crossed off her proverbial list during her mother's war. Hate never left her bones but it did cool with time.

"That one's their armorer I think, outlived her master and possibly her order. But they're all fanatics, if she's alive then she's still serving the empire somehow"

Tae'l sipped her caf in thought, mind still in "the game" and trying to piece together anything she could remember about Apollyon's Death Watch while cross referencing what she was only recently able to learn of the greater empire itself. At first she wondered if the remnants would be held up deep within another city-world, but it was hard to say given that this was friendly territory to them. It was entirely possible for them to have much better, possibly even more public support for all she knew. But she'd only been here for a few months and under watch too.

"Anyway that's all the info I'm confident on. Not even sure how she got that ridiculous name" She near growled into the coffee.

"Any of this ring a bell in that evil head of yours?"


Darth Malum of House Marr

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

Tch.

Another attempt to draw a reaction out of her foiled. Indeed, whatever minor reaction he had been able to draw beforehand disappeared as her intense glare withered away to something empty, as her hazel orbs refused to meet his red, and rather looked... past him.

He bit down on his teeth.

Who so easily just cast aside an insult to their people?

Who knowingly accepted it, and then would admit it was strength?

...Sith.

He realised... if there was any such people, it would be his own.

His stomach fluttered with that... unfortunate comparison.

How many times would he scorn their Twice-Failed Emperor, yet be forced to begrudge that this Order was all the more secure, at least from external threats due to his continued presence?

He let out a shallow breath, any crack in his mask at that moment, rebuilt and repaired, as he hid any such weakness behind the caf in front of him. A bitter thing, but was distracting enough from his thoughts, and was enough disguise from the Moridinizid.

He hoped.

"It is most often our most perfidious, that are our most effective, is it not? Kaine Australis upon Eshan, Captain Larraq upon Dromund Kaas," He spoke through narrowed slits, voice that was more accusation than anything else, his breath heavy, as his grip on the cup of caf threatened to break as it shook, the caf desperately attempting to stay within.

Only to pause, as a familiar title filtered through his mind. He should have suspected it would be her which this Vizsla was interested in... there were few members of Death Watch that had been able to reach their allies among the Kainites.

Gravemind might have been the most infamous of them all.

Not even out of malice perhaps, even if she had served under Apollyon the Betrayer.

But simply for how much her craft seemed to end up in the hands of the most dangerous.

Only to pause again.

Narrow his eyes further.

"...Evil? Am I to take that seriously from one of your kind, Moridinizid." Malum growled out, as animalistic as hers, as animalistic as the animal he knew her to be.

All the malice of which he held for the Moridinizids, all that he knew of their history, all he knew of their culture, all he knew of their... evil... but no, to call it simply evil was to stoop to their level, all he knew of their failure. Pouring out into the word.

The mask was cracking.

Tae'l Vizsla

 

[Tae'l Vizsla]

She... smiled?

Those smooth lavender lips parted at the corner briefly, allowing the light to hit a single canine. More of a fang really, even by twi'lek standards it was abnormally long and sharp like a knife. It made her smile every bit as animalistic as the Sith thought her to be. And yet it held no predatory malice.

She seemed genuinely amused in fact, in a somewhat smug sort of way.

"See that's what I like about you Sithy Boys. You're just so angry. You make me feel almost... Normal even"

Tae'l was certain the only thing preventing the two parties coming to blows was her connection to Omon of course. it simply wouldn't do to kill the pureblood's guest, likewise it wouldn't do for his guest to murder a friend. But admittedly, a part of her wanted to test those boundaries, see how far she could push him as her younger self came out to play a little.

"I mean look at you, all heated over a passing comment, breaking out the slurs because none of you can take a joke" She points to him, wearing that wry little smile still.

"Then there's us. Did you know we don't even have slurs for you in our language? We just say "Dar'jetii". It just means "someone who uses dark magic". Even your master, Carnifex, is called "The Butcher King". Not "Hut'uun" or "Coward" for the way he attacked Manda'yaim, we acknowledge his status as a warrior of many kills even though he is our arch enemy.

And yet you sit here on your high horse, you try to rename our worlds, you name us something akin to... "Thing" or "Animal", not even worth the blood red sand on your boots, and yet to us you are still people and yet also... Just an enemy to be defeated. Not some feared boogeyman as the rest of this galaxy thinks you are, not some overlord beyond comprehension nor possibility, just... Another enemy"

The Twi'lek took a short breath, realizing that her passions had gotten the better of her. For all the light Omon had shed on her people, for all that they had done to her, she was still a Mandalorian at heart, in her own way.

Nevertheless she smiled again, softer than before, as was her voice now.

"It's cute, ya know. Sa adiik. I guess you're just... Sore winners. Or maybe sore losers?

I mean... You set out to exterminate mere animals... But somehow we survived, and since then we did in fact multiply like tumble-bunnies.

You lost to animals."

Her smile widened until both her fangs were on full display. It was probably the best she'd felt since her capture, despite everything.


Darth Malum of House Marr

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

There was the fire at last.

Unfortunately, when playing with fire, there was every likely possibility that one was burned, and as the smile was unveiled, as the knife-like fang was bared.

His teeth ground with every salacious word spilling out of the Twi'lek's lips. He ground down with such ferocity it was small surprise that his own fangs had not cracked under the pressure.

It was one thing to have her reaction be one of rage, anger, and even annoyance. But if there was one thing he so hated above all else, it was an aloofness, an aloofness that allowed one to turn on him with the same superiority and preeminence that he had heralded.

That he had up to this moment carried.

As he allowed a breath to enter his lips, for but a moment his red eyes were hidden from the world.

As the mask reforged.

She had been close, she had struck across several points which might have undone him... individually that was, yet an attack a mile wide, was so often an inch deep. Something more targetted, something born out of truly knowing what might have made him trigger and break... but of course, she who had only met him a few scant minutes ago, could not possibly know that.

The breath left his lungs as cold shimmering rubies opened to bear witness to her...

Even under falsehood, annoyance, insult, dislike, and all else, he could not help but notice that of all traits.

"It takes an incredibly... delusional... people to suffer all the defeats, near annihilation, that you have had this last near century and then come to me and speak to me of anything and claim it as a joke," The voice was cold, as cool as the tundras of the frozen north, even as the last word was filled with heat, it was the fire of ice, that threatened to freeze bone, "You speak of the Twice-Failed Emperor with respect and imagine that makes you superior, no, it makes you feeble and accepting of your subordination, Moridinae floats in space a ruin, your people perhaps not dead, but broken, what is left of the legacy of your Mandalors? Nought but an Enclave that struggles to persist," The cold voice, accompanied by eyes that revealed nought but a hue that implied death continued, a near hiss breaking across the words as the metaphorical serpent coiled around her form.

Its fangs threatening to bite.

Its form ready to constrict.

She spoke words in Moridinizid that he could not parse, little surprise as the language was dead and dying still.

"I was but a boy when Darth Prazutis and Darth Carnifex engaged in their campaign, their failures to exterminate rats is entirely their own, that you respect them for what they did achieve is your prerogative, that you take pride in not victory, but simple survival, all the more so your decision. Yet, we Sith are eternal, we Sith are greater, with the power to crush an entire people underneath our boot, and to leave them with little more than scraps." There was nothing to the voice now, as he leaned forward to gaze into her orbs, the voice was hollow, and without emotion, his eyes still, as he watched her as but a curiosity, "You view as an enemy to be defeated, and yet it is you who were defeated, you should view the Twice-Failed Emperor as a monster, for he is indeed monstrous, it is to your benefit that we are not all so... that we are not all like him, Moridinizid." His gaze dropped away from hers, looking past her shoulder, as a breath filled his lungs, and his mouth felt rather dry.

The bitter caf was a bitter remedy.

In some way he was happy.

The Sith were brutal, they were cruel, they were monstrous, but they had only done what was necessary to survive.

Necessary for victory.

Some had gone too far, yes.

Those that needed to be culled and removed from the Order.

But... if the Galaxy could see that they were like any other people... that they were exemplary, rather than... evil.

How it would be so grand.

Tae'l Vizsla

 

[Tae'l Vizsla]

"Twice failed emperor?" The once smug twi'lek studied him carefully, noting the expected shift of vitriol but also that the Sith held many opinions that she was... ill prepared for. There was clearly a gap in her understanding of the Order and it's people that the Enclave had done little to fill in for her.

She had assumed many things.

Namely that Carnifex would have been seen as some sort of grim war hero to the Sith for the atrocities against her people, or at the very least that the capture of such a valuable world would have earned him some favor among the militant types. Beside that, she would have at least expected people like the Sith, people like Malum, to see the order's subsequent infamy as a useful tool.

But in a way, it sounded like the young man hated this "Twice failed" Emperor almost more than herself.

And so there fell an uneasy silence over her that lasted even after the Sith had finished. She would squint in confusion or rub her temples while mulling over everything that had been said, but it was clear that she was at least giving his words some thought rather than choosing her own to spit back.


"I... I suppose I never considered how Imperials felt about their Emperors" She admitted after awhile, turning towards a nearby window.

"And I sort of assumed that you wanted to be seen as evil monsters. 'Hate fuels me, fear is my ally' and all that shit. I mean why else would you try to exterminate entire cultures, or create things like Graug. I assumed that was why your "Twice failed Emperor" did, at least"

"Kinda funny to think his own people have a more mocking name for him than we do"

Tae'l watched the people outside going about their day, reminding her of what Omon Kaa had showed her. There were many normal lives being lived within the Empire, some prosperous even. So it would've been safe to assume that some may have "normal" opinions from time to time.

Although there certainly some abnormal opinions on display right now, and a few in need of challenging. Namely, the difference between man and animal.

"You said you were a boy when Mandalore was struck?" She glanced at the man in the corner of her eye for but a moment.

"I think I was just a little girl when the union started rebuilding it. I'm not saying it was easy, but I got to see my family at least, Mother would tell me stories about it and about monsters too.

In our culture, once you start getting older the monsters stop being scary. You start to hunt Monsters, for sport or food even. Mostly experience. I remember hunting a sea dragon with one of my trainers. Deep down, hard to see, nerve wracking stuff.

But when I got older, when I started hunting people, I realized people are worse. Apollyon showed me that.

See a Monster might scare people, but a monster is just a thing. A monster is natural. It has a reason behind every action it takes, and presumably it's hunting or you're in it's territory, a monster can't really be blamed.

But people are more dangerous. They can be unpredictable, they train, and they're creative. Sometimes in the most horrific ways people, and not always for a reason. You can train for every monster, but you can't train for every person. A monster didn't put my comrade in a hydraulic press while they're still living to forge Tal'beskar. A monster can't do that, they just eat. Only a person is capable of even imagining that.


When I call him "The Butcher King" or I call her "Apollyon the Betrayer", I don't say this out of respect per se. I say this because when you liken someone to a Monster, or to an Animal, you start building a habit. A habit of underestimating your enemy's creativity, their human emotion and motive that separates them from literal animals. Assuming your own superiority is the fastest route to failure, maybe even death. And no one can possibly prepare for every variable.

We didn't. We lost our homeworld for it.

The Butcher King didn't, he lost an Empire for it"



"I didn't... I assumed we were being boarded by "Animals" and mindless "Monsters", Now I'm good as dead and stuck here, talking to you of all people" She shrugged melancholically and took another sip.


Darth Malum of House Marr

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

It was as if the Moridinizid had never heard the title before, the only words that were drawn from the lips before the uneasy silence fell before them was the repetition of that name of mockery. He supposed he should not be too surprised, they were both too old to have remembered his first reign, and they were little more than children during his second by the sounds of it.

Twice-Failed Emperor was a very specific insult.

It could only be born out of those he had failed twice.

The Sith.

He was unsure how to feel of the hazel eyes that raked along his form, she was very clearly in deep thought, not even trying to hide it.

To be able to gaze into her mind and see what lay underneath.

What he would not give.

It seemed they both were now rather uncomfortable gazing upon each other, understandable, it seemed both of them were rather... like hot oil in a pan, quick to boil, swift to spit and spatter, ailing anyone who came too close. Yet once the fire was gone, cooling down as quickly as they had become flame.

Her words were...

...Rather ruminating, enough to make him introspective, "There is power in strength, as the Code states, acts made to enact fear upon the enemy most often shall save lives rather than spend them, it is those like Darth Carnifex and his ilk, who have corrupted such ideals, wanton cruelty for its own sake, why be so monstrous that the enemy does not flee, but rather has no choice but to fight? Why attempt to exterminate the Moridinizids when they have in our past been as much our allies as our foes?" He knew the history well, it had been his way of making sense of a confounding strange world.

This century, without it even being concluded, felt as more events had taken place, than any other.

He did not know why.

Once the extermination had begun, there was no choice to continue it, an enemy attacked was an enemy that needed to be annihilated.

Perhaps the failure to do so would be Darth Prazutis ' true defeat.

He could not claim that the Moridinizids did not deserve it.

Yet, was it truly necessary when victory on the level needed was far from guaranteed, and all it had given the Sith was intractable foe when once an ally was possible?

Such was his inheritance from the empire of Darth Carnifex.

She was still deeply in thought clearly, watching people as by the window.

Her question struck him for a moment.

He was... unsure.

"Time seems to... warp strangely, it may have indeed been before I was born, and indeed if you were born when the... Union began to rebuild, and we seem of similar age, it may have been closer to then." What he had said out of anger and vitriol was far from entirely the case, especially when in his youth, the fall of the empire only appeared in brief, repressed, flashes.

He continued to listen to her, what a life she spoke of, she did not go into specifics per se, but hunting monsters? He had thought the training his tutors and instructors had put him through was tough, but they had never had him hunt a sea dragon of all things. Even if such experience was being used as a metaphor to discuss another topic.

It was... fascinating.

"It is... comforting to believe that the foe you fight is mindless, without reason, beyond understanding, for then... you do not to rationalise that the enemy you fight is..." Red eyes turned to the hazel that were gazing at him cautiously, from the corner of her eye, "...A living, breathing, person."

He gazed away from her, only now truly realising how...

How...

How much she looked like him.

Not in a literal sense, really they looked nothing alike.

But two arms, two legs, a head with eyes and a mouth, standing upright and talking in words that measured harsh and calm.

It troubled his stomach.

Especially when she spoke of the cruelties that his people had inflicted on hers, those that he knew, but he had never consciously considered. The Graug... Tal'Beskar... did those acts make up for the atrocity they committed upon Dromund Kaas, upon Eshan?

Perhaps, but if they were truly worthy of ruling this galaxy, did they not wish to be above them? Rather than attempting to equalise, perhaps even... go further in cruelty?

He offered a half-smile that did not quite reach his eyes, still perhaps the first genuine smile he had displayed, odd enough considering the weight of their conversation.

"...I hope I have been adequate company." He offered as the barest of japes.

Tae'l Vizsla

 

[Tae'l Vizsla]

"I am, technically speaking, younger than I look" She shrugged, but did not elaborate further on the peculiar affects of time. If pressed she might answer, but she had willingly spoke of it only to a select few. Omon being one of those rare exceptions.

Otherwise she listened quietly to the Sith, still watching the street outside, still in thought about a great many things. Mostly that even being here was ridiculous but also the ever nagging thought that she had nowhere else to be. Other such contradicting thoughts surfaced, such as the fact that this Sith was one of two who had offered her an intelligent conversation but also that throughout most of it she desperately wanted to shoot him from under the table. And yet she had promised Omon that she wouldn't, even though she took an oath in the names of House Vizsla and Death Watch to do exactly that to many individuals in the past.

The last few months had been such a whirlwind of emotion.

She supposed it wasn't so different for this "Malum" person, even if he was a free man in this instance. His explanation of how a soldier rationalizes the short term dehumanization of his enemy told her that he had at least some experience in warfare, to which she nodded understandingly. She had been trained from birth to reduce the enemy to a target like those holograms at the range, and it had propelled her career as a soldier.

She instinctively touched the back of her head, two pairs of surgical scars still visible. The most recent being when Jackal removed the bio-inhibitor chip from her skull. More so than any training, it was responsible for the cold and ruthless way in which she rationalized her actions for so many years.

It was also a source of shame so great that it permeated her very presence in the force to this day.

"...I hope I have been adequate company."

Even so, his comment tugged at the corner of her lip as she shook her head.

"Hmh. I suppose I've endured worse" She would snort.

"But I'm sure you're more used to wine sipping "ladies" in tight dresses and officers in fancy suits than you are bush dwelling commandos with muddy boots" She quipped back. While it was true that Omon had introduced her to wine and a few of the finer things, she was still proud to have earned her living in the trenches and dropships while it lasted.


Darth Malum of House Marr

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

He quirked an eyebrow at the shrug, as if what she had said was not something which warranted further discussion, as if what she said was not utterly perplexing, as if what she said would not burrow out the curiosity of any man, let alone one that was perhaps... dangerously curious, "...And what exactly do you mean by that?" Malum questioned, disliking being on the backfoot like this.

Of course, it could mean little... she did not look much older than him... or much younger... honestly, it was rather difficult to tell, he might be able to register what decade one was part, but beyond that, specifics were not his forte, especially when in relation to himself, especially when stating anything of age was to break numerous different rules of etiquette.

Then there was also alien biology to consider...

...Malum left it as her simply being an age to him, and said no more, no doubt with how the Mordiniz-, no doubt with how she worded it, she was baiting him to question, and as much as he resented playing to her tune, a question would hardly place him at her disposal.

Still, it was difficult not to appreciate the quietude, the calm that came over their table, Malum watching cautiously, as her eyes gazed upon the Sith citizenry outside, walking without a care in the world. Watching as she nodded her head idly at Malum's explanations.

Only to furrow his eyebrows as her fingers trailed up to the back of her head.

Only for his focus to be taken by the smile threatening her lips, it was cute, and enough to bring about his own, as he clutched his heart dramatically, "You wound me so, Lady Vizsla," Her snort was a sweet sound... he could not help but hope she would make the noise again, even as she continued.

Bringing him a moment of pause as he thought, "We all enjoy a bit of uniqueness, exoticness, in our lives, do we not?" Malum countered, ruby-red orbs glimmering with mirth.

Had she ever seen one with eyes as red as his?

Tae'l Vizsla