Private He Will Come On A Bridge Of Paper

[Arcturus Dinn]

Ession​

Sith Space​

Ashin Cardé Varanin ​

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What a mess he'd made of it all.​

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His place within the invasion of Ossus had ended up turbulent at best; he'd done more to aid their opponents than his own Master's plans, ferried out the children from the Temple, refused to engage the Jedi in battle. Even when he had Starlin Rand aboard his ship, coordinates locked on Korriban, he'd ultimately let the boy go. Brought him home to Coruscant, free as a bird. At the end of the day he simply couldn't do it. He wasn't a crusader. He didn't want to go and spread some crazed message about the darkside, and pretend it was anything other than it was. It was not salvation, not in his eyes, it was a means to an end, a useful tool, but it came at an arguably insurmountable price.​

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He could not in good conscience force that upon a group of kids, as it had once been forced upon him. It had to be a choice; nobody could make that for them.​

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Thesh had made his choice, of course. Long before he'd heard that melodic, transfixing song he'd realized this was a path he was willing to take. He wanted the knowledge it would provide him, he thrived upon the occult, and wanted nothing more to see where the breadcrumb trail could lead. Not for power, not inherently. Call it mere fascination, curiosity.​

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Yet he hadn't returned to Korriban.​

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Nobody had seen him since the invasion. Only a handful had even witnessed him leaving with Starlin and they were mostly Jedi. No, the boy had taken a page out of Rand's book and made his way back to the start. Back to the place it had all begun. Ession.​

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He hadn't gazed upon that world in a great many years, he would barely remember it at all if not for the vision he'd seen within the Netherworld. It wasn't much of a homecoming though, as his beloved Leviathan touched down on the planet and the grimy streets were opened up to him. There was nobody left on Ession who would even remember him. Nobody left to recall the name he'd lost when the Sith came and stole him away, and tore asunder all he had known.​

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Truth be told he was only really there because it was the last place anyone would expect him to go. He needed to lay low, figure out what exactly it was he'd do going forward. As far back as his memory went he'd never truly been free, or alone, in this Galaxy of theirs. A new chapter was beginning, and he wasn't sure where his foot should fall first.​

 

[Diamant]

source

ESSION
POTENTIAL FUTURE BATTLEGROUND BETWEEN AT LEAST TWO SITH FACTIONS
PLAYTHING OF FASCISTS OF EVERY STRIPE

A bone-white Twi'lek wrapped in red should have stood out in this grim territory. Somehow she was at home in an archway, flicking cigarra ash down a grate. The cigarra's business end sparkled blue among the embers - granules of glitterstim activating in whatever daylight Ession saw fit to provide.

She whistled low as the pale boy went by, just a peremptory two-note demand for attention. He wouldn't recognize her at any level.

" Arcturus Dinn ," she said, breathing smoke. "You survived the Dreaming Dark. Hold your head a little higher."

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Nobody left on Ession to remember him.​

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That was how it was. How he expected it to be.​

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And yet not too long after he disembarked his ship, and wound his way through the narrow streets of a city he truthfully didn't even recognize much less remember, there was one among the many beings who inhabited this world who called out to him. He knew that it was he they sought the attention of by virtue of their words alone. He would have known even if his name had not been uttered. But it had been.​

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He could not even pretend he did not hear.​

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Gaze shifted to the Twi'lek, stood within an archway as she was. Taking a drag from her poison of choice. He did not recognize her, of course. He'd never seen anyone who looked like she did.​

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Though he hadn't thought his head hung particularly low, her words goaded him into lifting his chin just a touch. Whatever it was he was hoping to do here, wherever it was he had been headed, was paused. At least for a moment. He stepped away from the crowd he'd been walking alongside and approached her, though he stopped far enough away that he would be out of reach.​

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Couldn't be too cautious as things presently lay.​

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"Do I know you, stranger?" he inquired, though truth be told he didn't really wish to know the answer to that. He felt though the Force but she didn't seem familiar, certainly didn't seem as though she'd been sent by the Sith though who knew. There were few else in this Galaxy who knew of him, much less would have reason to call him out.​

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Diamant​

 

[Diamant]

"Not by this face. Shapeshifter," she explained, and took a final drag off the cigarra. "All you need to know is I was one of the couple dozen strangers who was there beside you. You look nervous and that's fair, but I had no idea I'd see you. You're a bright spot on a terrible planet. Call it serendipity."

Arcturus Dinn

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Serendipity.​

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If what the woman said was true, then that was certainly a word for it. He nodded his head, a temporarily faraway look in his eye as she informed him of her place among the Netherventurers. He'd only seen a handful of individuals who had made it out the other side since. Kal and Noelle Varanin were among the more frequent, though he was sure that Arthos Vynea had been there too. The rest? He could hardly remember who else was even there.​

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Certainly he wouldn't have known if any were shifters.​

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"You uh, want a drink or something?" he inquired, though he wasn't rightly sure if there was even a cantina nearby, "For old times sake." He did his best to avoid too much sarcasm in his tone, but it was difficult given the circumstances. He meant the offer, of course, but one deadly jaunt through the Dreaming Dark didn't mean they owed one another anything.​

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Diamant ​

 

[Diamant]

"Heh" and half a smile. "I appreciate the offer, but no. Arcturus, you strike me as struggling with either an existential quandary or a lack of motivation. Haven't your lords sufficiently leashed you to their cause?"

Arcturus Dinn

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

So the Twi'lek knew more about him than would have been offered by their expedition into the Dreaming Dark. Curious. A light frown fell over his lips for a moment, though it was more in contemplation than anything else. In the back of his mind he still wondered if this was some trick, a test to see where his loyalties lay. Part of him wondered if that even mattered at all.​

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"I don't rightly know their cause," he offered with a very loose shrug, "I journeyed to Korriban to find my Master. I found him... But I don't know where I lay with the rest of it." Not an issue of motivation then, he'd kept up his projects and his studies even in his absence, that insatiable drive for more was ever present within him. Perhaps she was right, perhaps Ossus had opened his eyes and made him question... Something. Not quite everything, but enough that he'd resisted returning to them.​

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Diamant ​

 

[Diamant]

A shrug. "You're a Sith, yes? Isn't the core of the Sith tradition breaking every chain that gets between you and whatever you want most? So if what you want isn't what you've been offered - what, then?"

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

He knew what she was getting at. It was something which had crossed his mind many times over since the Youngling-issue. Since he and Starlin Rand had minced words on the battlefield, and later on aboard Leviathan. What came now? Could his loyalty to Darth Empyrean prove enough to keep him within the strange Empire of the Worm he'd returned to? After so many years away it was foreign to him, he didn't understand it, what they stood for, though he also hadn't done a good job of seeking answers to any of that either.​

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Deep down Thesh just wanted to create. Not tear apart.​

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But it wasn't just Maliphant anymore either. He'd formed other bonds there, Melydia Gold and Ishani Dinn and Quintus Varro ... It was getting so complicated. A slight sigh left him, as those thoughts danced around his head in the moments following her question.​

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"Then I seek something that will help further my goals," he stated rather simply. As though there was no other answer to such a question. Because in reality... well, there wasn't.​

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Diamant ​

 

[Diamant]

"Resources, knowledge, allies, context? You should go study on the Pomojema - university for Darksiders, graduate school even. I'm told Varanin waived the entry tests for more than one of the people who survived her Netherworld fiasco."

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Pomojema?​

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It wasn't a name that was familiar with him, but then he hadn't really gotten out much beyond the bubble he'd come to know. Such was the way of an indoctrinated slave, he supposed. There was much about this Galaxy of theirs that he was unfamiliar with, and books could only bridge so many gaps.​

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"A University... Sounds intriguing." This time no sarcasm, just sincerity. He nodded his head slowly. "Would you happen to know where it's located?"​

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Perhaps he'd find some of what he was looking for there. Force knew he needed something in his reluctance to return to Korriban.​

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Diamant ​

 

[Diamant]

"It's mobile - a starship. I couldn't tell you its flight plan, but I know it's visited a variety of old and new Sith worlds. Korriban on occasion, a little in the Sith Empire's territory, but mostly I believe it spends its time in the territory of-" She made finger-quotes. "-the 'Warlords of the Sith.' Tash-Taral and so forth. Brosi, Ninn, quite close to here."

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Mobile.​

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Ingenious!​

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Thesh very much liked the idea of that. He could study and work and still see more of the Galaxy than the quiet corner he was known to roam. As she explained a little further he found that one world among them jumped out at him. Tash-Taral. He'd gone tomb-hunting there, come across the one known as Ceri within its depths. Another hot, sandy world... But one he at least knew in some capacity. Perhaps he'd head that way then, wait for it to near the world.​

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"Thank you, genuinely you've been most helpful." A sense of purposefulness began to chip away at the hopelessness he'd felt since letting Starlin Rand go free. Perhaps earlier than that, when the Younglings had first been mentioned. "If there's any way I can repay you, be sure to let me know."​

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But he figured he'd unintentionally taken up enough of her time.​

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Diamant ​