Between the many civilians who crowded the station, Vereshin swerved discretely, avoiding their shoulders like the past as it followed him. With a bag of groceries in his arms, he went about his afternoon as usual, allowing no hints as to the space his presence warped with every movement he took. He stopped by a window on the shopping level and grabbed a packet of cigarettes, which he placed on the counter, along with a credit chip. The Nautolan woman took it with a small nod and handed him his cigarettes.
After placing them in the paper bag he carried, Vereshin walked out of the store, only with the feint sense that he had seen there people in there moments before. He turned around and saw the Naut0lan woman serve a man, the same man who had been standing in front of him in the que. Swallowing a pang of dread, Vereshin backed away, watching the colours around him distort with the force of his presence, warping them like the vortex of the singularity from which he had come out only weeks ago.
He turned around, only to see himself waking up the balcony and towards the store. When he looked back at the Nautolan woman, he saw two of her, her past and future selves moving in an absolute frame, while her present remained inconspicuous. Eventually, the same effect split the people around him, merging their past and future into a singular frame of reference, with Vereshin himself as the only reference to the correct present. Withdrawing a breath, he closed his eyes and walked away, trying to stay calm as the time around him proceeded to be warped. He caught a glimpse of a man behind him, who appeared to be Sith and avoided his gaze as he continued to leave the shopping area.
Like the people around him, the Sith was also split in time, with his past and future concurring in the one frame. When Vereshin realized that he was following him, he picked up his heels and turned a corner, heading down the walkway which lead to his apartment. As soon as he reached the door, the man was gone, making Vereshin assume that he had gone a different way. He made nothing of it and slid his passkey into the door, then opened and went inside. After making sure it was locked, he opened the window, which revealed a vast view of space outside. Releasing an elated sigh, he relaxed at the sight, which brought him overall joy and set his troubles aside.
"Tea, tea." Vereshin muttered.
After putting his groceries down, he used the refresher, then returned to the small room which housed his bed and desk. There was a kitchen area, where he boiled the kettle and got some new tea out of his shopping bag, the station had shops which sold leaves, not bags fortunately. Just as he was about to sit down, there was a knock at the door, which could only have been the Sith who was following him moments ago. With a groan, Vereshin opened the draw and gasped slightly, when he met the features of Orion, a Sith he had many adventures with in his youth. He wondered if Orion still knew him, which seemed the case, since he appeared to have been looking for him.
"Orion!" Vereshin exclaimed, smoothing back his slick hair. "It's been so long, how did you find me?" He asked and loosened his bowtie, which he threw on his bed with little effort. The question didn't matter so much, as Orion would not have known that Vereshin had traveled there from the future. With a wave of his hand, he dismissed it and ushered Orion inside. "Oh look, it doesn't matter, come inside and I'll explain everything." He said, somewhat flustered. Once Orion had stepped inside, he closed the door and locked it, then poured an extra cup of tea.
"I can't remember if you drank tea, but here you go." Vereshin said and handed Orion the cup. He sat at his desk, then gestured to his bed for Orion to sit, as there were no other chairs in the room. "Milk or sugar?" He asked, swiping a cigarette from his little silver case.
With a snap of his fingers, he lit the end and took a drag, then blew smoke away from the face of his guest. Wearing a black, knitted vest over a white shirt, he appeared nothing more than a civilian, his black suit pants emanating an air of class about him. Raising the cup to his lips, he took a sip and set it down, careful not to make a clank, then looked directly into Orion's eyes, his own lime green eyes glowing with intent. On the desk was a sheet of paper containing the equation he was presently trying to solve, the solution being a method of traveling to the future in order to rectify his passage of time.
"I had an accident with a black hole, Orion." Vereshin said, his eyes shifting from one end of the room to the next. Drumming his fingers on the sheet of paper, he scooped it up and handed it to the Sith, not supposing that he could make any sense of the differential language. "I was sucked past the event horizon and lo and behold, managed to pull myself out the other side." He chuckled with a shrug. Pointing to the sheet of paper with his cigarette, he noted the geometry of the black hole, which he was trying to manipulate to travel forward in time, rather than back. "I was dragged into the past, my frame of reference displaced and concurring with the past, relative to my position." Vereshin said and brought the cigarette to his lips, then blew smoke into the air.
"You are in the past, Orion, but only according to me, as I have traveled here from a later point in time." Vereshin said, following a pause. He looked deep into Orion's eyes, then turned away to face the window, where he saw the cosmos in all it's glory, it's stars spanning the abyss around them. "From your point of view, we are still in the present, because you were already here." He said, then took a sip of tea. As soon as he spoke, there was a knock at the door, telling them both that Orion's past self had arrived. Looking at Orion with an expression of revelation, Vereshin only shrugged as what he was telling him played out before their eyes.
[member="Orion Darkstar"]
