Private Wasteland Adventures

[Revna]

Raphael Gallustrade
​

---

Revna paused for a moment, weighing on if she should announce the other Jedi’s name. In the end, she decided that perhaps it might be best if she didn’t. For some reason, she didn’t want him to get in trouble for his interaction with her, especially knowing that she was a Sith and had willingly learned from her. She doubted saying his name here and now would have a negative impact on him…but she chose to air on the side of caution.

“He didn’t give me his name. Just like you never gave me yours when I shared mine with you.” she responded, a playful smirk touching her face.

The little woman reflected on his statements for a moment, nodding along in agreement. “I’ve been told and read that we, Sith and Jedi - used to be one. But some people saw things differently and tried to explain that and they were…cast out. Of course…each side would tell their own version of the story to make the other seem cruel. The Sith would blame the Jedi for their uptight and constricting ways, and the Jedi would blame the Sith for being so easily led astray from their path. So yeah…I would agree with you on that. Ideological differences really do separate our kind from interacting. Most Sith want to kill Jedi on sight. And I am sure that a lot of Jedi feel the same about the Sith.”

Revna listened as he shared that he was indeed a padawan still, and that he did have a Master; she huffed and smiled a bit when he said that beyond helping other Jedi students he was piloting ships. While she was curious to know more about all of that, she was quite curious to hear his response to her question about the greatest lesson he’d learned thus far, and her gaze was intent upon him as he shared his thoughts with her.

She noted that he was a bit…vague on details. He mentioned a ‘she’, but did not divulge who that was, though Revna assumed that to be his Jedi Master. Nor did he say what he had to pick up on the planet he went to. But whatever it was, it was something that helped him gain understanding on something important for his life, and the little Sith knew that such things were indeed very important lessons to learn on one’s journey.

“...and what about your greatest regret? Your greatest…mistake?” she then asked him after a few moments of silence, her gaze upon still intent and piercing.

 

[Raphael Gallustrade]

Raphael chuckled, as she explained that the man had never given his name and he simply nodded, accepting it. Though when she reminded him that he'd neglected to give his name, he laughed, remembering. "Ah, uhm, yes... That's my bad. I'm Raphael, but most people tend to call me Raph. Just..." He shrugged. "Hadn't thought, at the time. My apologies." He grinned at her playful smirk.

"I don't understand this desire to kill each other on sight. It doesn't make any sense, constantly destroys any ability to learn about one another... I don't know. Perhaps it's just wishful thinking on my end, though I always wished that the two sides could find some way of coexistence. We don't have to live together, but..." Raphael sighed, shaking his head and leaning back with a shrug. "I suppose it doesn't really matter, at the end of the day. The two sides will be, as they are."

Then came the next question. Though... he supposed they came in two questions. Still he had to think about it. That wasn't an easy question. "Mm... That's a good question... My biggest regret...and mistake..." He thought back. Times that they'd gotten stuck on that planet, after the sith had shot them down? No... That time when Nouqai had carved his neck? No, not that, either... After a few minutes his mind suddenly jumped to a name, unbidden. "Adeline..." And he stared at the fire, silently, his mind lost in memory, in thought and in the haze of a time long past. A time he'd both loved and hated.

Revna

 

[Revna]

Tag: Raphael Gallustrade
​

---

He seemed perhaps a touch reluctant to share his name, but he did nonetheless, and she stored it away within her memory banks like she did with everything else that might come in handy later down the road.

“Raphael…” she repeated softly, testing the name as she spoke it. “No need to apologize. I figured you did not share your name because I’m a Sith. But I like to know someone’s name if I’m having a more face to face conversation with them - like we are having.”

He didn’t understand why the two sides wanted to kill each other on sight, but she already had a pretty good idea as to why, for she saw it in action all the time. The Sith wanted to rule everyone, and everything and they would stop at nothing to achieve that singular goal and purpose. And that pit them against pretty much everyone else.

It wasn’t so much about the pursuit of knowledge and power in the Force anymore, so much as it was the desire to dominate and control.

“Indeed. In the end, we will continue on as we have been, at war with one another and seeking to wipe the other out of existence. A shame it has to be that way though; some of you Jedi are rather nice…” she murmured as an almost playful glint shined in her eyes.

Revna was quiet and listened intently as Raphael seemed to reflect on what he might consider his greatest mistake or regret. The young woman expected him to share some story, but instead she was surprised to hear a woman’s name be shared, and noticed that he stared into the fire as he did so.

Intriguing, she thought to herself as her gaze narrowed slightly.

“...A former lover, I take it?” Revna asked gently with an arched eyebrow, wanting to know and hear more but not have him shut down on her. “Any time I hear a woman’s name uttered as a regret it usually has something to do with that…” She paused for a moment, in thought, before adding: “If it helps, I can share a regret of mine too; we can both be embarrassed at the same time…” She offered with some humor, attempting to ease any tension or discomfort that might be present now.

 

[Raphael Gallustrade]

He smiled, ever so slightly, as she repeated his name. There were times where he wondered why it was that the sith and Jedi had diverged, so radically; even when he'd read of what had occurred. She wasn't wrong, in a way. What he'd read suggested that the Jedi oftentimes blamed the sith for having allowed themselves to be led astray, by darker and selfish desires. Sith, from what he imagined, probably believed that the Jedi had simply chosen a path of letting themselves go instead of fully using this power that they all shared.

"That is very fair," he nodded. "I can certainly understand wanting to know someone's name, when speaking directly to them. I don't have very many opportunities to speak with sith and, when I do, it's usually either "power of the dark side, blah blah blah" or a lightsaber being swung in my direction."

He'd been training in such a way to get used to feeling the vibrations of attacks coming at him, so that he could enhance his reaction times both with and without the Force. Far too many sith and Jedi tended to focus on the Force, using it to enhance themselves. Sometimes one wouldn't be able to rely on the Force, and so he was also attuning his body to be able to move as was needed. It was a frightening thing, sometimes, when he would defend himself against animals.

"I'm glad that not all of your experiences with jedi have been antagonistic." His reply was tinged with the slightest bit of amusement, as he leaned back, again. There was one other thought that he kept to himself, as they spoke. It wasn't something that he felt she really needed to hear. She'd probably heard it from many jedi, in the past.

He tilted his head, at her suggestion and started to laugh. "Oh, I'm sorry, I don't mean to laugh, but no. Not a former lover. I've, uh, I've never had any kind of romantic love. Platonic, I suppose." He chuckles. "But no, uh, it's the name of a... I think a sith, but definitely a darksider..." Pausing, for a moment, to think of what, exactly, he wanted to say, careful to not reveal the full extent of it, but at the same time letting her know just enough. "She was a darksider that I'd fought on Coruscant, the one that took my arm, here..." And he held up his left arm. That, at least, was safe enough.

Revna

 

[Revna]

Raphael Gallustrade
​

---

She couldn’t help but chuckle with genuine mirth at Raphael’s comments about his own interactions with Sith; she knew full well what it was like to interact with her own kind. A twinkle of deviousness came into her eyes as she offered a playful smirk.

“Oh don’t you know? The Sith are the greatest in the galaxy. All should bow before our magnificence. None can compare to us.” she said, a clear tremor of mocking in her own voice, before she snorted again and dipped her head to compose herself.

“Well I am certainly not going to force Dark side dogma down your throat. Not unless you ask me for my thoughts and opinions about it.” Revna said as she lifted her head back up to look at him. “And truthfully what I and my Master and our people believe is so…different…from the rest of the Order that we are labeled as heretics by most, if not all.”

Raphael leaned back as he expressed that he was glad that her experiences with Jedi hadn’t been all antagonistic and she couldn’t hold back the soft chuff of amusement. “Well, to be honest all of them started off antagonistic. The first Jedi Padawan I met, I fought. I could have killed him too, but I made the choice to disengage before my position was revealed to the enemy, and I let him go. I hunted a group of padawans with some fellow acolytes, but I didn’t kill anyone. Beyond that, you’re the only other Jedi I’ve come across. So you can say you’re the first one that I’ve not been antagonistic towards.” she finished with a small smirk.

He barked out a laugh at her assumption that the woman he had mentioned had been a former lover, and made it clear that that hadn’t been the case, a platonic partner more than a romantic one. But the next part that he revealed really intrigued Revna, and she leaned forward a bit more as her curiosity was revealed on her face.

“...you know not many Jedi hang around with a Sith that they fought and who cut their arm off, enough to say they had a ‘platonic’ kind of love with said individual.” she said with a raised eyebrow. “I won’t lie - now I am really interested to hear how this happened. Was this…before you decided to become a Jedi?”

 

[Raphael Gallustrade]

As she let out with the sarcasm, in response to his own comment about proselytizing, Raphael couldn't help but laugh, a genuine laugh. He hadn't meant it entirely in that way, though he could certainly understand why she'd be so sarcastic about it. One of the most common... stereotypes of sith was constantly talking about the dark side and how they had to conquer and control everything and how they were the greatest. She was simply playing into that, and the humor was something he could appreciate it.

He allowed a smile to escape him, before he replied. "I do appreciate you not trying to preach to me, though opinions and thoughts are a bit different than how great it is. How you see it, is something entirely different." Though as she explained that her and her instructor were different than their kin. "I see... Huh. I didn't think that even sith would have a different, nearly incompatible way, of seeing things, while still being... part of the order, or..." He frowned. "My thoughts on it... Would be... I'm surprised that you and you master never broke away from the others and became something else entirely, I suppose."

He nodded, looking only a bit more serious, though still having something of a faint smile on his face, as she explained that this meeting was the first that wasn't antagonistic. While he could certainly understand why that was, he was beginning to think that he was just a strange jedi. Raphael had had many encounters with sith that weren't hostile. Perhaps it was because that, if even for a little bit, he'd been in their world, so he understood a little better.

Yet... Oh, he'd been unclear.

"Oh, no," he quickly replied. "No no no. Apologies. I think you misunderstood what I meant. I mean that the person in question wasn't my lover and that I've never been in "romantic love". The closest I've had is platonic love, and even then, it was only for my sister. The dark sider in question..." He paused, wondering how exactly to phrase his thoughts. "I'd run into her before and our interaction was decidedly antagonistic. She took my arm because she was more skilled and definitely more powerful." He chuckled. "I'm still surprised how long it took me to lose consciousness from blood loss, if I'm to be honest."

Revna

 

[Revna]

Raphael Gallustrade
​

---

Revna chuckled with him as he laughed with her mocking comments. “At least someone appreciates my sort of humor. If I had made such comments to my Master he’d give me…Well, he always wears a mask so I can’t see his face. But I feel like it would be a very unamused expression. He’s such a grump.” she said with another chuckle and a mild shake of her head, but there was a hint of warmth in her voice as she spoke about him.

She tilted her head and a small smile tugged at her lips as Raphael responded to her comments about the differences she and her people carried from the rest of the Order. He was surprised to hear that she and her Master hadn’t separated themselves from the rest of the Sith and become their own thing.

“You’d be surprised; there are a lot of Sith out there with differences of thoughts or opinions or beliefs. We still bicker and fight each other about it too. Most simply tolerate the existence of others, biding their time. And I’ve tried convincing my Master of… going our own way. But he is very much devout to keeping to the Order - not the Sith who make up the body, but the institution itself. It’s a lot more…complicated than that though.”

Raphael was quick to further correct or clear up a misunderstanding that Revna seemed to have in regards to his connection with this dark sider from his past, though she was mildly surprised to hear that he had never been romantically involved with someone, he did seem like quite the nice, handsome young man if she was honest with herself. But, from what she had gathered over time about the Jedi was that not all pursued such things.

“Ahhh I understand better now; sorry for my misunderstanding.” she said before narrowing her eyes at him thoughtfully. “Honestly…I am quite surprised this darksider let you live, especially if she outskilled and overpowered you. Most Sith do not let their opponents live, not unless there is another reason behind such an action. And the fact that you’re sitting here and talking to me, tells me that she had a purpose behind keeping you alive. Did she just…walk away or did she take you captive?” She paused once more, tilting her head at him slightly.

“Sorry if my questions dig too deep. I’m just a curious creature; I like to hear people’s stories. And you certainly have an intriguing story.”

 

[Raphael Gallustrade]

Raphael grinned. Of all things, Raphael greatly enjoyed humor despite the fact that occasionally it could be used as a mask for trauma and such things. Yet the more that he listened, especially when she said taht her master wouldn't have found it nearly as amusing, Raphael nodded his understanding. Some people were like that and not everyone appreciated such good humor.

"Huh. I'm sure taht you all still bicker and fight and such, though I would've thought... Hrm... Well, I'm sure it's more complicated. I mean, even Jedi have different ways of looking at the Force and our duties. I guess variety, and our differences, really are the spice of life, huh?" He grinned. A lotta people disagreed about a lot of things, but they all worked together to make it all work, at the end of the day...

"It's alright," he replied, with a bit of a smile. "Thankfully, I wasn't alone and, with a compatriot, we managed to drive her off, even if we couldn't outright kill her, at the time." He chuckled. "But no, if she'd taken me captive, I'm not sure that I'd be here, right now." He'd made sure to not let on that he'd once been her apprentice; that, for a brief time, he'd been in a position like her. That was something that his companion was better off not knowing. "She left, when my compatriot helped me. And, I understand you asking. If I hadn't lived through it, even I'd be interested in this story."

He paused a moment. "Mm... I needed to work on something anyways, and I'm not sure you'd ever have a chance to see something like this..." Reaching into his pocket, Raphael procured a very odd crystal. It was a pale blue in color, with its faces and vertices constantly changing shape, ever so slightly, as it shimmered a bit. Holding it in his right hand, he concentrated, and as it started to lift into the air, there was a perceptible shift in the energies of the Force. His breaths were short, and light, yet what he was doing was clearly connecting to the crystal. It shimmered again, before a voice as soft as the wind seemed to echo from around them.

Ah... At last... What is here... A child of the dark, paths defined by freedom, by blood and pain, by conquest... And... When its attention turned to Raphael, it seemed to stop, for a moment a curiosity. And a fragmented dark... cleaved from its destiny, illuminating itself in the light, choosing a path...yet accepting itself... There was a long silence. And now the fragment... seeks to immerse itself in light...in truth and acceptance... But can it accept what it sees of itself...?
Revna

 

[Revna]

Raphael Gallustrade
​

---

“Yes, it is rather complicated.” Revna said in agreement to Raphael’s assessment. “And I figured there would be differences within the Jedi Order itself. It certainly does add spice to life. Never a dull moment when you get a bunch of Sith together to chat, that’s for damn sure. I'm sure the same could be said for the Jedi.”

She listened as he further explained how he had survived his encounter with the dark sider who had taken his arm. It made more sense to her now when he said he’d had a companion with him at the time who had helped drive off his attacker.

“Lucky for you that you had someone there with you then. I’m sure your attacker wasn’t too thrilled at being forced away from her kill. Most darksiders or Sith aren’t too happy when they are forced to retreat from a possible victory. Some don’t and pay the price with their lives. Good riddance in my opinion - one less possible rival to deal with.” the young Sith said in her soft voice with amusement in her eyes.

Her mirth turned to curiosity when the young Jedi reached into his pocket and mentioned that he needed to work on something, and correctly stated that she hadn’t had a chance to witness whatever it was he was hinting at. She sat forward a little more in her seat before the fire, her curious nature coming to life even more when she saw a crystal in his hands. Revna frowned and tilted her head from side to side, her gaze flickering to him before she looked back at the crystal.

It was a pale blue in color, and as she stared closer at it, she could have sworn it almost seemed to shift and change shape as if it was living. She watched as Raphael closed his eyes and began to concentrate and she felt the shift in the Force as the crystal lifted up from his hand and began to float in the air. Revna watched him, her curiosity turning into excitement as the moments slipped by and she sensed that something was about to happen.

The crystal, clearly imbued with and by the Force, shimmered and then a voice - gentle and soft - whispered around both Raphael and Revna. She sat back in her seat and looked around, clearly taken by surprise by the voice that was coming…from the crystal?

The little woman listened as the crystal seemed to read her, and called her a child of the Dark - her path defined by certain attributes, before it then seemed to turn its attention to Raphael. Revna’s gaze narrowed as she heard the sentient crystal’s assessment of the young Jedi opposite to her. A fragmented dark? Cleaved from its destiny?

The crystal continued and seemed to almost challenge the young man with a question on if he would accept what he sees in himself.

Interesting, Revna thought to herself as she watched and listened in silence. Clearly there was more to his story he didn’t tell me. A dark past he carries with him.

Though she burned with deeper curiosity, she held her tongue as she continued to watch and listen to this unique and rather special situation unfold before her.

 

[Raphael Gallustrade]

The faces and vertices shifted again as the crystal seemed to regard them both, as if reading into them. Raphael simply gazed at the crystal, not responding to what seemed like provocations. The crystal, seemingly incensed by his refusal to respond, shifted color, changing from light blue, to green and the voices suddenly changed to a multitudinous chorus.

"Do you deny our words?!" the voices screamed at him. "Do you deny that you had once been an acolyte, nay, an apprentice to a sith?! To one of your very enemy?!"

Raphael sat there, watching the crystal, still, not responding. Nor, did he seem to even look at Revna, as if he knew what she might think, or... maybe he just didn't want to concern himself with what she might think. "No, I don't deny it. However it wasn't something of my own volition. I'd been captured."

It changed, again, to yellow, the voices becoming even more agitated. "And yet it was not by your own hand that you were saved fom that fate, was it? No!! It was from other Jedi that you were rescued, that you were delivered from such a fate!! If it weren't for them, then you would still be at her side, wouldn't you?! WOULDN'T YOU?!"

"I don't deny that such a thing could have been a potentiality," Raphael muttered, out a reply. "But I also don't deny the reality of the situation. I'm not with her, am I?"

The color changed to red, energy arcing off of it, in a near pure rage as the voices spoke again. "You say that you are not with her!! Yet your soul is stained by her tutelage, her teachings! You claim that you are free, that you are no longer hers and yet you find yourself wrestling with the thoughts of her, of your thralldom!! Your light is so often assailed by the darkness that haunts your mind, your soul and your vision!! AND NOW, you sup with one that, by right of destiny, should be your sibling in practice and worship!!! And... and yet..."

"And yet we do not worship together, we do not practice the same. Our versions of self-mastery are so vastly different, that they are as earth and sky. And whatever I should have been, or might have been, is not what I am." His replies were confident, and unquestioning, as he stared back at the crystal. "Even when I'm afraid, when I'm angry when I don't think I can do something, I known that the Force is a stronger rock than any power I can accumulate... I know that it is beyond me and greater than I can ever be."

The crystal was silent... and it simply watched them both, as if observing the truth presented before it.

Revna

 

[Revna]

Raphael Gallustrade
​

---

Revna continued to sit and watch and listen in awe as the scene unfolded before her. Almost immediately, her attention was grabbed by the voice coming from the crystal, directed at the Jedi beyond her. Its colors seemed to shift between its statements and provocations, and she was intrigued that it became more…aggravated if he didn’t respond right away, even screaming at him.

Raphael, for his part, seemed completely focused on the crystal, his gaze fixated upon it and nothing else around him mattered in the moment. He seemed to have lost awareness that she, a Sith, was there at all.

Or maybe he just didn’t care, even as his secrets were laid bare.

Revna’s eyes narrowed slightly when she learned that he had been an acolyte, a Sith, just like she was. His response back to the crystal’s accusations, answered her unspoken question of how he had become an acolyte in the first place. How often had she heard that story before…that a Sith was made against their will?

The crystal shifted to a yellow color, and accused Raphael further - that had some Jedi not come to his rescue, that he would still be an apprentice - an accusation the young man did not outright deny. A selfish, small part of Revna wished - briefly - that he had remained a Sith, for she found him to be a pleasant person to be around.

But…maybe that was because he was a Jedi now, and not a Sith.

She cast that small jealous wish aside and let it vanish like smoke on the wind as the crystal finally shifted to red, and a ripple of rage could be felt through the Force, a shift to the Dark side. Fascination bloomed in Revna’s amber eyes, their hue glinting with the red of the crystal’s light for a moment. The voices lashed out against Raphael in their fury, declaring that his former Sith master had stained his heart with her teachings. It challenged his claim to freedom, and shamelessly pointed out that his thoughts went back to her, and mentioned something about a thralldom. Revna didn’t understand what it could mean by that, but she stored that away in her mind for later recall.

Her head tilted to one side when the crystal accused him of letting his light be assailed by the darkness, and even ridiculed him for having a meal with her, someone with whom he would have shared a destiny with as a fellow Sith, a destiny where they both would have worshiped the same darkness.

Raphael calmly pointed out that then that what he used to be, was not what he was now. He made further statements that Revna herself had a different opinion on, but she kept those to herself and let the events continue to play out before her. The crystal was silent, and it almost appeared as if it was digesting the words spoken to it, sifting through the truth that had been so plainly laid bare.

For her part, the young woman felt rather joyous for having made the decision to cross paths with her sworn enemy, and exist in a moment of peace with him. She would never have been able to witness such a scene that was now unfolding before her, and she never would have gotten to hear his story, his tale - had she come with the intention of destruction. Even in a moment like this, she learned something very valuable, something a Sith master could never have taught her, and it was something she would carry with her for the rest of her days.

Revna returned her gaze to Raphael and watched and waited in silence, unsure if the crystal would continue - or if the young man had passed whatever test it seemed to be putting him through.