What Strange Paths We Wander

[Seo Linn]

"I feel codes are simple guides and a person can choose which to adapt into their lives."

Having been a worker in t​he great library on Lorrd, Seo couldn't help but appreciate the history that had been kept there. Serian made mention of the oldest Jedi code and she gave a tiny nod. It was obvious they both knew the ideas involved in each code, so there was no need to go over them line by line or even speak them at all. Unless it came up in the conversation, no elaboration was needed right now.

Taking a small sniff of the air, one corner of her mouth tipped up slightly. Accepting the cup from him, she listened to what he had to say on his cooking ability or not as the case might be.

"And I can make a feast out of four items. Maybe not quite a feast, but enough for two people to eat. I can take care of the fending, if the need comes up. At least you can make the drinking water safe."

A small sense of humor played in her words to go along with his.

[member="Serian Loria"]

 

[Serian Loria]

She would get a chuckle from him out of that “I cannot promise that the drink will taste as good as this, but I can make sure it won’t cause our demise. The rest I will gladly let you take care of, I have no problems with securing a meal or gathering, but the cooking eludes my ability, so I am not completely useless.”

He set his cup down and sat back with a soft sigh, his lit ruby gaze distant and unhappy. “Force aside, why did you aid me? I wonder at what motivates you.”

He didn’t trust her, but that had been apparent from the start. Even if he didn’t trust her, she was slowly proving to be an interesting companion, something he had been lacking for a while. Yet he had nothing to offer her, so then what reason did she have to stick around?

[SIZE=11pt][member="Seo Linn"][/SIZE]

 

[Seo Linn]

In just a few short exchanges she had been able to get at least a chuckle out of him. It seemed he was a little more open about being expressive with his feelings, she was still more of a closed book. Can read the cover of that book, but not know the whole story. Slowly though he was getting that story out of her. Not unwillingly though as she was learning about him at the same time. A little bit dropped here and there by each of them.

Nodding as he said he could help with the getting of food, the cooking would be up to her.

"I can accept that, Serian. Just curious, is there anything you just can't eat at all or don't like?"

Se​o wasn't a very picky eater. Most of the time, she did her own cooking and had learned a lot as she travelled. Hearing his quick change of subject and following his thought, she looked at him as she answered.

"The Force aside, I am still Jedi. Helping is what they do."

That was partly the answ​er. The other half took a few more moments for her to formulate her words and put them into something that would make sense. Taking a sip of the tea to give her that time, there was a brief silence.

"With the commotion at the spaceport...I needed to. Wasn't about to offer aid to that grouchy person that was pitching a fit. You were and are different. Sometimes curiosity is good and at the other times it isn't."

A corner of her mouth cu​rved up as she finished speaking and she set the cup down again.

"That is my motivation. Curiosity and a desire to know."

[member="Serian Loria"]

 

[Serian Loria]

Serian snorted “Under any other circumstances and quite a few less witnesses, I would have turned that man into a drooling puddle of fat with no mind at all. I am only lawful till I am not and that man and the mob watching were quickly getting on my nerves. Don’t fall into the silly trap of thinking me a better man than most, I don’t accept or do anything without a reason for it. You will only be met with blood soaked disappointment and only yourself to blame.”

He poured himself more tea and looked at her, his lit ruby gaze glittering with emotion. Her words had poked something he’d have preferred to stay unpoked. “A desire to know… You’ll find that following that hunger will open up costs you might not be interested in paying. All knowledge is worth having, so long as you are willing to pay the price that follows getting it. Sticking beside me is going to lead you places you would not have otherwise gone and will make you regret having done so.”

He had no allies or friends, he could keep them nor do anything to prevent their loss. Nothing had changed between then and now and here he found himself with yet another person who would die. What was the point to it? What did the Force gain by throwing these shiny new pebbles in his path for him to pick up, only for him to ultimately lose them? And this one was certainly the shiniest he had yet to have chucked in his direction.

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Seo Linn]

His words gave Seo a clue to how he would fight if he needed to. Far more aligned with the Force, it wasn't as likely he was well versed in martial arts. Her own knowledge was mix of the two and when they did have that spar, it would certainly be interesting. Serian also commented on being lawful or not and that was met with a tiny shrug of her shoulders. They had already partially covered this in conversation. Before she spoke, one of her eyebrows twitched slightly at something he said.

"I don't feel you, I or anybody else is better or worse than another. All actions and words are picked carefully before the move is made. While you may feel my answer did not give a full enough explanation, it is the best I can give."

Something​ she had said brought a look that was full of emotion. No for her though. His words were a warning and she nodded.

"I do actually understand what you mean."

Maybe not everything about him, but a great deal was clear just based off this single conversation.

[member="Serian Loria"]

 

[Serian Loria]

Serian leaned forward, his lit ruby gaze pinned on her “No, Miss Linn, you do not. I have tread all sorts of circles, plucked from people secrets that destroyed their lives and a good portion of that before I was trained within the Sith. You wear a good mask, but if I wanted to I could take your mind in my hands and read it like a book. Every painful memory, everything from your first steps to the deepest most dark desire you might have harbored and felt bad for feeling. Knowing, the drive to know, if you were truly hungry for it and had sacrificed much, you little Jedi...would not be so shiny white. People who truly hunger, don’t stay unsoiled. People who hunger will compromise every moral, every principal, every shred of decency, to grasp what they are reaching for. That, is what the hunger does and only by falling deep can you glean the skills I fought for.”

He looked away, the anger simmering under his skin “You have no idea what you are getting into by wanting to learn more about me. Worse, how much I very wish to peel you layer by layer just to fold you back together again to see the look in your eyes when you look back to this moment.”

The only reason he didn’t? She hadn’t done anything yet that would drive him to essentially raping her mind. He had done it to others, he could and would without hesitation, she just hadn’t elevated herself to the point that he would consider it necessary. He wanted her to run away, to go far far away so she wouldn’t becomes something she might dislike later. He wondered why he cared so much, why did he seek to get her to leave? He should just give her what she thinks she wanted and send her on her way.

[SIZE=11pt][member="Seo Linn"][/SIZE]

 

[Seo Linn]

In a way that spar he had requested was already begun. It had been unintentional on her part in bringing this about, but Seo would see it through and have the conversation.

"I invite you to."

What he said might be accurate, but she had strong mental fortitude and it would be difficult even for him. No doubt he would accomplish what he was after if he really tried though.
​
"Do you think I am pure and unsoiled? That is a mistake on your part. Nobody is."

If he really wanted to ​do what he suggested, she wouldn't stop him. The whole process would be very enlightening for the both of them she was sure.

[member="Serian Loria"]

 

[Serian Loria]

Serian stared at her and then snorted “I am not going to rape your mind just because you believe you have something to prove. And yes, I do.”

He looked her over “How many people have you murdered? I don’t mean killed in self defense or defending others, I mean killed them because you wanted to or could. How many people have you lied to? Blackmailed? Cheated? These are distinctions that set someone like myself apart from the rest, it is what makes me dangerous and a follower of the darker path. These are lines I have come to know that Jedi cannot cross and what you do not have upon your conscience. So yes, there are plenty of people who haven’t done any of those things.”

There wasn’t anything wrong with that, but her challenging him served no purpose.

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Seo Linn]

There was a shadow of a smirk on her face as Seo looked at her employer and companion.

"I almost wish you would have tried. Would save me from answer your questions."

What he thought of as her challenging or standing up to him was mistaken. While her hands might be as bloody as his were, what she said was true. Even she was not a pure person. Life on Lorrd had been difficult.
​
"There was a life I lived before that of being a Jedi, Mister Loria."

​Not looking away from him, but not appearing to challenge him, she would answer his questions. Her tone was emotionless and held no sense of pain or sorrow for her past actions. Of the short list he made, the only one she hadn't done in her past was blackmail a person.

"You are right a proper Jedi shouldn't cross the line, but what these days is a proper Jedi?"

He was out of time and place here. The Jedi were changed, but some remained pure. Even if she did have a darker history than some, Seo did attempt to stay true to her calling now. She still craved and hunger to know, but as he pointed out there were lines now she didn't want to cross again.

[member="Serian Loria"]

 

[Serian Loria]

Serian finished his tea and sighed looking away “Even that wouldn’t have spared you. If I want something there are many means I can go about getting it without breaking one of the few things about you that holds immeasurable use to me.”

He was sure her perspective would be interesting, though he didn’t have anything to really focus on. At least with the various factions he had been part of he had something to do, but now? “Your life before doesn’t count. Yes, it shaped you, but it is what you do now, in this moment, the next and the many in the future that really matter. The force...flows as you live, takes many shapes and reflects the one who is it’s vessel. In my case...my time as Sith marks me till the day I die, but you? You’ve not stepped upon the dark path and so are unmarked by what marks me. The force shapes us, but we shape it too.”

[member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Seo Linn]

She highly doubted he could have plowed through her mind like he thought he could. It was true when she said she wished he had tried. That would have put her willpower to the test and the results would have been interesting. When he commented her mind was of use to her, her more or less unemotional façade cracked just a little. In a way it was probably good he was looking away and couldn't see that happen.

Listening to what he said about her past not counting other than it having helped shaped who she was now, she nodded with a tiny movement.

"Of course I am unmarked by what you have done for they were your actions and not mine. I was also never sith, but I have been with them. It is pointless to say it seems I don't have the temperament to be one."

Taking a sip of the tea,​ she savored the taste of it and set her cup back down.

"And I wonder what shape will come out from either of us when we are done."

[member="Serian Loria"]

 

[Serian Loria]

Serian stared at her and then shook his head “Stars and stones, either I am not speaking properly or you are not listening. I said that your past has no bearing on the now, because you have not done those things from your past now to change your path towards the Dark. I, for my own actions, kept with my past and thus through the Sith, am marked. How does that amount to the implication that my actions, in a time your ancestors were just threading the chain that would eventually lead to your conception, effect you?”

He sighed and was very disappointed in her right than, but he let it go, she would learn. “You are more easily shaped than I, you are still...pliable and not so set in your ways, even if you would argue this for the sake of being contrary. As for myself? I would find myself impressed if you could manage such a thing.”

[SIZE=12pt][member="Seo Linn"][/SIZE]

 

[Seo Linn]

It was a simple misunderstanding of wording. What she heard was totally different than what he meant. As he clarified it and phrased his message in a way she could understand, her eyes took on a slight glitter of humor. Even if the topic was of a serious nature, it was clear they both had a dry sense of humor.

"As you are marked by your path in being a Sith, I am as being a Jedi. I am not going to answer your question since it would be pointless with your new phrasing. Just a simple misunderstanding of the message meant. Thank you for the clarification."

His ​body language and tone of sigh indicated he was disappointed in her, but she gave no reaction to it that he would see. However when he mentioned she was still pliable, he was greeted with a brow lifting just slightly and lowered quickly.

"We will see just how pliable I am, won't we."

[member="Serian Loria"]

 

[Serian Loria]

One ink black eyebrow rose and he shook his head, he didn’t blame her for her disbelief, but there will come a time when she will stop being skeptical and just take his word for it. He was a good judge of character and was confident in his assessment.

He lapsed into silence after that going back to what he had been doing. He wasn’t ignoring her, he was just filling time till she pulled the bulk of his focus back to her for whatever the reason might be.

[SIZE=11pt][member="Seo Linn"][/SIZE]

 

[Seo Linn]

There wasn't a clear reason for her to draw any further attention to herself at the moment. Serian went back to his reading and Seo finished eating the breakfast and tea that had been made. When she finished though, she did have a reason and that was to ask if he wanted her to take his dishes back to the mess.

She could tell he wasn't ignoring her and that was fine. It seemed he was waiting for her to speak again and she did.

"Would you like me to your dishes away?"

Taking on more of a serv​ant role was fine with her. After all she was getting them to their destination and it made sense in its own way.

[member="Serian Loria"]