Private One Time to Another

[Raphael Gallustrade]

Before the Dark Empire's Subjugation of Tython

He followed behind Onrai, their steps echoing in the nearly empty halls. He didn't know what, specifically, had brought this on; after all he knew that they were a creature of the dark, of potential corruption. Yet, at the same time, unlike with sith, there was no attempts at conversion. She seemed to have a sort of "live and let live" policy. He still found that odd about her and that was why, despite her leanings within the Force, he was going in the same way.

Perhaps it was her very nature that he found so odd. She shifted forms, easily, she did not strike first, as he would have assumed that she would've. Nor had she, upon their first meeting attepted to draw him in or drownn him within darker powers. She'd attempted to show him her truth, though he'd not been prepared and had lost consciousness. Even though he'd learned mmore of the Force and galaxy, he wasn't prideful enough to believe that he was ready, even now, not that it mattered. He wasn't aboout to learnn from those so immersed within the dark. Speaking was fine, to an extent. He did ponder what it was that she was after, down here. There wasn't much beyond tomes, scrolls...other such paraphernalia...

"Miss Onrai..." he finally spoke up, as the two turned down, yet another hallway, in the direction of the archival hall. "I have to ask, what are you? I asked you this, once before, but never got a straight answer." He continued his forward movement. Admittedly, he wasn't sure that he'd get a truly straight answer out of her, this time, either. In this, they were two entities, seperated by thought and ideology, yet the path carried their steps the same. "There are too many questions, that I'm not truly prepared too recieve answers to, yet." There was a difference to the man she'd met last, though; a removal of resigation, and an understanding of the self. This would be no battle. Just discussion.


Onrai

 

[Onrai]

Onrai had noticed that someone, a Padawan, had been following her. Her encounter with Raphael Gallustrade had been particularly brief previously, but he was currently following her as she sought to identify the dark presence that had already split up. Onrai seemed to split into two people - one who walked away and another who acknowledged the young man as he asked her a question, or several.

"I am a god." She said. "I heal the sick, water the crops, aid the births, and answer the prayers. Once all of Coruscant worshipped me, and perhaps in time they will yet again. I am not a being who demands your worship, only that it be given freely and blessings received in return. Such makes me such an idiosyncrasy in the Empire - and is the reason I'm here right now." She had come to the temple on a mission to acquire certain forbidden texts the archive held, whose value was of tremendous significance but which few would ever spare a glance at compared to a shiny new Sith holocron.

"Why? What questions do you have for me, Raphael?"

 

[Raphael Gallustrade]

"You're powerful, but not a god." His reply was swift, and certain, though it did not seem to be defensive or even an attack. "It isn't meant to be offensive, of course. The gods died long ago." Still he continued moving, his footsteps seemed to show no fear, or at the very least he wasn't staying very far behind her. There was a difference to him now and the man that had found her back in the day. While there was a strong light to him, there was a darkness that was also strong in its own right.

"Well, I suppose, the biggest question, why do you utilize the dark side of the Force? With your power I don't quite understand. You could do a great deal more good. In the few times I've seen you... I don't know, you seem almost more like a destabilizing force, when most cultures think of a god in order to promote order or to explain some part of the world that they don't truly understand."

He looked around, seeing no one else was there. He was curious, but opted not to explore further about that. It was probably best that others were near her. "And, I suppose, what is it that you're looking for here? The majority of records are being ferried away, I would think."

Onrai

 

[Onrai]

“A god has to fulfill certain precepts, Raphael. Most importantly, a god has to be able to actually give back to their worshippers as opposed to simply take, take, take. And while many gods died so long ago, you would be surprised at how many still survive.” She said. Her other self was busy with Spindle, hunting down the maleficent manuscripts in the temple. “That is why mortals who lord over people and try to get their worship are not gods.”

She laughed for a moment as he attempted to ask her as to why she used the Dark Side of the Force. “The Dark Side? Silly young Jedi, I haven’t used the Dark Side in years. I wield something far more powerful and far less diluted than that. It is something the Wall of Light cannot harm. I am no destabilizing force - I provide order and stability to those who follow me, as their god or merely as their patron. A god of the new age.” She sighed.

“Respectfully, I will not tell you what I seek here other than that it would be useless to those who do not understand its value. I doubt even the Sith looters would know its worth, but I want to leave nothing to chance.”

Raphael Gallustrade

 

[Raphael Gallustrade]

"And, respectfully, I don't care what you're seeking. Much like the dark side adepts that you joined in this invasion, it's going to be something less than savory; that much I know. Nor am I foolhardy enough to think that I can stop you." He'd seen the other part of her break off, though how, exactly, that worked he wasn't certain that he wanted to know. Not that it really mattered, either. Precepts, however... That was a fascinating way to word it, as was the way that she described herself. A new god of a new age.

"Again, no disrespect as I say this, however I cannot see you as a god. A powerful entity, yes, but not a god. Our definitions of such a word... I think that they are very different from one another. Diluted, is a interesting way to define the source of power that you derive your abilites froom, however, and I won't insult you further by asking you to define what you mean." It was odd that their foosteps took them in the same direction, especially when it wasn't knowledge that he was seeking, unlike her.

"I seek something here too, though what it is, I don't yet know. Nor do I know where it is, exactly. It isn't tomes, books, scrolls or holocrons, however. Much of my teaching hasn't come from such places... Some I've learned from the instructors... bits of it, though... From elsewhere, and I'm sorry if that's not a very good explanation, but it's an explanation all the same, and the best I've got."

Onrai

 

[Onrai]

"They may be Dark, but they aren't evil." She said. "The true evils of the galaxy are things far worse, far more monstrous, and far more hateful of all life than any Jedi, alive or dead, would yet know about." She said, before listening to his rationale as to her not being a god. "Then please, bask in ignorance however long you need to and however comfortably you need to. Just know that much worse is yet there to come."

She thought for a moment. "You don't have much time to seek. This world belongs to the Empire now, and soon enough you will be attacked and killed if you stay here. Let me help you find what you need, and give you a way off this world to wherever it is you seek to go. There are multiple ways off the planet that don't require a ship, and one of them is located close enough - in the Old City."

Raphael Gallustrade

 

[Raphael Gallustrade]

Raphael's eyebrow raised a bit at the mention of it being "dark but not evil". It wasn't about evil, though; it was about the intent used. Even techniques considered "of the light" or even unaligned, could be twisted into something that was evil, if the intent was there. Such a thing, however, he elected not to voice. It wasn't really worth the discussion that would follow. He grinned, however, when she mentioned about basking in ignorance. Difference of opinion, perhaps, though it wasn't really important, he supposed.


"Mm..." He listened as Onrai explained, nodding along. It made a fair bit of sense, admittedly. The others had most certainly already evacuated. Now it was literally just the two of them walking through the Temple, their footsteps the only ones that echoed through the once proud halls... It was a bit disheartening, in a way. Yet, that happened. Places were conquered and then reconquered, in war. A costant dance and tug of war, between nations, though the real point was the prevailing ideology...

He heard the call again. Deeper...

"Peculiar that there are ways off the planet that don't require a starship, but I sppose that it shouldn't surprise me. This was a place of learning, after all." Mulling it over, for a moment he eventually gave a good natured sigh. "Alright. I wouldn't mind your assistance in finding what's calling to me, and then helping me leave. Though I do find it a bit odd, in a way. You know that I'm an adherent of the light, even when I first landed on your ship you must've known. Yet, unlike the others, you do not prostelytize or expouse. Perhaps that's why I've the most respect for you."

Onrai