Private A Funny Thing Happened On the Way Back to Korriban

[Starlin Rand]

Aboard Thesh’s whimsical jellyfish ship
Immediately after the Ossus Massacre

Starlin was pacing like a trapped animal, his eyes following Thesh. The acolyte had put the ship on autopilot as they departed the raging battlefield. He had seen the navicomputer coordinates. They were headed to Korriban, right in the heart of Sith Eternal territory.

Suddenly he stopped. Jabbing his finger at Thesh to emphasize every other word, he launched into a grand and eloquent tirade.

“You… you motherfether! You smarmy, limp-wristed, pasty-ass motherfether! One minute you’re all ‘muahahaha, I am dark and scary sorcerer!’ then next you’re going ‘oh no, won’t somebody think of the children!’ and the next you’re challenging me to a duel, and the next you’re saving me, and now you’re going to hand me over to your Sith overlords on literal fething Korriban?”

He gestured wildly with his hands as he spoke, imitating Thesh’s voice in various tones ranging from comically evil to childishly timid.

“What is with you, man? Do you have some problems you need to work out? Was mommy or daddy’s last wish that you should be a Jedi, but then you got nabbed by the Sith, and now you’re all twisted in the brain?” He pointed to his head. “This isn’t inner conflict, dude, this is straight up moral schizophrenia! You wouldn’t even strike first when I gave you… three different opportunities! I think it was three… My point is, what Sith misses an opportunity to strike first?" He went back to pointing at Thesh.

"What's it gonna be this time—are you gonna change your mind again and decide to maroon me on a fething resort planet?! Are you gonna announce that you're really a Jedi spy?! Because if you keep this up, I'm just gonna throw your candy ass out the fething airlock! Chit or get off the pot!"

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Thesh.​

​

Just.​

​

Sat.​

​

There.​

​

He sat there and he stared and he took onboard every word yet seemed to absorb absolutely none of it. His eyes were the only mobile thing about him, moving left and right then back again as Starlin Rand paced the space ahead of him and threw out a slurry of insults and other such musings within his tirade.​

​

Heck, Thesh couldn't even really call it libel. What the boy said was true, and truth be told even Thesh didn't know what to make of it. So for a moment he simply didn't. He sat and he waited for a pause, for an opportunity to think. To maybe give an answer. Who knew.​

​

Certainly he didn't know why he'd punched in the coordinates to Korriban. Second nature? It was the only set of coords he had memorized, after all.​

​

"I just..."​

​

He'd tried to cut in but Starlin had carried on as though there wasn't air enough for the both of them. So he waited... And then he tried again.​

​

"I just wanted to get away from Ossus. I wasn't exactly thinking..."​

​

He let out a groan, and slumped his head back against the captain's chair. Then he leaned forward and did the same thing over again.​

​

"Ugh, what a mess."​

​

Refusing to fight on Ossus could have been overlooked. He could have played it off, claimed he was trying to coax the worst out of a Jedi and make their inner darkest desires come to the surface. But this... Well, this didn't have such an ending to it. Because they were in his ship. They were headed back to Korriban. What could he say to make that seem right in the eyes of the Sith?​

​

Whoops, we stopped for burgers and he slipped away!​

​

Wouldn't hold up.​

​

"You have this idea in your mind that I'm some blood crazed psychopath. Why? Because I'm with the Sith? Didn't exactly get a choice in that one, bucko. Doesn't make me bloodthirsty, you know? Your beloved Jedi have done far worse than any Sith I've encountered."​

​

His left hand raised, to run through his hair, grasping at some of the still damp locks.​

​

"How can you even stand it? All the rules and regulations, being told what you can and can't do, which emotions you can feel or express? You could be free to do whatever it is you wanted, but you chose to be a Jedi... You chose!"​

​

At that Thesh shook his head. Both sides were as bad as each other he knew, when it came to manipulation, control, and deciding how each viewed the other. His interpretation of the Jedi was likely as skewed as Starlin's was of the Sith.​

​

"Fethin' sit down or something, would you? Driving me crazy with all that pacing."​

 

[Starlin Rand]

“Don’t you call me bucko, fethface,” Starlin shot back, more out of sheer pettiness than anything else. “I’m a city boy, I’ll kick your fethin’ country ass all the way to Korriban if need be. There’ll be nothing left but fuzz guts and eyeballs for your master to scrape off the bulkhead.”

He didn’t actually know if Thesh qualified as “country”, he was just making an assumption based on the fact he called him bucko. And… he really shouldn’t have said the rest of that. He was a Jedi now, not a street rat. Not anymore.

“You… don’t seem to get it.” Ceasing his pacing, Starlin tried to articulate himself through layers upon layers of compounded frustration, confusion, and creeping dread at what might happen if he couldn’t convince Thesh to make a detour, reaching for some of that Jedi inner peace as he spoke. He didn’t apologize for threatening to kill Thesh, but then he wouldn’t have really meant it anyway.

“This doesn’t even have anything to do with my being a Jedi. The Sith… are all about power, right? They invaded the fething planet just to flex that power on the Jedi. You saw what happened on Ossus, and you tried to run away from it! Sure, you tried to soften the blow while you were there, even though you knew there would be consequences for you. I guess that makes you a fething saint. Which brings me back to the point I’ve been trying to make all along.” He leaned toward Thesh. “Sure, the Sith bought you, took you from your family, whatever. Brainwashed you, I imagine. Took away your choice while claiming they were breaking your chains, huh? Oh yeah, I know all about that ‘muh freedom and passion’ bullchit, and it's really rich that you guys still think we practice celibacy and avoid attachments, as if it were still the BBYs. But you, Thesh, you know what the Sith really want and what they’re willing to do to get it.”

He lost his temper, raising his voice again. “So what the feth are you still doing with people who kill and destroy indiscriminately? At what point do you stop being a meek little pilgrim and actively choose to pal around with the butchers and psychopaths?”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"But that's what you aren't getting!" he practically yelled back, as Starlin Rand also raised his voice toward the end of all he'd said, "They aren't all butchers and psychopaths!" He could name several off the top of his head if he was prompted. How could someone look at the likes of Melydia Gold for instance and see such things? They couldn't. Anyone who claimed they could was lost in the head.​

​

He rose from his chair then, but he didn't step away from the controls themselves, and took in a slow breath. More had been said than that. He had to acknowledge it or else he was just being a damn hypocrite.​

​

"I don't know why we came to Ossus. That's the damn truth of it. I go where I'm bid same as you. There's no other life for me out there, don't you realize that? Force alignments aside, I like the work I do. The work I choose to do. None of this bloody battlefield bullchit, Feth all that, it's nonsense. An endless stupid cycle. I just want to study and create in peace. And sure, the Sith might throw a few spanners in those plans, but at least they let me do it. Jedi sure as kriff wouldn't."​

​

Back into his seat he slumped. He once again beckoned toward a chair. Sure Starlin had stopped the pacing, but now he was hovering and some might argue that was just as bad.​

​

"Look man, I like you alright. Genuinely. Wish there wasn't this stupid war between us. But you aren't going to convince me, because there's no alternative out there. Same as I'm not going to convince you, right? I'm not even going to insult your intelligence by trying." He should, he knew. He should have tried a thousand times already to corrupt him, but what good would it do? The boy before him practically radiated the light, and Thesh knew of nothing to cut through such.​

​

Deep down, wasn't even sure he wanted to.​

​

"Now sit down."​

 

[Starlin Rand]

“No.”

Starlin continued to stubbornly stand there, back straight, hands on his hips, getting all that he could out of the extra inch he had on Thesh in terms of height. Although truth be told, he was starting to calm down a little, now that Thesh had made it clear he didn’t really want to hurt him.

“If you like me, then you won’t take me to Korriban,” he said. That was all he really needed to say; Thesh likely knew better than he did what would become of Starlin on Korriban. “You’ll take my lightsaber there, just like I offered before your buddies decided to drop a starship on top of us, and you’ll let me go.”

If Thesh refused, Starlin was going to get desperate. Fighting desperate. But still, for once Thesh was being given a choice. He could save his own ass, or do the right thing.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Our guys didn't drop that ship, yours did," he pedantically put, before shaking his head some and turning slightly in his seat to glance at the autopilot systems, and the coordinates placed within it.​

​

He knew he shouldn't have. He should have kept his course, and dealt with the consequences if Starlin Rand decided to fight him because of it. He should have brought the boy back to his Master. Tried to convert him. Or worse. There was always worse.​

​

Instead Thesh pressed a couple of buttons, and the ship pulled itself from hyperspace and crawled to a slow. The autopilot system was deactivated, and the coordinates wiped.​

​

He made no move to punch in new ones. Barely moved at all in fact in the moments following. He just sat there and stewed and wondered what was happening, what was to become of him. Darth Empyrean had already given him an opportunity to walk away once. He knew that chance would not arise again. This was a death wish.​

​

"Well?" he said, after the silence had dragged on for a little too long, "Where the kriff is it you want to go?"​

​

All that Thesh knew was that Korriban wouldn't be on his list of worlds to visit for some time...​

 

[Starlin Rand]

As the ship braked harshly, the stubbornly still-standing Starlin was thrown forward by inertia. He landed sprawled across the dashboard, face against the viewport window and legs in the co-pilot’s chair. Peeling himself up, he looked at Thesh, then at the navicomputer.

“Ha ha!”

The tension bled out of him instantly, leaving him giddy with danger avoided. He grinned like a fool at Thesh, who was glaring at him sullenly and demanding to know where he wanted to go.

“Feth me, I don’t know!” he replied gleefully, running over to the navicomputer to look at nearby worlds. He figured Thesh would blanch at the idea of taking him deeper into Silver space, so might as well just drop him off on whatever planet was closest. “This baby’s fast! Where’d you get her?” he asked, shaking his head. He was a little dizzy after knocking his skull against the window.

“Desevro?... Oh great, a planet of xenophobes. I’m only half-human, can’t stop there. Folende? Bunch of farmers, I’d get stranded with no way offworld. Chaandar? Feth, we really are way out in the boonies…”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Clearly Starlin Rand had expected to be fed to the wolves, so to speak. His relief was palpable, his laughter was a bit of a surprise though he'd heard that in moments of high tension it was natural for such to be released in that kind of way. He couldn't recall ever experiencing it himself... But he supposed this Jedi was living proof of such.​

​

"Look, I don't care where it is you want to go. Just punch in the coordinates."​

​

Could've been Kashyyyk for all he cared, center of the Silver Jedi. He'd already dug himself a mile-deep hole. What was a few more feet in comparison to that?​

​

"Found her on Lotho Minor. Couldn't pass it up."​

​

It was a junker's paradise, this ship had definitely seen better days when he'd unearthed her there. But the time and money spent getting her back in top condition was worth it. Well, money was a loose term. He'd had to make a thing or two to cover it. But still worth it.​

​

With Starlin relaxed-ish once more, he too seemed to let down his guard. He all but melted back into the chair and closed his eyes, letting the reality of all that had happened since he'd last left Korriban cycle through his brain. This was supposed to have been relatively simple. Get on the ground, kick up a fuss, scare the Jedi to fuel some obelisk, and get out of there.​

​

But this...​

​

This was madness.​

 

[Starlin Rand]

With Thesh melting into his chair with his eyes closed, Starlin leaned over to look at him, brow furrowed and lips pursed. He had just fethed himself ten ways till Tuesday to save Starlin. Had Syd been right? All it would take was a little reaching out to get this guy to switch sides?

Well, no. He’d already said he wouldn’t “insult his intelligence” trying to convert him. Although that may have been because Starlin was insulting him every chance he got. This dude clearly had his own problems and identity crises, he didn’t need Starlin to point them out for him.

“Wanna go to Zeltros and party with the pink people?” he blurted suddenly, aiming to startle Thesh with the sound of his voice. At the bewildered look/annoyed glare Thesh likely threw his way, Starlin laughed. “Zeltros is in Silver Jedi space, ya know. But I’m kidding.”

Returning to the navicomputer, he plotted a course for... Coruscant. “I just wanna go home. Really home, not the Jedi barracks.” He was hoping he could get there before Syd called his mother and worried her sick over his "capture". “How good are your communications? I got a few calls to make. Namely my master, so she doesn’t come looking for me guns blazing. Then I gotta call, um, my mom.”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

He was given a moment of solitude before Starlin Rand blurted out about the possibility of Zeltros. Oddly enough Thesh had never really seen the appeal in such, though then again he'd hardly seen the appeal in much. He was married to his studies, or so many would claim, he didn't have eyes for such trivial things. Or maybe he just didn't have the time to pursue. Either way, he opened one eye and looked at the Jedi curiously.​

​

Then he opened the other, and shook his head.​

​

"Really aren't expected to be chast anymore, eh?" he mused, after his initial bemusement, though afterward he said little more, remaining slumped against the chair, while the Jedi decided where it was he wanted to go.​

​

Coruscant was where he'd settled on.​

​

Thesh couldn't recall the last time he'd been to Coruscant. He pondered that for a moment, hoped that the tables hadn't been turned and that he wasn't about to be turned in to some Jedi authority, and then nodded his head slowly.​

​

"Aye, feel free to use the comms. Coruscant it is..."​

​

There was a faraway look in his eye as he said it though. Something about the notion of going home drummed up a buried thought in his mind, and he quickly decided he knew where he'd go once Starlin was sick of him.​

​

Maybe it was time for a homecoming of his own. Not that he'd find family there to greet him.​

 

[Starlin Rand]

“Even eight hundred years ago, no attachments didn’t necessarily mean no fun,” Starlin muttered, punching in the coordinates to Coruscant. In actuality, he’d never been to Zeltros, and was inexperienced in the sort of “fun” associated with the planet. It was just something he and every other dumb, hormonal, immature teenager was obliged to joke about.

He gaped at the estimated flight time. “Bullchit! No way we can get all the way to the Core in less than 48 hours.” Clearly he’d never ridden in a ship with a 0.11 hyperdrive. That was five times as fast as the Millennium Falcon.

Leaving Thesh alone, Starlin fired up the comms system. Starlin’s stepfather, his voice tinged with suspicion and subspace interference, answered, “Hello?”

Starlin winced; it was loud enough for the whole ship to hear. He couldn’t figure out how to hook the system up to his earpiece, so he settled for reducing the volume to a more manageable level. “Hey, it’s Starlin. Is Mom there?”

“Where the hell are you calling from? I thought this was a holomarketer from across the galaxy. Or worse.”

“Nah, it’s just me. A friend is taking me home, I’m using his comm.”

“Hi baby,” his mother took the call from her husband. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah. I got in a little mix-up.” Starlin’s gaze flicked toward Thesh for a second. “It’s cool, though. I think.” He cleared his throat. His mother didn’t know where he had been. Reports of what was going on at Ossus likely hadn’t reached Coruscant yet, but if they had, he didn’t want to worry her. “I’m actually on my way home now.”

There was an audible gasp of excitement from her end. “You’re coming back early? Is there any particular reason, or is it just ‘cause you love your mom?”

This time Starlin’s glance at Thesh had less to do with monitoring the acolyte and more to do with his own sense of embarrassment at how goofy the conversation was getting. “... yeah, okay, sure,” he said softly. “I miss you. I wanna come home and just chill for a little while.”

“You sound like you’re tired or upset, I don’t know which. You wanna talk about it?”

“Not now. I’ve got to make another call, actually.”

“Okay, baby. You know how to get a hold of me.”

They said their I-love-yous and goodbyes. Once she was gone, Starlin turned to Thesh, holding up his earpiece. “How do I hook this thing up to my thing?”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Time it, if you like," he offered with a shrug, when the boy expressed his surprise at the time it would take to reach their destination. He didn't say much more though as he began to utilize the comms, and though he did his best to avoid listening in it was difficult not to hear a thing or two given it was all aloud, and in the cockpit.​

​

Even so when he finished the call Thesh made no remarks. It would have been easy to, if he was petty or childish, but he'd never been that way. Instead he sat a little more upright in his chair as Starlin Rand asked if he could have a little more privacy via an earpiece. Well he didn't ask that, simply how to connect the two.​

​

"The port is here," he said, gesturing to a region of the dashboard, "But if you want I'll step out of the room real fast."​

​

Before the boy could say anything regarding that Thesh was already on his feet, the pilot seat swirled back around to face the viewing port and he headed to the next room beyond. Starlin could converse in peace, and Thesh? Well Thesh would find something to do in the meantime.​

 

[Starlin Rand]

A little bewildered, Starlin watched Thesh leave the room. Was Starlin tripping, or was this Sith way too trusting of him? Or… did he just not consider Starlin much of a threat?

Huh… well, whatever. Now he had the cockpit all to himself, cool beans.

After a few tries, Starlin hooked his wireless earpiece up to the port (even in space, Bluetooth only works some of the time) and attempted to contact Syd Celsius . When she failed to respond, he assumed that the battle on Ossus probably wasn’t over yet, so he opted to leave her a voice message via an encrypted channel.

“Hey, it’s Starlin. I’m okay—I’m headed home to Coruscant. Don’t worry about me, I’m safe… I hope you made it out of there alive.” The possibility of his master not surviving the attack was almost too bewildering and upsetting to consider. Almost. “This… uh, this Sith dude I’m with… he doesn’t seem all that interested in capturing me. In fact, I think he’s having second thoughts about all this, or… I dunno. He’s definitely got something going on with him. I know I should reach out to him, but it’s pretty obvious he’d prefer if I didn’t try to pry… besides, I barely know the guy.”

Starlin had converted shadows into light, cleansed a nexus of evil, and purified the crystal that powered his lightsaber. He had purified himself too, in a way, by giving up death sticks and devoting himself to becoming a Jedi. Even Dantooine had been a cleansing experience, even if he did lose his hand. It snapped him out of the dream he had been living in, forced him to look and think about what he was doing rather than continue to live in a self-righteous fantasy. But he had never changed the mind of a fellow sentient being. “I’m not going to insult your intelligence by trying,” was what Thesh had said, clearly expecting him to respect the impassable gulf between their philosophies.

But Luke Skywalker…

No. Thesh wasn’t Darth Vader. In his wildest dreams, maybe. Starlin glanced in the direction the acolyte had gone, smirking to himself. His smile soon faded. Thesh wasn’t anything like Vader, and probably didn’t want to be like him anyway. At the end of the day, despite his idolization of Skywalker and yearning to be like his hero, Starlin wasn’t anything like him, either.

Chit.

He called Nimdok next. No answer again. This time, he didn’t bother to leave a message, though he did grumble a few choice words under his breath.

Now what? Armchair psychology? So Thesh was a guy who was being ferried along down a path he didn’t seem to like very much, on his way to becoming something he didn’t necessarily want to be. Starlin was sprinting down a road he had always wanted to follow, desperately trying to reach a goal too idealistic to ever be truly realized. They had some rather basic similarities, sure, but neither could truly understand or help the other. Right? Maybe... ?

“I’m done!” he yelled, growing anxious (and more than a little bored) while left alone to his own devices in a Sith’s cockpit. “You can come back now!” Please.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

It wasn't exactly trust at this point, more resignation. What could this Jedi possibly do to him that Maliphant would not, when news reached him of what had transpired? They were already en route to a destination of his choice, what more could he possibly take from Thesh?​

​

Once in the hall beyond he glanced this way and that through his peculiar little vessel and ultimately wandered into the small kitchenette area, rummaging through the cupboards for something that wasn't boring old rations. He hadn't really packed for a particularly long journey, so really non perishables was all there was. Not his favourite, but better than naught.​

​

Ultimately though he settled on just a bottle of water which he sipped at. His satchel lay to one side, draped over a chair, so he neared it and opened it up to look inside. Some of his books were there, a part to one of the many projects he was working on, and a small trinket or two. He took out one of the books, a hefty old leather bound tome, with vellum pages, and leaned back against the counter. For a moment he considered opening it, reading a page or two, but he ended up just staring at the cover.​

​

He was almost relieved when Starlin Rand called to him. Back into the satchel the book went, and back into the cockpit went Thesh. He brought an extra bottle of water, just in case, though he expected the Jedi to reject it. Who knew if it had been tampered with, after all.​

​

Even so as he stepped into the room he tossed it at Starlin all the same. "Hungry?" he asked, holding the cockpit door open, "Come on, I'll find you a bunk..." he doubted he'd be able to stay awake for the entire two day journey, and thankfully Thesh had room to spare aboard his ship. Best sort out such arrangements now, he figured, while they were in relatively good graces.​

 

[Starlin Rand]

“What now, man—” Starlin dodged the water bottle Thesh tossed at him as if it were a grenade, then realized what it was and sheepishly walked back over to pick it up.

“Hungry?”

“Hell yeah dude.” He unsealed the cap and guzzled the water, only thinking afterwards about the possibility of Sith shenanigans. Eh, feth it. There were plenty of ways Thesh could’ve killed Starlin that required less effort than making a poisoned water bottle look like it hadn’t been tampered with, and besides, Starlin was half Balosar. Most toxins didn't even affect him. “I’ll take your leftover rations and scraps without complaint. They don’t call me the human trash compactor for nothing. I'll eat anything.”

In addition to the hunger was exhaustion. Starlin hadn’t particularly exerted himself on Ossus, but the adrenaline and stress of the situation had done a number on him. He was more emotionally drained than anything else. Whether or not he’d be able to sleep on this ship was up in the air.

He followed Thesh down the hall, jumping up to slap a bulkhead with his hand along the way. The gesture was partly to wake himself up, partly just to be slightly annoying. Thesh was being too chill now that Starlin had (probably) just pulled the rug out from under him and (sort of) ruined his life.

“Thesh,” he said, getting the acolyte’s attention. “What are you going to do after I go home?”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

He cracked an unintended grin at the way in which Starlin Rand dodged that bottle.​

​

Couldn't help himself. It was ridiculous. Did the boy really think, after all that had happened, he'd just randomly turn on him? No if he was going to he would have already, he wasn't one of those cruel creatures that played with their food.​

​

Turning from the cockpit he led the Jedi back through to the kitchenette and pulled out some of the rations he'd contemplated eating just moments prior and handed one of the packs over to Starlin. "Help yourself, rations aren't the nicest but they'll sure as heck fill you up." Thesh hated eating foods like this, but he'd known true hunger and no longer allowed himself to be so picky.​

​

As he opened the package he pondered on the Jedi's question. Then he shrugged.​

​

"I'm not sure. Probably just keep drifting in space for a little bit, finish up some projects, figure out how best to proceed. It'll all work out in the end, always does."​

​

It had to, because the alternative was... Well, he didn't rightly know what the alternative was. Death?​

​

Somehow that didn't scare him quite so much as it ought to.​

 

[Starlin Rand]

“Heck,” Starlin echoed Thesh’s use of the word, half-mocking, half-amused. This guy was just so gosh-darned evil, he couldn’t even swear properly.

Starlin didn’t give two hecks about crappy rations. He took what Thesh gave him, ripped open the packaging, and gobbled down the contents. It tasted like crunchy peanut butter and chicken. Very weird combination, but hardly inedible. At least, not by Starlin’s standards.

“That sounded like a total non-answer,” Starlin muttered. Dipping his head back, he dumped the rest of the rations into his mouth, chewed thoughtfully, then swallowed. “A real dodge. A swerve to avoid admitting out loud that you have no clue what you’re doing or where you’re going.”

It really sounded like Thesh was about to walk off a cliff, if not by committing suicide, then fading into obscurity and spiritual nothingness. Starlin didn’t like that chit, regardless of where Thesh’s allegiances lay. It wasn’t something he wanted to see anybody go through. Then again, he wouldn’t be there to see it, would he?

Feth it.

“You know, you’re welcome to stay with my folks. My family has taken in kids before, mostly runaways and refugees from when the One Sith sacked Coruscant.” Xian Xiao had been one of those kids. So had Starlin’s old friend Jacen, though he had fallen in with a bad crowd and drifted away. “My mom would love you for sparing me.” He gestured. “At least you wouldn’t have to eat these wack-ass rations anymore. And it’s not like she’d try to convert you. She’s just a mechanic.”

Maybe it sounded too good to be true, or like Starlin considered Thesh a pitiful charity case, but that wasn't the case. There was nothing pitiful about Xian or Jacen or Thesh. If Thesh needed a place to go, well, the best place Starlin knew was home. He was a little naive in one respect, however. Jen Rand was not, and could not ever be, Thesh's mother too.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Do any of us really ever know what lies in our future?" he inquired with a light shrug, though he certainly knew that Starlin was correct in his assessment all the same. Thesh really didn't know what he'd do, where he'd go, what lay ahead. Some downtime, hopefully. Time to recuperate, and assess what he wanted out of life.​

​

Though he tore open his own ration package, he didn't really touch it yet. Mostly just swished the contents back and forth absentmindedly.​

​

"I appreciate the sentiment," he said, and there was sincerity within his tone as he spoke it, "But I doubt your mother would appreciate a Sith in her home. It's fine, I'll be fine, honest."​

​

Family was a subject he wasn't exactly the most well versed in. Once upon a time he'd had and known one, but these days they weren't even a memory. More a memory of a memory. He wasn't sure how he'd feel peering through the rabbit hole into another's family dynamic.​

​

When Starlin Rand was done eating he led him down to the couple of cabins the ship had. One was his personal cabin, the other had a couple of bunks. Naturally it was the latter he stopped at.​

​

"The refresher's just there," he said, gesturing to another doorway, "And you can stay in here. Until we get to Coruscant. Well, I mean, you can go in the rest of the ship of course, just... when you want to sleep..."​

 

[Starlin Rand]

"Do any of us really ever know what lies in our future?"

“I’m gonna become an old fart,” Starlin replied, the corners of his mouth curling in a smirk. “Or I’ll die, I guess. Actually, either way I’m gonna die. So will you, unless you do that Sith thing where your ghost hangs around and possesses a new body. What’s up with that, anyway?”

Opening his ration but not eating any of it, Thesh refused his offer of mother-loaning. “You don’t gotta say you’re a Sith, y’know,” Starlin drawled. “You don't wanna hang with my folks, that's fine, but for the sake of arguing with you, lemme just say you don't exactly radiate some kinda hilariously dark aura that screams ‘I’m fething evil and I love it!’ to everyone you meet. You don’t even have the scary jaundice eyes or the scary monster face Sith Lords get ‘cause of Dark Side corruption.”

Just how Dark was Thesh, anyway? Pausing, Starlin tilted his head, studying Thesh more closely. Baby blue eyes seemed to become even bluer for a few moments as he peered at the acolyte in the Force. “Yeah, nope,” he said, righting his head again, the brightness fading from his gaze. “You’re pretty neutral aura-wise. Very vanilla. Maybe a little bit of fire and brimstone, or... dark chocolate? Ha. Still mostly vanilla. But hey, they say vanilla plays well with others.”

Starlin pitched his empty ration packet and followed Thesh to the crew quarters. He looked around the space, noting the multiple bunks, as well as an old beat-up hologame table in the corner. Starlin tried to turn it on, but nothing appeared on the surface.

“You don’t have to answer this question, but…” He smacked the side of the table for good measure, only to find it was quite broken. Starlin expressed his disappointment by sighing through his nose and making a glum face. He absolutely would have tried to wrangle Thesh into a game of dejarik just so that he could try and beat him at something. “I’m curious. You said you had no choice but to join the Sith. I took that to mean that some creep bought you, or kidnapped you, or whatever when you were just a little kid. Was I right? What’s the story with you exactly?”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"Of course you are," he said, with a roll of his eyes at the rather simple desires of the Jedi. Nothing wrong with simple of course, compared to most Sith Thesh's own ambitions were decidedly lackluster. He didn't want to control hordes of people, or govern worlds, or annihilate cultures. He just wanted to study and grow and experiment. Figure out where the boundaries of the Force truly lay. Most turned their noses up at such 'squandered' potential but it was all he craved.​

​

"And what's up with that is most Sith spend so long with tunneled vision that by the time they die they realize all the things they missed out on..." A stab in the dark, he didn't actually know the why of it. Vanity, he supposed, an unwillingness to let the Galaxy move on without them. He let out a slight sigh.​

​

Starlin continued to gently push the idea of meeting his parents, and eventually Thesh just shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not used to being around families," he stated, leaning against the entrance to the bunk room, "I'm not sure how I feel about it. But I'll come planet side with you, if only for a little time, alright?" And if they ran into his mother while there? Then so be it.​

​

"There's a working table in the lounge," he informed the lad, "Never have guests, so didn't see the need to fix this one up..."​

​

Then came the question.​

​

Well questions.​

​

Thesh looked away from the Jedi for a moment, hyperfixating on a spot on the wall. That faraway look was back in his eye, and he remained that way for a few moments before he shook his head and seemed to come back to the present.​

​

"The Sith Empire took me from Ession when they invaded," he explained, the words felt heavy upon his tongue but he spoke it all the same. "I don't really remember it, or what came before. I wasn't sold, more... gifted? to my Master. I think they meant for me to remain a slave, but he freed me, taught me and raised me."​

​

Darth Empyrean had done more for him than anyone else in this Galaxy of theirs. Gone above and beyond what had been expected of him where the boy was concerned. He was the only real binding tie which remained, well he and the likes of Melydia Gold and Ishani Dinn and Quintus Varro - his fellow acolytes whom he cared for dearly even if he didn't rightly know how to show it. If Maliphant hadn't been some great Sith Lord, Thesh likely never would have fallen into such a crowd.​

​

But he had.​

​

Starlin Rand ​