End of the road (Jorus)

[Arage Bao]

Tion Trade Nexus​

The Nexus had been her brainchild, a place where business met entertainment and relaxation. It had taken them years to get the Tion Hegemony from a couple of Sith Lords with ambitions to what it was (or had been) today, lots of things had happened, good things, bad things, little of both. In the end a man has to decide for himself when it was time to gracefully bow out, to accept that perhaps it was time for other people to take over the wheel and see where it carried them.

Ovmar had been playing his tricks on the galaxy for a long time now, long enough, Rave had shown him that. There were still a couple of loose endings to tie up, exchange a few goodbyes, perhaps help with a war or two, but the end was coming. Jared felt it in his bones, old bones now.

After Merrill had left them her Will he had made a choice, the choice was reflected in how he looked now. The Monolith gave time, the most crucial component of power, but it also took it away eventually. He was fairly certain he’d be able to do what he wanted to do, probably wouldn’t be coming back, but that was a concern for later.

He sat in the corner of a quiet bar, blues was playing in the background and he was waiting for a fellow restless soul. [member="Jorus Merrill"] would turn up soon enough, it was the way of things.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

"I'd say you look like hell," said Jorus as he slipped into the booth opposite Ovmar, "but hell is other people, and I can't imagine you've had much of that where you've been."

Knew too much, Jorus did, but today he didn't much care about letting it show.

"She erased our life together, Jared. She erased herself. In that other timeline she's in now, she and I never met -- will never meet -- feth, this is so unnatural that there's not even grammar for it." He ran his hands over his face in fatigue. "I never knew she was in that much pain. Never knew she hated herself that much."

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

‘Neither did I, Jorus, neither did I.’ Jared acknowledged with a sigh, before pouring both of them a very strong drink. Time moved strangely for some people, a day after Merrill send in that Will, Ovmar had left for the Monolith again. For him? years had passed, many of them, he had accepted what Rave set out to do. Perhaps a part of him understood her desire even, to some degree.

For Jorus though? Time hadn’t moved as swiftly, Ovmar wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but it couldn’t have been much. But it was clear the man needed to talk, needed words of wisdom. Even with all those years Ovmar didn’t have any to offer sadly.

Instead he simply pushed the glass over and waited patiently.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

"Part of me wants to blame you, y'know. I'm no idiot, Jared, I know what you were after as a young man. Your ambitions, your priorities. Plain as the nose on your face. And that had an influence on her, no question about that -- but then I think of her time with Sirella, her time possessed by Sira, her time with Velok -- whatever you were for her, others did way more harm." He didn't go for the glass. "And as far as I know you never tried to screw her, which is more than I can say for most of the people she ran into. So thank you for that."

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

Ovmar simply nodded, both to the thanks and the notion of him influencing Merrill to her path. He had been a factor, there was no doubt about it, just as much as she had influenced him to reach further and further. In the end they both had only strengthened each others desire for the things they had wanted in life.

‘Heh.’ Jared grinned his old, long-worn lazy grin, reminiscing on times long since past for him. ‘She quickly dissuaded me of any feelings I might have had, Jorus. She was… extraordinary and I will miss her.’

He raised his glass in a salute to her memory.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

"That'd be her," he said with a wry grin that didn't reach his eyes - the first he'd smiled in days. He still didn't take the drink. Didn't feel like blunting this. "That'd be my kid sister. Feth." He swiped at his eyes with a thumb.

"Look, Jared...well, no. There's nothing I can ask you to do, nothing I can promise you. Bargaining. Stages of grief, right? I've got my work and you've got yours. Not sure there's much else to be said."

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

Jared studied the man in front of him. Pondered. Should he tell him? Would that be fair? Would Jorus thank him for this later? No, but some things had to be done, and if he had been in his position he would have wanted it.

Not all men can be perfect, sometimes you just gotta try to deal with the cards you had left. The drink burned, he hadn’t had one in a century, maybe more. Too much though, far too much, detoxified it and thinned the concentration in his bloodstream.

Mentalism was far gone these days, but some things came easier.

‘I… have been looking into her research.’ he finally said, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Jared Ovmar"]

"Doesn't mean much to me," Jorus said after a pause of comparable length, "unless you mean to erase yourself too. Or unless there's something about her research that you're afraid to tell me."