Into the breach, with sticky floors and lost mentors

[Lucien Cordel]

A person of reasonable intelligence. May be led to ask why Lucien Cordel self confessed snob was doing entering a dive bar of his own free will. The answer was simple, his mentor was in the dive bar. Lucien had felt him here whilst he was enjoying his nightly browse of the news. He had been worried about [member="Mikhail Shorn"] for some time and had finally tracked him down.

Lucien strolled pasted the bouncer on the door flashing a signet ring identifying him as a man who could rain hell down upon a person without so much as a nod. The blaster pistols sported by his body guards may have helped as well.

Lucien looked about the crowd of denizens for Mikhail as he approached the bar. He narrowly avoided slipping in vomit and was propositioned by multiple harlots of various species and genders. His guards prevented to much touchy feely rubbish. Eventually arriving at the bar he slapped the counter and was disgusted to find his hand stuck to it for a few seconds.

It was at this time that Lucien spotted Mikhail. He ordered a glass of the bar's finest red wine and received a grunt in reply before a glass of what looked like sewage was pushed towards him. It smelt of vinigar and had a notably sour taste, Lucien held back a gag slammed some credits down and moved over to a booth carful to avoid touching any one or anything he didn't have to.

"Mikhail we need to talk" he projected to his friend and mentor before sitting down

 

[Lord Ghoul]

Mikhail Shorn did not drink wine. He drank whiskey. And lots of it. He didn't remember the number he'd knocked down, but at some point his ability to manipulate the bartender's mind had ceased and he'd had to start actually paying for his drinks. Somehow he was still cognizant of the fact that he was almost entirely broke, which made him grumpy. And so it was in this grumpy, drunken state which Lucien Cordel found him.

However, the exterior of the roguish-looking man didn't tell the whole tale of utter despair that drove him to drink. He'd almost killed them. And he'd killed someone else. Manu helped, but drinking helped more. He sniffed, eyes drooping low as he turned to regard his one-time apprentice.

"Well," he slurred, gesturing widely and sloshing the whiskey in his glass around, "Talk." He chucked it back, draining the shot in one go and feeling the rush of fire down his throat. The pain wasn't going away. He doubted Andra would ever want to talk to him. And Spencer, ha. He'd cut those ties real well. Probably not as deep as he'd wounded Andra, though.

"I'm not stopping you." Mikhail looked around at the occupants. "Oh Lucien, don't be ssstupid. Everyone here is too drunk to care. Or-" a woman, hotly pursued by her customer, rustled past. "Otherwise occupied."

He gestured grandly once more. "Tell me, what ails the great and noble [member="Lucien Cordel"]?"

 

[Lucien Cordel]

Lucien shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. He closed his eyes "I would talk if you gave me chance" he said softly accident my vocalising his thoughts. Mikhail was a mess it didn't take a genius to see.

He looked up shuffling away from the pair off to engage in cheap love making "I came to talk to you as a freind , your in deep poodoo and I want to help you get out" Lucien said after some time, it would have been better to seek Mikhail when he was elsewhere but they were stuck here now. He wanted to help Mikhail to live a normal. The task itself was impossible he knew it, but he needed to try.

He hesitated a moment "I spoke to Andra, she doesn't blame you ... I'm helping her get justice" he drank the sour liquid in his glass " there are people who do blame you though, killing babies is bad for ones image" he was slightly bolder now " I can see three potential ways this will go one you continue like this and some one kills you and I'm left with the peices, two you hide away and pray people forget or you talk to me and let me help you and we fix this to some degree"


Lucien sighed pleading made him feel pathetic but he could see no other way to get through. He looked up again his voice firmer thus time " why is it every time we talk your drunk why do you resort to drink before you give the people who care about you chance to help?"

 

[Lord Ghoul]

"Help?" A drunken chuckle escaped Shorn's lips and he listed sideways a bit as he peered at Lucien through the haze. "Helping is something you can do for someone who can be helped."

Mikhail shook his head, eyes fluttering open and closed in a half-lazy, half-drunk stupor.

"Do you know I poisoned you at the Rattatak wedding, just to save your life? It felt good. Doing something to help someone else. That's," he stopped, throat clogging, "that's how frakked up I am."

"Who is going to kill me?" he asked, "You Lucien? Are you going to kill me? Who can kill the great, unbeaten Thronebreaker?" There was no pride in his words. Only bitterness and venom.

[member="Lucien Cordel"].

 

[Lucien Cordel]

Lucien sighed. Surly Mikhail could be helped. Lucien saw that responding would be useless. He would need to help without Mikhail realising. That was easier said than done.

He was just debating what to do in response when Mikhail admitted to having poisoned him all that time before. Lucien felt as if he had just been punched in the chest, he had always suspected that Mikhail had been involved but it still shocked.In that moment Lucien could have guiltlessy had Mikhail shot. Of course he didn't, for two reasons first Mikhail was still his best friend and mentor and two killing him in the middle of the bar would be in poor taste.

Lucien was less shocked when Mikhail asked Lucien if he would kill him. " No Mikhail I'm not going to getting kill you" he brought his hand down onto the table "but there are bigger and more powerful people than me and im sure you have angered the majority of them. You reduced a chunk of coruscant to rubble and put your fist through a fringe high councillor do you really think you can single handedly take on two empires" he lent back "If you do, your a bigger folk than I feared"

 

[Lord Ghoul]

Mikhail grinned madly, "I, I can talk them all on, Lucien," a feverish light shone in those pale blue eyes and some sense of clarity burned through. "Manu, the healer, he helped me understand. He's like me. A little bit insane. But Lucien," Shorn reached out a hand and placed it on Lucien's shoulder, his icy blue eyes fixing his former apprentice with a soul piercing gaze, "I can protect by destroying."

He gulped, blinking rapidly, then took another shot. More fire burned down his throat and joined with the warm, sense-nulling fire in his stomach. "Or I could if I had someone to protect. Who do I have left to protect Lucien? I think...." Mikhail frowned, "I think I might have turned the entire galaxy against me."

[member="Lucien Cordel"]

 

[Lucien Cordel]

Lucien nodded, hoping that Mikhail was only pretending to be that fool hardy. Lucien was slightly shocked when Mikhail put his hand on his shoulder, that was the first really contact they had had in too long " I'm not asking you to stop destroying things, I just want you to be careful what you destroy "

Then Mikhail in the traditional drunk fashion went from insatiable bravado to miserable wreck in a few seconds. Lucien tilted his head " you've still got me, I'm only really good a fighting with words and political manoeuvres, you can still protect me and Darien (If I ever get my laptop fixed so I can write him) there are plenty of people who care for you protect them but most importantly protect yourself.

Lucien stood up " now can we go elsewhere, I want to get drunk and the drinks here taste like urine" Lucien offered Mikhail a slight smile " and I fear that if I stay much longer my shoes will stick to the floor

 

[Lord Ghoul]

Protect himself? That nearly elicited a chuckle from the morose man. Oh, he knew how to do that best of all. Everyone else paid the price for it when he did too. Maybe Manu was wrong. Shorn raised his glass to Lucien mockingly, then drained the rest of it, paid his tab and stumbled after his former apprentice.

"Lead on," he slapped Lucien on the back in a plebian manner that would no doubt earn a glance of disapproval. "Friend."

[member="Lucien Cordel"]

 

[Lucien Cordel]

Lucien rolled his eyes and smiled as Mikhail slapped his back, he may have been rigid in his snobbish ways but the show of friend ship was still slightly endearing ... All be it only slightly.

"Well in that case you have a choice I know a great wine bar ... But I doubt you will enjoy that so you have two choices there is a reasonably classy bar around the corner or a full drinks cabinate at my penthouse, the choice is yours unless you have a better plan [member="Mikhail Shorn"]"

 

[Lord Ghoul]

"Do I look sober enough to make decisions to you?" Mikhail mocked, then shook his head, "Whatever. Let's go to your place. I'd probably blow up the bar and then you'd be upset."

Shorn started walking... in the wrong direction

[member="Lucien Cordel"]

 

[Lucien Cordel]

Lucien chuckled "I thought you made all your best best choices drunk, scratch that I thought you made all your choices drunk" Mikhail mentioned blowing up a bar "I will be even more upset if you blow my house up"

Mikhail set off walking in the direction of the slum district. Lucien ran after him and gently steered him back into the right direction "you don't want to go that way , they bite " it was only a short journey to the luxury apartment block where Lucien's penthouse lay.

"Make yourself comfortable" Lucien said as he exited the elevator. He walked off into the kitchen and returned with a bottle of lime green liquid. It was a liceur so strong that it was allegedly banned in the republic, Lucien's housekeeper had bought it whilst on holiday and Lucien was yet to try it. He put the bottle down in front of Mikhail "drink this if you remain councious I will try some, how is your hunt for our traitor freeing going?"