It Has Been Awhile

[Carden Lorps]

@Maleus....a man he had not seen in months....oh how it felt like years. Careen himself remembered sitting in bars...clubs, and partying, it wasn't uncommon to run into Males. The last time they met, they had sat at a bar...Careen had been depressed....Males had actually helped...the man who had once sworn to put a blade through him....had helped.

Carden buttoned up his blue shirt, and pulled on his gloves. The bounty hunter that was once filled with revenge is now filled with sorrows, even though he could not accomplish finding his father's killer, he had forgiven him.

Walking out of his Coruscant apartment, he smiled at the fact that he was going to the bar he had lived in most of his life...that's rich, his father's old bar. Unlocking the door, he would smile...walking in he would notice how much dust had gathered. The bartender said he left the place untouched in his father's memory, Careen respected that.

Walking into the back room, he looked at the place where his armour stood, now empty. His armour now sat in the depths of Naboo's swamplands.

He walked back to the front and turned on the lights? He then slid over the counter and grabbed a Corellian wine. He then poured some into a glass.

Waiting....for someone....anyone.

 

[Carden Lorps]

[member="Maleus"]

 

[Maleus]

Time....

It was an odd concept, always moving, yet not always noticeable. It was eternal and those who were subject to it's influence would change as time progressed. Malues was no exception to this. It had been nearly a year since the dismantlement of the New Order. It had been year since he was regarded as a Sith. Now things were different. The man who he promised to destroy ended up being one of the reasons he changed.

Even still the reformed Zabrak was not perfect. He still held onto the tendencies of his past regardless of his efforts in trying to establish a balance. Luckily, though, no real threats had presented themselves and the Zabrak found solace with his new comrades.

<Hmm....> Whatever urged Maleus to stride into the non-nondescript bar knew that this reunion needed to happen. He spotted the bounty hunter and crossed his arms. Most of his appearance was obscured under the swathing cloak he wore, though one thing of note that'd be new was the mid-night black gauntlet that seemed to have been grafted onto his forearm.

"Hello.."
He wouldn't sit.
He merely waited awaited a response.
[member="Carden Lorps"]

 

[Carden Lorps]

'Carden...where has the time gone, why do you spend your time sitting in bars.' He thought to himself as he leaned over the counter looking at the bar stools. He downed the glass of wine and closed his eyes. He hadn't seen his father in a year....a whole year of meeting with different bosses, killing innocence, and drinking. He felt his face become wet with tears. He slammed his gloved hand onto the table before grabbing the wine glass and drinking from it.

Hearing the footsteps of someone snapped Carden out of drinking, he slowly looked up. Seeing the dark form, a form that was blocked to him by a cloak. Carden felt anger swell in him. All he knew was sadness and regret. Every time he saw a cloak he grew more and more hateful. Carden picked up the glass and whipped it at Males, it would simply crash at the ground near the Zabrak's feet.

Carden heard the familiar voice.....the voice that could only be known as Maleus. He felt past memories of pain.

"Get out...ya...gruh..." he slurred as he threw the wine bottle.

He felt light headed as he slumped down over the bar.

[member="Maleus"]

 

[Maleus]

Maleus frowned as his steel boot's came crashing down upon the fractured glass. "You spend your time wasting away in this bar drinking?" He would simply ignore the man's comment for the moment. It was apparent that the youth hit the plateau known as rock-bottom. He could see it even now. The descending lids and crest-fallen demeanor. The dejected body language and marginally discernible words.

The Zabrak made his way to the counter.
When he had finished doing so his hand reached for the nearest bottle.
He put the brim up to his nose and already knew what it was due to it's repugnance. His wrist rotated with object in hand, in an instant the remainder of the Corellian Wine emptied itself onto the young bounty hunter if he continued to remain lethargic.

"Focus.. I need to speak with you.."
[member="Carden Lorps"]

 

[Carden Lorps]

He pushed himself off the bar and looked at Maleus. A man who always was at his....he felt his head pounding as he tried to keep himself composed. He looked to the glass on the ground as he listened to Maleus's words.

"What else am I going to do Maleus! Go all across this hellhole of a galaxy...I don't even care anymore....my father is dead and that will not change." The man said as he slowly looked around.

His thoughts had drifted off to memories of him sitting alone,... another memory flashed this time it was one of him sitting in a bar filled with freedom fighters, Maleus....MMaleus was the one who punched him across his face...Maleus was once an enemy...pperhaps he still is, but why would this enemy want to even cross paths with him again.

His mind began to waver... when he heard Maleus' s voice say focus he snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the Zabrak across him.

"You, the man who has tried so much to hurt me....the man who had then a few months later appeard to me in a bar and talked me out of going on my own terms....You....you wish to request audience of me!?!" He almost shouted, but then instantly stopped and narrowed his eyes. "Why would you want to talk to me?" He said softly as the man in front of him.

[member="Maleus"]

 

[Maleus]

"Perhaps you've forgotten why..." He'd pull away from the boy's immediate vicinity to allow him time to collect his thoughts. "Carden was once a man of conviction, his will unbreakable... The love he had for his fathers memory far out-weighted any consequence." He'd turn his robotic hand over to see the reflection of his mercury appendage casting his reflection in an amorphous conglomeration of Gray. "You were a worthy adversary." The Zabrak found a partially broken seat parallel to the young man's chair.

Busted legs were of no consequence, there was enough to secure a seat. The Zabrak lowered himself into the chair. "But now.." He'd pause and motion with his hands the mess that sat before him. "You are nothing more than a drunk.... You epitomize everything you did not want to become..."
"But..."
He'd toss the boy a datapad. Blue static came to life, the screen pulsated with images of the boy clad in armor with a blaster held smugly within his grip.
"Perhaps... You can return to your former glorly?"
[member="Carden Lorps"]

 

[Carden Lorps]

"That man is dead and burried...." Carden said coldly as he watched Maleus. He then heard the man speak of his father. This struck him, he closed his eyes for a brief. "My father....." was all Carden could manage to say as he moved his eyes around the bar, a bar that once was filled with people was now empty....

He couldn't bear to even listen to the man across him. He reached for his blaster that was holstered on his side. He slowly took it out, he felt the pain of being hit...again, he felt the very words of hatred flow from Maleus's mouth that once was.....

Maleus threw a datapad to him, Carden caught it with his free hand. Staring at the pictures of him in his armour made more memories come... Carden meeting with the wookie boy....sand....water...heat


He aImed it at Maleus. "Once was?....I could kill you in a heartbeat....wwhat is stopping me now," he said as he felt his confidence again

[member="Maleus"]

 

[Maleus]

"I don't know... What is stopping you?"
Maleus smiled. It seemed the boy was starting to relive the experiences of his past, at least somewhat. It also seemed he still he cared for his father greatly. His words seemed to sprout wings in the young bounty hunter's consciousness. It would be up to him to lift off...
What?
What was this, even a potential threat?
There was a soft rustling coming from the inside of his cloak as he shifted through his belongings.
"I see time hasn't sharpened your common sense..."
"That's for sure."
[member="Carden Lorps"]

 

[Carden Lorps]

Carden felt himself squeeze the gun tighter. What was stopping him? That was one question he could not answer himself, he wanted to pull the trigger and end it..but he couldn't.

He maintained a steady aim on Maleus. He partially reclaimed his thoughts.

He then watched as Maleus give a smile.

"You know I have always hated your smile....that one right there...." he said. Maleus said something about time not sharpening the boy's senses, this made Carden shake just a bit which threw off his aim.

"II see time has not changed your attitude..." he said like a child.

[member="Maleus"]

 

[Carden Lorps]

Carden felt himself squeeze the gun tighter. What was stopping him? That was one question he could not answer himself, he wanted to pull the trigger and end it..but he couldn't.

He maintained a steady aim on Maleus. He partially reclaimed his thoughts.

He then watched as Maleus give a smile.

"You know I have always hated your smile....that one right there...." he said. Maleus said something about time not sharpening the boy's senses, this made Carden shake just a bit which threw off his aim.

"II see time has not changed your attitude..." he said like a child.

[member="Maleus"]

 

[Maleus]

Maleus continued to observe Carden with interest. The boy's weapon was drawn, Maleus was within his sights but Carden did not fire. "No, it certainly hasn't.." The Zabrak's smile persisted despite having an annoying effect on the lad. "You draw your weapon because I make you uncomfortable, perhaps you're intimidated." The young Zabrak closed his eyes, perhaps it was him showing just how much control he had over the situation even though Carden could technically fire on him. "However.... Your presence is but a far-cry from what it once was."

Maleus's aura was no longer pinned down. He would feel something sinister envelop in mere seconds.
"But let's not.... I'd hate for this to go down before we had a chance to finish speaking."
[member="Carden Lorps"]

 

[Carden Lorps]

Carden ignored the man when he said no it certainly has not, but he attentively. "You intimidate me....never." He said as he kept the weapon up.

"A far cry you say....Please go on Maleus." He said sarcastically

He smiled as Maleus closed his eyes and at what he said.

"Yeah it would end with you on the ground, and me shooting you...but yes, lets speak more...." Carden agreed as he put his blaster in his holster. He then smiled.

[member="Maleus"]