First Reply Magic Man | Lothal

[Aalto Rhune]

Magic Man
Lothal
Tags: Open (DM for later entry)

​

The sun was settled high in the sky, directly above in a manner that stopped all those walking the dusty streets of a small settlement on Lothal from casting shadows on the earth. A wind blew through, the sound of rustling grass carried on it's back. Asside from the chitter of insects and shuffling of feet from villagers, the town sat in silence. Stagnation.

A second set of footsteps was hard to miss.

All those in the streets would be met by the vissage of a lone wanderer, a man of modest height and bluest skin. He wore only a straw hat and simple garb, his back exposed to the elements with a ruck sack thrown over his shoulder filled with the spoils of his travels, worthless to most. The man was no stranger, however. Far from it. He was the Frostwalker, a warrior who came and went as he pleased. He had no home to hold him down, but instead bore a responsibility to defend truth, life, and the light. As such he went where he was needed. With a temple to take shelter in nearby, Lothal was one such location he frequented.

"Mr. Rhune!"

It was a gaggle of children who would break the silence first, running up to meet the traveler. A green Twi'lek boy, a young Aqualish lad, and their leader, a snot-nosed human girl. Dirty, barefoot, and equiped with a deadly arsonal of slingshots and wooden swords. Weapons were scarce in these parts, held by the adults mostly. It was only a few years ago that they had been used to fend of Sithspawn. Aalto simply smiled, as he always did, giving a half wave.

"Afternoon," he greeted. "Staying out of trouble?"

"Yes, sir," the girl nodded, giving a salute. "And the town has been safe too. Nothing gets past our watch."

"I'm glad to hear," the Nautolan chuckled.

There had been pirates that had taken up shop here when he had first come through. The knight, of course, had promptly sent them packing. Now he made this village a routine location to check on. It was for the best that way.

"Are you hunting Sith, Mr. Rhune?" the Twi'lek boy asked.

"Not today, kid," Aalto shrugged. "Just passing through to get a drink. You all can run off and tell your elder I'm here if you like."

And off they went. Before long the knight had stepped into the local bar, which was sparsely populated. As a town of small time farmers and miners, most of the local customers were off working. It left the bar completely for him. Aalto would sit down, raising his hand and projecting his voice in a soft, but purposeful tone.

"Just a Jogan Juice," he stated. "Then I'll be on my way."

He'd have a glass before him in a matter of moments, to which he began drink in silence.

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

Well, so far Lothal seemed a bust. It had been admittedly, a longshot, which was why Malum did not feel too disappointed. Any lingering disappointment had less to do with the fact that Lothal seemed unable to grant him entry into this so-called "World Between Worlds" or "Vengeance Scatter" that other sources called it, and more with the fact that if Lothal was able to grant him access, it was going to be denied by the Jedi who currently occupied their Temple where the apparent entrance existed. He wondered if the Jedi themselves knew of it, the only reason he did after all was due to barely legible surviving records of Darth Sidious' experiments, and no Jedi he had ever met these last four years had ever mentioned it.

Certainly, if they did know of it, it would have made perfect sense to monopolise knowledge of it, not just maintaining an information blockade against the Sith and all other Force users, but even between Jedi themselves.

After all, all knew the culpability of Jedi to be drawn towards the darkness, the truth, really.

Still, whether real or not, with no way into the temple, there would be no way for him to access it. It was a setback, but a minor one, he would simply need to find the great Darth Marr's lightsabre on Zakuul some other way.

For now, walking into this... town? That was being generous he supposed, it was not quite a town, but it was too large to be called a village either. Well regardless, walking into this settlement, hooded as any other traveller who enjoyed their privacy, with his blue contacts firmly in place over his crimson eyes before anyone got the wrong (correct) idea, and making certain that he was invisible to any of those who could sense his darkness, after all, this was a Jedi bastion.

He gazed up to see a group of children dispersing and then saw a sign with a mug, which was a telltale sign.

Well, he could at least grab a drink, and sulk a little before he left this place.

Though of course, a Marr never sulked.

Opening the door, momentarily filling the darkened room with light, he was at least happily surprised to note it was barren, apart from the barkeep who offered a nod as notice and was polishing an empty glass, and some other patron.

And as his gaze settled on him.

A rather familiar feeling fell onto him.

How the fuck did this keep happening?

As he lived and breathed, a Jedi.

He stopped in his tracks, curse his Chaos-accursed luck, could he not get one break?

Unfortunately, both fate and destiny had conspired otherwise, and knowing that entering this establishment and then immediately leaving was going to raise more questions than he really needed right now, he let out a soft sigh.

"Wine, red, corner booth, please," Malum spoke, trying to limit the amount of words that came out his lips in a vain effort to keep his accent, and noble tinge out of his speech. He really did not need a fight right now, even as he could already imagine in his mind's eye, his two sabres, hidden underneath his cloak at his sides. Walking away to take his requested seat.

Aalto Rhune

 

[Aalto Rhune]

Lothal
Tags: Darth Malum of House Marr

​

"Wine, red, corner booth, please,"

"Wine, eh?" Aalto remarked with a grin. "A little early for that kind of brew, don't you think?"

His voice had the undertones of a posh upbringing, a higher class from a far off land. This man was very far from home, or at least it seemed as though he was. Aalto had traveled many places, so where excatly was hard to pinpoint. It was just an interesting detail as far as the Nautolan was concerned. After all, why try to hide it?

"Though I guess extreme circumstances have driven people to drink at noon," he shrugged, turning back to his glass.

It hardly mattered that the stranger had moved himself away from Aalto. The man was projecting his voice in such a manner that avoiding conversation would be impossible. He was in town and had a sworn duty to protect, so he may as well learn about this wandering stranger from afar. It was just these sorts of folk that wound up being a danger to the people around them. The Frostwalker didn't like leaving things to chance if he could help it.

"I've seen it countless times," the man continued. "People come to a new place with exuberant expectations, then one form of let-down or another brings them back to a bottle." He paused, smirking as he took another sip of his juice. "Though I think wine is a little posh for the usual kind of sulking at a place like this."

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

He resisted the sigh, interrupted before he could even properly take his seat, the Jedi could not well enough leave him alone could he? Their kind never could, he supposed. There was no point whining or sulking about it, even if at least one of those things was possibly why he had entered the establishment in the first place.

"What can I say, when you have been searching for near half a decade for something, only to be foiled once again, sometimes a drink at noon is warranted," Malum offered with the feigned ghost of a smile, though unable to resist the frown as the barkeep wandered by with the wine carried in a mug, rather than any sort of wine glass which he had seen, perhaps the Jedi had been right about one thing, wine here might have not been the best of ideas.

Did he even want to drink it? He swirled it around the mug, it was warm, warm, spiced, mulled wine.

Eh, he probably should have expected that.

He pushed it aside for now, a few minutes of conversation, he would pay for both their drinks, and then he would be on his way.

A few minutes.

A few minutes talking with a Jedi, he could survive that much, couldn't he?

It was yet to be seen.

Of course, an arrogant Jedi would not make the mission any easier for him. He resisted the instinct to verbally bite back, if the Jedi knew he was he would not be bothering to play games, they were always a little bit too eager to burst into action after all...

...Well apart from one of them, memories of sky-blue eyes and golden locks were suppressed as fast as they came.

If the Jedi wished to play games, he would be more than willing to play.

"I don't know about any of that I am afraid," Malum responded, a feigned grin taking over, as he brought back the wine and took a sip, it was better than he had thought it would be, good, he could leave ever quicker for it, "However of all the new places I've visited, I have to admit this one has been a quaint little locale," His face suddenly turned sombre, "Unfortunate about its protectors though, that Jedi Temple nearby will make this place a target sooner or later, so close to Imperial and Sith space... seems danger follows Jedi everywhere, follows them to the innocent and undefended all the more often."

His face was the picture of innocence, as he took another sip.

If he had been an older man, a wiser man, he would have known to not engage in this game.

Aalto Rhune

 

[Aalto Rhune]

Lothal
Tags: Darth Malum of House Marr

​

"Unfortunate about its protectors though, that Jedi Temple nearby will make this place a target sooner or later, so close to Imperial and Sith space... seems danger follows Jedi everywhere, follows them to the innocent and undefended all the more often."

"Those old ruins?" Aalto remarked with a chuckle. "Don't be rediculous. They've stood for eons and not one imperial has cared. You can't make Death Stars out of stone. But Doonium? That's a different story. The Jedi bring no more distruction than the changing of the seasons do. It's greed that has scarred this world."

Such a curious shift. It betrayed a lot, but Aalto was no aggressor. He'd much rather not disrup the townsfolk. No, it was best for this encounter to run it's course and for fate to draw them apart.

"I would not lament the people of Lothal," he shrugged. "They are fighters. Their leadership fended off the New Imperial Order in the days of the war. That The Fynch fellow is a tough nut to crack..."

The Jedi didn't need to be here for that. The people of Lothal were determined to keep their independance, one way or another. Nobody ever came here to bother some crummy old Temple. No, they came here for resources, a fuel for a fire that had been burning since the dawn of civilization. It was so hard for some to see past the surface level struggle of balance that perhaps they could not fathom conflict beyond the Jedi and Sith. Important players as they were, the Galaxy did not revolve around them.

Though the Sith would surely like it if it did.

"This thing you are searching for," the Nautolan mused, "Perhaps you are not ment to find it. Half a decade is a great deal of time. Perhaps you could have accomplished something else in the meantime. We live in a wide galaxy full of opportunity after all."

The truth of the matter was that, as much as one could push against fate, some things were never ment to be.

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

Old ruins.

So the Jedi were not actively patrolling the place. There would be no defences because as far as this Jedi seemed to imply, they, or at least he, did not believe there was anything of value at the site. Which meant, maybe this trip was not a waste after all.

He resisted his first instinct which was to drop far more credits than was necessary and leave this place immediately.

Before sense took over, he realised if there was anything that would set the Jedi off it would be that. So he sat still, seeming to digest the words that the Jedi had thrown at him. "I, unfortunately, do not share the same view as you and those ruins illustrate my point perfectly," Malum waved off, considering how exactly he would approach this without giving himself away, "The temple is broken and destroyed, the people learned to protect themselves from incidental attack from others, but such is not the case where temples do still stand, for there, they harm the people specifically because the Jedi are present, you can only read on the Holonet about so many attacks on the Jedi Temple on Coruscant for you to get sick of it." Malum himself had never been inside the Temple, even if he was so mystified by it, having contented himself at looking at the architecture from afar, barely dodging what Jedi Padawans had incidentally found him.

It was hard to believe that was almost half a decade ago.

"As for what I am searching for..." He ground his teeth, masking his features at the sudden rush of emotions from the impudence of the Jedi who knew little and little else of what he spoke, "The problem has been all that I have accomplished in that time, I have been too busy to conduct the search with full effort," Training, battle, war, all the other petty distractions that had kept him occupied. Civil War... two of them.

And now he had a planet to govern, and a much weakened Tsis'Kaar to rebuild.

There simply was no time.

Not that he expected a Jedi to understand, carefree galaxy trotters.

Aalto Rhune

 

[Aalto Rhune]

Lothal
Tags: Darth Malum of House Marr

​

"The temple is broken and destroyed, the people learned to protect themselves from incidental attack from others, but such is not the case where temples do still stand, for there, they harm the people specifically because the Jedi are present, you can only read on the Holonet about so many attacks on the Jedi Temple on Coruscant for you to get sick of it."

"You certainly like arguing semantics, don't you," Aalto grinned. "But alas, the Aang Ti would beg to differ. No temple preluded the culling of their world. Tendancies of violence will always occur while there are those who hunger for power... or more often so driven by a fear of something far greater than themselves. Sith, Empire, Jedi, Alliance... These names mean nothing. There is only people making decisions and acting on ideologies. Without the Sith, I imagine you'd find a beligerant band of individuals looking to take fall into their place, and perhaps an opposing group that attracts their hatred. Thus is the endless march of time."

So long as there was the Force, those would follow it's will and abuse it retrospectively. A never-ending cycle, Auroboros. There was no breaking it, only the dead path paved by fools who tried. One didn't even need to be force sensitive to be wrapped up in it. After all, the Force binded all living things.

"All you've accomplished, eh?" the man remarked. "Is this accomplishment worth the paranoia? To fear that your own ilk may strike you in your sleep? Stress is welling up within you, friend. So much aspiration, yet anguish all the same... The kind that drives a man to drink in the afternoon perhaps?"

He shrugged, taking a sip of his juice.

"Take it from me," the Nautolan smirked. "Freest man in the galaxy, going on five years: We all have time to spare. It is simply a matter of what we do with it. And I choose to spend my time following the wind."

If only to pass the time.

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

Urgh, the man was so haughty and high all mighty that Malum had to wonder for a moment if he was a Jedi at all. Serene was their way, polite their indoctrination, of course then would quickly come the realisation this was the Jedi way, those self-proclaimed protectors who were utterly out of touch with those they protected. Quick to judge, and just as unable to understand.

Those paternalistic soldiers who were only a step away from returning to their days of rule as lords, kept at bay with fear of being too similar to their cousins separated by thousands of years of wars, across the stars.

Those holier than thou priests, who even in every attempt to remain unbeholden to the Republic or its successors, could not help but press down heavily on its pulse, make themselves the heart and core of the galaxy, unable to believe an existence in which they are not at the centre.

Such was why they fell.

Such was they would fall again.

Slaves to themselves, slaves to the Force, yet calling themselves masters.

He interrupted his musings with a sip, swirling the drink about itself, "Rather hypocritical to address the matter of semanticism when you are seemingly so content to accept the natural order, to avoid blame towards the Jedi. Does the fact that violence, battle, and war are a fact of our galaxy, mean that the Jedi are precluded from all responsibility for what parts they do cause?" He offered, raising his glass in assent, this was stupid, even by his standards, there was no reason to engage in a match with a Jedi, whether it be with sabres or not, if he just stayed silent, he might just finish and leave for the ruins.

But his pride would not allow it so easily.

"I have already done my years of service, free from responsibility and able to explore the galaxy at his will... I enjoyed those days, certainly, and sometimes I can return to them," He explained, keeping the harshness out of his voice, as the Jedi of all people tried to speak down to him, that was the way of the Jedi after all, either pompousness or fear, "But I willingly accept my responsibilities, for my family, my friends, my subordinates, for them, I will work myself to the bone," His diamond eyes met ocean blue of the Nautolan, "I suspect that even a wanderer like you could empathise with something like that?"

Aalto Rhune

 

[Aalto Rhune]

Lothal
Tags: Darth Malum of House Marr

​

“The Jedi are not without blame,” Aalto assured, “But you are too quick to absolve the destruction caused by those who are not Jedi. Csilla and Panatha being wiped from the map was no small thing. We have been caught in a feedback loop with no end, where violence begets violence on all sides. Good or ill will regardless. I sympathize with wanting to protect your people. Love is the root of all organic life after all. I simply hope they are willing to do the same, and I hope that the friends and families of strangers do not have to suffer in the wake of the hunger of yours. Coexistence is difficult these days. Many are quick to snuff out the other. I… suppose you can ask the Aang Ti about that if any remain… or that hand who willed their destruction.”

The implication was obvious. That was the work of Carnifex. Aalto knew what this man was.

Aalto stood. His drink was gone. A faint breeze had begun to waft through bar’s open door. It was time for him to leave. His rice hat was planted firmly on his head, credits tossed to the table for both himself and the wine-drinking stranger.

“The wind moves again,” he stated. “Take care. Perhaps travel some more as well, meet regular people who are disconnected from this world you’ve chained yourself to. I mean, wine at a small village bar? High society is a sliver of what the universe has to offer. Try a beer next time.”

And with that he was gone. For now, at least. The wind would bring him back in due time.

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

"Nothing needs to be absolved, just recognition that this galaxy's angels and devils are hardly aligned in the factions they choose, there is just as much evil or potential for ill in those that proclaim to be good, as those that are. Proudly standing before the galactic stage and being the lesser evil, still is an evil, and allows that lesser evil to do whatever they desire, as long as they can convince their tribe that they are at least the better alternative," It had always been a strange thing to be a Sith, to grow up as one, to rationalise what was taught to you by obviously biased teachers, with the bias inherent in the galaxy that was against them on principle. He had truly ever found the truth of it, but it was a matter he could discuss and argue freely with ease and delight, it may not have been a metaphysical discussion of the Force, but a political discussion of galactic polities ranked highly close enough, "Do we so easily forget the Crusaders of Ashla? The destruction of Exegol? Are we to be trusting of the powers that be, that whole planets must be utterly annihilated rather than used for a better purpose?"

He sipped the last of the wine, for all his regrets and thoughts on the drink, it had been surprisingly good. Showed him up regarding expectations, perhaps a reason to return here, as long he avoided the Nautolan at least, "But at the end, your words do hold truth, it is this cycle that is the cause of these problems, the good cannot help but do harm in their pursuit of ending evil, harm begets harm, and those with the greatest of intentions shall have their souls marred by what is required to carry out their desire," Of course, if it was their will at all, fate and destiny held an all too powerful grasp on their actions, and their history, the cycles, was enough proof of that for Malum to know...

...There was no price too steep for freedom.

No price too steep to break their chains.

He did not want to pay the price, he wished only for the Jedi to finally see their slavery, and break their own chains, to join together to fight the only enemy that mattered.

But there was little chance of that, the Jedi would have to be defeated, those greatest champions of the Force's will, for the Force itself to be challenged.

The end of his words had a hint, a warning perhaps, yet no lightsabres were drawn, if they were both aware of what each other was, it seemed they were more than willing to coexist... that brought him a flicker of hope, even if the man opposite him annoyed him so. Coexistence despite that, how novel.

"I do not wish to see anyone harmed in my desires and objectives," It was true, people had been harmed by things he had done, but he had never taken pleasure out of it... mostly, "There is no point in wantonness cruelty."

Malum did not react as the man stood, threw down some credits, and moved to leave, giving one final aloof, and haughty statement, but for Malum, it was enough to elicit a chuckle from him, "I will try a beer when they stop tasting so awful," Perhaps though, he might partake in whatever juice the man had before his arrival here, "Goodbye, Jedi, perhaps we shall see each other in our travels again, hopefully it shall be as friendly as this one." He reached into his robes, pulling enough credits to be a hefty tip for the barkeep, after all, if the Jedi was paying for his drink, it was the least he could do.

And then he was gone, gone with the wind that seemed to herald his arrival and announce his exit.

Malum would leave soon after. These were the moments in his journey that he would forget quickly after, but these were the small moments of his journey that defined it, those small interactions, those thoughtful discussions, those moments of lived experience. What had they gained in such discourse? Very little.

The discussion between two men of different creeds would not affect the actions on the Galactic scale, but it would affect them, however minutely.

Despite the annoyance, Malum was glad to have spoken with the Nautolan.

Aalto Rhune