Private That's My Trowel

[Varin Mortifer]

VARIN MORTIFER

Equipment: Durum Mantle | Black Blade of Chandrila | Eye of The Dragon | Heavy Sith Mace | Cross Guard Broadsaber

It was a frequent thing recently that Varin would have to retrieve his gardening tools from some groundskeeper on the Throneworld above Coruscant. The trip was starting to become tedious though. He was not wearing his armor this time around, it was supposed to be a relaxing day with him doing his hobby.

Having to grab his tools from the man more times than he cared to count was starting to really irk him.

It also did not help that the man would always pretend not to speak common, that excuse was thrown to the side when Varin spoke the man's native tongue, possibly threatening his life if he kept taking his tools.

He had developed a bit of a reputation after he had crucified and burned a handful of…forced volunteers of the temple.

Frustration was already deep within his very being as he rounded the corner, not even paying attention to where he was going.

A small impact into his chest and his tools had dropped to the floor, he looked down to see them scattered about and a deep long sigh escaped him.

What have I done to deserve this treatment today?

He thought to himself as he then looked towards what had impacted into him. A woman he had not seen before, not only Coruscant or in The Covenant. A new face he had not met.

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

The woman who had run into the apprentice recoiled. She rose her hands in front of herself; as she began to make coordinated movements that Varin might recognize as a Sign Language, a mechanical voice like that of a protocol droid projected out of a speaker hidden in the pendant of her choker.

"Oh my. I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

The vocoded voice delivered its interpretation of Efret's signs more or less in monotone, but the way her eyes had blown and her brow knit together communicated her true surprise and concern.

She held eye contact, waiting for a reply.

Varin Mortifer​

 

[Varin Mortifer]

VARIN MORTIFER

Equipment: Durum Mantle | Black Blade of Chandrila | Eye of The Dragon | Heavy Sith Mace | Cross Guard Broadsaber

Varin's head tilted slightly as she raised her hands up before him, signing her language to him. Thankfully the vocoder spoke for her as she signed. Though the voice was mechanical he could see the concern upon her brow.

Varin's hand gently raised to silence the apology in the most polite way he knew how.

“No harm done. The tools are built to last thankfully.”

He looked down at the scattered about tools before he knelt down and started gathering them back up. Some seeds had spilt from their package as he picked up some of the tools. His hands gently gathering the small seeds back into their packs.

“The seeds may be mixed up, but oh well. What can you do when life throws curveballs?”

He looked back over to her.

“I don't think I have seen you before. What's your name? When did you arrive?”

He paused after his questions giving her some time to answer as he gathered his things.

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

"I'm Efret."

She had given much thought to how she would introduce herself after meeting Lysander however they had actually managed to meet. She had been physically on Fondor and hadn't asked where had had been. Perhaps she had accidently folded space, but it didn't matter. They had met. He had given her the courage to dwell in whatever light the Sith stoked.

That was all that mattered.

"I've been here just a few weeks."

Though her bantha, representing the fear that her past as a Jedi would ostracize her in the Covenant, hadn't left her, she went slowly learning to operate in its forward-cast shadow.

Maybe in time she could learn to harness this fear, to siphon power from it. Sith did that and she was one of them now. A master but also a student again in a way she hadn't been for decades.

Her smile came easily, which would surprise her in hindsight after the encounter.

"Seeds and tools, you say? Do you have a garden here on the Throneworld? I've done my fair share of farming on planets, but I've never planted anything on a space vessel." Not that she had spent much time at all on them before now. In fact, when she was with the New Jedi Order, her discomfort aboard the Prosperity had been reasonably well-known—though it was because of her difference opinion with the Council on its appropriateness as a temporary refuge for padawans displaced from the Grand Temple due to the Dark Empire's threat to Coruscant, not simply because it was a starship.

Varin Mortifer​

 

[Varin Mortifer]

VARIN MORTIFER

Equipment: Durum Mantle | Black Blade of Chandrila | Eye of The Dragon | Heavy Sith Mace | Cross Guard Broadsaber

The question came clearly from her vocoder, thankfully translating her sign language to him. His gaze looked up and down the halls in hopes that Arris was not around. The last time he spoke to someone who used sign language…well, it did not end well for them.

“Oh on the Throneworld? No, I came to retrieve the tools. The temple on Coruscant was looking a bit…barren? I guess you could call it. Besides, the big city could use some greenery.”

He picked up the last of the tools and the seeds then looked over to her, a small awkward pause between them as he was just horrible with small conversations.

“Do you garden often? Or have any experience?”

He finally asked after a second longer of the awkward pause. His finger gently tapping on the trowel within his hand, a way to keep his mind more focused on the now rather than overfocusing on the awkward silence just seconds prior.

“It's more of a small side hobby of mine.”

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

A genuine smile crossed her face and she huffed a short laugh.

It wasn't that she though the idea of this towering man tending a garden amused her; it confounded her. She hadn't thought Sith could have such mundane hobbies. Fostering certain life while surely engaged in taking others...but, then again, much the same could be said for many Jedi historic and contemporary.

"Yes, I'm inclined to agree," Efret said to his assessment of the Grand Temple. No, the Sith Temple. She shook its old name gently from her head. When he stood, she stepped further back a few steps to more comfortably look up at him through her combination of physical and metaphysical sight. Her first visit of the familiar but drastically different place had been abbreviated. She had spent nearly the entire time in the archives, with her ingress and egress being direct; she couldn't have brought herself to wander the grounds if she tried, but she didn't have to to know that nothing within those simultaneously hallowed and haunted halls were as lively as they one had been with plant life.

"Not very often," she admitted. "Just when the situation calls for it." She did miss those times, from assisting local women tend a grove of native plants on one of her cultural emersions to lending a hand to the Jedi Agricultural Corps on the rare occasions that she crossed paths with their deployments.

Then she offered, more to interrupt her jogging memories than make conversation, "I do bake and cook a lot. Though—" Her face fell. "—I haven't done either since arriving." She noted that she should find the time, but also a group of beings to share her creation with. To her, that was most of the pleasure. Maybe, this man could be persuaded to partake at a later date.

Realization that he hadn't introduced himself, or perhaps she hadn't seen him do so, brought her back to the present from planning for the future. "What's your name, my dear?" Her fingers had moved to make the term of endearment before she even knew that they had. It had been a reasonably well-known mannerism of hers among Jedi, more a product of her nature than her station as a master.

Varin Mortifer​

 

[Varin Mortifer]

VARIN MORTIFER

Equipment: Durum Mantle | Black Blade of Chandrila | Eye of The Dragon | Heavy Sith Mace | Cross Guard Broadsaber​

He watched her take a step back, not one of fear, but more of curiosity. He knew his towering stature could be uncomfortable to look at for those who were shorter, so he had grown used to people having to reacclimate themselves for conversation with him.

“Some would say the situation planetside is gravely calling for it. Nothing but dull colors, metal and duracrete down there. It’s a headache sometimes, and it gets mundane when you realise there is no variation in color.”

His eyes widened slightly when she mentioned baking as a side hobby. Not that he was surprised, it was just another hobby that most Sith he met did not share with him. Sometimes he baked for his friends but usually the only time he would bake would be for his mother and sister’s birthday, though they could no longer indulge in the food he would make for them, he would instead burn it in a moment of silence for them.

“Baking happens to be another hobby I quite enjoy, helps clear the mind especially if the weather for gardening is…less than optimal.”

His head slightly shook as he realised he never introduced himself and a palm smacked his forehead.

“Apologies, I am Varin, Varin Mortifer.”

A small chuckle left him as his hand fell to his side, the other one holding the tools he had finally gathered.

“I am usually better with introductions.”

Efret Farr​