Hoth: Blood and Ice

[Layne Hoshin]

Two weeks, and barely a word. It was confusing as hell, to be honest. And while he was infuriating in many ways, she'd seemingly exhausted all other activities to keep her mind occupied with on this godawful planet. There were no great mysteries left to ponder, except perhaps, the mystery of Darth Irrej.

That in mind, she once more headed to the Infinite Destiny, wondering if she was going to regret it again.

[Darth Irrej]

This time he waited at the bottom of the ramp, his cape billowing.

"You return."

[Layne Hoshin]

Of course the cape was billowing.

Of course he wanted to be dramatic about it.

"...Yes. I return," she said, deciding to just play along.

[Darth Irrej]

"What brings you to my domain, well not my domain, but my abode, as it were," he said.

[Layne Hoshin]

"To finish our last conversation," she said.

She wanted to throw a 'I guess' in there, but that wouldn't sound very dramatic, probably.

"I am still confused about... everything. You didn't think it was time to lift that confusion the last time, so I was hoping now would be different."

[Darth Irrej]

"How can this Dark Lord of the Sith be of service to thee, my comely paramour?" he asked.

[Layne Hoshin]

She had to struggle to keep herself from facepalming again.

"...Okay. Tell me the story of Darth Irrej."

[Darth Irrej]

“Well it is a tale you would not hear from a Jedi,” he said, chuckling darkly.

“Darth Irrej was a dark lord of the Sith, destined to follow in the path of his father and mother, he was given two siblings, a sister and a brother; but the path to power would be an arduous one. He was an honorable soul and when the perfidious and villainous Jedi captured his dear sister, Darth Ekkage he wanted to make the galaxy burn but his brother wanted a more measured approach,” he said.

“So they quarreled but the family sided with the brother as he was growing in power and influence. Darth Irrej was devoted to vengeance. He went into exile in the Republic to seek out his sister but alas he was thwarted and so settled into the life of nobility. Forged documents, blood samples… my family still has impressive resources I could utilize and I was born again as Jerri Organa!”

“But that part is secret… well it was… until recently. Yadda, yadda, yadda, here we are.”

[Layne Hoshin]

She listened quietly, and finally nodded. At least this was *something*, even if it did come with the drama and the... yadda yadda yadda?

"...how were you thwarted in your quest for vengeance, though? Did you not find where your sister was taken?"

[Darth Irrej]

"No idea," he responded.

[Layne Hoshin]

"...what? You mean, you have no idea where she got taken, right? Not, you have no idea if you did or did not find out where she was taken."

No, that wasn't really an important question. Unless he was suffering from some sort of amnesia and *that's* why he is the way he is.

"Either way, why didn't you continue your quest for vengeance, then?"

[Darth Irrej]

"I still yearn to find her, but life goes on," he said. "Maybe one day the Force will deign to give me the wisdom to find my dear sister."

[Layne Hoshin]

"If you found her, what would the two of you do?"

[Darth Irrej]

"Darth Ekkage would continue her reign of terror and destruction of course," he said proudly.

[Layne Hoshin]

"...Right. But, you don't seem like the sort of person who engages in that sort of thing."

[Darth Irrej]

"I find it gauche, but I respect my family's choices," he said proudly.

[Layne Hoshin]

"Well..." she blinked a couple of times "...I guess I can't exactly be upset with you for that, given some of my own family's activities."

[Darth Irrej]

"Oh? Do tell since we are sharing," he asked.

[Layne Hoshin]

She shrugged, deciding what the hell. Why not.

"I think I told you I descend from powerful Sith, right? Powerful force users have a way of lingering after death sometimes. Sometimes they even come back to possess people. Not exactly a good thing for the person getting possessed I guess. Anyway, one of my ghostly ancestors maneuvered her way into becoming queen of the Massassi. Pretty sure she probably did some bad stuff once she was in charge. Helped the empire kill people on the republic side and that sort of thing..."

"...but I was still fond of her. She was my grandma. Well, not literally, since she's like two thousand years removed from me, but I felt that was the relationship we had."

[Darth Irrej]

"Reminds me of mother," he responded.

[Layne Hoshin]

She raised a brow at that.

"How so?"

[Darth Irrej]

"Just a stern and powerful woman, she trained us well. Ekkage had to be bold and clever to kill her and claim her title," he said proudly.

[Layne Hoshin]

"Can't you just... I don't know... not do that?"

She sighed.

"I thought like that for a long time. At first, I killed people because if I didn't, I'd get beaten or maybe even killed myself. Then I killed for extra rations. A pat on the head sometimes. Then I killed because, I thought, if I kept killing eventually I'd get to kill Baras. And then I'd be the one to take his place. I tried, I failed, I became a Jedi. I killed for different reasons. Reasons I thought were better."

And another sigh.

"I'm not a hundred percent onboard with the Jedi way of thinking anymore. I thought about going back to the Sith when I first came here, but that's not the answer either. Killing your own mother as a career move seems... too much... you know?"

[Darth Irrej]

"Well it is the Sith way," he said calmly.

[Layne Hoshin]

"Is it? The Sith code doesn't say anything like that, does it?" She shrugged, "Besides, do you *have* to be a Sith?"