Hoth: Blood and Ice

[Layne Hoshin]

Vast personal experience... riiight.

"..."

Maybe she shouldn't burst his bubble, after all.

"...Well, I guess if people get something positive out of it like that, then that's okay."

But Jerri should still have made it less obviously about her, clearly. Also the whole self-insert serial-killer angle was... concerning...

[Pipka]

Mistaking her ambivalence for agreement, he continues, "Right! People get so much out of it, so much more than what those other, trashy romance novels that claim to be on the same level as Jerri's works provide.

Only a complete degenerate, the most unsophisticated of reader or critic, an uncultured Gamorrean, would boil it down to 'Sex sells' or would refer to his work as simply 'Lewd' so casually.

It's called erotic literature and it is art."

[Layne Hoshin]

"...uhm. Right?"

Wow. Yeah. This uh, definitely wasn't the kind of conversation Layne thought she'd be having today. Or any day, for that matter. And she definitely could not have imagined that this kind of topic would turn out to be... healing in nature?

Somehow?

Life was weird sometimes.

[Pipka]

Getting ahold of himself, Pipka looks a little bit abashed, "Sorry, sometimes I get a little passionate about it. There are so many who don't get it. I guess we're actually pretty fortunate there are so many from Alderaan on this mission."

He give the door a conspiratorial glance and whispers, "There's even going to be a Vera Hawke auction later tonight. I've been saving most of my earnings from the goat sundries just for it."

[Layne Hoshin]

A hand went up to her face as Vera Hawke was mentioned. *Another* someone who'd cribbed things from Layne's life to incorporate into their own stories. Life really was absurd, wasn't it?

"...I met her too once, you know."

Might as well just keep going at this point, and let it all flow.

[Pipka]

For a split second, Pipka's jaw drops, but he quickly recovers, "That pretty cool. I mean, I love the story of course, it's one of his more popular pieces that brought his work to the masses, but I'm a much bigger fan of Dangerous Shade of Black. The heroine is way cooler and more mysterious and sensual than Vera Hawke. She puts Vera Hawke to shame. Makes her look like a Gamorrean really. No contest."

[Layne Hoshin]

"I guess," she said, having absolutely *no idea* how to argue for one over the other. She had kind of made a point of avoiding both pieces of fiction, after all. Only knew the basics.

"...What did you think of Vera Hawke getting that black lightsaber in uh..."

Well, she didn't know what season that happened. The one they show after the real-world peace negotiations on Nar Shaddaa, she'd guess.

[Pipka]

Pipka squirms a little. The black lightsaber was just about the coolest weapon in all holotainment. He had a mocked up black saber that he had made himself in his bunk on the Turtle. He was saving up to buy a prop-grade replica... if only he could stop buying attachments and modifications for his guns.

"I mean, who doesn't like the black lightsaber. It's super awesome and over-powered and thematic, but totally not realistic. How can you have black light come out of a saber?" He says with barely suppressed enthusiasm in describing the weapon.

"I much prefer the more sophisticated Master Loshin. She uses her wits and wiles to seduce the serial killer Jorgan."

[Layne Hoshin]

Wits and wiles. Seduce. Serial killer. Uhuh... maybe best not to linger on *any* of that."

"...You know, she stole that idea from me. The actress who plays Vera, I mean. I have the only real one around. Well, *had*, I guess. Not sure they'll let me keep it."

[Pipka]

The shock was immediate. Pipka was there, but he had checked out. His two little hearts go brrrrrt.

It was real. The black lightsaber was a reality, and it was somewhere here on the base.

Then a second wave of reality hit him. Master Loshin armed with the black lightsaber, the original and rightful owner. All the skill and power of Vera Hawke combined with the brains and prowess of Master Loshin.

Pipka started to fall back into a faint, but caught himself on Chloe. Clutching onto her he utters, "It's real... and it's yours?"

[Layne Hoshin]

It was weird, seeing this kind of reaction. Even if she knew that he was probably imagining all sorts of weird things, and how it was all just a fanboy reaction rather than anything based on the reality of it... but it was still nice somehow. A morale boost... in a bizarre manner.

"It is. Made by a long-gone ancestor of mine. I found it and made it my own."

[Pipka]

Still holding onto Chloe for morale support, Pipka finds his voice, "You found it... you just found it? Like on the ground or on a pedestal or something?"

Images of his favorite non-Jerri series, Corellian Ford, flashed through his mind. An academy instructor who goes on adventures to reclaim lost artifacts. He even had a holoposter in his bunk of "Raiders of the Lost Holicron", where Corellian Ford has to race Sith Intelligence Officers to recover the Sacred Holicron.

Except instead of Corellian Ford, it was Master Jedi Layne Hoshin, slashing through the jungle with her dark saber... wait, no, she wouldn't have it yet if she was searching for it.

Another dose of reality brings him back to the present. "That's amazing. You must have so many cool adventures you could talk about. Maybe you should write them down, The Memoirs of Master Hoshin," he spreads his hands through the air as he says the name, finally releasing poor Chloe.

[Layne Hoshin]

"No," she laughed; again that uncommon amusement she didn't know she had in her, least of all now.

"Not just on the ground or something."

She blinked.

"Actually, well, yes... it *was* on the ground, I think. But it was the ground of an ancient and forgotten tomb on Korriban. Belonged to the woman he loved."

Not the woman our line was born from, though

"It's where he was killed."

[Pipka]

"Ooooh, not just an adventure to recover a long lost artifact, but doomed lovers and a murder mystery as well." He settles down onto the floor, laying on his belly, chin resting on his hands, like a child waiting to hear his favorite story for the umpteenth time. It was Chloe's turn to climb over top of Pipka.

"I should've brought some snacks too. So what happened next? Did you figure out who murdered him?"

[Layne Hoshin]

"The *other* woman did. The one who mothered his descendents and my ancestors."