Hoth: Blood and Ice

[Darth Bellious]

Moyr took it back and remained perfectly silent. She'd noticed what there was to notice, and felt like a complete fool, though she could not blame anyone but herself for the foolishness. It was her turn to leave the room.

[Luth Khalan]

She stopped at the doorway and looked back. A moment later, she let out a breath. "I'm sorry. It's been a long couple of days. Almost got my soul eaten. You know how it goes." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Kriff, from the way you're talking, you probably literally know how it goes."

Moyr took it back and remained perfectly silent. She'd noticed what there was to notice, and felt like a complete fool, though she could not blame anyone by herself for the foolishness. It was her turn to leave the room.

"Bellious, wait, please. I apologize." She didn't want to call her by a name she hadn't gotten permission to use.

It wasn't a very Sith thing to do, but she wanted to make it more of a her thing to do. Some changes need to be made. He was right about that.

[Sylvain Torsin]

He turned to Moyr as she reacted and he gave a similar request, “Moyr… Please…”

The man who had lived many lives realized better than most that not all paths were his to choose…

And so he let his unspoken memories drift into the ether… and prayed only that the paths would lead them all forward together.

[Darth Bellious]

"There's nothing to apologise for, Khalan. For now, we're all alive and able to do something, despite our respective near-death experiences of late. This is a satisfactory baseline. As for my emotions, I am not ashamed of them, nor can I make them go. I tried, but this is not who I am, to unfeel. They are what they are, as... there is only Passion."

She forced a smile.

"I am a good pilot. Get some time without me. I think I have told you what there was for me to tell, Sylvain, now and before. You've found yourself to be trapped in a net of destinies. I have given you my sword into your hand, but can't cut these ropes for you."

/Fade to cockpit

[Luth Khalan]

Luth nodded, then sighed. "I'm sorry... That was my fault." She ran a hand over her face. "My selfishness is still going to get everyone killed."

[Sylvain Torsin]

He nodded to Moyr with eyes that knew what it meant and had previously followed that path many times in his quest for… knowledge… though not the knowledge he thought he would find.

“We must all do what we feel to be right… I wish from the bottom of my heart that I could share with each of you part of that which I have experienced… but in the same breath, I also wish for anything but that…”

He looked around the room, “It is best to live the one life we have with conviction… Trusting in those we love…”

He looked over to his daughter again, “The future is always in motion… But we must keep our minds on where we are and what we are doing…”

He turned to Luth finally, “Focus on the next step and there is no need for doubt… It is possible that your strengths will save us all… We must trust… That includes ourselves.”

[Luth Khalan]

She sat down next to him, on the opposite side from Arymis. "Yes..."

There was a long moment of silence before she finally said, "I think you're right about Baras, though. Complete trust and working together will be difficult with him in the picture. I... honestly don't know if it will be impossible."

[Layne Hoshin]

Layne had somehow been there the whole time. Just listening.

"...idiots," she finally said after listening beyond her ability to endure, rolling her eyes.

[Luth Khalan]

"Probably," she replied with a shrug. "At least we only have the twins to worry about now."

[Sylvain Torsin]

Sylvain simply looked at Layne as if inviting her to speak.

[Zeno Thul]

Zeno headed back when Moyr relieved him on cockpit duties.
He sat down where he could talk to everyone.

"End of the Empire and Republic, eh? Quick question for everyone here. Does that really sound so terrible? Certainly war sounds terrible. But are the people in charge of our own governments any better than this empire? You think in a million years the Republic and Empire will still be around anyway? Is fighting for either a fight worth committing to?"

[Layne Hoshin]

"Boohoo, dreadful future one, dreadful future two, keep going. Woe is me. All I've seen and done is failure, blah blah. Been there, done that. Been feeling sorry for myself ever since, not going to watch you do the same."

She pointed an annoyed finger at him. "You didn't see the kriffin future of futures, Torsin. You didn't see the multitude of possibilities only to discover that the only way forward is we all just find the power of friendship like this is some holonovel, and then everything's going to be alright. You know how I know that? Because *I* saw the future too. A future far past when we're all long gone. And guess what? No endless eternal empire in it. No great destinies. None of that. Just people."

"Galaxy's going to be fine no matter what we do here. I thought I had some great destiny once. I went into that vergence thinking I was going to save the galaxy and myself along with it, only to learn it was never about any of that. Other people swooped in and forced their way into the destiny I thought was mine. And you know what? As pissed off as that still makes me, I know now it doesn't really matter."

"The vergence just held a mirror up to you. There's truth there, but it's all covered up in lies. Maybe there's some truth in there about everything else, relevant to the rest of us. But you just saw what it thought *you* needed to see to maybe learn something about yourself in the process."

"I don't trust the Sith. And I don't trust the Jedi anymore either. I'm not going to pretend that can change. And I'm not going to pretend I can change anything either. I'm just going to do it. No destiny. No inevitability. No more feeling sorry for myself. Just do. And if I fail, I fail. Whatever. Everything's going to be fine without us anyhow, in the end."

[Luth Khalan]

"The autocracy of the Eternal Empire makes the Sith Empire look like child's play, and despite the kids being played up as his legacy, it was only ever meant to have one monarch," she noted. "It does make a difference for the trillions of people alive here and now, no matter how long the Republic and Empire exist past this. That's how I feel about it."

"You're not the sole receiver of true insight in the galaxy, Layne. Any future someone sees, including yours, is just one of many. Working together is the best chance we have. The future isn't created by one person. Best of luck with your efforts, though."

[Layne Hoshin]

"Fine," she said with annoyance, "hear whatever you want to hear instead of what I'm saying. Everyone seems to like doing that. I'm not saying don't work together. That's the *do* part, Luth. Just don't make it out to be more than that. We're not special. We do or we don't. If we do, great. If we don't, someone else will."

[Luth Khalan]

"Okay." She shrugged. "It's entirely possible."

[Zeno Thul]

Zeno nods at the description of the invading empire. He didn't particularly want to be under more authoritarian powers.

"So... let's just destroy an empire," he says with a shrug. "We're all pretty good at destroying things in our own way. And we've all built different things. We may not be special, but we're pretty capable. Those that can work together will."

[Sylvain Torsin]

Sylvain listened contemplatively and nodded throughout, “Nothing we do matters and it does… I don’t have answers for you Layne. I’m not even sure you’re real… But I have heard these same arguments from you before. And despite all of it… I know that I can trust you… Even if you cannot trust others at this time. And I know that going it alone is never worth it… You don’t have to if you don’t want to… You just need ask.”

He paused, “Zeno is right… whatever lies ahead… it is not the Empire and it is not the Republic… There must be something more than convenience.”

[Layne Hoshin]

She sighed. "Whatever. I don't really care anymore. You want to get obssessed with the future and destiny, you go right ahead. I am done with that stuff. I've seen where that leads. As for the rest of it? War is coming, and I'll fight what I must. What else is new? I'll even work with both sides if I have to. Whatever. You want me to trust people beyond that? I trust *some* people. Where others have only betrayed the trust I gave them. I am not making that mistake again. Not that I of all people have any right to complain about that, but I'm doing it anyway."

Everyone and everything was still just pissing her off; for good reasons and no reasons whatsoever both. It sucked.

She stood up. "You figure out what needs to be done about this stuff beyond vague feel-good mumbo jumbo, then we'll talk. Right now I'm just gonna go stare at some scanners with Moyr."

And she headed over to the cockpit.

[Sylvain Torsin]

Sylvain simply nodded at Layne. She was always the toughest egg to crack… And Sylvain no longer cracked eggs.

Arymis merely sat quietly next to her father undoubtedly bewildered by the change that had come over him.

[Darth Bellious]

"Layne." Moyr acknowledged her, navigating the ship back toward Echo. She seemed withdrawn.

[Layne Hoshin]

"Layne." Moyr acknowledged her, navigating the ship back toward Echo. She seemed withdrawn.

"Moyr," she returned the acknowledgement and sat down, seemingly just as withdrawn for a while.

After a few minutes she glanced at Moyr and decided to give some thought to something other than her own issues for a few moments... then sighed.

"...he is a jerk."

[Darth Bellious]

"We all are what we are. We make things happen together despite that, or go it alone, with decreased chances." She inhaled to moderate herself. Underneath her emotionless mark there was a cauldron of molten metal. Her patience with Syl had been tested too even though it wasn't the crux of her undying challenge with him. "I am not sure about his visions. They don't sit well with me. But to downplay them is too risky. We're facing an autocratic transformation of the galaxy that is bound to snuff out what I hold dear if it goes according to its plan. But I will be seeking a slit we can turn into a crack anyway. People who have broken their chains can shape future even if the circumstances are not of their making. To believe otherwise is to negate my core principles. For years, I have thrived on subversion. I got my hand in humbling Coruscant, something Naga Sadow hadn't accomplished. But I did so because he had imagined it possible. So now I choose to imagine the Eternal Empire subvertible. If not in this generation, than perhaps in a later one, when my flesh is nothing but space dust. My Master believed it is fear that ought to constitute us. I think it's kriffing defiance."

[Layne Hoshin]

-

"Sure," she said after a moment, "There's truth in those visions even if not necessarily in the way he or Luth thinks there is. Anyway... I was just saying, he's a jerk. Guy's like one of those holo-harem protagonists. Glad I never fell for it."

[Darth Bellious]

"He is both more and less than that. I defy that as well and choose to believe in him, despite his calcified mentality. Call me an idiot all you want for that. This has torn me apart more than once. You dodged the bullet there."

[Layne Hoshin]

"Yeah well," she said, looking out the window, "I'm not even sure I know how to take bullets like that anyhow."