Hoth: Blood and Ice

[Layne Hoshin]

She had been running around the place all day hoping he wasn't going to be... difficult and stalk her. Which to his credit, he hadn't actually done as far as she could tell. Well, other than the fact he'd ran a pirate blockade for her apparently. And caused a huge scene...

...A scene that had left her with enough questions that she eventually found herself with the burning need to *know*. It would probably be awkward. And infuriating. But she just had to know.

So she showed up at the Infinite Destiny, hoping to get an audience with the 'great' Darth Irrej...

[Darth Irrej]

The great Darth Irrej appeared and walked down the ramp and said, "I see you have finally come, though I admit I lack any way of evading the blockade without needless danger and perhaps death."

[Layne Hoshin]

She already kind of regretted this and was resisting the urge to facepalm again.

"...right?"

She was resisting the urge so much.

"...Did you just... come down instead of buzzing me up so that, you could look dramatic walking down that ramp?"

[Darth Irrej]

There is a long pause and then his voice came through his mask, "No."

[Layne Hoshin]

She sighed and finally her hand did go up to her face, to punch the bridge of her nose.

"...Jerri. Why are you here? And also... what was that with Baras? I mean... what?"

She still couldn't formulate that part into a coherent question or sentence.

[Darth Irrej]

"Ahem, Master Jedi, Darth Irrej," he corrected. "I know that masterful performance as the late Jerri Organa fooled billions, but the necessity for such clever obfuscation has come to an end. I was always Irrej, even when you knew me as Jerri."

[Layne Hoshin]

"That's not even a real name!" she threw out her hands, "that's just a Darth title and it's clearly just Jerri spelled backward!"

She sighed. "Are you even a Darth to begin with, anyway? There was something about you being exiled or something."

[Darth Irrej]

“Jerri is Irrej backwards, actually. And yes, it isn’t like I was banished by the Emperor; it was merely a familial decision to end internal but damaging strife from the perfidious Jedi capturing my sister. It is old history not worth dredging up, but those wounds still run deep,” he said.

“But alas, it is good to just be once more instead of pantomiming as a Republic noble.”

[Layne Hoshin]

"...riiight," she sounded surpremely skeptical.

"Are you... sure?"

She shook her head. "Actually... I didn't even know he *had* a brother. Or a sister for that matter. Look. Just explain this, clearly, from the beginning. No theatrics, please?"

[Darth Irrej]

"Another time," he said wistfully.

"I do not have the strength to recount such a tale of woe and misery," he said gesturing dramatically.

[Layne Hoshin]

"Ugh," she facepalmed again, "at least take that stupid helmet off."

[Darth Irrej]

"I find it quite dashing and terrifying, striking fear into the hearts of my enemies," he responded.

[Layne Hoshin]

She stared at him, exasperated expression on her face.

"...why are you here?"

[Darth Irrej]

"To help you, the galaxy burns, and I have come to save that which matters most to me outside of myself and my prodigious wealth," he responded.

[Layne Hoshin]

"Jerri," again there was a facepalming moment, "We had *one* night together like five years ago. I'd just almost died and they shot me up full of pain medication."

[Darth Irrej]

"So it was a fleeting moment, but to me a moment frozen in time, I see," he responded.

[Layne Hoshin]

Why was she even having this conversation? Was it the alcohol from Karaoke night?

It was probably the alcohol.

It was *definitely* the alcohol.

"...why? It's not like you're bad looking beneath that mask, and you're an Organa. Or a ... whatever your surname is. Kriff, even besides all that, you have *actual* fans even out here. I'm sure if you didn't..."

act like yourself

"...you could have whatever you want. You can't be so starving for affection that you'd go to all this trouble to track me down in the middle of a... war. ...wait, it's already begun out there?"

[Darth Irrej]

"Indeed it has, whoever they are, are quite powerful," he responded.

[Layne Hoshin]

"Right," she shook her head, "never mind that. What about the other stuff?"

[Darth Irrej]

"What other stuff?" he said with confusion. "Do be specific?"

[Layne Hoshin]

This was ridiculous.

Okay. Fine.

"Why me?"

[Darth Irrej]

“The whys of love are a mystery to even the greatest of us, you are simply the muse that ignites the fire in my heart! Even if we are night and day, we are bound together,” he explained.

[Layne Hoshin]

"Please, Jerri, it's a serious question. Can you do away with the theatrics for just a minute?"

Ugh. This really was stupid. What was she even thinking?

"...I'm not the kind of person you think I am."

[Darth Irrej]

"I do not know how to talk small," he replied.

[Layne Hoshin]

"Yes you do," she said, "Look... I've been going through a lot recently. Trying to figure things out about myself. Like how I push everyone away because the life I've had made me all messed up. I'm very good at pushing people away, by the way. But for some reason, you are the only who'd go to all this trouble despite it. And I don't know if that makes you pathetic, or me pathetic for asking, but I want to know why. A real reason, not some line from your next book."