Alternatives

[Spencer Ward]

It's ironic. The Jedi have been trying really really hard to build good relationship with the Republic. Going so far shift their focus to towards the Hutt Cartel in an attempt to curry favor with them, while letting the true enemy sack some more of their temples, like Spintr. All their efforts to pander the Republic to use them against the Sith were all in vain. That was predictable however, even Spencer knew as a Jedi they couldn't be counted on. He vocalized against it, and well...

While the Jedi Order are declared outlaws and to be shot at, with some of their number having bounties on them; the Sith Master and Judgement Warden, Spencer Ward can just go out for a fair stroll in Republic space - without going out of his way to hiding his face - it's no big deal. Well, it as a good thing he got off that sinking Jedi Order ship when he did. Oh well.

Why is Spencer on Courscant today? Well, Judgement and Sith Empire related work is pretty slow. Things to come soon, but for now he's taking it easy. He would right now be off in a market. Not in the Underbelly of Courscant, but he isn't in the higher levels. Wearing casual clothing, a black space-leather jacket. He would right now just be walking through glancing at some of the merchants, some kiosks among other things. It's sort of busy. Spencer wouldn't be gathering attention because he doesn't standout like a Sith. That's still not a good idea though. The ex-Jedi has other places he wants to visit, but this is his first stop.

@GABA

 

[Isola Rin]

She had gone her separate way after Tython, she couldn't stay on Andara, she argued with Master Silas the entire way back about his statement about the Jedi. She was still unaware of the reasons for his exile, but whatever had happened, it was still impacting the decisions he was making. The situation though rubbed Loa the wrong way, she still had questions as to why they were no longer permitted to see Master Ralaa or why they were detained for as long as they were. It seemed so anti-climatic and for Loa, it just seemed odd as she knew she was not being told the whole picture. What she did know was the reluctance in Master Silas supporting her decisions to join the Jedi and with that, she felt a bit better about her training going in the direction it did.

Of all places, she was back on Coruscant; she had been spoiled by the natural surroundings of Andara and even Tython to where the city seemed disgusting to her. However, it wasn't to say it didn't bring back memories. She lived most of her childhood on this world after Nan had found her abandoned as result of the war caused by the Jedi Order, the same Order she wished to have joined, to become like the heroes she had grown to admire. With a worn, earthy green poncho that covered the top half of her body and belongings underneath, she became like the street urchin she once was; moving between the crowds of beings with unnatural ease as not to even give hint that her presence was simply, present.

So what did Loa want now? She was uncertain, her entire dream plan seemed to have been poked with holes and now the ignorance she once held was replaced with new knowledge, she needed to make sense of it all. There was something else though, one thing she did know for certain: the feeling she had on Tython was nothing to do with a crystal and instead directed her attention to the stars. There was a slight betrayal in her revelation, but exploring further, she come to trust her senses, though now her senses told her something else, a presence, while her own remained but a whisper, this one stood out greatly.

It was powerful, refined, and demanded her attention as she paused in her step, turning on her heel to allow her instincts to guide her. She stepped in the direction and there was a warning that warmed in her gut, but the power of curiosity was stronger and soon she would find herself following a specific individual in a black leather jacket.

@Faster Than Light

 

[Spencer Ward]

Spencer was still on the move, still glancing back and forth in various directions as he puts his hands in his jacket pockets, eyeing things of potential interest. But for some reason he is getting a weird feeling. It feels like he is being watched. Jedi Shadows (or ex-Jedi Shadows for that matter) tend to be pretty cautious and paranoid. They had to be in this galaxy with what goes on in it and what they have to do. But still, what could it be that he could feel feeling? Or who. Feels like whatever it is, it's coming from his six.

The Sith Master would stop in place rather abruptly and nonchalantly turn around to see what could be be following him him. Assuming his tailer don't get spooked and swiftly retreats from Spencer's field of view before he could spot her, he would see more citizens continuing to go about their days, but he would see what appears to be a younger girl in an earthtoned green poncho. For some reason, she is standing out amongst the others present. How curious.

@GABA

 

[Isola Rin]

Her eagerness not to lose him caused her to pick up her pace, instinct guided her through the bodies that seemed to fill the market, slight gaps in between stalls from where others did not gather. The Force called to her, eyes set on the individual until he stopped abruptly and Loa nearly ran into the man as he looked upon her curiously. She wanted to take a couple steps back and turn away, but that was clearly not an option as the two stood motionless while the rest of the market visitors carried on with their business around the two. The girl felt extremely awkward now and slowly, she leaned in, her eyes darting from side to side checking to make sure no sudden danger would appear and softly spoke just above a whisper.

"Are you? Are you a Jedi?" she asked her eyes studying him cautiously as she tried to decipher what she was feeling. However, she felt incredibly stupid for even asking such a question; it felt like asking a blind man if he could see. There was power to the man that stood before a strength that was familiar like those on Tython, but it was greater, refined that seemed to demand her attention.

Loa took a step back, "You don't have to answer that..." her cheeks reddened, back peddling on her question, "Just I haven't felt anything remotely familiar. Just curious...that's all." she quickly added suddenly becoming worried if it were a Jedi and if it were a particularly grumpy one, she rather not have to sit in a cell back on Tython again.

@Faster Than Light

 

[Spencer Ward]

And Spencer feels something strange about her. The same feeling that Isolo was getting of Spencer more or less, just in the other direction as well. Not only the strange feeling Spencer feels about her, he can also feel how awkward she feels, and cautious as well.

And he first question... Is he a Jedi? Well... this could be quite awkward, but at least the other person had the tact to keep what she was saying on the downlow. Don't want to attract unwanted attention - especially with the Chancellor's address regarding them not too long ago - even if he could just deny it. After a moment or two, Spencer would have his default stoic expression change to one of a hint of a smile. Standing in his place for now, the Sith Master & Judgement Warden would answer he questions. "Oh it's alright. I'm not one of those though". Not any more anyway, he said replying back with the same volume as Loa.

Her choice of words implies she's a force user, and her aura, what he is feeling should be enough to pick up that she is one. She's a young adult, but she feels like she's well in tune with the Force. Spencer would casually walk over a bit closer towards Loa, to shorten the distance between the two a tad. Spencer is curious as well now, that feeling is mutual. "Hmmm, what's your name?" he wondered. "I'm Spencer" he is fine giving his first name first Spencer's eyes would shift left and right. "Care to have a chat somewhere less crowded?" Even if they could have a discrete conversation here, if this is going the direction Spencer thinks it is soon, might be best to do so with not as many people around instead of a busy market place where anyone could decide to start eavesdropping if they can hear just something that's just a little bit interesting.

@GABA

 

[Isola Rin]

Loa felt herself grow nervous and begun to wonder if she was too friendly to the stranger she could feel in the crowd, though now he wasn't too much of a stranger as she gathered his name, Spencer, and she could just pick out a smile. "I'm Isola, but you can call me Loa." she said nodding as though she were agreeing with her own name. Though not being a Jedi, was he then like Master Silas or was he a Sith?

Her brow furrowed in thought as he suggested to move somewhere so they could talk in private, "S-sure." she said looking over her shoulder as though she were looking for someone to give her reassurance she would be safe to move onward. Loa walked alongside Spencer, her senses stretching outward looking to explore more of what she felt from the young man she had just met. There were less people where they went and it was becoming difficult for the girl not to blurt out what she was think as she chewed on the corner of her lip, "So, not a Jedi?" she whispered as though they were still in the crowded market.

"Are you an exiled? Or, are you with the Empire?" she asked, her eyes widening with curiosity. She had met an imperial before, but nothing like what she sensed now as she waiting for Spencer's reply. Though if he were with the Empire, why was he so far away from home, then again, so was the Imperial on Andara and perhaps the boundaries of the galaxy weren't as solid as she had ignorantly come to find.

@Faster Than Light

 

[Spencer Ward]

So, that's her name. Now they are both equal in that respect. In any case, Loa agreed to go to somewhere more private. Spencer nodded and turned around as he came up with on the fly a better place to talk about force related stuff. As he moved forward, there would be less people as they moved away from the busy marketplace and went out on a street in the city that doesn't see much traffic. She still whispered 'So, no a Jedi'. Well. Spencer stopped in place. A smile then started forming on his face. The Sith Master & Judgement Warden was proud of the way he defected from the Jedi and the place he found in the Sith Empire. He serves a purpose greater than the crumbling order.

Spencer would turn to face Loa again, with a pleasant smile on display. Spencer could respond with 'it's complicated'. But he doesn't feel the need to beat around the bush. He could explain his life story with how he ended up with the Jedi then defected but he elected against it, but he doesn't feel like it. There is no harm in answering though. "Self-exiled and with the Empire" he opted for the simple answer as he stated. Self-exiled because Spencer's leaving the order was own choice rather than something imposed on him.

The ex-Jedi Shadow would then wonder about her. She is clearly force-sensitive, where did she come from? "What about you, where do you come from?" he asked curiously, wondering where her orgins lie. Not with the Jedi it seems.

@GABA

 

[Isola Rin]

She could not help but to reflect a smile back to the man as they had exchanged names, but she felt herself intrigued, caught by the unknown of a stranger who seemed to also take an interest in herself. He referred to himself as "self-exiled" and indeed a part of the Empire. She wanted to suddenly be resistant, to turn away and declare herself never to associate with someone from some place that she considered evil. However, he didn't seem at all what she once perceived them to be, and her curiosity budded more, but he seemed to want more from her.

"Me? Well..." she thought for a moment, looking for a moment to impress the man, but elected for the truth, "A little bit from everywhere, raised in an orphanage, and now I am just trying to find my way in the galaxy." she explained, but it was a little more than that and she was not sure how much Spencer wanted to know about herself. Loa shrugged, "It's not a matter of where I come from, it's now more of where I need to go and that I remain uncertain because at times, I feel unfit to be anywhere." the girl sighed, feeling her chest burn with annoyance at her circumstance, but also the embarrassment that she felt she should know and should not be releasing her qualms on a stranger.

"I'm glad you're not a Jedi though, I'm so sick of them." she sighed with minor relief, "All promises and no results."

 

[Spencer Ward]

The ex-Jedi Shadow listened to her words as he nodded. The orphanage-raised girl looks is in need of a belonging. And by her last words she may or may not have made contact with the Jedi Order, and made her displeasure of them very clear. Can't blame her, and Loa is right about them.

Spencer had to nod his head also in agreement with her last statement. "Unfortunately, the Jedi have lost their way, and are crumbling apart even as we speak due to their own hubris. It's because of their own actions they are in the predicament they are in and why the galaxy is the way it is." The original Exiles spawned from the Jedi in the first place, causing the one-hundred years of war in the first place, it's a well known fact. That and the the future Sith Empress was exiled and was going to be stripped of the Force and things only got worse for the Jedi since then; the Order being outlawed by the Republic being the latest. The Jedi are their own worst enemy.

Spencer's eyes would start looking down on the ground. "The Jedi have no place in this galaxy anymore." he would say as he would then look up at Loa again as he would pause. Now back to Loa. "So, what exactly are you looking for?" he asked. "A purpose in life? To nurture your gift with the Force? Just somewhere to belong?" he wondered. If any of those, or a combination, Spencer knows just the place.

@GABA

 

[Isola Rin]

What did she want exactly? That was a question she rarely asked herself, but often demanded, she wanted for sure more of herself, she demanded perfection in her technique. "I want to learn more..." she frowned, pausing in step and leaned back against a stone wall, "To perfect what I know and use it...to...." Loa sighed and looked at her feet for a moment, "I want to use it to protect others, to protect my family, I thought the Jedi could do that, but they...doubted me, I could feel it." Loa explained trying to get her thoughts across and looked at Spencer.

"Would the Empire help me learn to be stronger? To protect my family and not dare take them away from me?" she asked. Her drive was rooted deep, turned away by her parents as they joined the exile armies, the loss of Nan, and now Master Ralaa. It felt like the Jedi had their hand in it all, and those who she saw as heroes weren't so heroic anymore, fallen perhaps on a path that was too restricted, even more so than that of Master Silas. Though out of the Jedi she did meet, there were a few that stood out other than the rest, but it didn't seem like enough to persuade her.

"I don't want to be a prisoner limited by what others tell me what I can and cannot do. I have yet to find what I can't do, Spencer." The girl crossed her arms, "What can the Empire offer me?" she asked.

@Faster Than Light

 

[Spencer Ward]

And there it is, he was hearing Loa out as she spoke. The Jedi doubted her. Sounds par for the course. But the pièce de résistance her wanting to become stronger to protect the things she holds dear. And of course not wanting to be a prisoner with what she can do. Those are main aspects of the Dark Side of the Force: The amount of power that comes with tapping into that source, feeding from her desires (to become stronger in order to protect) along with the liberty the Dark Side brings.

Spencer is going to speak truth, what else is there to speak? "With the Sith, all that and more can be yours. With the Sith, we can indeed help you to become stronger to protect your family. Nobody shall take them away from you." Spencer would nod his head approval of his own words very briefly before resuming. "With the Sith, freedom and opportunity is yours. Ever since I left the Jedi, I'm more powerful than I've ever been" Spencer could just clench the palpable power he has ready at his hands "And now I stand as a free man, with none of the baggage from the Order to hold me down. I feel more alive than I've ever been. " he said straight up as matter-of-factly and nodded his head towards Loa "'Through Victory my chains are broken. The Force shall free me'" Spencer recited the last lines of the Sith code to help make his point. Spencer wouldn't say anything else yet as Loa would be taking in what is being said.

@GABA

 

[Isola Rin]

Loa glanced away as Spencer took the moment to explain the Sith, returning her gaze to him when he mentioned he was once a Jedi. She felt surprised to hear, but then again it made sense for most of the new order to be former Jedi, though his testament to being stronger without the restrictions of being a Jedi spoke to Loa's own desires. He spoke of his own freedom and his strength, the same the Sith could offer to her if she decided to follow their path. Her own ignorance would be her weakness though, she saw nothing wrong with wanting more power, the strength to take care of others that she cared for, to not let anyone bring harm to them. It would offer a chance of independence, to explore her limits without the restrictions of the Jedi Order and without Master Silas telling her what she could not do.

Though she was uncertain of what victory Spencer spoke of, did he mean a personal one, or perhaps the one against the Jedi, which didn't seem too difficult. Loa did feel chained, she craved for independence, knowledge, to prove herself to the rest of the galaxy, and just to feel it all in the process.

"Can you show me then? Or who can? I will find them." she stated, her light eyes burned with determination and ambition. "I want to be strong, to protect my family, and to stop this mess of a war from creating more orphans like me. It isn't fair, it isn't right, the Jedi haven't done a thing to fix it, I want to fix that." Loa stood firmly, "Show me, tell me, teach me..."

Loa was listening.

@Faster Than Light