How time flies. (Anaxis)

[Twisted Reality]

Drakus had been quite busy, he needed to get stronger and he had gone in search of that power. He searched any old Sith planets in search of ways of increasing his own power. But nothing had turned up, he didn't know how long he had been away. But when he returned to his private estate on Anaxis, he started hearing rumors that someone he once helped had been risen to the rank of Darth. Funny how things worked out, so he had reached out. Sending in Invitation to Drakus' favorite watering holes near the Imperial Palace. He had arrived, and sat down at the bar. A lightsaber hilt, resting on the seat next to him as he nursed a glass of Corellian brandy.

The former Warmaster, had a goal in mind for his future. Well, it had been a goal since he lost his place on the dark council. To gain it back, and get that influence back. The dark council ruled over the Empire under the Empress, and he wanted that back. It had increased his life style, what had been a small apartment or his living quarters on a ship. Turned into a lavish and dark Estate, filled with trophies of his victories. A slab from the Forge on Tython, lightsabers from Jedi killed during the Core Campaign. A slab of armor from a Republic fighter with their insignia on it. All kinds of things on display, but he had little time to rest.

He would be a busy man, but tonight would be his first relaxing night in a long time. His robes were dark in color, and the magnetic locking plate on his sides and lower back. Held the hilts of the four lightsabers he used. As a Warrior, he never went anywhere without being armed in some fashion. A fresh Cybernetic limb had been attached to the stump that remained of his left leg. The injury that lead him to the Darkside, lifting the glass to his lips he took a small drink. Feeling it burn down his throat and warm him from the inside. Anaxis was a busy city, being the Empire's capital.

He was looking forward to catching up with the woman he had invited out. Which was a rare thing for him, if he met with other sith it was business. Drakus had always been a loner, sure he could play nice when needed. But most of the time it was an act, he would see what it would be here. He had always been what most wouldn't expect from a Sith Lord. He didn't like all the bowing and the 'My lords' he got regularly. But he couldn't stop it, he was going to have to deal with it no matter how much it annoyed him.

Even during one on one training, he preferred it to be relaxed and stress free. All he was waiting on now was the young Darth to arrive and claim her seat from his lightsaber hilt.

 

[Bee]

It seemed like only yesterday that Eris found herself in Vyrassu's apartment, staring at the various trophies he'd accumulated during his time as Warmaster. Their meeting had been arranged through a mutual acquaintance - the former Spymaster, Darth Tarak - and their time as teacher and student, though brief, had afforded her greater control over a technique that seemed to be a dying art among their Order: shatterpoint. Eris had grown from a girl who could hardly control her blossoming need to destroy everything within arm's reach to a woman who radiated poise and restraint, who had clawed her way to the top of the pile, so to speak, and had no intention of slowing down any time soon. What most knew of her exploits hardly scratched the surface: that she had been the catalyst behind the invasion of Arbra was far from common knowledge, while her work with the Ubiqtorate - and her recently acquired role as Spymaster - had been similarly kept under the radar, to all but the current iteration of the Dark Council. Instead, she'd made a reputation for herself as a killer - of both Jedi and dissentious Sith - and that she'd been named the Order's new High Executioner was anything but a surprise. With a knack for clean, almost merciful killing, the title suited her. Eris didn't chase war or the secrets of the arcane. She was, at her core, brutally efficient and perfectly precise; what more could one ask for of an assassin?

Though it wasn't necessarily her home, Eris felt at ease on Anaxes. It was a safe place for all of the Empire's subjects, and following her promotion she'd learned to enjoy her time spent at the capital, out of both necessity and a genuine appreciation for the tall, strong architecture, that conveyed a sense of unflinching power sprawling out in all directions, for all to see. Where she once took great pride in disguising her presence, she'd learned to do the opposite in the weeks that had passed since her time on Hapes. Rather than move through the masses like she might be one of them, she let her aura unfold as if to invite all comers to challenge her authority. It wasn't sharp or deep or dark, it didn't burn like some kind of hellish flame. It was simply cold.

When she arrived in the bar, the handful of patrons mingling by the door fell silent. Their quietness spread like an especially virulent disease as she passed through the entryway, hands resting comfortably in the pockets of an expensive, but well-worn leather jacket. Beneath it, she wore a simple black dress that flared slightly where it hit her thigh, legs covered in dark stockings that left no skin uncovered. Her hair had been braided to lie over her shoulder, and her lips were painted a deep, matte shade of red not entirely unlike that of blood. In her wake the silence dissolved into hushed noises - the death of her fiance, by her own hand, wasn't exactly a secret - soft enough to be drowned out by the ambient music of the bar, and her unruffled demeanor seemed to imply she didn't care whether or not they spoke of her when her back was turned. Because quite frankly, she didn't.

Drawing her gloved hands from her pockets, Eris lifted the lightsaber hilt and inspected it with a curious tilt of her head before offering it to it's rightful owner. Claiming the seat he'd so politely saved for her, she regarded her fellow Sith with a wry smile, not entirely unlike that of a cat who held a fondness for leaving murder presents on it's owner's doorstep. "It's good to see you again, Drakus. I was afraid the war had claimed you."

 

[Twisted Reality]

He didn't know how long it had been since that day he helped the young woman with her control of shatter point. Or the cover up when she lost control of it, but he had been able to coach her back to control. It was quite the harrowing task, but Sith were always busy and time escaped without notice. So when he heard the hush come over the bar, a grim smirk crossed the former warmasters lips. Downing the rest of his drink, he placed the glass down on the counter top. It would be interesting to see how far the young woman had come. Well, she wasn't much younger then he was. It seemed he wasn't the only person to reach the dark council before they were in their 30's. It was quite impressive, Drakus had always been a fast learner and it helped him. But some just had the natural talent, and the rest had to work harder to catch up. He was one of those that had to work himself half to death everyday to get to where he was. And now he had to work just as hard to stay, he had been away for sometime. So it would be refreshing to sit down and have a few drinks with a fellow sith.

A gloved hand of Drakus came up when the hilt was offered back to him so the woman could sit. The same smile formed on his face as he placed the hilt on the mag plate on his side. Locking it into place, before resting his forearm on the counter top. "It's good to see you as well Eris, I'm not so easy to claim I've proven that many times." He chuckled, and ordered another glass of brandy. "I hear you have done quite well for yourself since the last time we saw one another." He commented, as he looked around them for a moment. Eyes averted when he caught others looking, or whispering. All knew him during his time as Warmaster, and he was regular patron. So he knew everyone's face, and they stayed clear of him. For good reason, being a master with a saber always seemed to scare others off. Even those who used blasters, shaking his head slightly he returned his attention back to his guest.

"Glad you could come meet me, strangely i don't do this very often. It's not very often that i invite a fellow Sith out for drinks." He admitted, but sometimes those kind of things needed to be done. This was more his way of saying that this was a belated celebration for her rise to the Dark Council. "Drinks are on me, so don't hold back. I wasn't here when you joined the Dark council, so this is a belated celebration of a feat few achieve." Drakus grabbed his glass of brandy and sloshed the contents around the glass before taking a drink of it. In reality, he had enjoyed the time he spent teaching her. Even if it was brief, and what a coincidence it was that she held the same position or close to it that his old Master had once held..before he turned traitor and ran off with the Jedi Grandmaster.

 

[Bee]

The life of a Darth, not to mention a spy, not to mention the Imperial Spymaster was an incredibly busy one. Eris found herself too short on time to do her own laundry at times, much less enjoy a night out on the town, and that Drakus had managed to invite her for drinks on one of her rare open evenings was nothing short of a miracle. That she'd fought against all her introverted urges and accepted his offer was just as rare. But he'd shown her a kindness once, and there was some small part of her that was curious as to where he had gone and what he had been up to. Even if their meeting was awkward or uninspiring, it wouldn't be a total waste of her time: the fresh air would no doubt do her good, and breaking her boring habit of complete sobriety seemed like a necessity in the aftermath of the Hapan campaign. He'd offered her a drink the last time they met, and ever the paranoid Crusader, she'd turned him down. It seemed like a good time to remedy that mistake.

For a moment, she inspected the hilt before relinquishing it into his care. Crossing her legs at the knee, Eris propped her elbows up on the bar and laced her fingers together, her attention completely on the man at her side. He didn't look any different than the last time they met, and she wondered if he would remember the subtle pink hue her skin had held that day he taught her to break things with precision. "You could say that," she agreed, a subtle smirk curling the edges of her mouth. "Rebelled against authority all my life, and now here I am." The ultimate irony. There was a playfulness in her words that suggested she didn't much mind her newfound position, and it was the truth. For now.

A quick gesture to a luminescent green bottle clued the bartender in to what she wanted, and without delay a short glass of the stuff appeared in front of her spot at the bar. "I appreciate it." Looking down at the drink, she lifted it and gazed thoughtfully into the swirling booze, the medicinal smell not quite enough to convince her it was a bad idea to indulge. I really need a break. With a sigh, she drained the rocks glass like a shot, and nudged it forward for another hit. "Not much of a drinker, though. I'll spare your wallet."

Nodding toward where he'd stashed the lightsaber, Eris spoke again. "It's beautiful. Did you make it?"

 

[Twisted Reality]

Drakus sat there for a moment in silence as he downed the rest of his brandy. While the bartender had his back turned, drakus looked around before looking back at Eris. A slight gesture of his hand forced a bottle of brandy to float off the shelf and sit itself down on the bar in front of him. "Its quite amusing how things turn out, now the one time student, now out ranks the one time teacher." Sure he had been away doing his own thing, but he was back to resume his quest for his old seat. "But something does seem different about you, I can't quite place it." He knew something was different though. Even if they had only met that one time. "And I suppose I was in the same mindset in my youth. I preferred to train myself, I never sought the master apprentice relationship. I wanted to do everything on my own." He joked, knowing full well that was before he joined the with. He always tried to make his students hate him, but that seemed to backfire. But when she asked about his light saber, he felt a smirk tug at the corner of his lips. "I did, I had used the same set from the time I was a crusader, till I joined the dark council at the end of the core campaign. So I thought I'd treat myself, when I came across a stash of phrik material in the aftermath. So I forged a new set with a new blade color." Lifting his hand, he detached the two matching phrik hilts between them. "I set a Corsica gem I found during the battle for coruscant into the activation switch, and lowered it given my tendency to use the reversed Shien stance." He lowered the hilts back to the bar and let them rest there. As he poured the next glass from his newly acquired bottle, he had a smile on his face.

"I don't normally tell people this, but I was once an initiate within the Jedi order. Until they sent me to my death, I was sent on a relitivly simple mission. To collect data from the old ship yards on Abhean. It was myself and another padawan, once we landed...we we're met by a sith spawn and another that laid low. They used an armed shuttle and the padawan I was sent with. Died trying to take it out, leaving me go face the sith alone. I held my own, but ultimately I lost. My left leg severed at the middle of my thigh, when I came to. I was face to face with the man who would make me into what I am today. The old high assassin, he showed me that the Jedi feared me. Because of the fact I learn quickly, and how quickly my skills grew. He made me train with only one leg and only when I passes his tests was I given a replacement." He paused to down his drink, and pour another. "And go ahead, have as much as you can handle, I have deep pockets." He didn't mind at all. "How are you finding the dark council?" He asked, quite curious how she was taking to her new found seat of power, and the resources that come with a seat on the dark council.

 

[Bee]

While his words were certainly interesting, Eris found herself struck by how much she enjoyed hearing the Sith Lord talk. Most of their Order liked to communicate in mumbles, growls, or whispers, as though it somehow made them seem scary - like monsters under the bed of small children - but Drakus was well-spoken. And as he told his story she opted to sip her drink, propping her elbow up on the counter to rest her cheek in her palm. Her interest was obvious, as was the fact that her attention was entirely on him, rather than the curious patrons that surrounded them. She wasn't a talkative person. Listening to someone else speak on their experience was far more her speed, and she had no intention of interrupting him. It was only when he set the weapons on the bar that her eyes wandered, her free hand reaching out to pick one up for closer inspection. "That's clever. I like it." For her own part, Eris preferred Force-activated switches. But there was nothing inherently wrong with his design, and it was clear he had a knack for aesthetics as well.

Testing the weight and balance of the hilt for a moment, she eventually placed it back on the bar, lifting her glass to shoot the remaining liquid back as though they were competing for who could get drunk fastest. It'd probably be her: she'd given up drinking for the better part of the year, and he was easily forty, maybe fifty pounds heavier than her. Then again, he'd also had a head start. For the time being she was content to let the bartender do his job, and by the time he'd finished speaking on his experiences as a Jedi, the green liquid she'd been nursing had reappeared. The second serving went down easier than the first, though she was more content to take her time with it, sipping thoughtfully as she considered an appropriate response. That he'd confessed what seemed like a large personal secret was surprising. Then again, maybe everyone knew he'd been a Jedi in his youth, and she was literally the last to hear of it.

Shrugging, Eris dragged her index finger over the rim of her glass. "It's all petty squabbling and dick wagging so far. I'm amazed anything gets done around here." Offering a hint of a smirk, she changed gears. "I never would've guessed you were a Jedi, though." Pausing, as though considering whether or not she really wanted to say whatever it was she had in mind, Eris lowered her voice and leaned in a little closer. "It's something we have in common. Though they were kind enough to leave me with my limbs intact." Taking another pull from the glass, she offered a bit more insight. "I left because I didn't want to be there anymore. No conflict. I just didn't like the lifestyle. I don't regret it."

 

[Twisted Reality]

Drakus didn't mind that she wasn't talkative, in a way neither was he. But he felt that he needed to be a good host, since he was the one that invited her out. He just hoped that he wasn't talking to much, and by the way she was putting her attention on him as he spoke. That worry was going away slowly. Smirking when she told him the way he made his lightsaber was clever was nothing compared to the long handled hilts on the back of his waste. "I tend to have a very unpredictable fighting style, and i like to have back ups should i lose my primary hilts." He watched her, as she inspected the hilts. Though when she answered his question, Drakus couldn't help but smile a little bit. It reminded him of his time on the Dark Council, but in a way that was why i liked it. It presented a new challenge, and a different one then battle. "It was the same when i was on it, but i liked it that way. After so many battles, when i was appointed. I saw it as a new challenge, but i was also the youngest member. So maybe i was a little naive, i don't know." He chuckled and sipped at his drink.

"That drink tastes better when it's colder." He smirked as he reached over and touched the side of her glass. Using the force, and his knowledge of cryokinesis to chill her drink a little more. "There, that should be cold enough." He jested, and shrugged a little bit. "I think that's because I've built such a reputation for myself. As the cold former Warmaster, Only a few know that i was a Jedi. You, the empress, and Weiss and a Jedi i fought during the battle on Empress Teta. Larik Novan, we trained together on Coruscant shortly after i was discovered in the 'slums'. And we Fought one on one when the sage halls fell." It was obvious that his past was quickly coming back to haunt him. Thought when she leaned in closer, he did to. His chin down to listen closer, tilting his head he arched a brow.

"You?" He questioned, and nodded his head with the new Insight. Taking another sip of his drink, he swirled the rest of it in his glass. "Then you were lucky, i did enjoy my time there. I had friends, but after that mission. When i awoke in a cell on Korriban, and saw my old Master. He shaped me into what i am today, full of hate to the point that i see a Jedi...and something in me snaps. I have been a loner for so long, that i don't have the same talent for making friends i use to. Everyone I've let in, have either left the order. Or have become the sith everyone in the galaxy thinks us to be." He downed the rest of his drink, and pushed it to the back of the counter to refill it. "My last apprentice, ran off to join the Rebellion...and died at the hand of her own sister. Another that I've taught during my years with the Sith." He may not have the same resources he use to. But he still had his contacts to get info from. So he was kept in the loop while he was away.