Alderaan - Love and Intrigue

Garth wandered around the fairgrounds. He'd opted to have an early lunch today, he didn't want that heavy feeling when he raced this afternoon. As he walked around he was eating...well it was some sort of local delicacy on a stick, but it was quite good.

Not as good as the feast he'd enjoyed last night, but still yummy.

Garth Wayne Ulgo wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 04, 2021 12:22 am

Garth wandered around the fairgrounds. He'd opted to have an early lunch today, he didn't want that heavy feeling when he raced this afternoon. As he walked around he was eating...well it was some sort of local delicacy on a stick, but it was quite good.

Not as good as the feast he'd enjoyed last night, but still yummy.

The former Senator found himself wandering the food stalls that morning. He was quite relaxed, a cup of caff in his hand as he walked. Breathing in the morning air, as he turned down another walkway.

And came across the gunner the Turtle had hired for their mission the day prior. Approaching the man, Durasay sipped from the caff.

"Good morning, Garth. We didn't get much chance to talk on mission yesterday."

Durasay Mixo wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 04, 2021 2:03 pm

The former Senator found himself wandering the food stalls that morning. He was quite relaxed, a cup of caff in his hand as he walked. Breathing in the morning air, as he turned down another walkway.

And came across the gunner the Turtle had hired for their mission the day prior. Approaching the man, Durasay sipped from the caff.

"Good morning, Garth. We didn't get much chance to talk on mission yesterday."

"Tha's mostly mah fault ah was a little too focused on pr'jecting a professional demeanor. Don't normally work in such close proximity to others, more of a solo operator." He chews and swallows the last of his lunch, tossing the stick in a nearby trash can.

"But looks like we got time now, how can ah help ya?"

"I don't know if there's anything you can help me with, Garth." He smiled somewhat, watching the pilot, "But maybe something I could help you with. You mentioned having some conversations with the Jedi." Watching him for his reactions.

"You're gifted. That much is certain. I felt it from you when you fired the weapon. You can sense things, you know how to direct yourself well, yes?"

Garth nods along with Durasay's observations. "Knight Mae, and Knight Carrack mostly." He confirmed as they continued to aimlessly wander the grounds.

"An' yeah, they've tol' me about mah talents, helped answer a few questions. But ah'm not th' only one am ah, d' the rest of the Turtle crew know ye're touched as well?"

Tethys and Lunda. Interesting. He was familiar with the two from their... adventure on Bankor. "Touched is such an inelegant word. But yes, the crew knows that I can use the Force." He answered, honestly. "A lot of clumsy self-learning for many years in my youth. I met a Jedi when I was fresh out of the military academy on Pantora. I was too old, it seemed, but having those first answers helps a lot, as I'm sure you've found."

His eyes fell to the crystal on a necklace. "Have you been shown how to construct what would house that?" He indicated with the tilt of his chin.

"Ah'm an inelegant kinda guy, always have been, an' ah don' imagine a fancy last name's gonna change that any time soon. Didn' even know ah were using th' Force until a few years ago, before that, ah thought mah faster reflexes an' such were natural. Guess not many Jedi were hangin' out on th' Onderon swoop track." He replies, sharing the fact that he too was a late bloomer as it were.

"As fer this?" He jangle the chain of his mother's crystal. "Ah've seen what it could become, yeah. Not sure ah'd trust m'self to swing it around though. Ah hear it takes years of practice an' dedication, ah'm content t' help the 'verse out from the cockpit of a Spitfire instead."

But that raised a thought in his mind. "You got one? A saber?"

A slight curl in his smile. "I've been in possession of one since Bankor. A spoil of war, as it were." A half-truth. It hasn't been the same as the one Dynos Val had for some time, and now was truly his.

"Been more of a gunfighter my whole life. I was only curious. They are such lovely things, the hearts of Kyber." He took another long sip from his caff.

"But it is still your talent. The Force enhancing what is already there. It it natural. Most natural thing in the Galaxy. Connects us all, some of us are just more in tune with it, is all." His smile was bright again. "And lets us make our mark, when we will it."

"Ah think ah prefer 't like this." Garth says, tucking the crystal beneath his shirt and against his skin. "Ah feel closer t' mah mother, connected."

"Th' Aznuri think close t' your way ah feel. A river of power that flows through everyone, but only th' skilled can channel, an th' water can be used t' put out a fire or t' drown someone equally. It's up to us how we wanna make that mark."

"That they do. I did take the time after the war on Bankor to study with them. They were... refreshing to speak with. I learned a lot." He nodded. The conversation on the crystal would be dropped, especially when the item was hidden from view.

So be it.

"And helped me learn the most important lesson. The Jedi don't hold a monopoly on how to view the Force."

Again, another half-truth. His smile slipped, as those crimson thoughts came to mind, the feeling of slender fingers on his scalp on a distant moon.

The tattoo along his shoulders burned with the thought. The memory.

"Do you get to visit them often now? The Aznuri, I mean."

Garth's hand trails along a guard rail decorated with flowers, letting the blossoms tickle his fingers as the pair walked. "Knight Carrack admitted as much t' me. We chatted 'bout diff'rent traditions, the Jedi way, the Sith, th' Aznuri."

He cocks an eyebrow curiously. "Ah didn't know you spent time wi' the tribes. Thought fer sure ah'd have seen ya around, since this is one of th' few times ah've left th' Viridian Sea since th' war."

Garth Wayne Ulgo wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 04, 2021 4:37 pm

Garth's hand trails along a guard rail decorated with flowers, letting the blossoms tickle his fingers as the pair walked. "Knight Carrack admitted as much t' me. We chatted 'bout diff'rent traditions, the Jedi way, the Sith, th' Aznuri."

He cocks an eyebrow curiously. "Ah didn't know you spent time wi' the tribes. Thought fer sure ah'd have seen ya around, since this is one of th' few times ah've left th' Viridian Sea since th' war."

"It wasn't much time, unfortunately. I had to return to my duties in the Senate. But I found it enlightening, between spending time with them during the war, and then after." He continued, "I'll have to visit again soon. But I know I could only hope to being a guest, and that is fine."

Again, Tethys is named. "Just remember that her perspective would be that of the Jedi. Same as any Sith would bias their points from their perspective. The truth about the Force is very... personal to each."

"Well ah ain't keen t' get the Sith perspective. Lady Beniko almost disembowled me th' other night just fer tryna feel her emotions." Garth replies casually.

"What's yer thoughts though Durasay?"

"A common reaction. There was a Sith I met on Nar Shaddaa... I tried to shift her opinion through the Force. It ended..." he paused, his lips forming a hard line, ".... dramatically. Be careful when trying to read others thoughts. Especially if they're as talented as you." He shrugged, then looked off to one of the stalls.

"On the Force? It makes one stronger, more reactive. To be able to use it, to harness and control it? You aren't a slave. You're a master of destiny."

"A lesson, and advice, ah won't soon forget ah assure you. So how'd a force usin' politician end up with th' rest of yer crew? They seem a rather varied, but 'ffective bunch."

He smiled widely. "I was a crewmember of the Turtle long before I was a politician. I met Nudimsu shortly after I mustered out of the Pantoran Defense Forces." Durasay chuckled at that, shaking his head. "I became a politician after the signing of the treaty on Nar Shaddaa. I had helped sway things in the favor of the Republic for a fee, though I had also done some work for the Sith Empire in dealing with the Hutts." The caff was finished and the cup discarded into a nearby bin.

"We had a Mandalorian crew member. Craw Toboga. He distanced himself after a job on Nar Shaddaa, and sank into self pity after his estranged wife was killed on Bankor. Hacha came on board during that campaign. I've stayed a part of the crew because they're as much family as anything else."

"A true ind'pendent crew then, no allegiance to any side beyond a paycheck? Ah noticed the...dark power in yer orders on th' ship, do y' straddle that line too?" He asks with genuine curiosity.

His eyes narrowed, looking to the pilot. "There is no line to straddle. I have the ability to bring about my will, and I will do so when necessary. Sometimes that means I bend the Force to me, sometimes it means I work with it."

Through power I gain strength. Through strength, my chains are broken. The Force will free me.

Standing a bit taller. "Dogma is what causes the galaxy to stagnate. I don't stand for that."

Garth listens, Durasay's reaction a little intense for him to reply immediately, but after a few more steps, he finds the words he is looking for.

"Ah've felt th dark," he admits. "Ah've never felt like ah controlled it like y' say though. Always seems when ah'm least in control that it gives me its strength." Garth's words were softer almost as though he felt guilty telling this to Durasay.

"No. That is you digging deep. Refusing to let fate conspire against you. Planting yourself as a commander of your own fortune and telling the galaxy 'No, I will not yield!'" His fist clenched before his chest as he gestured. "You show the Galaxy your strength, and refuse to be swept away in the currents, Garth. That is a testament. You take your emotions, and use those passions, that strength, to rise above!" His intensity remained, as he smiled.

"The Jedi would have you shy away from that. It is a... narrow view, Garth. One must understand that the greatest power is what one being can do in the face of Destiny."