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[malgus]

Darth Malgus

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[ihateflying]

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he said, in complete dead-pan and with a flat look.

Yes.

Yes he did.

He was just mostly tired about the whole thing, now. Most of his stronger emotions had burned out over his time on Tatooine. Not released so much as just...worn down, right along with him.

"They also have a tendency to kill one another for their own personal advancement, which is likely the reason there are only two. They are horrible at cooperating."

[malgus]

"I do not not disagree with your assessment. That was another warning," he gestured with a hand almost idly, "I knew if they continued on their path they would lead to their own destruction. I was not wrong. Sith Politics were a waste of time. Bloodlines, ranks, attempts scrambling to gain favor with someone of a higher rank. All pointless."

He verbally paused a moment before continuing.

"I'm sure my words surprise you Jedi, but make no mistake. I am a Sith and if our situations were reversed, I would have killed you."

[ihateflying]

"I am not," he said, withexasperation, "contrary to the sermonizing of every Sith I have encountered, as though they are given a script, stupid. I am also not Force blind. I am perfectly well aware that you would kill me were our situations reversed. I am also perfectly well aware you may choose to do so as soon as you've gotten everything useful that you can from me."

He raked a hand back through his hair and spared an idle thought for the fact that he needed a haircut and then: "I am still going to take you home, give you a cup of tea and then arrange for you to have transport off this foresaken rock. I am going to do that, because that is who I am. You will do what you will do based entirely upon who you are, and one way or the other the galaxy and force will carry on."

[malgus]

"I don't think you're stupid, Jedi. Possibly foolish, but not for the reasons you believe. I just want to make it clear, that I am also no fool. You're here in hiding."

From what? Possibly the Sith. And it was perfectly obvious that the Jedi wanted him gone. But he also wanted to avoid a fight. And while both intriguing and curious, Malgus had half a mind to leave it alone.

What he did not know was that Malgus would probably not kill him if the Jedi did as he said he would. He considered it yes, but ultimately he'd owe a debt for the Jedi's aide and simply leaving him would repay that.

If they ever met again in the future, that would be another story.

[ihateflying]

"The Emperor's new apprentice was my old one. He didn't get his new apprentice in quite the shape he expected him to be in. Yes, I am here in hiding."

There was nothing but truth in that, no bragging, no... edginess, nothing of the sort. Just that matter of fact reporting of what was.

And leaving alone what he really did not want to add to that truth.

"I am curious though. For what reasons do you believe I am foolish? Or better yet, what are the reasons that I think you think that are wrong." He actually made a face, a pained one, at the sheer convoluted nature of that sentence.

He liked eloquence and that was... not.

[malgus]

Aha. That explains it a great deal. The Jedi either did not want to face his apprentice again or believed he could not. Either way, it wasn't Malgus' concern. Nor did he really care.

He tilted his head downward to glance from under the hood over at the Jedi.

"You believe I look down on you. That I think you lack skill and are weak and that is why I would be able to defeat you."

He didn't bother to look at Ben while he spoke or even look back over at him for confirmation.

[ihateflying]

He continued to trudge through the sand, which now involved the obnoxious task of trying to climb the stuff.

Sand was bad.

Dunes were worst. He hated sand in his boots, but it was inevitable.

He made a non-committal noise in the back of his throat.

"Essentially, though it's lacking the near obligatory element of being completely insane I tend to associate with the Sith. Though so far, so have you."

It was very strange.

[malgus]

The sand was indeed irritating.

It was coarse --

And rough --

And Ben's remark response that almost sounds like a laugh from behind the respirator.

"The Sith of my time might not agree. My ideas are considered unconventional. And I do not play their power games." And he may have tried to take over and declare himself Emperor. But it was the only way he thought he could force change.

[ihateflying]

"What does a sane Sith that doesn't play power games do?"

Unconventional didn't begin to cover it.

Even before the laugh, especially after.

[malgus]

"I serve the Force. I am its instrument that brings conflict. The Force is not light or dark, but the conflict created with both. The Jedi do not understand that as they only believe in peace. Peace brings weakness. It dulls the senses and skill. The Sith believe in their own selfish desires -- also weakness. That is why I think you are foolish, Jedi. Not because of your training or how you use the Force. But your knowledge of it."

He was actually unconventional to the entire Empire. And will probably not like the current one considering their views remain unchanged.

[ihateflying]

"Yes, the end point is very much a line from the Sith Script." Which did not mean the rest was, and he wasn't more than lightly snarky when he made that remark.

He also did not outright dismiss the rest, though he turned it over in his mind for a bit. Not to decide if he agreed with it - he did not - but.

But.

"Given the state that the Force returns to, time and again, I can't say that the idea has no merit. Unlike the current Sith philosophy which seems to be little more than to be precisely opposite anything Jedi, rather than anything with... thought or purpose behind it."

[malgus]

"Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me."

He recited the saying, while they trudged through the sand.

"That is the actual Sith philosophy."

[ihateflying]

He makes a low sound in his throat again. As they arrive at the top of the dune his home - which is honestly fairly worn down but more of an old cabin than a hut - comes into view.

"Well, peace certainly is a lie," he said, this time actually sounding bitter, if only a little. "The end point is rather better than what I would have expected. In practice it seems to stop at gaining power."

[malgus]

The Jedi always did have more simplistic tastes -- despite their temple. The Sith on the other hand ... some would erect elaborate fortresses filled with all sorts of possessions. Some made it a point to show off their status in choice of lifestyle.

"Because they believe victory is achieved simply through domination. I won't lie, I wanted all of Coruscant to burn. That was my plan, but the Empire thought otherwise. They wanted to force submission onto a weakened enemy instead. But nothing is more dangerous than an wounded animal."

He looks down at the Jedi's home. It was kinda away from most life, a clever way to hide. Though a single life was easier to pick out among nothingness and Malgus wondered if the Jedi would be better off hiding in a more populated area.

[ihateflying]

He stopped for a moment at the top of the dune, before beginning the descent toward his house. He thought more about what Malgus had said. He nearly ignored the remark about Coruscant burning, simply because -

Well, at some point he had become inured to such references, and it wasn't as though he hadn't lived very much that.

"I've often wondered about the seemingly endless desire to force submission - and why I think I have viewed nearly all of them as mad. It's that they stop at a desire to dominate. There is nothing else. The domination is the victory and the allusion of power, but it certainly isn't freedom. It's just ...being enslaved in another way."

He stops a split second and realizes: "It's almost a pity you didn't wake up several years earlier. I can think of precisely one Sith you would have liked."

[malgus]

"Yes. As the Sith Empress of my time attempted to do. Domination and control gave her the allusion of power, because she was afraid ... of me."

Which is why he was ultimately frozen in carbonite after her other assurances failed. Though he did have to thank her, if not for her he'd be dead. And the cybernetics in his body were proof of her meddling (beyond the respirator as he got that after a battle with a Jedi).

"Some attempt to show strength merely through cruelty as if that is a true testament to power. Power is getting others to follow and serve you with loyalty and not simply because they are afraid. Those broken and fearful do not make good servants."

[ihateflying]

He shrugs, very slightly. "Simplified even further, if your idea of power is the ability to force submission, you can never have power. It is impossible to force submission. You can certainly kill someone. You can torture them. You can break them, mentally and physically You cannot make them submit." You can kill me, but you cannot destroy me. He'd said that to Maul.

He pushes the door open when they arrive, and it swings easily, revealing a pretty.. spartan but clean and comfortable enough home. He walks in first, because it's just polite in this instance given the enclosed nature of the space, and the lights come up, albeit slightly, at his entry. "Come in and make yourself comfortable. I'll put tea on and see what I can find out about ships available and how far into the inner rim I can get you."

[malgus]

He almost liked this Jedi. If he were not of the enemy's order, they might actually get along.

Malgus follows Ben into the small house -- it was simple, much like his own quarters. He takes a small moment to glance around. It was so much different than the Sith who lived in extravagant places.

But his mild curiosity did not distract him from the Jedi, whom he also watched. Closely. There was something in how quickly he wanted him to leave. How helpful he's being. It was almost as if ...

"Are you more worried for your own life or the other force sensitive on this planet? The small untrained speck of light I feel in the distance?"

[ihateflying]

There was no Order.

That was the living hell of it.

There was no Order.

He wasn't going to say that, though not because he was hiding it. Simply because it was true, and that truth was something that left him....

It left him a lot of things.

He made his way to the kitchen and put the water on to heat before Malgus' question stops him in his track. Actually makes him spark up with fear for a moment, and the line of his back and shoulders stiffen.

Then he turns, slowly.

No point lying now, so he looks at the man, dead in the face. "I have no concern for my own life." Please don't make him have to turn this into a fight to protect Luke. Please. He will. He deeply, deeply, deeply does not want to.

[malgus]

Technically Malgus had no order either. He did not know the current Sith and therefore he could not trust them.

It made his life complicated.

The sudden rush of fear makes the Sith lift his head, though he never took his eyes off Ben to begin with. So it was that. He feared for the life of another.

If Ben looked close enough he might feel something akin to sympathy from the Sith. Oddly enough Malgus knows what it's like to want to protect someone else, something he found to be too far great a weakness for him to keep.

He thought back to the Jedi apprentice who hunted him down after he killed her master. He understood her reasons much like he understands this Jedi's.

"Perhaps you should train that one to mask their presence as you should do for yourself." Though Malgus did not know how powerful the Sith of this era were, he was very very attuned to the Dark Side. More so than most.

"You stand out. Like an irritating beacon of light in the Force."

[ihateflying]

He was looking very closely because his wisest option was now to kill this man, dispose of his body and make the entire thing appear to have never happened.

Wisest for Luke, at any rate, but he wanted no part of that.

Particularly not when he'd not been harmed, or even seriously threatened. Not when he could feel sympathy coming from Malgus. Not when there was no immediate threat, even if there was a threat to Luke now.

"The Sith now aren't particularly adept at reading or seeing anything in the force - it's mostly used like some sort of... blunt instrument of destruction. Raw power or raw energy. They'd have to be within some reasonable distance to notice me at all, and if they're that close I'd rather ...blind them than let their eyes adjust to see the child's presence. I can't shield him for very long, anyway. Too distant and I've never had any great amount of power."

[malgus]

Hm. A child. That made sense given how small the presence felt, how distant it was.

"But they will see it, Jedi. You project yourself. Your desire to protect betrays your intentions."

Malgus was only offering this advice for one simple reason: the Jedi was helping him. And in turn, this is his repayment.

"You take a chance being on this world. You should go to Dromund Kaas. Find the Sith Academy, even if in ruins, it's power would be enough to drown out any light."

[ihateflying]

"You are right in saying that I should leave." He'd already had that thought, actually.

He'd had it more now that he was releasing a Sith into the Empire with knowledge of where he was. Luke wouldn't particularly matter to the Emperor or even Vader for quite some time. Just some mildly force sensitive child on a backwater planet. He however would interest both of them a great deal.

He finished preparing both cups of tea, and carried them both with him when he returned to Malgus, and put one in his hands. "Please sit." He hadn't meant to forget his manners. He found his own seat in the chair, leaving another chair or small couch for his guest.

"You're also right, of course, that they'd never look for me on such a world, and there would be no... flare to follow. Unfortunately, the last time I was on a Sith World it was Zigoola, and I spent the entirety of the visit hallucinating - save roughly a minute after I broke my leg to gain enough focus to request help. I've no idea what inside the temple ruins was responsible. I suppose I could blame the politician that was with me, but that seems a bit rude."

[malgus]

Malgus takes the tea and uses the force to slightly move a chair before sitting down. He's rather bulky partially due to his height and the armor surrounding his body.

... The cloak also didn't help his stature.

He listened to Malgus and actually might radiate something akin to amusement. It wasn't until he reached up with a free hand towards the side of his to disconnect piece covering his mouth that the smirk he wore showed. There's a small hissing sound sound, and while he doesn't completely remove it, the scars covering his lower jaw and lips are quite visible. He lets it hang still being partially connected at one side.

Obi-Wan could probably feel the dark side expand outward before he pulls it in and uses it to compensate for the disconnected respirator.

After that he pulled back the hood as well. His skin is pale, scarred from both battle and his connection to the dark side.

A deep price to pay for the kind of power he wields.

"I do not know that world, but the places filled with the power of the dark side can be dangerous even to a Sith. Hate can attach itself and refuse to let go, striking at any who draw near. But that does not mean it is impossible to resist. Even for a Jedi."

The idea that the Jedi had to break his leg to save his sanity is nothing short of amusing though.

"Pain can be a powerful force for oneself, though use of it is a trait mostly attributed to the Sith."

[ihateflying]

He felt as though he should be irritated at the Sith finding him amusing, but he simply did not. Before coming to Tatooine, before every aspect that defined his existence was burned to ash, yes.

Now?

He lacked the sort of pride necessary to be offended, and acceptance was easy when one was living only for a distant future and had nothing worth worrying about the loss of - including pride.

He studied Malgus as he unveiled his face with no revulsion or disturbance, just mild curiosity. He wasn't comfortable with the surge of the Dark, but didn't recoil from that, either. As the Sith described his light, it was... irritating.

Then smiled, slightly, to respond to the rest. "I also used rage and grief to cut a man I was badly outmatched by in half. Nothing is ever entirely black and white - or light and dark."

He took a drink of his tea. "And I'd be interested in knowing how to protect myself but I wouldn't expect that to be information you're prepared to share with me."