Nar Shaddaa

This really wasn't a conversation Z was looking forward to. Darwi, had done a lot for him. Pried open wounds that he had almost forgotten. It had been painful, but at the same time refreshing.

Taking a seat at a discreet table, he took a ordered a drink before asking a waitress to inform the young woman of his arrival.

Darwi was actually recording on the second floor but once she was informed of the man in the hat asking about her, she broke off and went downstairs, having taken a gulp of kaff before doing so. She waved to him once she spotted the hat, and approached him in her unostentatiously sensual way.

"Hello, Zane. Good to see you alive and kicking."

"Did you really expect me to die over the last few days?" He asked his tone teasing as he gestures for her to join him at the table.

"I'd rise from the dead for a chance to see you again."

"They said on the news that casualties are still being counted..." She shook her lekku dismissively as she sat by him, and summoned a smile. "I suppose this is what many girls would like to hear from the right man. Introductory compliments aside, I am sorry our concert has not been aired yet. There was a recording flaw, the volume on one of the receivers was half-down, and I need to remaster it first. But it will be, hopefully tonight or tomorrow night."

"Yeah... It was bad business down there, poison gas, explosions, a gun fight." He frowned softly remembering all of it. "I was lucky."

His smile made it's way back onto his lips as she changed the topic. "Oh? I had been wondering why I hadn't heard it yet, still I'm looking forward to it."

"My guess is it required some bravery and skill too." She smiled sympathetically. "I'll try to get it ready for tonight then."

"It did, but I have more then enough of that to spare." He smirked. "Or that's at least what I'll say."

"There is no rush Miss Bewitching, it's not like I'll forget a night like that anytime soon." He finished turning his eyes towards hers and offering a smile.

"It's certainly a memory with some staying power." She smirked. "One of my best from the Smuggler's Moon overall."

"I'm glad to hear that." He said his lips forming a small frown. "As that will probably be the last time we'll play together."

"I'm leaving soon."

"All good things come to an end. See what I meant when I told you about my ever shifting path?" She chuckled after a pause and a deeper breath. Her lekku hugged her face closer. "It looks like you're breaking out of some of your habits."

"Aye, it seems my path is changing, shifting as you say." He replied with a smirk, taking a sip from his coffee. "Which means I'll have to get rid of some of the old habit's along the way. Being interested in multiple women, dry cleaners, things like that are likely to be the first to go."

He offered her a smile. "If I didn't have to leave, I'd consider trying to make a go of it, just me and you. Though I don't know if that would be something you're interested in."

"You haven't reached a point since which I would become truly interested, Zane. You're likeable, but I need far more than that to take the risk. And it looks like I've been right all along with my caution. I don't envy those of your multiple friends that have read too much into your pleasant mien and cultivated charm." She smirked, tilting her head. "Should I feel flattered by that hypothetical consideration, now doomed?"

"Probably a bit of both honestly." He offered easily a slender smile on his lips. "That's all up to you though, I'm not in charge of your feelings in these things."

"But yes you were right." His eyes drifted up to the ceiling. "I don't really have enough of a heart left to really love anyone. Or well, that's what I've always thought."

"And you've found yourself to be wrong? You know, the songwriter in me commands me to listen keenly." She paused, collecting herself, her fingers playing with her lekku idly. "But I am also interested as a woman. A man's heart is still a mystery to me and while I'd like to think I learned from my past failures, I don't think that's fully true. So for the sake of what could have been, just please indulge me with the process."

He was already talking, so there was no point in stopping. Even if he was only speaking to sate Darwi's curiosity. "Honestly I'm not sure, still have a bit of thinking to do that matter. Didn't even consider it until it was pointed out to me. That I might be wrong that is."

"That was part of the reason for the pleasant mien and cultivated charm though. A woman could perhaps fall for it, but they could never actually fall for me. It kept me always at a distance, and things were easier that way."

She frowned. There was a pattern there, between Sylvain and Zanebry, but she didn't want to dwell on comparisons. It would lead nowhere other than bitterness, and it felt like Zane deserved better than that. She looked at him with genuinely compassionate curiosity.

"Is it because you doubt who you really are, find that man beneath too vulnerable? Or do you hate that man and feel that he wouldn't deserve to be loved, in their eyes, or yours?"

"That last one now that you bring it up." He replied with a wry chuckle, reaching into his pocket he produced a pack of cigarettes. He was about to put one in his mouth before reconsidering and placing them back in his pocket.

"I'm not a good man Darwi, not by a long shot."

"That doesn't make you unlike the great majority of denizens of this Moon. There are few saints here." She looked at the pocket as a small realisation dawned on her. "If you could indulge me with one. I mean I don't smoke but I feel like having one now." She looked at him attentively, concerned. She would accept the cigarette if he gave her one, and cough a bit on first pulls. "It may be that you are harsh on yourself because of some distant ideal you've failed to live up to because of bad calls or overpowering circumstances. But sentients don't remain pristine by definition. Life wears as out, breaks and lessens, or at least tries hard to. In the end, there's no way to deal with anything else than broken goods.... Perhaps it's time to forgive yourself rather than retrench in self-excruciation. to feel the real life again, get the emotions back. I heard you singing and playing... that was more real, and certainly not speaking of anything too ugly, or dead. I do hope that your change is about seeking rather than running away."

"With a voice like yours you really shouldn't smoke, a man might sound good with a little gravel in his craw, but it's generally not the same for ladies." Still he'd retrieve the pack and pass one her way, though he still didn't take one himself. "Oh, I wouldn't say I'm looking back on things and looking for an ideal. I know myself well enough to know this is the way I've always been. There are more then a few things I regret along the way though."

"As for forgiving myself? I don't know if I will, I might come to peace with the things in my past, but forgiveness is something else entirely. But yes, playing with you was nice, it burned and more then a little, but it was nice. As for running away, I don't plan to. It's certainly time for a change though."

"Well, do try to be kinder to yourself, okay?" She smiled gently, putting out the cigarette soon after the first few puffs. "I think it'll make whatever change you seek easier."

he chuckled quietly. "I'll see what I can do, but I don't know if I expected that of you." He glanced up towards her eyes. "Are you really the type to encourage a easiness in life?"

"Such a thing seems like it's chalk full of habits after all."

"I think we need a variety of things to carry on. Sometimes a bit of this, sometimes a lot of that. It's hard to find one recipe. There are times to try hard, and there are times to take it easy." She was reciprocating the gaze. "I may be wrong but I feel this is what you may need." She leaned back, laughing. "But who am I to know such things. You've come to say goodbye, not to listen to my advices of uncertain utility."

"Indeed, we each need different things, and goodbye was what I came for." He picked up his cup and took a sip. "Though perhaps I expected this to go a bit differently as you seem to have been keeping an eye on me." There was a teasing quality to his tone as he said the last part.

"Now you're just flattering yourself, Zane, if you thought I'd be crestfallen, tearful or angry. I knew who I was dealing with, being such a smooth talker requires a lot of practice." She smiled gently. "There may have been something eventually but you've chosen otherwise and so it ends here, without regrets. I'll keep pleasant memories, remembering you for the good things I experienced thanks to you."

"I wasn't even referring to parting as potential lovers right there Darwi, but as friends. I think we both agree that there was too much baggage between us to ever make things work. Though there was a point i might of liked to try. I believe you look at me and see another man."

He chuckled lightly. "You did quite aptly dodge my implied question though. How did you know I was at the wedding yesterday? Its not like I was in the news."