A good fight deserves a drink [D3, LA]

[Layne Hoshin]

Her eyes got a little wider at that. "Karr is here?"

[Sylvain Torsin]

He nodded, "The Jedi master you contended with, no?"

[Layne Hoshin]

"He was a worthy opponent," she offered, leaving other things unsaid.

[Sylvain Torsin]

"He's seemed a decent enough human being." Sylvain replied.

[Layne Hoshin]

"That may be. What did he tell you?"

[Sylvain Torsin]

"Just stuff about Baras. Is there something you're looking for?" He asked.

[Layne Hoshin]

She rolled her eyes. "What, you had such a lengthy conversation with him that I have to ask specifics like you're some sort of holonet search engine?"

[Sylvain Torsin]

"My conversation was brief. And I told you what we talked about... you're the one asking for something more..."

[Layne Hoshin]

"What, that was it? He didn't even tell you the name of this old friend he mentioned?"

[Sylvain Torsin]

"Someone named Faine Varu." He replied.

[Layne Hoshin]

She filed that name away for later. "Alright. Don't really know how that'll relate to anything, but good to know, I guess?"

[Sylvain Torsin]

Sylvain shrugged, "I think the Jedi was trying to say Baras was once a decent man. Trying to build up the man's humanity. I doubt Baras would be happy to hear a name from his past, if Karr was the one who said to mention it."

[Layne Hoshin]

"Does bring it all back to something I was saying earlier though. About that whole, being naieve about reforming and shit? You replace Baras, you'll just become him."

[Sylvain Torsin]

"If I do what Baras does, then yes... I become him. But if I do other things, I don't... it's a simple equation."

[Layne Hoshin]

"Wow. That's so brilliant. But see, it's the power. It's the position. It's the empire. Doesn't matter what you do. Everything's just going to drag you down to that level if you try to fill his shoes. What, you didn't realize that's what Karr was telling you?"

[Sylvain Torsin]

"I understand the pitfalls. And I see how to avoid them..."

He shook his head in exasperation, "You know absolutely nothing about my capabilities and you have absolutely zero respect for me or anything I am able to do... All you do is underestimate those around you, so it's really not worth the effort to discuss it with you. I know what the Jedi was saying, and I don't accept his deceptions any more than I accept Baras's. I know what I need to do if I were put into that place, and I will do it."

"Maybe it's you who should be listening to the Jedi."

[Layne Hoshin]

"Geeze. It's not you I underestimate. It's just, the way it is. Would happen to anyone and everyone. Nothing you or they could do to stop it. It's a story that has repeated itself over and over for tens of thousands of years, and will keep doing it for however long this galaxy will be around."

She paused.

"But yeah, maybe I *should* listen to the Jedi."

[Sylvain Torsin]

"You conflate me and Baras too easily. Similar is not same, and I will not be Baras. I can do nothing other than say that at this moment, but 40 years down the line we will see."

[Layne Hoshin]

She chuckled, now her turn to be exasperated. "You're not getting it. I'm saying if you jump in a pool, you're going to get wet."

[Sylvain Torsin]

"I understand... and repeating yourself makes it no less false. Change the conditions of the system... change the outcomes. It's that simple."

[Layne Hoshin]

She sighed, and brought a hand up to her face. "I'm not the only one repeating myself."

[Sylvain Torsin]

"It is now just a matter of seeing who is right... no way of proving it now."

[Layne Hoshin]

"I don't know. Some people can see the future," she said.

[Sylvain Torsin]

"When that art perfects is reliability I'll be sure to depend on it more."

[Layne Hoshin]

Layne rubbed the sides of her temples for a good long while as the conversation echoed in her head; the whirlwind of alcohol-touched emotions slowly subsiding before she stood up. Letting out a deep sigh before looking down at his own seated form, she halfway looked like some hybrid cross between a dark lord of the sith and a serene master of the Jedi. But it was probably just the interplay between literal light and shadow in the room that'd give that impression.

"Sylvain Torsin. You are far more naive than you will ever allow yourself to recognize. But for whatever it's worth, you *are* a good person. But don't tell anyone I said that."