Ziost - Crown of the Sith Empire

With a big day ahead of him and too many cares in the world it seemed wise to make sure he was at least well fed. Jo'ren might have 99 problems, but loss of appetite was not one. Sitting down at his favourite noodle stand Lord Rath tipped the salesman and ordered a huge bowl of the house special, extra spicy.

As he ate his attention drifted. He remembered simpler times back at the academy. Running through the forest on Yavin IV chasing legends. Nar Shaddaa and Thy.

He wondered what she was doing right now.

A visage from those simpler times was walking along the golden promenade himself at just that moment. Perhaps it was the throbbing from an old lightsaber wound left by a dark-haired jedi on Nal Hutta that pressed on his stomach and reminded him that he had not yet eaten that morning... or for most of the last day for that matter. Seeing the closest food establishment he walked inside to see the enormous form of Jo'ren already sitting at the counter.

He came to the side of the larger Sith and took a seat next to him at the bar. "It's been a long time, hasn't it old classmate?"

Slurping up a noodle Jo'ren looked momentarily surprised and then clapped the smaller human on his shoulder with a very large hand. "As I live and breathe. Sylvain Torsin, haha! Ask for the special, it's fucking awesome."

His expression changed slightly and he held up his hands. "Look. It's my fault we missed your wedding. Sorry about that. I dragged Shaisha off on an adventure. You know how it is."

He chuckled, "That's very kind of you to take the blame Jo'ren, but it's not necessary. I've grown quite used to my sister's avoidance of me since Nar Shaddaa. It was an understandable choice she made which reflects the priorities she has now. We must always accept people as they are, and not what they were or what we would hope they would be. I'm sure it was of crucial importance and on a narrow time-frame. It couldn't be avoided."

He smiled, "I suppose I will have the special. And you can tell me of what has brought an adventurous and powerful man like yourself to Ziost at this time if not a seat on the Dark Council."

He gave Sylvain a funny look. "No. I literally called her up and dragged her off. This is me we're talking about. The last part is right though." The big Sith chuckled and slurped up some noodles.

"I've got too much to do. A council seat would tie me down too much. Still. Ziost is the place to be right now. Would be weird to avoid it all completely." He shrugged and took another mouthful.

"You getting that plague sorted out? Must be plenty of alchemists and scientists ready and willing to work on that?"

Sylvain nodded and let the discussion on his sister go without further retort. Jo'ren was attempting to be nice and he was fine with that. "A handful have been interested. Making some slow progress of course, but it is a difficult process apparently."

He drummed his fingers on the counter for a moment before continuing, "Sorry to have directed some resources away from your master, you both looked rather disturbed by that turn of events. But I'm sure you are resourceful enough to find alternative means of acquiring what you need."

"I guess if it was easy there'd be a cure, right?" He munched more of his massive bowl of noodles. A Sith had to keep his strength up. His replies were slowed down by the slurping and chewing.

"Directing resources away from the military was always going to piss off Darth Vengean. At least our forces ended up fully supplied. It wasn't the point, but it'll keep my master kinda happy. Makes everyone's lives easier." He shrugged. "Hey, here's your meal. Enjoy."

He nodded and accepted his bowl of noodles, “So how is the old soldier? Itching for a fight again? He was the one that pushed Baras and I for the peace treaty. He tired of it yet?”

Jo'ren shrugged. "You know my Master is rarely pleased about anything. But yeah, our forces are restored to their former glory. So he's itching to go to war. Been ready a while in fact."

Damn those noodles were tasty!

(snip)

"It is good to hear that Vengean's forces are restored to what they were. It is only a shame that much of the unity of the military we enjoyed during the war is gone. The piecemeal-ing of the Empire's forces between different factions within the Empire since our time on Korriban is troubling, no?" He asked as he took his first bite of the noodles.

"Yeah, those were good times. Peace isn't just a lie. It leaves us fractured." He slurped up more noodles, finally making a dent into the huge portion. "Shame Marr didn't give control to Vengean. We'd be on Coruscant by now." He gave a grin that showed how likely he thought it that Marr would ever just hand over control.

(OOC: Attack of the double post )

"In chains?" He said with a chuckle as he took his next bite.

Jo'ren chuckled. "No faith in the military huh? Sounds like too much time with Baras. You wrapped up in another one of his schemy schemes? How're your noodles?"

He shook his head with a grin, "I have all the faith in the military. The military is my starting and ending point. We'll have to talk one day about how your master doesn't share the same level of faith and how it has cost us dearly."

He looked down at his noodles, "They're good. Filling for sure. Much more satisfying than being in one of Baras' schemy schemes."

"Heh. Us, or you?" He took another mouthful. "We should have a few jugs of bloodwine next time."

"Those two things aren't mutually exclusive. The military suffered... and is still suffering because of it." He replied with a shrug.

"Sounds like you've been around the Massassi too long if you're craving for bloodwine."

Jo'ren shook his head in amusement. "Heh. You should try being around 'em sometime. Goes from the sublime to the ridiculous pretty quick. So how's married life?"

"I spent considerable time with them right after our graduation. I am familiar with their ways... just never developed the taste for the bloodwine. When such better things to drink are available." He replied.

"Married life? To a woman vying for a spot on the Dark Council? Does such a thing exist?" He said with a chuckle.