Galaxy's Edge Space Bar

[Myitt]

"So we just kill him," Myitt says flatly, staring at Ossanlin. "That's what you're suggesting. We put him down like he's some dog."

She pulls her glass closer. "I'm tired, Ozzy. I don't want to attack anyone. I didn't want to attack Keshin and Joanne..." Though, some part of her feels a stab of guilt... "...and I don't want to kill Jeffrey. I just want to make him stop killing other people." She says this last helplessly, knowing that ending the creature's life would be the quickest, most absolute way of doing just that.

Though she is almost deaf in one ear, the relic of a dance with death herself, Myitt cringes right away when the beeping sounds out in a long, shrill noise.

"Gah, what the hell, man?" she scowls at the newcomer with the glassy eyes. She rubs at her good ear, the right-side, still glaring at the man.

[Hunter]

Before Jeffrey has a chance to reply to Hunter, a newcomer enters the bar, followed by a shrill, ear-splitting beeping that gets louder and more constant the further he gets into the building.

The beeping begins as nothing more than a minor nuisance, but quickly becomes too much for Hunters' sensitive ears. Hunter emits a low, gutteral growl directed towards the beeping, showing his annoyance, but as it gets louder and closer, his growl quickly turns into a howl that stops as quickly as the beeping began.

[Shenmue654]

Keshin glances around the interior of the Bug fighter with a slight smile. It didn't look that different from the one that he and Joanne called home, minus the proliferation of wires everywhere. Keshin opens his mouth slightly as he steps over two of the largest wires leading to the "bridge" console in the Bug fighter and looks toward the disassembled Dracon. <<My god. Dalik is a genius, just like she said.>>

<<Kess, can we focus on not gettin' our ass mauled by the little girl over there? Cause that's what I wanna do.> Joanne had seemed decidedly timid and sour since what had happened. And how could he blame her? She had almost died!

Keshin nodded shortly, and then stops, so there is still a solid degree of distance between him and Cameron. He held up a hand. "Dalik sent me," he intones carefully and calmly. "She wants to reinfest you and make sure you're alright. She's sorry that she left you alone. I promise you that."
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Jeffrey frowns. He's beginning to hear slightly more of the conversation from Myitt's end, and it's looking more and more like the blue deer has it in for him. Not good. Do I confront the thing or just leave it? I...

Jeffrey twitches as a beeping sound suddenly enters the room, along with a complete stranger. The Bar was getting crowded! How many space drifters could one dive take? Jeffrey sighs as the beeping sound dies down, and puts a hand on Hunter's shoulder. "It's okay, I think the bloke turned it off. Although I'll be damned if I know what it is."

Jeffrey glances around the room again, sighs. His shoulders firm up, and he crosses the distance between himself and Myitt and Ossanlin. He puts a hand on his hip. "If you have something you want to say to me, paladin, then say it. If you want to start a fight, don't start it in here, this place has had enough. And whatever kind of bone to pick you've got with me, whatever it is my powers do to you..." Jeffrey points at Myitt. "...she was the one actually in my head. Mmkay? I can't actually control anything but the intensity and intent."

[Gaz]

Morgan took a moment to stand outside the door. How long had it been since he set foot in this place? It felt strange setting foot inside alone. In the past he had been with 3 others. One of them was buried here in fact.

After shaking his head in an effort to clear it, Morgan set foot inside. Being 6 and a half feet tall would usually be enough to draw a little attention, or even the fact that Morgan was quite muscular. The real attention grabber was the fact that Odysseus Morgan was a minotaur of a darkish brown shade. He wore sturdy brown pants, and a green shirt that buttoned up the front (horns made certain shirts troublesome).

Morgan glanced around the room, wondering if there were any familiar faces still around.

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

Ossanlin watches with a stalk-eye as Jeffrey approaches.  His exterior remains calm and impassive.  He doesn't even acknowledge the man's presence while he talks.

After Jeffrey falls silent, in one lightning-quick fluid movement, he draws his left sword and swings it toward Jeffrey's neck, stopping the motion just as the blade's razor-sharp edge barely touches the man's skin right at his adam's apple. 

<Don't you DARE blame what you do on your victims, Yaolin-spawn.  Your abilities of suggestion and coercion over-ride higher thought functions.  You strip people of inhibition.  Self-inhibition is one of a person's greatest attributes, and it's the only thing keeping me from taking your head off here and now.  You've maimed, tortured, and killed for fun.  You treat life as if it's nothing.  As if in taking it, you aren't destroying something innately precious.  You're like a psychotic child with a shredder for a toy.  Except you've modified that shredder to cause the most pain it possibly can before it kills.  You like seeing the fear in your victim's eyes...it makes you feel powerful.  You love the despair and the chaos.  You just want to watch the galaxy burn.  You are the worst possible person and the galaxy would suffer no loss from your deprivation.> 

Ossanlin pushes the curved blade a bit harder against Jeffrey's neck.  <It would be so easy...quick...pain less.  Unlike what you've done to your past victims.>  He pauses, and then removes the sword, sheathing it again.  <But I'm not willing to be so kind to you.  However, the moment you once again try to harm a person in my presence, I will do things to you that you thought not possible.  How does being preserved forever sound?  Alone, conscious, unable to die or move on.  No one and nothing to focus on but your own thoughts and memories...recollec tions of what you've done.  I have abilities you cannot even begin to fathom.>

<Normally I would pity someone like you.  But you don't deserve pity.  You deserve every horrible, terrible thing that has ever happened to you.>  He pauses, silently considering whether or not to say his next words.  He doesn't even know the whole story.  Just glimpses...a feeling of pain and sorrow surrounding one deceased person.  <You deserve your daughter and her fate.>  He calmly dips his hoof back into the bowl of water, drinking deeply again.

[Shenmue654]

Jeffrey barely has time to even react before Ossanlin's beautiful katana is pressed against his throat. Jeffrey makes a *khk!* sound, surprised. His eyes flash yellow with anger and he makes full eye contact with the Andalite. He did that with incredible speed, greater than anything Jeffrey had encountered yet aside from a Flash or an Electromancer. ...I have to admit I'm impressed.

Jeffrey's amusement increases, even as a thin line of blood appears across his neck. A smarmy, self-satisfied smile curves across his face as he watches the Andalite breathe, paused. Jeffrey's body untenses as the Andalite sheathes his blade. He reaches into his pocket and he wipes the sweat off his brow and blood off his neck with a handkerchief. It was so narrow and precise a cut as to be irrelevant, but it showed how sharp the Andalite's blade and mind were. Any lesser user would have sliced his head off in that position.

Jeffrey chuckles mirthlessly at the subsequent statement. Did Ossanlin really think he could threaten to torture him? Oh, the irony of it! I've seen enough death and pain to last a lifetime, you arrogant little twit. Steadfast tin soldier! I've been with Dr. Death, Seer, and Lord Pyronis in my time. And that's not even counting what I've tested on myself. You're nowhere close to what you need to be to phase me. Go ahead and try!

But all of Jeffrey's bravado falls apart and churns into rage as soon as Ossanlin mentions his daughter. The ringing sound that seems to accompany Jeffrey's tenor increases to the point where it's nearly audible instead of simply an echo left behind in the Bar's patrons, and then dies down. Jeffrey glares at Ossanlin with a look that rivals the Andalite's own gaze. "Say what you want about me," says Jeffrey, struggling to keep himself from screaming at Ossanlin. "I don't know how you know it, exactly--- You weren't even in my head--- But it doesn't matter. I'm not denying any of it. But when it comes to my daughter, how dare you. You don't know anything about her! You don't know what she's been through. And you'd condemn her, for what? For being associated with me? How does that fit in with your ideals of helping people and fairness?!"

[Myitt]

"Jesus!" Myitt hisses under her breath, recoiling back as Ossanlin's katana blade whips towards Jeffrey.

She presses her back against the bar counter, watching the exchange, wide-eyed.

Then, shakily, she pats her Dracon at her side.

<<Why'd you have to go there, Ossanlin?>> she demands silently, wincing outwardly, sliding the weapon out of its holster and keeping it at her side.

"I know a thing or two about her," Myitt says, finally. She meets Jeffrey's gaze, mouth twitching into a slow smile. "I know what she's been through. And I don't think either of you deserved what happened to you."

[Shenmue654]

Jeffrey, fuming, clenching both his fists, turns to Myitt and sighs. He tries to calm himself, unclenching his hands, but mostly fails. "...Oh Helheim, I probably deserve it. I've more than made up the difference. But my daughter, and my sister before her? They didn't. They deserved better."

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

<I did not say she deserved anything.  I said you deserved it.  Anything that can actually cause you pain and regret is something you deserve.  Whatever happened to your daughter and your...sister...has happened, whether or not they deserved it.  If they did not, it's regrettable, but the fact that it causes you pain is a good thing.>

[guitarhero01234]

"Let's step back for a moment here," Nepek says in the most calm and collected way possible. "Ossanlin, you should know, if an innocent person is hurt, that's never a good thing, for any reason." Nepek drops all traces of his usual condesension when he says this. If anything, he sounds offended. There just had to be more to this story than the Andalite was willing to see.

 "Now - Jeffrey, right? So you have this ability to influence people to do what you want them to." Nepek shudders a bit when he says this. Why I'm trying to diffuse this situation is well beyond me. . . . "Fair enough. As far as I know, Crayak himself descended down and bestowed this power onto you. But what I don't understand is, why would you use that to destroy the lives of others, often literally, as I understand the situation? What would even compel you to do that?"

* * *

Across the bar, the newcomer can do little but listen to the situation unfold. He knows there's an Andalite in the bar, that much was obvious by the thought-speech. And one of these other guys was some sort of . . . a killer or something? It was tough enough to make out what was happening with sound alone, but not knowing the full story didn't help matters.

He absentmindedly slides his hand on the bar's countertop for a moment until he finds his drink - at least, he hopes it's his. He picks it up and smells it - yep, rum and Coke. "Sounds intense over there," he says quietly enough so the patrons on the other side of the bar can't hear. When he speaks, his voice is soaked in a thick Brooklyn accent. Of course, the stranger isn't even sure if there's still anybody on this side of the bar. He did hear an animal of some sort. A guard dog, maybe? Either way, it was probably his proximity sensor that got the animal going.

"Sorry about that noise by the way," he says with a cheerfulness that matches neither his words nor his appearance. Or the situation on the other side of the bar, for that matter. He takes a sip of his drink. "Didn't realize it'd be as loud as it was."

[Myitt]

"Yeah," Myitt agrees, nodding. "They did."

She nods at Ossanlin. "Give us a reason to find you redeemable, Jeffrey. Do you even feel any regret for all the things you've done? By the Kandrona itself, I almost killed them! I...I almost...and God help me, I wanted to."

As the newcomer approaches the other side of the bar she shoots him another glare, her fingers gripping onto her Dracon.

<<Idiot,>> she mutters. Then she notices he appears to be blind.

"Hey, buddy! Come over here." She waves him over, then realizes after the fact.

<<Did you...hear a Bug fighter land? That was some kind of Yeerk craft...wasn't it?>> she asks herself.

[Shenmue654]

"Myitt, I entirely hate to say it, or maybe not so much, but..." Jeffrey shrugs. "You know that my powers don't work on me, right? Your little trip down memory lane should've told you that much. I'm immune to both me and any other Esper. As long as you were in my head, I couldn't bypass your will and make you do anything I said. You decided you wanted them dead..." Jeffrey puts a hand on his hip and shakes his head lightly. "...of your own free will. I just encouraged you to take your revenge. And yeah, that was fun!" Jeffrey smiles, which is almost eerie in this context.

"As for regrets that I have for the things I've done...Yes, I have them. There are things I wish I could take back, or do over." The ever-talkative man falls silent. He desperately wishes he could undo what he did to Derek, or to Dr. Death and her children. The former keeps him awake at night, and the latter was so, so wasteful, and unnecessary. "But I don't regret everything I've done."

"I'm not asking for forgiveness from any of you, and frankly to do so would be really trite and pointless of me. Regret doesn't change a thing. If any of you do want to kill me twice, especially you Andalite--- At least fight me fairly, and outside the Bar. If you don't, let's get back to drinking."

[Myitt]

Myitt darts her attention back at Jeffrey.

"You're right," she laughs quietly. "Yeah. You're right. It was me. But it felt so right when you...when I..." She falls silent, frustrated, a sick churning in her stomach.

<<Just relax, man,>> says her host soothingly. <<Don't let him get you riled up again. You did it, you regret it, and she's still alive. We'll face her when the time comes. But for now, just...relax.>>

She grips the Dracon, white-knuckled, her hand shaking. Draws in a deep breath. "Relax," she agrees, nodding to herself. The booze and the oatmeal and the twisted feeling of the knife slicing across Joanne's throat...Myitt closes her eyes for a moment, until the trembling passes.

Then, sharply, as if nothing had happened, she shrugs and turns back to the bar. "I ain't killing him," she says off-handed. Again she waves the blind stranger over. "Hey, buddy with the Yeerk ship. Yeah, I'm talking to you. Blind guy. Come over here already!"

[Hunter]

As Jeffrey moves down the bar to converse with everyone, the newcomer that was emitting the beeping speaks up.

Hunter takes the last drag from his smoke and blows the smoke upwards while he tosses the butt into the ashtray on the bar counter.

"Sorry 'bout that" His ears droop in slight embarrassment, and his tone echoes the sentiment "Yeah, it's a bit full on down there. Trying to stay out of it as much as possible"

Hunter looks towards the new human and the first thing he notices is his glassy expression. "Ah you're right. The beeping was the last thing I  expected to follow anyone through the door here." He barks out a small laugh

[guitarhero01234]

Nepek's fierce, red eyes watch Jeffrey for a while, waiting for him to make a move. But the human's stance was almost casual, in spite of the way he very well could be staring death in the face. A part of Nepek had to respect his resolve, despite how clearly immoral he may be.

"I have no quarrel with you," Nepek eventually says. "If your intention njw is to put this in the past for the time being, I'll certainly oblige." His eyes narrow in a deliberate motion. "But know this, human. I'll keep my eye on you, and if my own safety, or the safety of anybody here for that matter, is called into question . . ." Nepek pulls up a sleeve of his robe, showing the frontmost blade on his forearm. "I won't tolerate that." Pulling the sleeve back down, Nepek turns to the BT and raps his finger on the bar. "I'll take a hot tea, if you will."

* * *

"It's all good," the newcomer says to Hunter. "Never really thought about just how grating that thing must be." He lets out a good-natured chuckle, happy to have found some sort of conversation in this place.

<Guessing this guy is the animal's owner or something?>

<Could be.>

The newcomer mostly ignores the calls from down the bar, assuming the girl was calling for someone else. Though, when she says the words "blind guy," it was fairly unlikely she's referring to anyone but him. "One sec!" he calls back. He briefly turns his attention to the other patron he had been speaking to before. "Sorry to cut this short," he says as he grabs his drink. Sliding his free hand down the bar for guidance, he makes his way across the room, accidentally bumping into Jeffrey's back. "Sorry 'bout that. Someone called for me?"