Could I Change?

[Jared Mriad]

What could a single man do to change the world? Any damn thing he wants to. But to change the world on a massive scale – he would have to go beyond the limits of human comprehension and do something extravagant. Save a dying senator to gain the trust, fight back dozens of bloodthirsty wolves to save a lone child wouldn’t satisfy the need.

But Jared didn’t want to be recognized for being the heroic savior of the world, not at all, rather he wanted to be known as that guy on the street. Consuming the flesh of some biped human what crossed his path, or having a bad day and butchering anyone in sight. His deformation, as he called it, which appeared on and off recently had gotten the Sith to think.

Could life be different?

The question sat floundering in his mind, as the scents of booze and vomit slipped into his mind. Jared sat in some crowded bar, sipping on a crystal glass of water. A hood and cloak were pulled over a black jacket and gray shirt that faded into an equally black pair of jeans. He carried no weapon, the bouncers at the door took it, and a blood red dog’s collar encircled his neck. The collar made him feel like an animal, which he was in the farthest reaches of his mind…

“Damn it all to hell,” He groaned quietly, dull golden eyes centered on a clear cube of ice as it clumped farther to the bottom. The urge for a smoke popped into his actions as his hand moved into the cloak and drew out a single white cigarette and lit it with a silver lighter, the smoke drifted up to join the masses above. One way path…

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei used the Force to take some of the water out of his glass and put out Jared's cancer stick.

"No smoking in the Bar and Grill please," Wei said cheerily. "Besides that, it ruins your stamina. But enough about that."

Wei got out of his booth and sat across from Jared.

"It appears to me that you have a lot on your mind. If you want to talk about it, I'll listen."

If Wei had said it once, he had said it a thousand times. Talking about what's on your mind often times makes you feel better.

[Jared Mriad]

Jared scowled as the ciggara was douced by his drink, but the maniac set his mind forth to finishing the smoke. Concentrating, Jared found the barest of head source with the Force and fanned it back to life.

The tip sizzled for a moment before glowing orange once more. Jared grinned inwardly before inhaling once more and snuffing the life out on a nearby ash tray before replying.

"I've got nothing and many things on my mind, chap. And I dont usually want to chat about it." He spoke, clearly and somewhat friendly ( if he could, that is.), before sliding a look over at Wei.

"Got anything on your mind, needing to be off?"

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei shrugged. "Just that I'm severely allergic to cigarette smoke. But enough about that."

Wei decided to just use the Force to keep the smoke around Jared so that it would not get to him.

Wei thought a minute. "Not much has been bothering me recently."

Wei looked at Jared. "You're a Darksider, aren't you?" Wei asked. It was Wei's attempt at making conversation. Wei, unlike most other Jedi he knew, didn't mind Darksiders that much. But he did mind it when Darksiders destroyed people and villages and such as that. Love the sinner, hate the sin.

[Jared Mriad]

"Allergic to smoke, nifty weakness.." Jared noted, brushing the stale air away from him with a wave. Then this... by the signature... jedi asked if Jared was aligned with the darkside. He could've went in two directions at that point, lie and say he was a merc, or truth and tell him so.

"Ayeuh, Darksider - Sith precisly. I'm guessing your a Jedi from the surroundings, Guards dont usually let merc's or us in easily but a Jedi slips through without a yell." Jared coughed into a white cloth clutched in his hand, "Name's Jared."

[Wei Wu Wei]

"My name is Wei."

Wei shifted. He was about to tell Jared that if he didn;t smoke he wouldn't cough, but he decided not to. "Sith work off of anger and hate, right? How do you do it? How do you hate somebody?" Wei could never understand how people could hate.

[Jared Mriad]

"Most Sith do work off anger, hate, pain.. that and much more.. but a few, recently myself, do it for the freedom to do what we want when we want and not be hindered by any moral code," Jared replied, much like a professor in a lecture, "How can those emotions fuel the need?"

"Hate, fear, desparation, and pain let you dive deeper into the Force increasing your abilities in it... like releasing a river after daming it up for years -the water was a slow trickle, then a massive flood- after awhile the increase acts like a drug. Thus they begin to hate, demolish, and exhume anything that can fuel that 'high'.."

Jared waved a hand in the air, dullen eyes missing the glint they had before, and sighed heavily. "But all I want nowadays is freedom.. Freedom from everything, Tiamat... the Old Tounge Dragons blood... eating human flesh.. everything.."

[Wei Wu Wei]

"Well, I never thought of the darkside like that. But all the same, the Darkside does nothing for me. It goed along with the whole not hating thing."

Wei shrugged. "You know, I find the most freedom in helping others. It's not like I'm bound to them because I choose to help them. And through helping others, I make friends, so life is good for me."

Wei took a breath and continued. "The Jedi code says to let go of any attachments...love, hate, jealousy, things like that. I think that the perfect Jedi is supposed to lack emotion, to be free from everything that ties him to the world. Sounds to me like that's the kind of freedom you are looking for."

[Jared Mriad]

Jared tched, shaking his head back and forth. The Jedi Code, rubbish. "Psh... All that code of yours does is make robots of the students.. I dont want any freedom where I cannot express my feelings openly..."

He turned a icy gaze, a whole entity different from before, onto Wei, ".. I want to do what I want when I want and not be held back, the pityful Code you go by is a weakness - a deformation - worse than any mortal man could have. Forgo hate, pain, and LOVE for god's sake?!"

Jared's eyes blazed with intencity now, the anger rising until it seemed to break off - The dark presence around him fell away - no force signature could be seen..

"Frellin' Codes.." He growled, casting his eyes to the bar..

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei shrugged. "Well, just because the code is there doesn;t mean we adhere to it one hundred percent," Wei said, trying to calm Jared down.

"I mean, I got married. How's that for an attachment? I nearly cursed out the Council because someone used my wife to play a trick on me."

Wei drank some of his water. "But when I'm in a fight, or doing some sort of debating or diplomacy or whatnot, I am like a robot, as you call us. Besides, I know that Sith feed off anger and hate, and that it makes them stronger, but if you get angry enough, despite all that power, you can lose your sense of good judgement."

[Jared Mriad]

Jared's eyes slid back to Wei's direction, "You almost cussed out the council?"

He chuckled, there was always a first to stuff like that. "But, you are right. Rage does cloud the mind, although I have not had a decent clash in a long time, very long time... nearly makes you forget about battle stratiges and techiques.." Jared ordered another glass, specifically asking for a clean one.

"How many battles have you been in, Jedi?"

[Wei Wu Wei]

"Well, let me see...." Wei got his fingers ready for counting.

"There was that one with Vega Van Derveld, One with Sieken Kasstra, The big Black Hand fight when they attacked our base in the middle of the move, I fought a dude out in the woods once, fought my cousing twice..."

Wei looked at all the fingers he was holding up and counted them. "At least 7. Not including the numerous sparring matches I've had. Seven may not be a lot, but they were big battles."

[Jared Mriad]

"I've had around 20. Counting one on one duels at The Sith Empire before the collapse, little skirmishes here and there... massacre insude though," Jared replied, "Vega Van Derveld and his Apprentice Sieken.. quite impressive that you've fought both and survived. I know most who don't make it out of the Sith lord's grasp without serious wounds.."

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei shrugged. "I had a lot of help from my friends. I mean ALOT of help. We stick together. It's cool like that. I'm sorry to hear about the whole massacre thing, though. Good thing you lived, it'd be a shame not to have you around."

Wei liked people and seeing someone die was just not his cup of tea. Then he thought of something. "Well, even if you are a Darksider, you can;t be entirely bad, right? Even the most destructive of talents can be put to good use. It's like a story my grandpa told me once. If you want, I'll tell it to you."

[Jared Mriad]

Jared waved his hand for Wei to tell it, intriqued.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei took a moment to remember the story, then began.

"During a time of war, two warlords fought for control of a country. the famlilies near the battlefield fled for their lives and a thief had found it profitable to ransack their houses while they were gone. One day the army caught him and were about to sentence him to death when the thief asked to be given the chance to serve his emperor during the war.

what can a mongrel like yourself accomplish? they asked. But they gave him the chance anyway.

When the army camped out a few meters from the enemy's camp, the thief snuck out and stole the curtains from the General's bed. the theif returned to the army camp and the next day two soldiers were sent to return them, with the excuse that they had found the curtains while looking for firewood.

The next night, the Thief went in again and stole the sheets. They were returned the following morning with the same story of finding them while gathering firewood. the General got nervous and set up a guard to protect him.

on the third night, the thief slipped into the General's tent and stole the pillow out from under his head. This was returned in the morning with the same story.

the General gathered his troops together. Tonight it will be my head! He shouted and so the army broke camp and returned to their own lands."

Wei smiled. He liked that story. "The thief had saved his nation. And he did it using a skill that was widely considered to be a bad skill. I don;t see why Darksiders can't be the same way."

[Jared Mriad]

Jared nodded, "Usually when Sith's go around looking to help, they either run away or start shootin' bullets. So I don't think that anyone could get anywhere with my kind of talent."

Jared took a long pull from his water, "I dunno, maybe it could happen. Not with me though..."

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei shrugged. "That's too bad." Wei shifted a little and thought of something else to talk about. "What do you like to do for fun?"

[Jared Mriad]

"Hell... I don't really know. I jog every week, sometimes pick up a game of basketball," Jared said, turning his head away to glance at a passerby before returning to the table, "Lately I've been dominated by training sessions or personal vendetas."

[Wei Wu Wei]

"I never played sports much. I've always enjoyed being spontaneous. Others might say I'm insane, but it's good to let it all go and just let it all out. It's fun."

[Jared Mriad]

"Heh, insane happens to be half of my name at times," Jared chuckled, "Have you ever seen another human eat the flesh, skin, organs, and whatnot of another human being?"

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei shrugged. "Have to get your protein somehow."

Wei chuckled. "Last 3 times I was bored, I burst into the bar and grill, jumped on someone's booth so I landed on my stomach and then turned around and around on the table before falling into the empty seat across from whoever was sitting in the booth at the time. I found out it's actually a pretty cool way to make friends."

[Jared Mriad]

"You brokedance on a table?" Seeing a jedi do that would be a once in a lifetime experience, for most anyway. To Jared, it was simply halarious!

"Jeez, I'd be locked up halfway to oblivion for doing something that crazy. Might try it though, maybe later.." Jared shot Wei a michevious grin, "Maybe on one of them funky Keroke nights!"

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei grinned. "That'd be funny. But the question is, do you sing techno, or rap?"

Wei stifled a laugh. "or both at the same time."

[Jared Mriad]

"Techno.. Rap? Nah, good ol' rock and roll for me, shouting with the lights spazing out while the croud nearly kills themselves with moshing," Jared tugged on the blood red collar around his neck, "I did techno once, but it boiled out to plain rock..."

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei smiled. "I don't have a musical preference, really. I've heard about mosh pits, though. Heard they can be dangerous. People get trampled and stuff, etc. Good place for you to get your protein, eh?" Wei chuckled.

[Makoto Neosis]

This submerged a heartly laugh from Jared, "Yeah! But I have to hijack the ambulences before they arrive or the NRSF get's on my case, sometimes... either them or the local miltia. But yea, the mosh's are dangerous, defininately."

[Wei Wu Wei]

"I never really liked music concerts anyway. They were too loud for my tastes. Couldn't even hear the music."

Wei shrugged. "I dont see the problem with you eating someone if they are dead cause of an accident. But if you were going to kill them for food, that might not go over so well."

[Jared Mriad]

"Well, any matter on cannibilism in public is very... very... offencive to most. The religious fanatics rant on... and on... and on about it!" Jared threw his hands into the air in a "I give up" motion before relaxing back to his seat.

"It's funny though, they freak out when I look up and have fresh blood on my chin. Ranting holy hexes and crap, funny."

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei shrugged. "I knew a group of people who would go hunting, and they would cut out the heart of the beast they killed and ate it raw. A sort of comeraderie among hunters. I didn't participate. It's not that I didnt like raw meat or anything, it;s just that I didn't hunt with them. I watched from a hill. It was just a thing between friends."

Wei thought for a moment. "What types of people do you kill for this food of yours?"

[Jared Mriad]

"Anyone I can get my hands onto, mostly women though. They bathe more often than most guys," Jared stuck his tounge out, emphasising the point, "When the rage takes over, the first one within reach is usually the victim, though."

The bit about the hunters devouring the heart of the kill interested Jared, he left hearts as presents. Sometimes payments, the patrons were too terrified to chase him down usually. There was one instance where he was shot at, but the shooter didn't get a second chance to fire.

"Enough about my eating habits, what about you?"

[Wei Wu Wei]

"You mean my eating habits?" Wei ventured a guess.

"Well, I'd say I have a pretty well balanced diet. I have this strange squirk about food though. If I can't eat it with my hands or a pair of chopsticks, I don't eat it."

Wei remembered all the times he would be visiting someone and they would serve soup. He would eat the soup in much the same way a child drank the milk left in his cereal bowl. It confused som people, but it was just a habit about him.