Always close the door behind you (open anything)

[SashaKovalev]

So this was where he would be living. A quick glance around the room and then he flopped onto the bed and stared for some time at the ceiling.

It was nothing like the castle on Corellia. It was darker - literally. And while it was not Sith magic he felt in its hallways, there was something else. Something that would take some time to get used to. But then, he wasnt one who was crazy about change, so perhaps it would take him longer than most.

It had taken him this long to finally decide it was time to leave the Sith Order. And it had taken longer still before he had come here.

He believed that he had made the right decision - though it was likely that from time to time he would question it. And this would be good for him, for no longer would he let his life lead him. No, now he would take control and his life would be the life he intended to lead.

He had left the door to his room wide open behind him. He'd done this in the Sith Order, always inviting anyone to drop by. It was habit - perhaps one that he would have to break - particularly when he considered those who roamed within these halls. They were a curious group, certainly, but he wasnt quite sure what to make of them.....

[Daniel Sevish]

A cold draft blew past the corridor outside Sasha's room and the door shook on its hinges, quavering due to some unnatural force. Immediately afterward, the temperature in the chamber dropped significantly, and all lights inside were snuffed out as its rightful inhabitant entered. The spiritual denizens of Bast Keep had failed in their joint attempt to reclaim their home, but they were still expected to coexist harmoniously with the castle's other residents... granted, of course, that the two classes of entity were allowed their respective freedom.

"This is my room."

This violated the terms set by Hobgoblin entirely. It seemed that, gradually but surely, the Hand's ranks were expanding in number, and although he could do nothing to stop it, it peeved the ghost to no end. This corner of Bast was his personal sanctuary; its walls and floors, hallowed by his wails and cries - stepping over the threshold as the Dark Jedi had done was sacrilegious.

"You're the new one, aren't you?" breathed the spirit. It echoed within the deepest recesses of Sasha's mind and resonated from every corner of the room, but was without any tangible source. "You are not wanted here."

As he grew increasingly aggravated, Daniel's voice deepened and reverberated louder, more ominously. "Leave. Now."

[SashaKovalev]

As he’d been lying there, contemplating his new situation, the candles that had lit the room snuffed out. He sat up, sighing in irritation. He was unfamiliar with his new surroundings, and being one who did not like change all that much, he found it grating on his nerves and igniting his rather quick temper. Back on Corellia, the light from the moon would have lit his room, and beyond, he would have looked out upon the sea. Here there was only darkness.

As he stood to begin to search for the candles, a voice hissed out in the darkness.

This is my room.

In an instant, a small flame appeared in the palm of his hand, a trick of the force taught to him by Malice, a master back at the Sith Order. He reached out through the force, having not felt the presence only moments ago, and ashis eyes adjusted, searched for the tangible in the dim light provided by the fire in the palm of his hand.

He moved to a candle, igniting the wick and standing there for a moment.

You're the new one, aren't you

Sasha felt the voice in the deepest recesses of his mind and it resonated from every corner of the room, yet still, he could not find the source of it. And so he refused to answer.

He moved to light another candle, cautious, yet moving with the arrogance afforded to one his age – one who hadn’t yet matured enough to know humility.

You are not wanted here. The voice added.

“Tell me something I don’t already know…” He muttered under his breath, violet eyes narrowing.

Leave. Now

This was a threat. He could hear it in the way the voice had risen, in the angry and irritated tone. His voice as it replied was not as loud, but equally angry and irritated. It had been a long day for him – the travel here to Vjun, the questions from Wargrave and Hob, the confrontation with DeVille. The fact that it was all new and unfamiliar. The fact that while he was trying to do what he knew he needed to do, everyone seemed to be fighting him every step of the way.

All he wanted was to crawl into a familiar bed and be left alone. Or perhaps speak with someone who didn’t talk in riddles, didn’t intimidate him, or didn’t express just how much they didn’t like him. It wasn’t an easy start for the kid, and his patience in dealing with it was waning.

“Or what?!” He demanded.

[Daniel Sevish]

"Or risk losing your soul."

The flame of the candle he had just ignited again flickered out of existence; Daniel would not allow his abode to be tainted by its foul, abhorrent luminosity. The glare of the dancing blaze was enough to incite the ghost's madness, for it evoked in him memories of past lives... reminiscences that were best kept buried and restrained.

While he spoke, every object in the room (scarce and spartan as it was) began to shudder and vibrate: the legs of the desk placed against the far wall groaned under the weight, the bed groaned creaked... even the floor itself appeared to tremble. It was difficult to ascertain if this was simply an illusory trick employed by the spirit, or whether the foundations of Bast actually were quaking - a definite possibility, and not one which was new to the older members of the Hand. They were by now quite habituated with the manner in which the castle operated, as though of its own accord.

The presence in the chamber that had so far been a mere voice now strengthened in influence. The Dark Jedi could perceive a pale, faded silhouette standing beside the doorway. The air around the being looked as though it shimmered and rippled, and Sasha realized all at once that he was facing something quite... otherworldly.

[SashaKovalev]

Or risk losing your soul.

He might have felt the hairs on his arms rise a bit, though it was likely he dismissed this quickly, pulling himself together and refusing to be bullied.

As the flame of the candle he had just ignited flickered out, he cursed, muttering under his breath in annoyance.

The floors had begun to quake, the contents of the room to rattle. Softly he groaned and leaned back against the wall, the coolness of it seeping quickly into his skin and chilling him to the bone.

It was then that he saw it. A strange illumination in the doorway that shimmered and rippled.

A ghost. So he was to share his room with a ghost who refused the lights. And his presence, as well.

He shouldn’t have expected any less from Bast Castle.

His arms crossed defensively over his chest as he stared at the illumination. He’d only ever seen a ghost once before – that of his father. And he wasn’t altogether sure of how to deal with one. He was quite sure he couldn’t live in complete darkness for his time here – and he certainly wasn’t leaving. So there had to be a middle ground. Somewhere.

“Who are you?” He asked, ignoring, for the moment, the demand that he leave the castle.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

“He’s a bloody nuisance, that’s what he is,” a voice barked as a fist thundered through the chest of spectral annoyance. The gesture did nothing but momentarily phase the visible form of the boy, though he knew that it would infuriate the boy to see Vega again.

“You,” the Lupine stated, as he strode straight through the ghost, paying little mind to the other person in the room.

“Sod off. There are plenty of other empty rooms for you to rattle your chains in … and don’t start that ‘oh I’ll take your soul’ crap, right? You know you can’t touch me or anyone I choose to protect, so just bugger off and save yourself the bother.”

Quite obviously, the Dark Lord had dealt with this sort of thing before.

[SashaKovalev]

He’s a bloody nuisance, that’s what he is,

This was a new voice. From behind the ghost, following the fist that busted through the shimmering vision, appeared Vega. He had known that eventually he would come face to face with him once again, he just handt figured it would be now – at the end of what had been a rather long day.

But it wasn’t Sasha that the lupine’s anger was directed toward. No, at the moment, it was the ghost boy. He watched in silence as Vega quite handily dealt with the visitor from the otherworld. It seemed as if Vega were more than familiar with this sort of thing, and Sasha wondered if for the rest of his days here, he would battle with a ghost boy over candles illuminating his room.

For a moment, amusement flickered over his features as he watched the interaction. Silently he took note of how to best deal with the ‘bloody nuisance.’ And then the amusement faded as his gaze continued to remain on Vega. His last conversation with the lupine had been anything but…pleasant.

In fact, he clearly remembered the mouthful of dirt he’d come up with after Vega had given him a rather hefty blow that had landed him face first on Vjun’s planetary floor. And how he’d drawn his saber in retaliation before De’Ville had broken things up.

“Does he do that all the time?” He asked, his tone of voice civil.

He didn’t know Vega. He didn’t trust Vega. But he did have to learn to get along with him.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

“The whole lot of them find it amazingly funny to lurk about in our rooms,” Vega replied as he narrowed his eyes, apparently still wary of the spirits presence in the room.

After a while, satisfied that Daniel had deserted the area, he turned his attention back to Kovalev.

“You’re lucky. You missed a hilarious tirade a while ago where one of them possessed De’Ville… she turned into a raving nutcase,” he proclaimed with a grin.

[SashaKovalev]

You’re lucky. You missed a hilarious tirade a while ago where one of them possessed De’Ville… she turned into a raving nutcase

He tried to hide an expression of amusement.

"And that made her different from her normal self?" He asked, half of him joking, the other half quite serious.

Though she had been....if he could cal it that...kind to him the other day, he still considered her a bit odd, and wouldnt have been at ease at all being left alone in a room with her. She was unpredicatable as far as he was concerned, which wasnt all that far from a raving nutcase.

He stopped leaning against the wall at this point, though his arms were still crossed somewhat defensively over his chest.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

Vega gave a non-committal shrug.

“Don’t know her, don’t want to, really,” he replied. He had little, if any, interest in most of the other members of the Black Hand, socially. They were there to fight along side him for the Hand, not to share stories and social lives.

“So how come you’re here? I remember you getting turned away after I gave you a kicking,” he said, almost visibly bouncing from foot to foot.

[SashaKovalev]

So how come you’re here? I remember you getting turned away after I gave you a kicking

An eyebrow was raised over his violet eyes.

“Funny, I remember it a little differently…” He replied, referring to the fact that De’Ville had stepped in to block the saber he’d drawn. Though his ego probably wasn’t as big as Vega’s, a comment about getting a butt kicking wasn’t going to pass without rebuttal.

His hands dropped from where they’d been crossed and the fingers of his right hand came to drum somewhat irritatingly on the desk that he stood beside.

And then he shrugged, dropping the topic and the verbal spar.

“Same reason you’re here, I suppose.” He added, rather indirectly answering Vega’s question.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

“The same reason I’m here, eh?”

Vega folded his arms over his chest as he looked around the stark room.

“To train? To acquire some new allies? To pick up women? … Well, what is it?” he sniggered.

[SashaKovalev]

Sasha felt his temper rise slightly at Vega’s words. They seemed somewhat taunting and he was on the defensive.

He rolled his eyes as he reached to shove open the heavy drapes of the room. It did little to change the scenery, for the outside view was just as bleak as the one in his room.

He sighed deeply and turned back to Vega.

“This is just about the last place I’d come to pick up women.” He stated, saying nothing about the fact that he wasn’t exactly looking, either. The fact that he was engaged to be married wasn’t something he was making known around there. They didn’t need, necessarily, to know about Fel.

His eyes, like Vega’s looked about the rather empty room. It was devoid of personality and just as unwelcoming as the rest of the castle and its inhabitants.

“Look, Im here because I want to learn.” He stated, yanking the drapes shut again with perhaps a hint more violence than needed, his defensiveness bubbling too close to the surface..

“And if I make an ally in the process it will be a frelling miracle.” He added, his violet eyes staring across the room towards Vega.