A Bent Life

[imported_Grev Drasen]

“Prove yourself. Summon the Gatekeeper.”

Those were the parting words which Zasz had dismissed him on. He had arrived on Vjun a day earlier for a training session with Grimm, and now he had been sent to seek admittance into Bast; and the Hand altogether. In compliance with Grimm’s instructions, he nodded and began towards the aged gates which enclosed the castle.

Having grown late in the evening, it was hard to see through the turbid atmosphere of the planet, as the musk and debris had settled in the air. Reaching the heavy iron gates, Drasen stood in front of the adamant structure and awaited some form of acknowledgment. He was being watched, that much he could credit.

His journey had supposedly ended here, before Bast - having started from his beaten state in the desert to being sent to seek a master in Grimm by the Hobgoblin. What should have been his death by the Sith Order had began to cultivate a new beginning. He had proven himself enough to Grimm, and now he would have to prove the same to the audience of the Hand.

So he stood waiting, his arms draped leisurely to his sides and a stare fixated upon the large, timeworn entrance which hindered his way; awaiting the voyeur’s presence.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

The gates, such as they were, were part of a wall that ran around Bast Castle proper. At either side of the large gates was a pillar, the same stone as the wall itself but apparently given a little more thought during construction. Atop one of said pillars sat a figure, cross-legged.

“Riddle me this,” he muttered, as he looked down at unfamiliar face and quirked a brow.

The Lupine cleared his throat, and barked out an ever-so friendly, “What do you want?”

As if it wasn’t obvious already.

[imported_Grev Drasen]

“What do you want?”

A glance was lifted to the pillar’s crest, where the figure which had spoke remain perched, and still unseen. An obvious question, which served no real purpose other than gamboling with his mind, it seemed. For now he was still a ‘tenant’ to the Hand’s dwelling, and respect was something he would have to give; and so he responded.

“Admittance,” he slurred, still trying to pick the details from the shadows of which the voice had lurked.

His stare began to tear away from the speaker and towards the gates once more, attempting to sight any others that happened to be buried from view.

“Not such an uncommon request, I’m sure.”

[Vega Van-Derveld]

No, surprisingly.”

Propping an elbow against his knee and his chin against his upturned palm, Vega squinted slightly. He could sense something odd on the figure, but couldn’t quite place what it was.

“And why exactly would you want to come here? I mean it’s just a decaying old castle. There’s nothing special about it.”

[imported_Grev Drasen]

“Nowhere else for me to turn,” he answered as he turned back to the inquisitor above. It sounded a bit far fetched, but it was partially true to him, “But here.”

The Order had practically disowned him, and he was left for dead until the Hobgoblin had discovered him. Bast and the Hand seemed to be his only resort left.

“Who needs prominence anyway?”

He grinned behind a rugged and apathetic facade; he hadn’t wanted allure or notability, to him Bast seemed all too appropriate for his liking.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

“Quite right.”

One hand gripping the pillar, Vega swung himself down onto the ground. He passed his palms down over his dusty clothing and strode forwards towards Grev. The Lupine had his arms folded behind his back, and a puzzled expression on his face.

“You see, the thing is… it’s terribly difficult for us to decide who gets to stay and who,” he motioned a hand off back towards the open land of Vjun,

“… leaves, in one form or another. There has to be something that sets you apart from everyone else, to give you an advantage.”

He stopped short a small distance from Grev, smirking slightly. Behind his back, he absently drummed the hilt of his saber with his fingertips, held in one hand.

“I would prefer no one ever came, and just left us to our own devices, but you people insist on intruding, don’t you?”

[imported_Grev Drasen]

“That’s how it seems,” he went along with the lupine’s ramblings, noting the advancement towards him. Some form of onrush was surely expected.

“I suppose.”

[Vega Van-Derveld]

“Yes, so as I was saying…”

snap-hiss-wrrrrum

Vega had the attention span of an intellectual retarded goldfish. Seraphim, arcing out through the air from behind his back, halted an inch or so away from Grev’s neck, held horizontal to his body.

[imported_Grev Drasen]

At the sound of Van Derveld’s ignited weapon Grev had his own blade readied, a dense blue hue looming for the saber as ‘Seraphim’ stopped itself a hair short of his neck, a little too close for Drasen’s liking.

Rocking back on his right heel, he made quick work of a pivot, turning into Vega’s body and meeting the lupine’s blade with his own; only to reassure that Vega’s blade wouldn’t make any further movements.

“Now, now,” he acknowledged the lupine, “Was that really necessary?”

[imported_Taja Loraan]

By now, another figure was perched atop the pillar Vega had abandoned just moments before, knees drawn up under chin and arms wrapped defensively around her legs. The girl's expression was somewhat bemused, distant -- blank, even -- as she observed the pair who stood facing off against one another some distance below. When at last there was a short pause after the new hopeful spoke back to the Lupine, Taja raised her head.

"Vega, Brother," her voice called out, mellifluous and yet with an oddly childlike quality, "You won't hurt him too badly, will you ? I quite like this one."

[Sorsha Kasajian]

"Do not interfere, Taja."

:: the voice came from behind Taja, and Sorsha held her in a serpent's gaze ::

"Vega shall deal with this stray however he sees fit .. and you shall be still."

[Vega Van-Derveld]

With a flick of his wrist Grev turned the opposing saber down to the ground, swinging his blade with it in a semi-arc.

“What makes you think I want to do that, Taja?”

This time the slash was low, and diagonal – with the tip coming up from Drasen’s left foot towards his right shoulder.

[imported_Taja Loraan]

Taja's lips pressed together to form a slow pout and she shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "Whatever you say, Auntie," she murmured quietly.

[imported_Grev Drasen]

Two more voices were present at the gates; one followed by a reply. They were acknowledged but Drasen hadn’t spared a chance to take a peek, his attention remained fixated on the lupine, who seemed to be bent on making a statement with the saber play.

“Do not interfere, Taja…

Vega shall deal with this stray however he sees fit… and you shall be still.”

Vega and Taja. The ‘gatekeeper’ assumingly being Vega.

“And what’s this to prove?”

The blade was repositioned to block the uprising attack again.

“Vega, was it?”

[Vega Van-Derveld]

“Not prove - display,”

Vega cut his saber up and away from his partners, taking a step backwards.

“Might as well show them,” he added, with a nod backwards,

“It’s all well and good to speak about ability, but walking the path is far more impressive than talking about it.”

[imported_Grev Drasen]

A nod regarded the lupine, as he stood conjecturing the next assault. Up until now he had just been trying to defend himself, unsure as to whether an offense of his own would get him killed. He was on foreign soil and behaved as so, not especially wanting to step over any bounds.

“That’s fine,” he too stepped back a little, only now allowing his stare to linger towards the gates where Sorsha and Taja had stood.

“As you wish then.”

He returned to Vega.

[Zasz Grimm]

Zasz had not abandoned his apprentice. He stood now not that far behind him, watching his movements with the lupie; Vega Van Derveld. He had also heard the things that Sorsha and Taja had said. If either interefered, against Drasen, Zasz would step in. He looked Sorsha once over, and then paid attention more-so to the battle between Van Derveld, and his apprentice.

He knew that Grev would prove himself, he had seen that in him at Hoth. Managing to take that boulder from one side of the freezing lake, to the other. And not dropping it, nor did he perish. He had spirit.

He watched now, his hands tightly behind his back, masking his presence to his apprentice, and to the others, via the Dark Side.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

"You waste time."

An inky black shape had appeared on the parapets of the castle, the set of its body making it seem greatly unconcerned. "Finish this."