driftfleet | 005 - Will you do the fandango

Who: Crowley and you!
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Iskaulit
When: Today!

[The Fleet will be greeted with the blasting noise of that song he got for Christmas, you know the one. If you don't, now you do. You're welcome. The screen flickers on to show the interior of the Iskaulit. Specifically, a brand new bar.

Everything is black and metalic, sleek and modern. Neon lights of blues and greens offer some light. This place screams fancy. It's even got a pretentious name, the word 'Málum' in red above the bar proper. It's an inside joke.

Crowley turns the device to grin at the audience.]

So, Varric may have started up his quaint little shithole but I'm here to offer you an alternative. After all "I might get a disease from one of these chairs" isn't what some people are looking for in a watering hole.

Open til late, free shot with every pitcher, yadda yadda, come and drink your troubles away. Enjoy our jukebox with songs from...whatever the fuck is on the network. Sorry if it's shite. That's just standard jukebox fare, if we're being honest.

Let's drink our bullshit troubles away.

[[OOC: And from this point on, Málum is a location you can use! If your character wants a handwaved job, they're welcome to it. The more people, the less Crowley has to work for himself and he does love less work.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It's in him to argue about such things. To say that no the grey area is important. That sticking to one side or the other isn't good for anyone.

But this reminds him of the conversations he's had with Aziraphale, and as such, he relents. ]

Suppose you got to do what you got to do.

[ He's aware of it. He'll never begrudge people for finding that, but he is of the Light. To be anything else . . . simply wasn't possible. ]

And I always do.

[Crowley takes a sip of his drink, leaning back. ]

Well, yes. That's rather the point.

[ The point . . . Not to give in, not to surrender. He was taught obedience to manage his own temper and rebelliousness, but even Qui-Gon could not teach Obi-Wan to accept the inevitable.

Qui-Gon was terrible at that. ]

I suppose I was simply never thought otherwise.

Well, no. You wouldn't. You get told how things are, what the consequences are if you don't follow the rules...and so you stick to them. It's natural.

[Every fibre of his being wants to tempt and beguile. It's what he does best. But he can't. He actually likes Obi-Wan, and if this is important, he won't try to turn his head away from it. ]

That's not quite right. Though I won't deny that it was instilled in me at an early age. I owe them my obedience. . . . at times.

[ For the Jedi, it's not about the rules or what is said, but what is between the lines. He glances at his glass. ]

[And, because he's genuinely curious, he cants his head. He's not judging, he honestly wants to know.]

And what does that obedience involve?

[ He glances at Crowley, not sure how to answer that. ]

Well, it usually means not protesting if I don't like a decision. A measure of trust, I suppose, in the Council and the Jedi.

That they won't send you into something that's wrong? That sort of trust?

Jedi are also capable of making mistakes. We're expected to risk our lives for the greater good. Getting angry, or even emotional about that won't prove anything.

[ He knows how hard it can be - to raise someone and force yourself that distance. Because while Jedi are stronger, faster and more attuned than most, Jedi throw themselves into danger without any thought to themselves.

In a war, they drop like flies. ]

I think they trust me to do what's right. To follow our Code and not falter.

[Crowley takes a moment to consider that. ]

Must be nice. Knowing someone has that much faith in you.

[ He pauses, considering it. ]

. . . It is. I'm fortunate to have their support.

You miss having it? Here in not-your-own space I mean?

In a way.

[ Missing the Jedi Order is well . . . Yoda certainly wouldn't be happy with him if he admitted to that. And even then, missing them isn't quite the right way to put it. Granted, learning they all die in the future puts a new dent on their parting right now, but Obi-Wan doesn't miss them. They're simply connected and that connection doesn't exist in this universe.

No one taught him how to be a Jedi alone. ]

I miss the work I do. I miss knowing I have that lifeline.

[Crowley is quiet, considerate for a moment.]

Hm. Can't be easy. Finding yourself suddenly without it.

It's not. But if we're taught one thing, it is that we have the means to rise above adversity, no matter what the odds are.

[ Faltering is one thing. Giving up is another matter entirely. ]