hadriel_logs | [closed] we'll all go together when we go

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[closed] we'll all go together when we go

Who: Armitage Hux & various
What: there is yelling and drinking
Where: house & his and Maketh's work space
When: May 9th/10th
Warnings: drinking, mentions of genocide, death, torture, pretty much just bad things all around

May 9th-closed to Kylo Ren (and possibly Anakin)

[He only flinched slightly as the lamp broke against the wall only a few inches away from him, refusing to show fear. He wasn't sure what the fight had started with, there was a broken coffee cup shattered in the kitchen but he wasn't going to clean up after Kylo Ren's temper tantrum.

He still held one of Kylo's shirts, clutching it tightly. He wasn't sure how long this argument had lasted so far but he refused to back down.]

And so you just decided to act like some kind of rampaging rancor? You're such an idiot sometimes, I wouldn't be surprised if it's because your father dropped you on your head a few too many times. That would explain a few things.

[He bunched up the shirt in his hands before throwing it in Kylo's face as hard as he could.]

May 10th-closed to Maketh.

[Maketh Tua was a traitor to the Empire and one of the most infuriating people he had ever met but she had strong whiskey and he needed a drink. He hadn't been able to focus on his work, staring at the components for the power casing before finally deciding that he wasn't going to figure this out anytime soon.

He put his hand on his blaster, listening to the door open but stood as soon as he was certain it was her. The blaster was tucked into his coat pocket as he finished tidying his workspace for the day, making sure everything was in place before he made his way out to the common area. He grabbed the two glasses on the kitchen counter, drinking in their lab had become a habit lately.]

I'm glad you know to bring the strongest whiskey you could find.

[He sat the glasses down on the table before sitting on the couch.]

Just hand me one of the bottles.

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As if I would bring anything less.

[Maketh shrugs out of her jacket and leans the rifle against the wall. She doesn't care to maintain uniform standards around Hux. That would involve caring what he thinks of her. She claimed her chair - somehow it had become her chair - with a groan, and handed one of the bottles over. The other she kept for herself.]

These people are infuriating. Nothing they do makes sense.

[He opened the bottle that she handed him, glancing down at the glass before deciding to just forego it just to drink straight out of the bottle. If she was forgoing a jacket, then he could damn well drink out of the bottle even if it wasn't what a proper Imperial officer did.]

What happened?

[He could guess the gist of what happened, no one else here thought like they did.]

There is a psychologist here. He thinks I'm dangerous. [Maketh grimaces. There's more to it, but there are limits to what she feels like sharing with Hux.] Because I follow protocol when putting contingency plans in place.

[She raises the bottle in grim salute.]

Apparently I am a psychopath. I did not realize.

Isn't it how wonderful that they judge us without understanding that we were trained that way? If that makes you a psychopath, then every Imperial officer is one.

[And no matter what anyone's feelings on the Empire were, he doubted that there was anyone who felt that every single Imperial officer was a psychopath.]

I cannot believe I am saying this but I wouldn't concern yourself with the opinion of someone who couldn't possibly understand. Even though you betrayed the Empire, you are still an Imperial officer.

The training is everything.

[Maketh eyes the bottle unhappily. She respects Hux as an opponent. It's inevitable that they'll end up killing each other before the end. Unless she's very careful and very clever, Hux will have the advantage. He has Kylo, after all. But in the meantime, they have these moments. Their drinking and their conversations. Maketh has found herself craving the simplicity of them more than once.

How--odd. ]

But the Empire is not here.

[Maketh watches Hux a moment. They've discussed this before. Come to certain conclusions.]

I thought I could be someone else if I tried hard enough. Assigned myself a new mission, a new duty. Not an Imperial. But I'm not very good at it. Maybe I should have stayed. I could have shifted the blame if I really needed to. Gotten Kallus killed instead. I probably should have done that.

No, it's not but we are. The Empire isn't just the star destroyers and it's not even the Emperor and the moffs and grand admirals but you know that just as well as I do.

[He had been raised being told that he would have to carry on the tradition of the Empire, that he had to hold it close and never let it go no matter what. And so that is what he had done and would always do. He could never let it go.]

We can't- it's too much of who we are even if we take the uniform off.

[He took a long drink from the bottle. It had been that kind of week.]

You would most likely be alive if you were able to shift blame. It's a useful skill to have but it can be tricky to master. Admiral Piett was said to be an expert at it and it's said that is the reason he was able to survive Vader's wrath.

[Maketh grimaces. No doubt it's a skill that Hux himself has long since mastered as well. He's alive and holding onto his rank. General at his age. But that time is over for her. She failed, she died. It's become simple.] It doesn't matter. I'm here now. And apparently I cannot be anything but what I was.

[It's a sobering thought. The Empire doesn't have any place in Hadriel. Nor in any other world.]

Perhaps, when this is done, I should simply go back to Lothal. At least I understand the rules there.

And I'll go back to the First Order. It's where I belong, it's what I've always known.

[There is no question about that. Despite the loss of Starkiller, he is confident in his position and skills. There has never been any other option, never any other possibility of going down another path.

He was a product of the Empire and the First Order through and through.]

Where else would you go? You would just encounter the same frustrations elsewhere.

I thought I could go to a different world. Henry's, even. I could be useful.

[Maketh shakes her head and drinks.]

That was foolish. I'd still be an Imperial.

I'm going to make a guess that you made a try to shed your Imperial training and failed. You may not have literally lived your entire life in the Imperial military but there is no escaping it. If you surround yourself with those who cannot understand, it will always lead to frustration for everyone.

[He took a lot drunk from the bottle before setting it on the table. He wasn't going anywhere tonight, he didn't want to return to the house, so he pulled off his boots, lining them up neatly beside the couch.]

They'll want to change you, tell you you're wrong to be who you are, who you will always be.

You're not wrong.

[Much as it smarts to admit that. Maketh gives her bottle a little shake, watching the whiskey shift.]

I miss--being part of something. Isn't that funny? I'm an Imperial still. But I can't serve the Empire.

I know. I'm not going to convince you back, Tarkin made the decision to execute you for treason and even if he's not here, I'm not going to go against that.

[Chain of command is always important. It was how they knew their place and how things worked.]

It's understandable. Perhaps that is what is the root of what is wrong with this place- it's too small. There is nothing...bigger than us. There is no order to how things are run here.

[He picked up the bottle again but just sat back, looking over at her.]

I'm not that foolish.

[At least not in public. Maketh lowers the bottle with a grimace.]

And even if there were, we wouldn't fit in it. A quandary, you might say.

We don't fit in anywhere else.

[He gave a short, hollow laugh as he took another drink of whiskey.]

We hate each other, I would kill you painfully if I have to and I know you would do the same to me. But there is a reason we can talk to each other like this and no one else.

[He's not going to define what they did or these talks. That's too complicated and weird. Perhaps that was the real reason he and Kylo wouldn't have worked in the long term- Kylo just couldn't comprehend some things and Hux knew he would never be able to understand some things about Kylo.

But he shoved that thought out of his mind with another long drink of whiskey.]

I see you're being morbid tonight.

[Though he's not not wrong. Maketh sighs and drinks. Stars, she wants to be someone else. Or at least drunk. She'll settle for very drunk.]

I don't even like you.

[And yet.

Maketh sniffs.]

I think I like Kylo better. I bet he's fun at parties.

I suppose I am.

[The whiskey was helping and he was having an easier time suppressing the emotions he was feeling at the moment. There were many things he didn't want to face tonight.]

I don't like you either.

[He's just being honest.]

He can even do party tricks with the Force. You should invite him to a party sometime, I have no doubt he would love to show off.

[Maketh laughs at that, trying to imagine it.]

Can he really? That would be something.

[She pauses. Squints at him.]

What are you going to do when you go back? I don't imagine his master will be amused about you two.

You should ask him. He likes showing off when he can.

[Hux didn't answer right away, drinking again. He was sure he was drunk enough by this point.]

My job, as always. The Supreme Leader cannot afford to get rid of me and we both know it. I'm sure you're right but there is no 'us two'.

Don't be obtuse. You know what I mean.

[Or he ought to. Regardless of how far his denial ran, Hux and Kylo had something. It was disgustingly sentimental. Almost domestic. And even if they went back to hating each other over the occasional fuck, the seed had been planted. Something would inevitably grow from the resulting chaos.

She gives him a mean smile.]

He needs you. He doesn't need you in one piece. So clearly you have a plan to counter this.

I do know what you mean. [His tone is short but he took along drink from the bottle, he didn't want to think about that fight.]

Yes, I do have a plan. [And it was a good plan. He had been inspired by Palpatine's planning with the clones but instead of implanting a chip, Hux had implanted something in the brainwashing program for just in case.]

Generals are usually easy to replace, as I'm sure you know. So, I had to make it difficult for Snoke to replace me and I'm sure he knows I won't go easily.

[Maketh regards him for a moment. She doesn't doubt he has something in place - not for this moment specifically, but a contingency for the inevitable time he makes a mistake and would rather not be shot for it.] That I believe. Though I have a feeling he'd have no qualms stooping low to teach you a lesson. Any particular reason you won't be suffering a flight accident and lose a limb or two?

[Because that's one way to make a point without actually removing him from power.]

Well, what do you know about the clone troopers? [He wasn't sure if it was common knowledge of how Order 66 was carried out.] It's something like that.

[He doubted Snoke was stupid but Hux was sure the Supreme Leader underestimated him as many often did. He was the skinny bastard child of an unremarkable Imperial officer and a kitchen maid, no one had even expected him to survive as long as he had.]

Granted, he or Ren could decide to take me out easily, I'm not Force sensitive in the least but Snoke isn't that stupid. There is a reason Ren never snapped my neck in the five years we've been working together and it wasn't sentiment.

Ah, clever. And I assume you did something less obvious than an implant in their skulls?

[One can't expect the same trick to work twice if you copy it exactly. Hux has proven himself clever in the past, and any good officer has contingency plans. And from what she can tell, Hux is an efficient general - one doesn't get that far at his age without considerable planning.

Maketh tips her head to the side.]

Even so, you're taking quite the risk. If I wanted to teach you a lesson, I'd blind you. Get someone else to do it for me, let Kylo or one of your officers dispatch them for me once it's done. It wouldn't necessarily lose you your rank. But it would slow you down. Make your officers consider how much they really like you.

Like I said. A dangerous game.

Naturally. Implants can be detected and malfunction.

[Granted, brainwashing fails but there was only one case of that happening. He didn't understand why it had failed in that one case which still bothered him.]

Yes, it is. You could blind me but if you were a First Order officer you would be aware of the officers I made an example of. So you would hate me, you would resent me and perhaps plot in secret but you would also observe me having Resistance and Republic operatives tossed out the airlock to have the gunners use as target practice.

And you would also remember I control the army so if I were blinded or hurt there would still be thousands of stormtroopers and loyal officers to take care of any problems. [His tone was even, he wasn't bragging but he had taken care to hedge his bets to stay alive.] But perhaps someone will get lucky some day, Snoke will decide he is going to take a chance and get rid of me.

No one is that loyal.

[Not in the Empire, anyway. Maketh tips her head back and drinks.]

Then again, your father apparently lasted long enough to spawn. Who knows?

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[closed] we'll all go together when we go

May 10

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ack, this got lost in my inbox >.>

no worries!

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