Paths

Kiruss stood at a fork in the road, to be more precise he stood at a very busy intersection, in his life. A post in the center with many planks of wood shaped into arrows, destinations scrawled crudely on them, gave him direction to where these paths went. This marker though gave no indication as to what was right and what was wrong, but just before the horizon of each path stood something he would hoped or knew he would obtain from this path.

Some showed glamour, riches, and associations while others had what almost appeared to be images of Kiruss himself, somewhere in the future along that particular path. His eyes continued back to a very thin path, one where he would not be able to walk beside anyone as a friend along it, only having to be lead or to lead himself. At the end of this path though stood a man and two hounds. The simplest (though not least favoured) 'prize' in comparison to the other paths, each having a far more detailed or visually appealing end point, but still Kiruss continued to fall back to this one path.

There is of course no such place like this in the real-world, an intersection where one can go to visually see the choices that lay before them, but that doesn't make it any less real to Kiruss as he opens his eyes. Looking about the room he has shared with Kyber and occasionally their hounds for quite some time, the decor was plain and boring, there was a sense that many people had inhabited this room but few had stayed for long. Kiruss wondered how long the two would stay here themselves.

He twitched his nose and scratched at the side of his jaw for a few moments before standing, passing through the small door to the refresher almost going in sideways like a crab because the door was so thin, washing his face before returning back to the edge of the bed where he sat down. He contemplated back to this wild intersection his mind had created for him to cope and all of the choices he really could make; it was not as if choosing one banished him from dawdling along to another path here and there, Kyber had told him this very thing in regards to 'his' path, except that it was very likely choosing that path would block off others indefinitely.

Regardless of this worry Kiruss closed his eyes again to the intersection, laying down on the bed while still leaving his feet to hang over the edge, then taking a step forward.

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Sport

Kiruss stood there with his hair still slightly damp from only being out of the pod long enough to dress and make his way to one of the few rooms still operating aboard Pas La Fin, he was fidgeting impatiently, the small team of technicians working in-front of him.

A blonde haired Achura woman shot him a look of question, "We can have the report sent to your quarters when it is ready, Monsieur Dasun, no need for you to stand around here all day" she cooed as if trying to appease an impatient child.

He stopped his fidgeting, peering at her, opening his mouth as if about to reprimand her for speaking so down to him. Him, a capsuleer, a man greater than she would ever be. He could do what he wanted and he would continue having the means to do so as long as he owned this tower.

A few seconds passed as he tried to find the select words that he felt would have the best affect at bringing her down a peg or two when he realized exactly what he was doing.

She blinked a few times, apparently the look on his face giving way to his thoughts, standing and giving a small bow.

"My apologies Monsieur Dasun," she quickly and quietly said, sitting back down and keeping her eyes on her terminal.

"No," he began, using his fingers to massage at his temples, "I shall wait in my quarters, you are right."

He quickly turned and walked out of the small room, missing the moments after as the other technicians in the room shot glances at the Achuran woman disdainfully. On his way back to his quarters he really realized to himself how much he needed to get out of this wormhole, he was becoming short and bitter with the remaining staff on the tower and today he had reveled in the opportunity to dispatch several other capsuleers who had stumbled and trapped themselves in the home system.

As the confirmation that many of them had self-destructed their pods to avoid being dispatched by the fleet and that they would return back to home system, in that moment then, he had been filled with a sense of not pity, compassion, or mercy for those that remained. But a sense of sport and regret that they had not allowed the fleet to chase after them. It would have been something to pass the time, the days, until he could have what he wanted again.

Kiruss slumped against the wall of the control tower's hall, he slid down and sat there, disgust for himself plain on his face. Thankful though at least that no staff would likely come down this hallway, to see him like this, as many of the rooms no longer served a purpose. But just then a blonde woman knelt down beside him, a datapad in her hand that displayed a report Kiruss could not see through eyes blurred, she put her hand on his shoulder.

"Monsieur Dasun?"



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Departure

Kiruss hadn't so much as left the bed this morning, instead rolling around for the last few hours, knowing full well that he had to get up sooner or later. Instead he would occasionally sit up to glance at his work station where he knew he could at least busy himself or glance at the exit of the quarters where he could make his way to the hanger and take care of sleepers to pass the time. But instead he would rather just lie here in this self-pitying state.

It had not even been 24 hours since Kyber had departed the system, and only just over a day since Kiruss had announced that Advent Ltd. would be shutting down. But yet it felt as if he had no reason to get out of bed, why bother? Wouldn't be time spent with Kyber, wouldn't be Sleepers to make profit from by the looks of the Alliance's comms, wouldn't even be anything to look into on the tower as most of the work now was just shutting down each section as it was no longer required to keep the thing going. This month couldn't come to an end sooner, and it had just started.

Enough of this pity party. He got up, shuffled immediately to the refresher and took a long shower, exiting and rummaging around for clothing. He put on some trousers and then stumbled across an old shirt, it was Kyber's, he must have left it behind. Kiruss sat down on the bed, held the shirt for a few moments before putting it on, then lay down and encased himself back in the sheets and blankets of his bed.



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Awake

All the lights in the single-room quarters were out, all except the light being created from the display of the workstation as Kiruss sat lightly illuminated and squinting at the screen, his eyes still not adjusted to the bright screen in the dark room. A holographic Jin-Mei woman, no bigger than a desk lamp, flickered nearby and was projected next to the screen on Kiruss' workstation. Her tone was decisive and her words quick, but not rushed, she paid no attention to Kiruss' mumbled salutations and the bags under his eyes instead jumping right into a discussion on figures and contracts.

"Dasun, excess ore for transport has been contracted to Robspierre, the expected profits to be made from selling to the Engineers is acceptable at best. Please make sure Robspierre deposits the ore back into our corporate hangers after he is done using Astral's facilities. We are reaching the end of this month."

No shit. She flickered out without another word before Kiruss could even nod and he continued to stare at the place where the projection was for a few moments before turning back to his screen. This is horrible. He stared at it for even longer, the woman's interruption apparently enough of a distraction for him to lose what little motivation he had to begin with when he decided to get some work done, despite the fact that it was some ungodly hour in regards to his sleeping cycle.

Enough of this. He shuffled back over across the room, trying as carefully to crawl back into bed without waking his partner, freezing instantly as a groggy grunt and shuffle was heard as he unceremoniously flopped down into the bed. He quickly shuffled under the various blankets and wrapped his arms around the other body. Several minutes passed before he sighed to himself, having not fallen asleep, rolling back onto his side of the bed staring at the ceiling. He glanced over to see two eyes peering at him.

"Sup Scruffs?"



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Cold

Kiruss trundled up the boarding ramp of the shuttle quickly, bundled tight within his coat as the cold air continued to bite at his face until he passed through the containment field of the modest yet roomy shuttle, quickly removing himself of the large and furry coat as his body adjusted to the heated interior of the craft. Touching a hand to a nearby panel inserted in the wall he raised the ramp whilst querying the cockpit, "Salut Pilot, please return us to orbit and to l'Aide's hold," Kiruss requested softly; not waiting for a response he moved himself slowly through a narrow metal hallway, widening his stance momentarily as the craft lurched free of the landing pad, he entered a small room where he sat quickly in a lounging chair.


"Avoidance works for some, I suppose the worm hole is the ultimate expression of that."
"That is the idea, yes."


He grunted to himself, going over the conversation that was had, regretting that last quip before flickering out of the channel. He wasn't trying to avoid anything by being in the wormhole. It was work and work takes you places, especially when he was the kind of person who's work was primarily in space. It was just very convenient that his work took him to a place free of many of the issues that plagued the cluster. Every time things were going slow or he was just not as engaged in his current activity he would glance at The Summit, finding it to constantly being plagued with this issue or this tear jerking problem. He didn't have to worry about that out here, at least not yet, and hopefully never so.

But enough of that, he just had lovely tea with three lovely ladies and that was nothing to stick your nose up at. Getting to know more about Katrina and Simca was a joy that Kiruss enjoyed greatly, the two were actually very relaxed and fun in their home setting. Meeting this Mei was fantastic, a quirky and easily embarrassed individual such as Kiruss, he hoped to see her around more. He smiled lightly to himself as the shuttle finally docked in the hold of l'Aide, standing and making his way out of the shuttle.



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Personality Assessment

Assessment of M. Dasun shows that he is mentally and emotionally fit for capsuleer training and the strains it places upon the psyche. Only notable personality trait of concern is that while the subject appears to have morals and the means to make decisions based on these morals he lacks, or prefers not to use, judgement when presented with individuals or situations in which a "lesser evil" or "more right" path is to be chosen,  unable to see the "wrong" in many cases. Choosing to ignore certain acts in favour of "the benefit of the doubt." Subject often made choices, while not inherently wrong, that went against what would be seen as the preferred or "right" option based on what could be seen as irrational decisions.
-- Dr. L. Bourgeois, Center of Advanced Studies, sometime prior to Kiruss being accepted for capsuleer training



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Isolated

Kiruss hadn't put his foot down anywhere that wasn't a bulkhead on Pas La Fin in so long that he couldn't exactly pinpoint it to any specific date. In the pod, at his workstation, in the pod, observation deck, in the pod, in the a laboratory. It was an endless cycle. You could argue that he had been "out", but docking his ship up to some station in some system that he was never likely to visit again, not even leaving the pod because the system of decanting, washing, and dressing was too much effort for simply organizing contracts for James, it wasn't the same. Sure he had visited James now and again, but in holographic form, with his own feet still firmly chained on the tower, that last thought leaving Kiruss with a frown.

Katrina visiting had only further dug the idea into his mind that he might need to get out more, as her Buzzard left the staging tower, flinging itself across the system where she was going to risk around two dozen jumps of deep null-space just to get out. Kiruss couldn't help but envy her in some way, not for what the cluster had to offer, but for the feeling of not being contained to one system; envy for the fact that she could choose her own path again and again. It could be argued that she was separated from what she wanted though, giving her a reason to go back for not wanting to be separated any longer from what she loved, a romantic across the stars thought that brought a smile to Kiruss' face. Kiruss had duties, a home, and someone here for him. No reason to go back.

A lack of other capsuleers around when he was didn't help either, where was Kat? He was apparently producing results without Kiruss even being around, which was good, of course. But he was still missing that certain head-up-in-the-asteroid-belts mindset that the man had developed. It was refreshing, but lately their cycles seemed to have shifted for some reason, he would have to check in with him somehow.

So as Kiruss trudged along the halls, stretching his legs, he stopped to glance out of a window and past the hum of the forcefield bubble encasing the tower. He was suddenly overcome with a feeling of claustrophobia, not from the walls of the tower or the bubble of the forcefield, but of the vast expanses of this class five wormhole, a sense of irony running even with the claustrophobic fears. Trapped within a place that was supposed to be without boundaries.



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