Paradox: Four

Paradox 

“I’ve heard some grim stories about the Dark Jedi interrogation techniques,” Carth said, keeping his voice low so that he would not wake Viza. He lay in the bed on his stomach, wearing nothing but his delicious black pants. Nirubu was working some finger magic for him – after bragging about his fantastic massaging abilities, Carth had put him to the test. Quite frankly, the man was tighter than a Sphincter Worm’s… well...

“Yeah?” Nirubu asked casually, working deep into those tense muscles. They didn’t want to listen to him. “I’m sure whatever you’ve heard, I’ve heard worse.”

“Well, I’ve heard that they… they use the Force, to mess with your mind. It can wipe away your memories and destroy your very identity.”

“The loss of your self, I imagine,” said Nirubu with a false wisdom, “would be less painful than a lasting condition. If you don’t remember your past self, that person is not you. Whatever you did then, it is like hearing the story of another man. It means nothing.”

“But to lose everything… surely…”

“If you lose everything as well as your emotional attachment to those things, was it ever really lost?” Nirubu grunted, pushing hard, and Carth groaned in pain.

“What are you doing back there? Trying to kill me?”

“I’ve never seen anyone so tight in my life,” Nirubu replied. “You really need to relax more often, sweetheart.”

“I think you’re too relaxed, Nirubu.”

“I’ll live longer than you for that, provided the Sith don’t kill me. No heart disease for this boy.”

“Mmph. But if the Sith do kill you?”

“Then I lived my short little life in rest and relaxation.”

For the first time, Carth laughed. It was short, but it was honest, and it was one of the loveliest sounds Nirubu had ever heard. His muscles seemed to melt underneath Nirubu’s fingertips now, as if the very act of laughing had unknotted them.

Nirubu stopped his ministrations, and Carth sat up to stretch. He moaned quietly, the bones of his back clicking into place, and he gave Nirubu a look which was almost vulgar in its consideration. “Wow. That feels much better.”

“You mostly did that yourself,” Nirubu replied. “You need to laugh more often.”

Carth looked at him strangely, and his smile died away.

Nirubu met that gesture with his own cynical smirk. “Problem?”

Carth looked away with a sharp intake of breath, fixing his gaze on Viza’s sleeping form. His expression turned harder than ever. “No,” he said – he was lying.

“Hnh. Didn’t think so.” Nirubu stood then, and as he walked across the room Carth watched him with a look of desperation. He didn’t say anything, though, and so Nirubu dismissed him.

It was his belief that if someone wanted something, they should be brave enough to get it.

-fin

Give me a chance.