RPlog:Futile Research - Reading 3

Lobby - Government Complex - Corusca City: Coruscant

The clean lines of this massive entry chamber seem to command the space rather than simply contain it, the stately grace suggesting solidity rather than overt power. A large half-circle makes up this lobby, backed by sweeping steps that lead, one set on each side, up to a balcony loosely enclosed by arches and pillars. The stairs themselves are wide and of white stone, curving protectively around an alcove between them, wherein benches form a semicircle around a laughing fountain. The walls around the lobby are etched with simple phrases; freedom, fair governance, and balance are highlighted in words spoken by recent leaders as well as those of the Old Republic. The decor is simple, white stone accented by blues and greens, the walls lifting high to meet a dome set with sparkling enamel above in the likeness of the inspiring emblem of the New Republic.

Evir This human male stands a few inches above six feet, and is on the whole best described as lanky. Perpetually mussed dishwater blonde hair hangs down to his eyebrows. Slate gray eyes, deep-set and far apart, frame a small, sharp nose, which itself rests above a thin and unexpressive mouth. Low cheekbones and ears of an average size round out the man's facial features. There is a certain lack of grace about his motions, and anyone watching for more than a few moments would most probably guess that he's remarkably uncoordinated. A black tunic and pants and boots of the same color make up his outfit. Embroidered on the left breast is a coat of arms: the outline of a bushy tree in silver thread, surrounded by two crimson designs not unlike olive branches, joined at the bottom and nearly encircling the tree. Fastened at the man's neck is a cape in the same silver thread as the embroidering on his tunic.

Arise A glimmer of unyet-lived opportunities, this person's human frame is young and light. Her body stands less than 1.3 meters high at a slight 25 kilos. Her sun-living ancestors have given her a glowing bronze complection that, when she smiles, shadows to soft copper in her dimples. Beneath feathery eyebrows are expressive deep walnut eyes that add a few years to her maturing demeanor. A golden band, hovering just above the nape of her neck and spanning almost from ear to ear, holds the waves of her fine curly brown hair. The hair has gold highlights wherever it can catch the light. She wears a modest long flowing ensemble in sunny colors. An apricot long-sleeve tunic is on top, trimmed in gold around the cuffs and down flanking the front buttons. A matching apricot scarf with gold tassels is draped over her shoulders, tassles hanging in back. Straight yellow pants cascade loosely to the floor underneath the tunic, billowing slightly when she moves. Light {both in color and in weight} brown boots complete the outfit. She is rarely seen without a worn leather carryall dangling faithfully at her hip from a diagonal strap over her shoulder.

The government complex is vast, in spite of its low profile from outside. Courtyards and covered walkways extend from this lobby toward other auxiliary buildings. It is from one such walkway that a young girl comes walking. From withing the schoolbag that she is rarely without, Arise pulls a datapad.

Evir walks down the lobby's grand staircase, talking with a man in New Republic Military uniform. They pause a few steps before the staircase ends and shake hands, and Evir continues down and onto the lobby floor.

Having fished out the datapad, Arise continues to walk into the main lobby. She thumbs the device on, and then looks out toward the main doors of the complex. She turns slightly as she walks, adjusting her course to intercept the doors. Then the birl busies herself with keying through her datapad's contents, looking for a file.

Trailed by a stream of his quiet apologies for stepped-on feet or bumped arms, Evir makes his way to the doors and pauses there, looking back over his shoulder.

Just inside the main doors is a security desk, with ultilitarian monitors and flashing status lights all over the station. Arise walks up to the side of the desk and waits to catch a guard's attention. She looks toward the doors, and she sees a well-dressed gentleman pausing there. She offers the man eye contact and a smile, the kind of smile that should be pure and carefree, but something holds the corners of her mouth from reaching the smile's full potential, giving it a slight cast of sadness.

Evir returns both the glance and the smile, stepping through the open door, moving off to one side, and sitting on the top step of the short flight leading up to the front of the building.

A moment later, Arise catches the attention of a guard. After a brief conversation, the Sullustan guard presents the girl with a boxy-looking contraption. She takes the machine by its handle and proceeds out the doors, her hands full. Starting down the exterior stairs, she sees the gentleman again and gives him another smile, this one a tad embarrased.

"Hello," Evir ventures, looking up from a datapad resting on his knee.

"Hi," Arise replies simply. She can't help but glance curiously at the datapad in the man's hand. She musters up some courage and asks, "Do you like to read outside too?" The boxy device would be easy to carry for an adult, but the girl's small hand shows some strain at the handle.

"I think it's hard to tell the difference between inside and out here," Evir answers, "but I prefer to be outside anyway. What's that you have there?"

With a matter-of-fact glance to the device, Arise replies, "Oh. It's a monitor droid. It's not much to look at," she admits. Her curiousity focuses into a bright glimmer in her deep brown eyes. "What do you mean by it's hard to tell the difference?"

"The planet I'm from doesn't have near as much city as Coruscant does. I grew up in a small city by the ocean," Evir says, gesturing at the droid. "Looks heavy."

"It's not heavy short distances. It can't go down stairs by itself," Arise explains. Her facial expression gives a little shrug, and then she steps around to the man's other side, to get out of the way of traffic through the doors. She puts the machine down on the landing. "Do you mean that there are so many buildings that even when you're outside, it still looks like you're in a building?"

"Well, you can see the sky--sometimes," Evir amends, nodding. "The difference is in the way the air feels. It just seems so much fresher to me when it's blowing out of a forest, or from the ocean."

Sky. Forest. Ocean. The words bring a touch of longing to Arise's eyes. "If you're stuck on this planet, this part of the city is the best place to be. The Western Sea isn't far away, so there's more sky here than anyplace else. I keep telling myself that."

"Yep. I'm here as a diplomatic emmissary--they put the embassy around here because it's the closest feel to Wann Tsir, I think," Evir replies. "Still a long way from it, though."

Arise sits down on the stop step, a respectable distance away from the man. She rests her datapad on her lap to free up her hands, and leans over to press a botton on the droid. Tracks deploy from its underside, raising its belly off the step, and an antenna emerges from a hatch on top. "I'm from Chandrila. There aren't many forests here, so it doesn't feel like home to me either."

"I've been on Chandrila few times. It's a nice place," Evir answers, watching the pedestrias flow by below. "I like forests."

"It was. I hope it still is. I hope the Empire isn't chopping all the trees down," Arise replies with wistfulness that gradually transforms into a scowl. "It's not fair. Why do they have so much power? Why do they have so much control?"

"Because people made mistakes back at the end of the Old Republic," Evir replies. "I know how it feels to have the Empire on your home. They had my planet for fifteen years, until we beat them at just about the same time the Rebellion was fighting at Endor."

"But you beat them. It's possible. Even back in the days of Palpatine, it was possible..." Arise rests her elbows on her knees, her datapad still tucked into her lap. There's a clear look in her eyes that reveals a lot of thinking, even though the scowl is still there too. "I don't like how scared everyone is now."

"I think I agree with that," Evir says pensively. "Too often do people run away from trials instead of wadif haddare tsiru--excuse me. Instead of just facing their destiny."

Those are grand words, but how comprehensible by a child her age? Arise picks up her elbows off her knees and turns to study the man's face. "When do you know what your destiny is?" she asks softly, just above a whisper.

"That," Evir replies, looking over at Arise, "is a question without such an easy answer."

"I'm waiting for mine. It's hard to be patient. To keep waiting even though you feel like you should be doing something." Arise's finger starts absently rubbing the side of her datapad. "Have you figured out what yours is yet?" she asks.

Evir shrugs. "I think I have, but who can really say?" he answers. "I certainly feel like what I'm doing is what I'm supposed to be doing, but I've been wrong before."

"At lease you're doing something." Though Arise keeps fingering her datapad, it's not so absently anymore. She returns to a mood of thinking deeply and hard about a question. "If the Empire attacked your home planet again, what would you do?"

"Fight just like I did the first time," Evir answers. It's not an answer he needs to think about. "My people are a very patriotic people--they'd fight along with me."

Arise smiles, as if she looks relieved. "That's good. I'm glad." But then a flash of uncertainty in communication crosses her eyes. "I mean, I'm not glad about fighting. That's not nice. But I'm glad you're brave enough to fight if that happened. I want more people to be brave like that..."

"We're rare enough in the universe--otherwise things would be a lot better off," Evir answers. "I'm Evir. Who are you?"

Arise gives a kind smile, though it's tinted with a little caution. "I'm Arise." She pauses a fraction of a moment and then continues with the earlier subject. "It's hard to be brave. Especially for some of us kids. Everyone is so afraid for us. It doesn't help."

"Well, we have a good reason," Evir replies. "You can be brave already--but the more you learn, the better you'll be at it, and the more helpful you can be."

The man's words are some form of comfort, but Arise is still bothered by something. "Why are adults so afraid for us? When they're being so worried, it makes us worried too. My Mum never acted that way, but my Dad did. I don't understand." She shakes her head.

"It's one of those things that's just hard to understand, until you're actually there," Evir answers, after trying for a few moments to come up with another answer.

Deep in thoughtfulness, Arise rests her elbows on her knees again, but this time, she props her shin on her knees. "My Mum was the bravest person I know," She replies with some melancholy. "She always said that everyone can do something to help each other up. There's always a way." She smiles gently.

"Those are good words," Evir replies. "You said 'was'..." he adds.

"My Mum was arrested by the Empire when I was little." The preteen girl is old enough to use that 'when I was little' phrase. "All I know is that whe was working here, on this planet, when the Empire conquored it last." Arise sighs. "That's probably another reason why I don't like it here."

"Who are you staying with, then?" asks Evir curiously, looking back down at the street.

"Back there," Arise replies, looking back at the government complex. She tries to hide some of the bitterness in her eyes. "The Republic's Social Services department." Her developing brain is able to handle the 'big words' without trouble. "I've been here more than a year."

"Oh," says Evir. He sits quietly for a few moments. "You remind me of someone I know."

Arise's curiosity is awakened again, and she slowly picks herself up from a little of her emotional funk to ask, "Who, if I may ask?" The girl remembers her manners. Self-conscious, she looks down and picks at some imagined lint on her clothes.

"A niece of mine," Evir says. "We never found out who her real parents were, or what happened to them--she was orphaned, we think, by the fight when we kicked the Imperials off the planet. I was working cleanup one day, and I found her in a wrecked building. She'd been shot, so I took her to the hospital and asked my brother and his wife to watch her. They liked her so much they decided to adopt her."

"I'm sorry." Arise is sincere. "I understand. My Dad and I evacuated from Chandrila when it was occupied last year. And when I heard about Cochran, all I wanted to do was find a way to get there, or wherever the refugees were going, and see if Icould help other kids like that. But I didn't know how to get there, and I don't really know if Icould have done any good." She is obviously disappointed, and tries to cheer herself up a little. "Is she all right now?"

"She's on Coruscant, actually--she's part of a cultural exchange program," Evir explains. "She likes it here a lot more than I do."

"I'm glad she's doing all right, it sounds like." Arise shakes her head. "This planet just makes me tired. So many people buzzing around being so busy, and it seems like all I can do is wait. I want to be helpful. I really do. So whenever someone notices that and wants to help me be helpful, it's really nice." She smiles weakly."

"The lack of political intrigue is refreshing," Evir says. "Or, at least, the lack of political intrigue which involves me is refreshing. I don't mind the business--it gives this place a kind of vitality that nowhere else has."

Lack of political intrigue? Arise doesn't understand the depths of all she's seen, but, "I get the feeling that stuff that happens here isn't what it seems. Like people tell only part of the truth because they have reasons for not telling the whole truth." She nibbles nervously a bit at her lower lip and her eyes squeeze shut for an instant, broadcasting her discomfort. "If I had a break, maybe it would be better."

"After playing host to the Empire for so long, it's not really surprising that people on Coruscant don't trust other people--and that's generally their reason. It's part of the intrigue I'm glad I'm not involved with," Evir says, nodding. A starship on repulsors floats by overhead, and Evir squints up at it curiously.

"But we have to be able to trust someone... I, um, get the feeling that the Republic is in big trouble. The Empire is surrounding this planet, the Jedi are failing us... If people are afraid, then my Mum would want me to help them." Arise looks a little overwhelmed. "But it's so big, I can't do it all by myself."

"It's true that it's a hard time for the Republic right now, but we've had hard times before, and we've done just fine. As for helping-- the best you can do is the most anyone can expect from you. Do your part, and know that every bit helps." Evir points up at the ship, now just disappearing over the next building. "That's a Tsiran diplomatic courier. We're expecting a package at the embassy."

"Yeah. Tough times," Arise echoes. "But I'm glad you agree that we can survive this. After all, the Republic is doing better than the Alliance was when Palpatine was Emperor. Better," she echoes again. She glances where the ship flew overhead. "Do you have to go?"

"Probably before too long," Evir replies, lifting one shoulder in a half-shrug. "There'll probably be a sealed package for me, and the embassy staff has to watch it until I come pick it up. If I keep them waiting too long they're not happy."

Arise gets a blank, but patient look on her face that suggests she doesn't want to pay attention to grown-up business. Fidgeting slightly, she picks up her datapad from off her lap. Its screen has gone into power-save mode while they've been talking. "Um, and I guess I should get back to my studying too."

Evir can't help but smile. "Well," he says, standing up and stretching a little, "it was a pleasure talking with you."

"And you too," Arise replies quietly. She cranes her neck to look way up at the standing adult. "Thank you for telling me about your niece. The waiting is hard, but hopefully I'll find a place to call home soon."