Private Celebratus Good Times, C'mon!

[Persephone Dashiell]

CELEBRATUS ARCHIVE

Colette | Celebratus Archive , Obroa-Skai
​

"Wow." She breathed, speaking to herself more than anything.

Persephone paused well before the steps, head craning up at the fresco reliefs carved into the rock. Effortlessly combining the story of a fallen warrior into the darkened entrance of a portion of the Archive, she wondered who had done the work. A skilled set of artisans lost to time, ones not yet discovered by any archeology guild she was aware of. Perhaps they would never be found, adding to the mystery.

In an effort to get over the fallout between herself and Kiran Arlos , Persephone had asked her Professor at Kalinda University for more assignments. The ancient Ithorian Scholar was more than pleased to send her, almost as if she was doing a grocery run for her parents, the woman seemed to be using her for personal errands. Given her Professor was arthritic and quite old, it made sense. Professor Aawala often paired her up with others and today was no exception.

Dressed fashionably but practically, Persephone took out a datapad from her pocket and started to type a few notes.

"Zee, you're recording for later review, correct?"

[ Correct Miss Persephone. ]

"Thanks, just checking." Persephone turned to her companion. "Ready to go and try to find a needle in a haystack?"

Persephone wasn't sure if they would find the tome in their exploration. The Archive had been raided time and time again. She was personally a little miffed a guild hadn't stepped in to secure the texts but given its massive size, perhaps it was near impossible. They were standing in one section and that alone seemed overwhelming.

 

[Colette]

Persephone Dashiell

Professor Aawala was a known entity in Colette’s small but comfortable network of people. She wasn’t part of Colette’s network, but a few of those in it had dropped the name often enough that she knew of it. So it came as no real surprise that someone would inevitably ask Colette for a favor on their behalf.

That was why she was here today. The Jedi Order had called in favors they had needed to cover some minor costs. As repayment, the quartermaster herself had volunteered for the assignment. These things usually took very little out of her but came with a sizable degree of goodwill in return.

It hadn’t escaped her that she was now playing the game of lies that shaped galactic society. At least it was for a good cause.

Archaeology wasn’t her strong suit, but it certainly seemed to be something the young adventurer she was protecting cared about. Colette clocked how she looked around the chamber once they had entered. Where Colette saw ruin and reclamation, she seemed to see what was underneath. The parts that time had already begun to reclaim.

Her name was Persephone Dashiell. A very important child from very important parents. At least in the eyes of Colette’s sponsor. Rich background, but eager to be out and about. A curious mixture of Corazona and Colette, almost.

“Ready to go and try to find a needle in a haystack?”

“Sure.” Colette unfolded her arms. “Can you describe the item we’re looking for?”

“You said it was a tome of some kind.”

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

"Leather bound book. Roughly five to six inches thick. Largeish. Old."

Persephone wasn't sure how else to describe an old book. The rough description came from her Professor. Talk of the tome had been passed down and passed down so this was a literal needle in a haystack. The book in question had references to what her Professor thought was an early reference to the creation story believed by the Ashlan Crusade. Persephone had extensively studied the group and still was, making her incredibly eager to find this piece.

"References the Ashlan Crusade. What I am curious to know if your Jedi powers will make this easier, given the connection the book has to the Force? Or rumored connection? Is it possible to just potentially zero in on this items? Like echolocation? Maybe your mystical ways get us like within a five foot radius?"

Spitballing now. Persephone had no idea how the Force work despite having Balun Dashiell for a cousin. Didn't make much sense for her to know as she had no reason to know. Wasn't like she was going to gain powers overnight.

Boots met the steps, starting their journey up in to the dark hall. Behind her, Zee turned on his optical receptors to a much brighter output.

"You do this often?"

Colette​

 

[Colette]

Persephone Dashiell

It was a leather bound book. Roughly five to six inches thick, large and also old.

The description narrowed it down to a book, and given the state of this place that meant very little. There had to be at least a dozen bookshelves around them and they all looked empty to her. Colette folded her arms again and listened to the young expert talk.

Persephone definitely seemed to have a passion for her work. She knew very little of the Jedi it seemed, but that wasn't entirely unexpected. What bothered Colette was the mention of the Ashlan Crusade. She might not have been the most knowledgable on history, but crusade rarely meant anything good.

"I've never done this before, no." She said and shook her head. "And it's possible to find things in the Force, but I've never tried it. I'd have to have at least some kind of familiarity with what we're looking for, and right now simply looking for 'a book' is giving many different threads to pull at. We'll need to be more specific."

How old was this girl anyway? Colette looked at Persephone and tried her best to hide her curiosity. She looked surprisingly young, but that could be for many reasons. Maybe she aged slower? Or maybe that was just how her species aged.

Yet Persephone seemed about as human as Colette was, which was to say… Mostly?

"How long have you been doing this?" Colette asked back. "You seem pretty young."

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

"Hm. Well, in the meantime keep an eye peeled for any title mentioning 'Crusade' or 'Origin'. It will help narrow down our search without having to open every volume and start reading."

Persephone supposed it made sense that Colette would have to know a little about the book in order to find it with her mysterious powers. Seemed like a very poor limitation in her eyes. Not knowing how these things worked in her mind she was picturing the force like a homing beacon on any set parameter - feed it some information and it would lead you. Apparently not. Or not so easy in this case.

"Sixteen."

Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she stopped to crane her flashlight higher up.

"Roughly a year? Technically I have been escorted since thirteen. My first ever lesson was with Master Starchaser, first step into the Ashlan Crusade lore. My parents....well, my adoptive parents, have had to pay a hefty sum to get me smart after adopting me. I've had private tutors since living with them and a lot of those tutors worked exploration into my lessons."

Standing on her tippy-toes to get a better look at a shelf, Persephone shrugged.

"I was going to do something in fashion. Spent a summer or two as an intern at Arceneau Trade, going over textiles. Made me realize I love clothes, their designs, the artistry...but everything involved just ruined my fun. I don't want to have to worry about textiles and supply chain issues."

Not seeing anything, head turned to the woman.

"How long have you been a Jedi?"

 

[Colette]

Persephone Dashiell

Sixteen, going since thirteen under Starchaser. A well-known name although it was difficult to discern who based on surname alone. It was a known fact that Starchaser had one of the more apt names in the galaxy, after all.

As for the rest, well, Colette filed it under "rich and privileged" and called it a day.

"Five years." Colette answered Persephone. Her eyes darted around the area for books. "Trained under Valery Noble, worked a lot of Jedi supply chains and logistics before I ended up as Quartermaster of the Order."

She lifted a book that seemed interesting. Local moths seemed to have thought the same thing. Colette discarded it to the floor with an unceremonious toss over her shoulder.

"I'm technically repaying a favor owed by being here, actually." Colette was nothing if not honest. "You've got quite a few people who asked me to personally ensure you get out of this expedition unharmed."

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

"Quartermaster? So you're responsible for ordering all the burlap clothing?"

Was there a central ordering site for Jedi? Something like Pompous Depot, where they got everything from bathroom supplies to lightsabers. She made a small mental note to look that up on the HoloNet on the way home. Perhaps a good business idea layered in there somewhere. Pompous Depot for the Jedi, Brooding-R-Us for the Sith. Same physical warehouse space since the items overlapped.

Then Master Quartermaster went and unceremoniously tossed a book, causing her face to pale. Persephone scrambled to go pick it up and place it back on the shelves.

"Hey, this is a archival site. You can't just throw things." Maybe Colette couldn't read and had an irrational fear of novels. "What did books ever do to you? Look at the title, place back on the shelf, these are unable to be replaced..."

Some she was certain had been digitized. Others less likely.

"Ah, so I'm the dreaded favor." Persephone grabbed a book, looking at a title before reshelving. "Who did you owe this favor to?"

 

[Colette]

Persephone Dashiell

Burlap? It was all mostly ethical cotton and linen sourced from all over the galaxy. Colette tried her best to keep it entirely ethical, but capitalism and corporations had a way of making it more difficult than one would hope.

Regarding the book, Colette shrugged. As for the favor.

"It's not a single person, more of a group," she admitted. "Acquaintances of Professor Aawala."

She continued to circle around the area. It was all trash to Colette's eyes, proving yet again that she would never have a career in this field. Digging around the petrified leftovers of people long dead just didn't appeal to her all that much.

It seemed it did interest Persephone though.

"Any idea what they usually archived around here?" Colette asked and gently poked at the spine of a burnt book. "The Loose Arkanian's Throbbing—"

She wasn't mentioning the last one. Colette recoiled, her grin growing larger by the second as she turned around to look over at Persephone. She was about to call her attention to it before she realized how young the girl was and how prude people could be.

It was best not to risk it.

"You, uh," Colette called out. "You find anything?"

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

\

"A group of people? Sounds like a secret society. Perhaps not, a secret society caring about me is overly flattering."

Persephone was no one interesting. Started out with nothing, adopted by the wealthier branch of her father's family. Now she could describe herself as a scholar and socialite, nothing that anyone would blink twice at. Plenty of heiresses fit the description. She decided not to dwell on it, best not to know who exactly was watching her. It was unnerving.

"Historical texts. Out of print items." Listening to the text Colette found, Persephone rolled her eyes. "Not one of Lady Velvet's finer books. A little too on the nose for my liking."

Standing on her tip-toes again, Persephone hummed.

"I've found lots of things. Not necessarily what we need. View this as a journey, not a destination."

Turning her head, Persephone was getting a little irritated if she had 'found it yet'. Maybe a different approach was needed. One that gave her some space away from the woman but still made her feel included.

"Look, there's a tunnel junction a bit aways. Let's split up and cover more ground. It will get me out of your hair sooner. Plus I've got Zee. Nothing will go wrong."

 

[Colette]

Persephone Dashiell

Colette stopped for a moment. Persephone called it a secret society and for a moment she couldn't help but ask herself if it was. Would make sense, any society that nobody knew about was technically a secret society.

Her focus was torn from the thought at the mention of Lady Velvet. Colette looked at the book and shook her head. Just how old was this Lady Velvet? Didn't they release something just the other month? Not that Colette kept up with it, but when you lived with a bunch of cloistered do-gooders it was hard not to hear a thing or two.

"Right, journey and not a destination." She repeated and put her hands to her sides and began to stroll around the area. Then the kid wanted to split up. Colette jogged up to her. "That's not happening."

"I don't trust the structural integrity of this place." Colette looked at the cracks in the ceiling far above their heads. "If a rock fall from that height, or if a bookshelf of this size falls on you, you're dead."

Dust and small pieces of rock fell from the dome above, almost as if to prove Colette's point. She held her hand out to let some of the dust settle in her hand before she wiped it off on her trousers.

"Look, I wouldn't appreciate this either. But my primary concern here is you and then that book. So I'll keep a distance, but stay within reach from you. How's that for a deal?"

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

It was a horrible deal.

"This structure has been here long before you or I and will be here long after."

If there had been any concern, there wouldn't have been a snowball's chance on Tatooine that Zee would have let her waltz in. There would have been a very long lecture on safety and not dying in order to ensure there was positive representation of the Dashiell family in the galaxy. A long drawn out speech on being the first of a new generation poised to take over what had been built.

Thanks to her adoptive father, Zee meddled a little too much in family concerns. Frankly in her eyes both Zee and Thirty-Seven should have had a total programming overhaul five years ago.

"If a rock falls on my head I highly doubt you would react in time to save me." Persephone commented dryly, moving deeper into the structure after consulting a holographic map. "Seems like meddling with the will of the Force and all of that mess. Not that I believe it - just entertaining your line of thought."

A small pause and a glance back.

"You're a little high strung. Odd, considering your profession."

Distantly, there was the sound of skittering claws on rock, faintly echoing, signaling they may not be entirely alone.

Colette​

 

[Colette]

Persephone Dashiell

Just entertaining the line of thought, huh? Colette raised a brow at the comment but shook it off. Far be it for Colette to assume that Persephone was a Corellian, but for a second there she undoubtedly did. They tended to be whingy like that, stuck up their asses about luck and fate when both were really just synonyms for the Force.

No matter, the duo ventured a bit further into the ruin.

"Not all of us were raised to trust invisible forces instinctively." Colette argued back. "Jedi who rely on it too much tend to die the second they—"

Vibrations itched at the back of her mind. Rocks slid against the ground, disturbed by someone or something that weren't them. Peculiar.

Colette squinted, hand raised towards Persephone with a quiet 'shh' to make her stop talking.

"A noise." She readied herself. "Far corner, over by the… Arch-thing. Over the bookshelf."

She sought cover and urged Persephone to do the same, just in case.

"Any idea what we might see? Notes?" Her eyes scanned their environs. Dry, dusty, warm. "Nexu?"

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

"Lucky me, two lessons in one." Persephone muttered as Colette started to ramble on about Jedi philosophy in trusting the Force. "Tuition credits really going far today."

Back up on her tip toes, Persephone pulled down a volume and inspected the spine. Notes on various cultures of the Tingel Arm area. Levantines and Silver Jedi once existed there, which may help her down the line. Slipping the novel into her rucksack and re-shouldering it, Persephone was doing her best to ignore her chaperone until the woman urged cover. A lot of shushing too, what was this a library? In a way, yes.

Head turned as she shuffled behind one of the solid bookcases.

"Probably a rat." Or rat-like creature. She had seen some large ones.

[ Incorrect Miss Persephone. A ronk. Best turn off all the lights and go silent. I will come stand in front of you. ]

Servos whirred as Zee came to stand behind her, his lights cutting off along with her torch. Darkness was plunged all around them, the creature was still rustling. Eyes were struggling to adjust. Distantly Hapan, Persephone still seemed to have some of the carry over of having a very difficult time of seeing in the dark. Ironic for a kid who didn't see the sun until a double digit age, but the underworld always had lights.

"Bad moment to have Hapan lineage."

 

[Colette]

Persephone Dashiell

Large, toothy, looked like a cat. Headshape too round and body too stocky to be a nexu. Fangs like razors, claws like knives. This was a ronk. Highly venomous if scratched. Nocturnal, yet enjoyed the presence of light. The literal kind.

“Good moment to have a hunter by your side.” Colette whispered back at Persephone’s remarks about her Hapanese background. “You and Zee won’t like this…”

The quartermaster hunched down and approached another arch a little ways away from Persephone. She hooked a nearby bookcase to her hand through the force and gave it a harsh tug to send a whole row of books off the shelves.

They clattered and thudded to the ground. Dust rose flooded the disturbed area and the ronk was quick to perk up. The look of surprise was evident in its cold feline eyes before it angrily began to prowl over towards the books.

“I’ll distract it, you start looking for that book as fast as you can.” Colette hissed over to the girl and the robot. “Go!”

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

Eyes could barely make out a shadow against the black starting to move towards the books. At least she guessed where the books fell due to the noise echoing throughout the room.

Taking a deep breath, she shook her head. Colette didn't understand. She needed light to see and maneuver around. Zee had a great photoreceptor output but in this moment it was a little too great. The ronk would be instantly attracted and come back towards her. Persephone didn't mind so much but she wasn't a great shot in these circumstances.

"No."

Perhaps this was why so many Jedi had artificial limbs, they didn't think through.

"Let Zee shine his photoreceptors. I slink out of the way, Zee kills the cat."

[ Painless shot, creature won't know where it came from. ]

 

[Colette]

Persephone Dashiell

What was it with the judgements of this teenager? Colette kept from pointing it out, but she had felt it ever since her 'nature' as a Jedi — or potentially even a force user — had been pointed out to Persephone.

If Colette had been younger and dumber, kind of like a Hapan not expecting to be put in harm's way in darkness in an old forgotten ruin… Well, maybe she would have pointed out that it was extremely stupid for a Hapan to not expect just that.

Luckily, Colette was not young-er and stupid-er.

"Zee shines his photoreceptors, the ronk will see it, you will get eaten." Colette rejected Persephone's idea. "I have a shining light source that also cuts things when struck."

"I'd prefer if we could lure the thing out, but if there's no other choice…"

The ronk sniffed at the fallen books. How curious, it must have thought. Books didn't just fall like that.

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

Were Jedi deaf? Persephone was beginning to think active listening was something that seriously needed to be taught in their educational structure. Her cousin was the same way - all thoughts of singular action but refusing to listen to the other side.

"If you were listening, I stated I would move out of the way, then Zee would fire."

Colette had ideas though of luring it out. Why, so it would come back in and attack them? Persephone suspected the creature lived in darkness which meant these cavernous structures turned library. She supposed it could have wandered in from another corridor but if she had to guess it lived in a five kilometer radius.

"Do you want my belt so you can fashion it into a leash?" She inquired dryly. At this point, Persephone decided she would come back another day without her glorified babysitter.

 

[Colette]

Persephone Dashiell

Patience was a virtue, and in a brief moment's relapse — Colette was a sinner. Her eyes set upon the insolent little chit of a child. Teeth gritted and gnashed behind thin lips, the emotions betrayed by the jaw chewing on her own mounting frustration.

Oh hooo- there were words Colette wanted to say. Bridges that she held a torch to while asking herself if the cost was worth it.

For Colette herself, absolutely. For the Order however…

No.

She let in a deep breath from her nose. A slow exhale from her mouth.

"Fine." She said and raised her hands at shoulder height to let it all go. "We'll do what you said. Let your robot take care of it."

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

Persephone didn’t want to end up killing the creature yet in the same breath she wasn’t going to end up as food. Many of these old ruins and caverns had issues with predators and dangerous creatures. One of the reasons Zee was still with her despite being in university now. Bodyguard is more than just keeping odd stalkers away.

“Okay Zee.” She whispered. Carefully she moved away from the droid, inching along. He had to wait until she reached a certain distance away before flicking on his photoreceptors and drawing the predator close. Two quick shots while it was leaping and the ronk slumped the ground.

[ Let us redouble our efforts Miss Persephone. ]

Leaving the ronk where it lay, she quickly went down another corridor while Zee stood guard, searching. It only took two hours more before finding three volumes that may be acceptable to her Professor and their current work.

Books under arm, it was time to head back to Kalinda.

EXIT THREAD