Private In The Shadow Of You

[Corin Trenor]

Ever since Corin started on down this road, it never so much as slowed down. Not even for a mere moment. From one mission to the next, the Padawan was on the move at all times; whether as a Jedi in this war he inherited from another and never knew all that much about truth be told, or... whatever it was that Corin dabbled in on Denon. Similar to a sore in his throat, difficulties arose whenever the need to make mention of that came about, to think of the idea to don a mask and throw both fists and kicks was a weird one that few could come to understand. Least of the Jedi, he surmised. But now on Coruscant, far from Denon and the front, with the stale air of the ruined Jedi Temple around him, the teen could breathe and think. Just for moment, a second, as lazied footfalls carried him around the ruins.

Corin huffed with a small smile and forced himself to stare down towards his own two booted feet, a small stone kicked across the shattered floor; it rolled, it bounced, it shattered. He recalled the recent events that seemed to have carved this new life out for him, one so weird, so odd and unfamiliar. So far from all that he once knew, unsure whether to blame himself or another for it. If to blame someone at all. There was not much to make of his life before, but it all made sense at least. He could rest on that idea.

In idle boredom, his head swivelled about the ruins. To examine them, not the familiar face he stumbled across with an inclined brow. Unsure if it was them. But even as Corin considered it familiar, it was more so that it was famous. The Jedi turned Senator. Just another friend to Kaze, even in his absence it seemed that Corin could not be free of him or his connections. There was no ill will, he corrected to himself, but the chance to be himself was slim and became slimmer with time, or so seemed to be the case.

Everyone had their own issues.

"Senator," Corin called with an uncertain air to his voice, strides taken towards her; "I'm Corin, not sure if you remember me."

Auteme

 

[Auteme]

Corin Trenor ​

Auteme straightened, a little surprised by the presence of another. It was late -- too many cameras and things to do during the day for her to escape to the Temple for a quiet moment. There were often visitors during the day, too; a few Jedi still floated around the area, and a particularly persistent schoolteacher could sometimes get their class a tour. She didn't want to be seen by people who'd chat too much about her roaming around in the odd hours of the day. The guards meant to keep the public out were suitably stoic, but after a hectic day she'd gotten on a friendly basis with them. Now she just got a wave, maybe a smile under a helmet, before she went inside for some time for herself.

"Yes, of course," she shook off her surprise and offered a friendly smile. "No need for titles. Auteme is fine. I, uh- hired some new staff lately, and I've been trying to convince them for the past week that I do, indeed, have a first name."

She took a step away from the door she'd been standing at. It was out of the way, in one of the dormitory areas of the Temple. Though the Temple itself seemed at best indifferent to her presence, she found a small feeling of being home when she was outside her old door. Still, she did have that distinct feeling that something was... missing.

"Ah- is Dagon here?" she asked, stepping a touch closer to Corin. She hadn't kept too close an eye on Dagon when he was training others; as soon as she asked, she suspected he was the type to let them run loose. Corin probably had his own reasons for being here.

 

[Corin Trenor]

It was never his home, Corin admitted, the station in the stars had been all he knew of the Jedi lessons to be found. It was that and their ancient homeworld, and whilst not in a state of utter destruction... the Padawan doubted he was able to see so much as a hint of life on the surface of that scarred world. Corin came to be a Jedi in this new era, and with all the troubles that came beside it.

Still, the Jedi let out a small chuckle with his answer. "Some awe that comes with their new role, I'm sure. I can't say I know a whole lot of senators, or of senators, or of politics at all even. But most people I come across? Yeah, they know about you. So working for you sounds like a bit of a primo gig."

Politics; Corin never found too much interest there. Not his style, nor speed. Slow and cumbersome, even if effective and lawful. But what was to be expected of a kid roped into a life that had him throw on a mask in the middle of the night and beat the so-called bad guys senseless with all the discouraging remarks in tow? Not a whole lot, that's what.

"Nah. Just me. He's off, uh... somewhere. Lot on his plate at the moment." He quietened with his last remark, either with some touch of sadness or the emergence of thought. "But how about you, isn't every day you see a celebrity in the ruins of the Jedi Temple?"

Auteme

 

[Auteme]

Corin Trenor ​

Auteme nodded. Dagon had a powerful moral compass; always doing the right thing in a galaxy so large meant doing quite a lot of right things. Even that would be exhausting, but the toll taken on them lately was... insurmountable. She hoped he was alright, and knew he probably wasn't. She wasn't.

"Um- I come here pretty often," she admitted, embarrassed for whatever reason. She glanced back at the door, and for a moment pictured a young man, showing up at the middle of the night to knock on her door. "Like- not many people who will come to, you know, see me, in here. So, the whole celebrity thing kind of negated.

"Though, honestly -- and I'm, like, fully infected by the HoloNet -- every Jedi is a celebrity. I fully found a little conspiracy message board about me that started when I was like, eighteen." She laughed. "There are some crazy people out there. At least they listen to me, kind of."

She shrugged. "But, um, yeah, I usually come here for a bit of quiet. Not many people using it, so, you know."

She glanced down the hall, then made a little gesture down it. "Do you want to go for a walk?"

 

[Corin Trenor]

"That's, uh- a weird one." He answered with the tilt of his brow and an awkward smile, "I'm sure some Jedi are, maybe. The Circle has some more than notable names." He mused on his own status, whether known or unknown, and some hint of shame slid in with it. He swallowed the small frown, refused to allow it to settle across his features.

"But I understand, somewhat. It is nice here. Just a... sort of nice silence at times, and a weirdness to the fact it is a set of ruins." Corin turned his head in subtle motions to examine the room, filled with near-shattered stone, scattered decorations, and crumbled walls. Once so full of the dead, there was a calmness to it. "I never had the chance to live here, so. It's new to me, probably feels different to me than it does to you." He nervously chuckled.

His smile turned more sincere, "Yeah. I can go for a walk. And I promise to keep the whole undercover celebrity thing you got going on a secret."

Auteme

 

[Auteme]

Corin Trenor
​

She gave a smile, and started to walk. Though she hardly spent as much time here as she had in the past, the Temple was still intimately familiar to her. She started on a route that would take them through the best halls.

"So- right. You became a padawan after the attack on Coruscant, didn't you. Have you visited here before?"

 

[Corin Trenor]

"Sort of, somewhat." Corin answered after some silent deliberation, "I was a Padawan before but I never had one Master for all the lessons, if that makes sense? Just thrown in with the rest of the strays." His attention remained on Auteme even as his eyes wandered, to see the fractured ruins of someone's home and all their earlier memories.

He turned to face her with a soft smile, fond memories of his own flooded in. "But that's when Dag found me. I'd heard all about the big senate meet and I was definitely somewhere I shouldn't have been, and the rest is a weird and complicated history. Or, well, as weird and complicated as anything involving Dagon is, really. But once in a while, I found myself on Coruscant for one reason or another. Not too different to home, Denon."

In fact, weird and complicated seemed to be the most accurate descriptors of his new life.

"But I never asked him. How did you two come to be friends in the first place? He seems a little out there for a senator's friend."

Auteme

 

[Auteme]

Corin Trenor
​

"Oh. I mean, when I was a Jedi, we were on the Circle together. We were friends before then. I knighted him, actually- has he told you about that?" The memory brought a smile to her face.

"It was, what, right after the defeat of the Sith Empire. We were on Bastion. I was running around- had to get to the palace, but I stopped over at the bar where all the New Jedi were- and a bunch of other people. Knighted him right there. It was the most NJO thing ever," she said, laughing.

 

[Corin Trenor]

He thought on it for no more than a moment, and for all the oddities of their close relationship Corin had come to realise he knew startlingly little of Dagon when it came to his life before the Padawan entered it. Outside of what was common knowledge, naturally. He wondered at times how different he was to Dagon when he was a Padawan, if the two could have been friends then. Or if only the years that wisened him had made be tolerable to Corin and all of his packaged personality.

"No," Corin said with a chuckle-filled voice, "I've not heard that one before, but it all sounds very NJO. From what I've gathered of how it was back then, really." Just a bunch of kids, no masters to lord over them, concentrated on a fight for freedom. What a life it must have been.

But with the uptick of his brow, Corin's own curiosity got the better of him. "Do you mind if I ask... You were a successful Jedi, on the Circle and everything. What made you leave it all behind and choose politics of all things?"

Auteme

 

[Auteme]

Corin Trenor
​

The question was a natural follow-up, and Auteme found herself struck by how poor her answer felt. The fact she was lying never helped.

"Well, er, after..." she waved a hand at the surrounding hall, mostly at the parts still damaged from the attack, "I... felt responsible. I didn't feel like I could stick around. Solipsis- I mean, he was right under my nose. And I failed to capture or defeat him when the fighting started. And... well, a lot happened." That was all, strictly speaking, true; still, the omission of that last (negative) reason made her stomach turn a little. "Dagon also kind of barged into the Circle chamber after and told me to either be just a Jedi or just in the Senate, so- yeah. It was really dramatic."

She laughed now. At the time, it'd felt like the end of the world. How long had she cried at the sacred spire? How long did it take for her to recover?

"But, uh- it's honestly something I'd been thinking about anyways. Leaving, becoming a Senator. I mean- I'm, like, kind of still a Jedi anyways. The Force doesn't exactly leave you. I just do my part in other ways." She shrugged. "When I was younger, I was obsessed with every little thing -- saving everyone, healing everyone, doing everything, even when I obviously couldn't. I mean- a youngling could beat me in a lightsaber duel. So I decided I should help in other ways. A lot of Jedi do have that mentality, you know- that you need to be there, in the action, to affect change. But there's a bigger picture, I think.

"My friend Aeris thought that the Jedi were most effective as symbols. Inspiration to the galaxy. A standard to strive for. And I always found that weird, because- you know, 'I'm a Jedi, and I don't think I want to be much of a symbol, I want to really tangibly change things, right now'. But now I think she's right. And so, I'm not a Jedi. I'm gonna run off and pass agriculture and sanitation bills, reduce poverty. Whatever. I'm gonna talk to people. I don't know. But my goals haven't really changed. I'm going to fight the Sith -- where you guys will take them head on, I'll subvert and counter their corrosive ideology, or ensure that no one is so desperate to turn to them for help. There's so much to do in this galaxy. I guess I couldn't just... wait for things to change."

She paused a moment, then laughed. "Though, I probably have more trust in the Alliance's institutions than most Jedi. Maybe that doesn't work for you. I'm into the power of government. I like it."

 

[Corin Trenor]

"Sounds a little dangerous, doesn't it?" Corin said half-jokingly with a grin, "Liking the power?"

He had a million and more thoughts on these systems in place, of the role of the Jedi and of the Alliance, but that was never his place to voice them; a Padawan was uninformed, inexperienced, with a whole lot to see and do still ahead of them. If the war permitted they survive it, that was.

"The Jedi could do more," Corin huffed, "But, when there's no more for it to do then the Senate has a role in this war. I suppose not all the battlefields are literal in that sense, and Dagon always says that everyone has their role and plays their part, but- You made a choice, one that works for you, and you're doing the right thing. The Galaxy needs more people like you."

"But, I don't know how much good countering their ideology does when it attracts psycopathic murderers with poisoned minds in the first place. Seems like their mind is already made up, and with the Maw? Doesn't seem like those that aren't Sith 'join' them willingly."

Auteme

 

[Auteme]

Corin Trenor
​

"Mm, yeah. But people aren't born with 'poisoned minds'. Maybe people like that will always exist, but it doesn't have to be so many -- you know, people seek power, go to extreme ideologies because of circumstance and desperation. It's the pool the Sith recruit from. I mean, have you ever heard of a Sith that had a stable family life, or a safe childhood? You've had tragedy, struggle in your life, and now some crispy dude in a black cloak comes along and tells you that they have everything you need, all you gotta do is abandon your morals and subscribe to his ideology.

"It's kind of the same with criminals, or imperials. Not to say that there aren't people who aren't amenable to that sort of thing beforehand, like -- yes, there are people who crave power, who want to hurt others, or who are down for authoritarianism if they stand to benefit. But there are also a lot of people who are brainwashed by propaganda, or literally, or told it's their only option, and sometimes it is, so the ranks of the Sith and others grow.

"So my project is to build a more stable Alliance, a more stable galaxy. The kind that won't be tricked into pledging loyalty to a Sith Lord, that's smart enough to see when their rights are being curtailed, and that understands why these ideas are bad and damaging. That'll mean doing a lot of things, and most of those -- I'll need public approval. I'll need democracy, I'll need the vote. I'll need the airtime to make sure I'm coming through clearly to people."

The cavernous hallway gave way to one of the many greenspaces in the Temple -- the old Room of a Thousand Fountains, water and greenery still moving about, even in the Jedi ruins. The path changed from polished marble to a more rudimentary stone. Auteme paused at the entrance, looking around for anything that might've changed since she'd last been here.