First Reply Life in War's Shadow | Ruusan

[Delphi Larkspur]

Life in War's Shadow
Ruusan
Tags: Open to 1 Responder

Delphi was filled with excitement. It was rare that she was ever sent to conduct field work, but today had been different. Director Akar Rhonvogg had knocked on the door of her room on the Radiance Home and said something along the lines of:

---

"Delphi, my most favorite and smartest student who is in fact very cool, I need you to carry out research that is of the utmost intergalactic importance and is imparative to see through to conclusion."

---

Or at least that was what she remembered. The young apprentice was half asleep when her teacher had asked her to do this very important thing, which she had been briefed on more completely by the rest of the leadership team at PI. They were going to conduct a new field test of their latest creation, the L.E.R.P., an ecosystem reconstruction kit that was housed in a cute little backpack. The planet they chose was a place called Ruusan, one that had a crazy force thing happen like a thousand something years ago that turned the place where that event happened into a desert, killing all of the people and wildlife inhabiting the area for centuries. Now it was the perfect place for them to better understand how to reconstruct environments.

So off she was, set down at a drop point with the pack to take out to a site a bit further out from their landing zone. Delphi maintained a smile and a spring in her wobbly step as she went, the young Mud-Walker simply far too excited to be out in the field to think about how course and rough the sandy terain was. After about a half an hour of walking, Delphi's navigator indicated that she was in the right place. She quickly began setting up the device, anchoring the backpack to the ground and initiating the dispersment process.

Tubes emerged from the pack, the refitted droid toxin emitters that dispursed the enriched cocktail of evironment-creating stuff that lay within the device. Delphi would set up a small folding chair, one clearly intended for a child half her size, sitting down to oversee the progress of the device. Very quickly, her cheery smile faded and became a concerned frown.

The process took 5 hours to complete fully. What was she going to do?

 

[Fel Vinic]

Tags: Delphi Larkspur

Ruusan was a significant planet in the galaxy in terms of its history with the force. Fel skimmed through what he learned of Sith history over the years and read about how Darth Bane turned the planet into a desert hundreds of years ago and something about a Valley of the Jedi. A valley that no doubt was strong in the force and being something of a force user himself, Fel thought it was appropriate to see if there was something to learn from the valley. Maybe harness some power to turn people insane or something who knew. The valley remained a mystery with the most notable incident that occurred was some sort of old prophecy. The details are only recounted by whatever locals remain on this planet and are rarely referenced in the Sith archives. Fel wanted to find this valley and see if there were any secrets he could uncover.

This would've been easy if the location of the valley was known. No one was willing to help Fel, probably cause not a lot of Sith liked him which was fair. Fel landed his ship at a smuggler's den and when he asked for directions to find the valley, a lot of the smugglers told him to either stay away or had no idea what he was talking about. His best bet was to rent a speeder and just see if anything would turn up. He didn't know how far he was from the settlement at this point but he did lose track of time. Nothing turned up until a silhouette was in eyesight. Maybe someone who could help give him directions.

As he got closer he noticed the silhouette was small, as in not an adult. He parked his speeder not too far from the individual so as not to fright them, he wasn't too scared since he knew how to defend himself but if they had anyone backing them up he was probably screwed. As Fel approached Delphi Larkspur he looked a little puzzled, he had never seen anyone of their species before although she was most definitely a child. There was a machine beside her but it was none of Fel's concern once in ear shot he asked, "You from around here?"​

 

[Delphi Larkspur]

Ruusan
Tags: Fel Vinic

"You from around here?"

"Eh?"

Delphi had found herself in a daze, daydreaming. She hadn't even noticed the strange man in spikey clothing approach out of seemingly nowhere- Oh wait, he had a speeder. That made sense. She deduced the man was older than her, shocker, maybe nearing his fourties? It was hard to tell. Human biology was not something she had studied much at all back on Radiance Home. She would have to inquire Director Rhonvogg about it further. The older teen tilted her head as she processed what the man had asked. Such an odd question. She was kind of just sitting there minding her own business. A 'hello there' seemed far more appropriate.

"I suppose not," the girl shrugged. "But I usually start with 'nice day today, isn't it?'"

Wait. Her braing began to spin, processing the information before her. Speeder, spikey clothes, concerned about where she was from. This all seemed like classic examples of someone trying to take advantage of a tourist. Her eyes narrowed as she grabbed a cup of soda from the cupholder on the device.

"Whya bein' nosey, mister?" she asked. "You're not trying to swindel me, are you? Cause I can assure you I am very broke."

 

[Fel Vinic]

Tags: Delphi Larkspur​

She probably wasn't a local if she thought she was being swindled to which Fel just let out a huge sigh. It wasn't like he should expect much any way he was lucky enough to even find a place where he could land his ship. "No, I don't have anything to sell. I barely know where I even am." Fel said in regards to the younger one's question. But now that they exposed each other as strangers to this planet was it worth telling her what he was here for? He examined her closer as she sipped her soda and noticed an object she had sheathed. It resembled a lightsaber although it was no lightsaber that Fel was familiar with, did she even know how to use the force? Maybe it was necessary to establish some trust with the girl since they were both here for unique reasons and Fel was no closer to finding the valley. And maybe passing the time with some decent interaction might do some good for his sanity.

"I would've said it was a nice day if it was a nice day." Fel said annoyingly. If he kept up this attitude though he would be on his own again so chose to tone down his behavior and speak on why he was here. "I'm looking for something. I figured maybe since you were out here you had some sort of familiarity with the planet. It's my first time on Ruusan."

 

[Delphi Larkspur]

Ruusan
Tags: Fel Vinic

"I would've said it was a nice day if it was a nice day."

"Oh, come on now," Delphi frowned. "No need to be a negative neebray. I find things are far less stressful going into them with a positive mental attitude."

Her positivity was strong, perhaps even offputting. Delphi had no strong presence in the force, no clear biological advantage in combat, but this one aspect about here would seem almost abnormal. Regardless, it was her, and Delphi wasn't letting the stranger's downer mood effect her own. She continued to sip her soda, taking a moment to glance at her datapad to see how much time had passed.

Four hours and twenty-two minutes to go. This was going to take a while.

"Unfortunately I can't help much I think," she shrugged. "I'm new here, and even if I was a local I gotta keep track of this here machine. There's a strick five hour timer before the stuff inside begins to take effect, and I've been tasked with keeping it in one piece." The Mud-Walker leaned back, tucking her hands in her hoodie pocket. "So, uh, yeah."

There wasn't much else to say, really.

 

[Fel Vinic]

Tags: Delphi Larkspur​

There wasn't a lot now to this conversation and Fel was stumped. He could've just gone on his speeder but doubt had started to cloud his mind. If another Sith was here they'd tell him to feed into his anger and force the smugglers he met to give him directions, but that didn't seem appealing. In a way, he wanted the thrill of actually finding the valley without having to force it out of people, something contradictory to what a Sith should be. He really should be angry but he couldn't find himself channeling his anger, all he felt was disappointment in himself. He took a look at the girl who seemed to be at peace with her situation and with whatever this machine was. Fel didn't need to know its purpose, it was the girl's business and she felt like he had no business interfering in whatever that was. Although she was young, it seemed weird that she would be out here all alone unless she was coerced to be here. Fel couldn't help but remember one of his trials as an acolyte where he had to survive on a jungle planet alone for a day. The girl didn't seem like she was forced or coerced to be here given how calm she was. But Fel did start to show concern. "You have to sit here for 5 hours waiting for this thing to do something?"

He didn't know what a Sith was supposed to do in this situation. Curse out a child, maybe break the machine to channel his inner darkness? It seemed stupid. But also he was just at a loss for words and purpose. He could just hop back on his speeder and go back to Jutrand but he really didn't wanna be around other Sith right now. "How is it so easy for you to be so positive anyway? I got sand in my shoes just walking to you." Fel then removed his shoes and turned them upside down as sand streamed out of them. "What flavor is that soda anyway?" He was just perplexed that she had that on hand. Usually, when people come to desert planets they pack at least a canteen or two. This girl was such an enigma to him.

 

[Delphi Larkspur]

Ruusan
Tags: Fel Vinic

"Well, it isn't too hard," Delphi noted, tapping her finger to her temple as she thought. "Life is full of bad things and good things. Focusing on the bad things makes the good things slip into the back of your mind, but I think that if you move past bad stuff, the good waiting on the other side is far more rewarding."

It was sort of a childish explanation, but one that the Mud-Walker whole-heartedly believed in. After all, she had seen the worst of the worst when she lost her father, but that event lead her to leaving her cursed planet to begin traveling the galaxy in order to look for a solution to the stagnation that her planet had been facing for thousands of years. To that end, the struggles she had faced had been the road that she had to walk to get to this point, even if it did hurt.

"Besides, nobody wants to be sad all the time," she decided. "Positivity is just organic nature."

A frown came to her face as the man asked about her soda.

"Oh," the girl reacted. "Jellyfruit I think. I don't think it actually tastes like the fruit though. It uses one of those artificial flavorings."

 

[Fel Vinic]

Tags: Delphi Larkspur​

First time in a while Fel smiled. His whole life, Fel was told to feed into his hatred when he had lost so much when he was the girl's age, maybe even younger. But she also must've gone through a lot if she could be so blissful while he was sweating. "It's hard sometimes to look at the positives when everyone around you encourages you to be miserable. Not much of a soda guy, but I'd kill for some batuuan clementine juice right now. Batuu is far from a so batuuan clementines tends to be expensive but feth is it worth it!" By this point, the valley that he was looking for lost priority and Fel felt like he was just ready to pass the time with this girl if she would allow it. She probably would've told him to bug off a while ago. It's not like he had anything to lose. "My name's Fel by the way." He said while taking a sip from his canteen which he unlatched from his belt.

He sat on the sand opposite his new associate. She said she needed only five hours for this machine to do whatever it was supposed to do and Fel was honestly in no rush. He didn't even know why he was looking for that valley in the first place, it was just a personal project he thought was worthwhile. But this girl seemed to have something a lot of people he knew didn't have, optimism. And he thought there was no optimism to be had on this scorching sorry excuse of a planet.

 

[Delphi Larkspur]

Ruusan
Tags: Fel Vinic

"It's hard sometimes to look at the positives when everyone around you encourages you to be miserable."

"Well jee, mister, that's not good at all," Delphi frowned with concern. "I think you might be hanging out with folks who aren't healthy. It's good to have connections, but not ones like that."

She had grown up on a sad world, evolutionarily stagnant and plagued by monsters. The adults of her village had been down right depressing, and worse is that they encouraged their children to be the same way. It was no wonder why they had gotten stuck in a technological dark age. Nobody had the drive to do anything anymore. Of all the things in the galaxy that a person could be, Delphi wanted to avoid being that the most.

"I've never been to Batuu," she noted. "But I do like clementines. I just like sweet things I think."

Oh, names. She hadn't introduced herself.

"I'm Delphi," the girl greeted. "But everyone just calls me Del."

 

[Fel Vinic]

Tags: Delphi Larkspur​

"Nice meeting you Del, so I'm guessing whoever sent you here must have a lot of faith in ya." It was interesting to see a kid with such an optimistic view of life. He didn't know what Del did to have so much peace that she could sit here in the desert for five hours or so and wait for this thing to do whatever it was supposed to. He didn't want to compare his life to a child, it wasn't fair anyway. But a part of him just felt jealous of Del. Any sith would be furious at her over it. Hell, it might make him more powerful, or maybe that was just his training or something. Give into your hatred etc, etc. But he felt something that some Sith ever rarely felt, compassion.

"What did you do to become too optimistic?" Fel asked with genuine curiosity. He was receptive to any answer at this point, But he also realized that maybe he was getting a bit too comfortable. "You don't have to answer that by the way. I don't know if you don't mind me sitting here for... How long until that thing's ready?"