Helios Ardemark
unbroken
Ardemark Estate
Lake Country
Naboo
When he perused the low-priority notifications on his comm at the end of the day, as the speeder shuttled him to what stood as home for the foreseeable future, oh, was he ever in for the most unexpected of unwelcome surprises, as he scrolled through several unfamiliar notifs for things he'd never signed up for... then a message from his sister arrived with a prescient degree of timing:
In the midst of everything Ambassador Helios Ardemark had on his plate, the absolute last thing he expected to have to deal with was something so insufferably impersonal, foisted upon him by someone he cared so very much for.
He loved his sister,
Sophelia Ardemark
, dearly, but what in the dark pit beyond the gates was really the meaning of this? Never mind that he never saw the need to use or the merit of using such services to begin with, but why for the love of the seas had she gone and signed him up for so many?
But all he could do was sit with his thoughts and let them fester as he was taken from office to home, such that by the time he arrived at the door to that home, where he and Mother lived, his sister sometimes escaped to, and other relations sometimes frequented, and let himself in, Heli was well and truly exasperated and perplexed, if not a touch sad. After all the upheaval of the past year, the death of his father just preceding it, adjusting to the smattering of months he was Pelagon's senator in the time before, the campaigning for the seat before that, his second four year contract with the Alliance Marines... simply, it slipped his mind how long it'd been.
Recounting the more than half-dozen years since Lea had left him was sobering. The matter of duty and the fact that she too was gone from this mortal coil like so many others, made it heavier. Yet despite it all, he was never the man to rush such a deeply important thing as finding someone to spend the rest of his life with, solely to assuage the loneliness when it crept in. Though nowadays he was uncertain whether he was anywhere close to ready in this place, when having to adjust the traditions of his people in this realm of space, on this foreign soil, brought its own kind of reluctance, too.
After all, it had only been eight months since circumstance had put him here. At times he couldn't deny being tempted to avoid coming back to Lake Country, and remain at the main office, to avoid the looks of worry and pity his mother gave him, though she said nothing. He hardly ever truly ran out of work to do, at any rate, and his people needed him more than heneeded... wanted... well, thankfully, more often than not the hour was late by the time he returned, and at her age, she was long asleep. Tonight was one such night, past 2100 hours and already Lady Malana was abed for an hour.
When Helios came to be at the door to his office, in this home, he gingerly let himself in, placed his attaché case on the desk—a sturdy wooden piece he'd paid good credits to have built from local wood in a familiar style—and abandoned his overcoat and suit jacket to the coat stand, before wandering over to the console where a bottle of amber from one of the many worlds of the Republic was waiting. The whiskey was such a deep and different taste from the clear and potent uzacik that was now strictly reserved for certain occasions, but one he gained an appreciation for, thanks to a man, a brother who too was now gone, a victim of war rather than genocide.
"Splitting hairs, are we?"
He chided his thoughts while pulling down a clean glass, popping the lid off the bottle, and beginning to pour. Ugly business, either way. Lives taken too soon. The pour done and the bottle recapped, Helios returned to the desk, pulled out the chair, and sank down into it; a groaning sigh left him almost on contact as he loosened his tie and left his thoughts to meander once more.
[ Perhaps the accounts can be closed, ] he eventually considered within, though the thought of so much as looking at the interface for any of them was disquieting, causing him to lightly frown into the glass as he drew a small measure from it.
By whatever gods there were, he knew well how to approach and talk to people. He'd loved, before. He was far from helpless. Why, it was almost insulting to be put up to this against his will!
Then, almost as if she were summoned, the door cracked open, the sound drawing his blue gaze to it and the sliver he could see of the very young woman who was responsible for this little predicament. Sometimes it was easy to forget how young she was, when she could be so responsible in the ways that mattered, and his expression softened at the sight.
"Oh, come in, now, lest I think I think you a spirit," he urged almost poetically (the previous owners of this place had died in the First Cataclysm, but he'd been assured the building wasn't haunted) after which he held up his glass in an unspoken play on words, giving it a gentle shake, his face a wordless question: did she want some? "Fleeing your roommate?"
Lake Country
Naboo
When he perused the low-priority notifications on his comm at the end of the day, as the speeder shuttled him to what stood as home for the foreseeable future, oh, was he ever in for the most unexpected of unwelcome surprises, as he scrolled through several unfamiliar notifs for things he'd never signed up for... then a message from his sister arrived with a prescient degree of timing:
In the midst of everything Ambassador Helios Ardemark had on his plate, the absolute last thing he expected to have to deal with was something so insufferably impersonal, foisted upon him by someone he cared so very much for.
He loved his sister,
Sophelia Ardemark
, dearly, but what in the dark pit beyond the gates was really the meaning of this? Never mind that he never saw the need to use or the merit of using such services to begin with, but why for the love of the seas had she gone and signed him up for so many?But all he could do was sit with his thoughts and let them fester as he was taken from office to home, such that by the time he arrived at the door to that home, where he and Mother lived, his sister sometimes escaped to, and other relations sometimes frequented, and let himself in, Heli was well and truly exasperated and perplexed, if not a touch sad. After all the upheaval of the past year, the death of his father just preceding it, adjusting to the smattering of months he was Pelagon's senator in the time before, the campaigning for the seat before that, his second four year contract with the Alliance Marines... simply, it slipped his mind how long it'd been.
Recounting the more than half-dozen years since Lea had left him was sobering. The matter of duty and the fact that she too was gone from this mortal coil like so many others, made it heavier. Yet despite it all, he was never the man to rush such a deeply important thing as finding someone to spend the rest of his life with, solely to assuage the loneliness when it crept in. Though nowadays he was uncertain whether he was anywhere close to ready in this place, when having to adjust the traditions of his people in this realm of space, on this foreign soil, brought its own kind of reluctance, too.
After all, it had only been eight months since circumstance had put him here. At times he couldn't deny being tempted to avoid coming back to Lake Country, and remain at the main office, to avoid the looks of worry and pity his mother gave him, though she said nothing. He hardly ever truly ran out of work to do, at any rate, and his people needed him more than he
When Helios came to be at the door to his office, in this home, he gingerly let himself in, placed his attaché case on the desk—a sturdy wooden piece he'd paid good credits to have built from local wood in a familiar style—and abandoned his overcoat and suit jacket to the coat stand, before wandering over to the console where a bottle of amber from one of the many worlds of the Republic was waiting. The whiskey was such a deep and different taste from the clear and potent uzacik that was now strictly reserved for certain occasions, but one he gained an appreciation for, thanks to a man, a brother who too was now gone, a victim of war rather than genocide.
"Splitting hairs, are we?"
He chided his thoughts while pulling down a clean glass, popping the lid off the bottle, and beginning to pour. Ugly business, either way. Lives taken too soon. The pour done and the bottle recapped, Helios returned to the desk, pulled out the chair, and sank down into it; a groaning sigh left him almost on contact as he loosened his tie and left his thoughts to meander once more.
[ Perhaps the accounts can be closed, ] he eventually considered within, though the thought of so much as looking at the interface for any of them was disquieting, causing him to lightly frown into the glass as he drew a small measure from it.
By whatever gods there were, he knew well how to approach and talk to people. He'd loved, before. He was far from helpless. Why, it was almost insulting to be put up to this against his will!
Then, almost as if she were summoned, the door cracked open, the sound drawing his blue gaze to it and the sliver he could see of the very young woman who was responsible for this little predicament. Sometimes it was easy to forget how young she was, when she could be so responsible in the ways that mattered, and his expression softened at the sight.
"Oh, come in, now, lest I think I think you a spirit," he urged almost poetically (the previous owners of this place had died in the First Cataclysm, but he'd been assured the building wasn't haunted) after which he held up his glass in an unspoken play on words, giving it a gentle shake, his face a wordless question: did she want some? "Fleeing your roommate?"
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