When work is the only comfort

[Serian Loria]

It was utter madness. Chaos incarnate as people hurried about finding places for things amidst working the normal routines. Despite all the madness around him Serian worked quietly tending to the shelves of precious information. He placed things where they were supposed to go with quiet efficiency that so far seemed to please those who’d been tending this same place well before Moross joined the Fringe. Those that had been his former overseers were often behind in work, busy trying to curry favor oblivious to the fact that they needed all the hands they could for the monumental task of integration.


It gave him a much needed reprieve, because if they were busy attempting to get around working at all, he had a chance to establish himself without them spitting venom. More than once he had been told he was going to work himself to death, but the library was one of the few places that were really familiar. It didn’t matter the age, they all functioned the same and since he was forced to adjust again, immersing himself in work was all he could do.


He hadn’t spoken much to anyone, too busy trying to figure out what the hell he was to do next. He wasn’t sleeping well, the nightmares were getting worse, some tragedy was coming. He set the now empty basket down on a table and ran a hand over his face with a sigh. He looked in need of a rest, but resting was what he dared not do for he would get very little. Still, he could afford to sit down, which he did. he sat back with his eyes closed, but the moment he did, he fell asleep.


All around him were people, a vast sea of living bodies, he was simply a still point in this legionous flow of movement. Then the screams started, the sea of people were thinned in an instant, ripped to shreds like flimsy paper. The loss of all that life…


Startled him awake with a jolt, he stood up knocking the chair over, his heart hammering in his chest. He noticed a brief pause in those around him, but he didn’t look, he sucked in a breath shaking it off. He picked up another box and started working again, work putting off the nightmare once again.



[member="Dissero"]

 

[Dissero]

Annaj - Fringe Capital Planet - Minor Archives


Fringe High Councilor. Head of the Archival Department. Titles that had come as a great surprise and also as somewhat of a burden. What this meant for Dissero? Less time working on his own projects, more time bolstering the knowledge base of the Fringe. It was a task he was honored to take up and one he was both qualified and prepared to do.

It had just come at a rather ... odd time for him.

He was here today to inspect the contents of the minor archives and library of Annaj. While the largest on the planet, it was small fries compared to the plan he and [member="Jared Ovmar"] were concocting. First and foremost he needed to take a head-count and he needed to take inventory.

Dissero arrived mid-afternoon, making his way into the main hall just in time to witness a curious event of a man startling out of his chair. Though a quiet place, a sudden and definitive silence stole the archives for a few moments while the man regained his barrings. The Archivist watched him a little longer, itching at the stubble on his chin before moving forward to pick up the chair and replace it at the table.

"A tired mind is more liable to make mistakes," he began, voice unaccusing, "no one will think less of you for calling it a day."

[member="Serian Loria"]

 

[Serian Loria]

Lit ruby eyes turned to look at the man, though he was less than pleased that that the little slip happened at all, he simply gave the man a polite nod. “Sadly, sleep is the last thing I am able to do Lord [member="Dissero"]. However, you need not fear mistakes, lack of rest and I are familiar companions and I have learned to make up for the typical weaknesses it brings.”

Just like that he hardly appeared to need sleep at all. It was about posture and movement really, he was long used to fooling people though he doubted this one would just simply let it go. “Aesir Inari pointed you out to me at the party, though I have not seen Neth since this...transition. One of the only things that ever seems familiar no matter how many times I must start again is working as I have been.”

And he seemed to have been having to do too much of that lately which annoyed him.

 

[Dissero]

"Aesir Inari, eh?" the man rubbed at the stubble on his jawline thoughtfully, "she's a helpful sort I've heard."

He gave no comment on Serian's lack of need for sleep. If anyone was familiar with sleeplessness, it was Dissero. Watching Serian for a few moments longer, he turned to take a seat at another nearby table, "haven't had too much interaction with your lot. Good people though. Good allies to the Fringe. Shame about the recent move, I don't much understand the why, but we're happy to have you here regardless. Ambassador Visl has been more than helpful in this transition..."

"Aesir Neth..." well, the growing smirk on his face was perhaps telling of something, but he didn't comment on that either, "he was an interesting sort. So she pointed me out, did she? I suppose that means we must have a few things in common, then," a wry look as he observed Serian with the files, "...can't imagine what that could possibly be..." He chuckled.

[member="Serian Loria"]

 

[Serian Loria]

Lit ruby eyes watched the man’s every move, like a cat, wary and expecting something of ill intent. Before him was a man that wasn’t swayed by what seemed to be easy humor, but one used to never getting comfortable at all. “I very rarely have anything in common with the vast majority of people around me Lord Dissero. I cannot fathom what her intent was, but in the end you are the newest face whom I serve under.”

One he doubted he would serve for long if his ill luck held as it had within two other factions. “The reason for the move has something to do with what seems to have plagued us both, though I cannot say if its the same in truth or merely in the message given. The Force is not clear on when however, that ill that the tides predict, merely show fragments of what.”

As for the subject of Neth, he said nothing. It wasn’t his business to pry into that which brought a smirk to the man’s face, honestly at that moment he could care less. In his minds eye he still saw the nightmare, bringing a grim light to his lit ruby gaze. Powerless he was before it, but thankfully he wouldn’t be unaware of the tragedy that was going to happen. Hopefully it would pass what little he had to call his own by, leaving the fragile happiness he had alone and unbroken. “I should warn you, there are two within the crop that came with us who are trying to curry favor with your staff. They have been no end of trouble and I have heard from some of those below me that they have been stealing work better than theirs to try and use to gain higher than their talents could give them. I don’t tell you because I aim to curry favor myself, just to let you know. I am happy enough proving my own worth, but I don’t want to see someone caught unaware.”

He held up a translated manuscript “This is what I am best at. I have a gift for remembering everything I read or even glance at, even if I do not know what tongue it is in. This goes for maps, blueprints, that which is drawn or written and I can recreate it. Pretty much my whole adult life has been doing this, ever since I tapped into my power. I have other skills, but this is what I know can be of immediate use to you, should you need it.”



[member="Dissero"]

 

[Dissero]

"Well aren't you just the interesting specimen."

Dissero lofted a brow at Serian, witholding internal thoughts, "Eidetic memory. My sister has it, too. Useful thing, that, not to mention the drawbacks. As far as your troublemakers are concerned, I've no doubt the Council will have no problem sniffing out lies and forgeries. Not to mention the rapport between the Council and the Aesirs is fairly good. The Fringe is prepared to deal with people like that, our history of ousting troublemakers is quite profound."

Circe. Vazela. And who was that Shadow guy... Dissero hadn't really been around for that one.

"Well," the man lifted his hands in a half-shrug, "seems you've already settled in. Welcome to the Archival Department of the Fringe. It's a bit in flux at the moment, with my recent promotion, but expansion and change is on the docket. Have you done much off-site research? I may have some projects I could use a hand with."

[member="Serian Loria"]

 

[Serian Loria]

The ruby eyed archivist just studied the man for a moment “I had no idea there was even a name for it… Oft more curse than gift when put in a place that has so many signs, symbols and...clutter, Coruscant is my version of hell.”

He looked out past him to the library “I wouldn’t say I am settled in, time has no meaning here and...this is the one place I know I can fit. Its more easily said that I’ve simply fallen in.” One eyebrow rose archly “I have, mostly on my own excursions. It’s been a while, but if you don’t need me here, I can assist you.”

All over the galaxy and, more prevalent in more connected like Coruscant, it was common to see even dead languages used to spiff up signs to catch the eye. For him, it triggered unneeded recollections of things he’d seen, often causing unnecessary information to cloud his thoughts. Places where there wasn’t so much clutter were easier to bear, but he liked to avoid as much as he could of it. He would remember the name to this gift/curse simply because now he could call it something. “I have studied many old tongues and I might not be fluent in a good many of them, I have a specialty for old Sith. I can at least identify anything else and try translating, it wouldn’t be hard to gather the necessary materials for a better, fuller, translation later.”




[member="Dissero"]