Ask Doing Our Own Thing

[Theia Durand]

Theia had recently meet another jedi, an initiate in fact as they called her; from what she gathered, it meant they have not passed some sort of trial or test to become a padawan, and they did not have master like herself to train them. Though from what Theia had experienced so far, she thought there were many initiates who knew more than her and had a better grip on controlling their abilities in the Force than she did. It was odd in her opinion, but T'vani, was her name and they had hit it off pretty well so far.

The redheaded padawan had grown a case of restlessness being on the space station temple, and despite it mimicking all that one would find on a well-flourished system, there was something that always seemed off about the gardens and wildlife in space. She guessed it was the recycled air. Recently Theia had cured her boredom by developing a computer spike that allowed her to bypass security codes and give her access to areas of the temple she had yet to explore. However, she really wanted to be back on the ground and after talking to T'vani, she managed to convince the younger Jedi to go with her to Naboo. She decided it would be safe there, it was home for her, and plus T'vani informed she liked nature and Theia was excited to show her one of Naboo's temperate rainforests.

"What do you think?" she asked T'vani, feeling thousand times more relaxed being back in the forests on Naboo.

@Remileah

 

[T'vani]

Although her time in the Jedi Order had been brief, T'vani constantly experienced joys she had never felt. There were new and exciting things around every bend, tucked into every nook and cranny of the temple, and her curiosity compelled her to search out every avenue she could find. She had met numerous races she never saw on her homeworld, and she had been introduced to many bright and colourful characters. The girl had discovered and learned things she never would have before coming here.

Recently, T'vani had met a girl named Theia. Two years her senior, Theia had become the closest thing to a friend T'vani had since her arrival at the temple. They had met entirely by chance and had since spent time bonding with one another. Theia was amiable, displaying a type of joyful charm and exuberance that any Fiani back home would delight in.

What T'vani hadn't anticipated, however, was Theia's restlessness. In stark contrast, T'vani was content with a sedentary lifestyle. It was a facet of her personality that many of her peers back home playfully heckled her about, imploring her to be more adventurous. She always declined, never one to seek out or stir up trouble, break rules, or ruffle the feathers of her elders.

So when Theia approached T'vani and shared her plan to steal away from the temple on a hijacked vessel, she was more than a little reluctant. She had resisted at first, but Theia's sheer charismatic determination ultimately won over T'vani. They boarded the vessel and zipped off to a planet she was told was named Naboo, Theia's home. Although the journey itself was as hard on T'vani as it always was, when they arrived, her queasy feelings and unsettled stomach were swiftly forgotten as the verdant forests of the planet entered her vision.

"Wow," T'vani said breathlessly. "You lived here? This is your home? It's beautiful! This is so much different than where I'm from!"

@GABA

 

[Theia Durand]

Theia beamed when she watched T'Vani perk up from the ship journey here. It was clear the younger jedi was not enjoying herself as they had travelled through hyperspace, but being back on the ground seemed to help with her mood. She was impressed by the forests; the mist and fog were letting up, which probably signaled more rain was on the way. The air was cool, but humid and Theia suddenly felt her pains of homesickness evaporate.

"Not too far away from here, its bit more dryer at my home, but being able to come here was always relaxing." she explained, stepping lightly up some larger rocks before climbing back down, "How is your home like?" Theia asked from the girl's comparison to where she was raised, "I haven't heard too much about Fiana, it seems like your world keeps to itself compared to those in the core or colonies." Theia observed. She stopped and placed her hand on one of the larger fern leaves, watching the petals withdraw and close on themselves from her touch.

@Remileah

 

[T'vani]

"Fiana is cold," T'vani answered. "There's almost always snow, and the forests here look a lot different than the ones I'm used to," she continued. The coniferous forests of Fiana were drastically different from Naboo's broad-leafed trees. The girl was used to the thin pine needles of spruce and fir trees, while trees with fanned leaves were a rarity. These were taller, wider, and looked more lush and alive than the ones on Fiana.

"There's a lot of mountains and valleys," T'vani explained further, following Theia's path up and over the rocks. "Oh! There are a lot of swamps and marshes, too. It really is nothing like this place. The Glitterblooms are really pretty, though," she commented, smiling at the thought of seeing the field of luminescent flowers blossoming during the late night hours.

Theia's comment about Fiana keeping to itself gave T'vani pause. It was true that Fiana was somewhat isolationist. She only heard of other planets when they went to one of the larger settlements with starports or overheard conversations between people who had arrived on Fiana from elsewhere. By and large, the planet seemed content to live its life estranged from the problems and complications of the galaxy. Fianese people did enjoy their privacy and independence from the greater whole.

"Yeah, it does," T'vani answered. "Fianese culture revolves a lot around independence. All of the settlements have their own rules, and they all do their best to rely only on themselves. We don't even have a big government like other planets," she finished, watching the plant Theia was interacting with respond to her touch. T'vani decided to do the same with one nearby, the reaction causing her to giggle with amusement.

"What else is your home like, though?"

@GABA

 

[Theia Durand]

Theia tried to imagine Vani's home world and it being constantly cold and snowy; she instantly thought of several worlds as such and they were not as hospitable as one would like them to be. However, it sounded as though her world offered adaptions to allow growing plants, and something called glitterblooms, which Theia imagined they were like flowers. The girl grinned as she tried to image the Fiani's home, though when she mentioned swamps and marshes, her own face contorted in disgust.

"I don't like swamps, too many bugs that bite and are just plan a bother." she sighed stopping at the river to watch it for a moment. "Naboo has a native species, the gungans, and they live in the swamps but they do have some cool technology." Theia admitted, "They built underwater cities, they look like gems at the bottom of the waters. And then everyone else lives near or around Theed, or take to larger country side, farming mainly. I love being by the oceans, reminds me of Corellia where Mama and I lived until I was old enough to begin school." Theia explained, she had missed reminiscing in her memories, it was something her mom and her had not done in quite some time and mentally noted to tell her when she next spoke with her.

"All of Naboo is like this, just breathtaking, some of it inspired me to want to go to art school," Theia reached into her pack to pull out a small notebook with watercolor drawings inside, "See, like for some they would just see trees here, but I see a spectrum of green shades and hues, and its not just green but yellow and blue, perhaps even dipping into violet like that tree there..." she said pointing with her pencil to a tree in the distance.

@Remileah

 

[T'vani]

"The swamps in Fiana don't have bugs. It's too cold," T'vani tittered. As she learned about the gungans, the girl canted her head thoughtfully. Living in Teakroof, T'vani had heard of plenty of other species but had never heard of the gungans. Her mind swam with images of what they might look like, their underwater cities, and how something like that could function.

"It sounds like Teakroof. That's where I'm from," she stated as Theira explained what Theed was like. "A lot of families choose to live in Teakroof because it's the biggest settlement, and it has a starport, too! There are other communities to live in, like Le'ai, and lots of them are farmers, woodcutters, or hunters," T'vani finished. To her, it sounded like she and Theia weren't too different, even if the climate of their planets were opposites.

"You draw?" T'vani inquired as Theia mentioned art school and removed her notebook. The Fiani girl scampered over to her friends as she opened it, her big burgundy eyes scanning the pages and the art on them. "Wow! You're a great artist!" she exclaimed with amazement as Theia went over the paintings, explaining what she saw. As she continued to observe the artwork of her companion, T'vani tried to envision what she was hearing and see things from the other girl's perspective. She glanced at the tree Theia pointed out.

"I think I understand," she murmured. "Fiana doesn't have a lot of colours outside the settlements. It's all usually white or green unless the glitterblooms are blossoming, which adds a lot of blue. Oh, and the aurora in the sky is pretty, too! It's like a moving, wavy rainbow!"

@GABA

 

[Theia Durand]

Theia listened to all the details Vani provided about her home, she tried to vision it inside her mind as she replaced all the people she normally saw in Theed with those who may look like Vani. The red headed girl smiled and then beamed as she admired her artwork so far. She hadn't shared her work with too many people, just in her classes, professors, and now with her newest friend. Her cheeks turned a couple shades of bright red, but she was glad someone else could enjoy her work as much as she did.

The fiani continued, talking about the colors in her village, the snow and the magnetic waves at night, "I bet its just gorgeous." she grinned, her mind wandering to imagine what it would look like being there. She let out a sigh as she drifted into daydreams of being on another world than her current one. "I bet it has more colors than you think." she said, eyebrows rising in thought. "Sometimes our eyes will tell us what it wants us to see and move on..." she reached over a plucked a leaf from a nearby bush, "We may just see green, but there is more, like these lines and shadows are a shade darker, almost bluish, and the outer edges are tinted, almost a lighter color than the green." Theia explained.

"Its like the masters say, our eyes can deceive us." Theia dropped the leaf into her book and closed it shut, "Its always more than just what we 'see'," Theia paused, thinking, "Do you still have family in Teakroof?" she asked.

@Remileah

 

[T'vani]

___"It is!" T'vani chirped her affirmation that the aurora was as beautiful as it sounded. Blue, red, yellow, green, and orange lights shifting gently and changing shape like curtains softly billowing in the wind. No matter how many times T'vani saw it, each was as beautiful as the last, and the one after was slightly more beautiful than the one before.

___Her vision wandered to the leaf as Theia picked it from the bush. T'vani squinted at it, her ears splaying to the sides as she absorbed the other girl's information. She began to understand as she looked closer at the leaf. The veins were darker than the leaf, and the shadows cast by the sun's rays changed and diversified as they shifted in Theia's fingers. There were more swaths of colour than T'vani had initially attributed to the leaf, and with this new perspective, her mind wandered: just how much more colourful was Fiana than she remembered?

___She jumped as the book snapped shut.

___"You're right," T'vani murmured, the end of her sentence punctuated by a thoughtful hum. "Yeah, my mom and dad are both still there. I don't know where my sister is, though," the girl continued with a sigh. "My older sister that was born before me, at least. Mom and Dad told me that she just... left and never came back. Told me it was because she always wanted to travel like a lot of Fiani do. She just got restless." T'vani went silent. Her lips pursed, and she looked over at Theia.

___"What about you? Where's your family?"

@GABA

 

[Theia Durand]

The girl's cheeks reddened when she realized she startled Vani with closing her book abruptly, but listened as she explained about her parents and about her sister. The padawan frowned when she mentioned how she didn't know where she was and how suddenly she left. The girl understood how restlessness felt, coming to Naboo was to feed into that feeling and concern washed through her as she kept her gaze on Vani, wondering what she was thinking. It sounded odd to Theia, for family just up and leave, and thought her mom was an exception, who would go on her research excursions, and then be gone longer than expected, but she always returned. She wasn't sure what she would do if she never returned one day or if Jayna or Ezra didn't return.

"Here, on Naboo, just my Mama and I, but I think she's on one of her research trips, I haven't heard from her in a while." Explained Theia, "She does that a lot, Uncle Em and Uncle Jai are like dads to me, I grew up with Ezz-" she paused trying not to always call him by the nickname, "Ezra and Jayna, so they're pretty much family at this point." she grinned, thinking about them, but remembering Vani didn't have her sister, her smile slowly faded.

"I would worry about them if they would ever just up and leave, even if it were just to travel. I'm sure your sister is just as crafty and tough like you, no one would mess with her." the girl's smile returned.

@Remileah

 

[T'vani]

___"A research trip?" T'vani probed. She didn't recall Theia explaining what her mother did, but she could surmise it was an intellectual pursuit. Whether it was archaeology, biology, or something else entirely, her mind swam in the sea of possibilities about her mother's profession. When Theia mentioned Ezra, however, her attention shifted as her ears fanned to the sides. It sounded like a name Theia expected her to know, but she didn't.

___"Well, lots of Fiani leave Fiana," T'Vani explained. "Mom and Dad said a lot of Fiani have a desire to wander and travel, and they told me that's what happened with my older sister," she continued to elaborate. "I don't really remember her. She left when I was still really young, but..."

___T'Vani paused. Her only memories of her older sibling were faint, flickering things in the back of her mind. She recalled a flash of a smile, a wreath of glimmerblooms crowning her head and tickling her ears, and a warm embrace tempered by the cold damp of tears. They were dull and washed out in her mind, and it bothered her she couldn't remember more about her sister.

___"I'm sure she's okay and I'll get to see her again," T'Vani said with a smile belying the pangs of longing in her heart. She giggled as Theia attributed her as strong and crafty. "It sounds like you have a nice family! Do you think I'd ever get to meet them, Theia?"

@GABA