An angelic face in the crowd

[Kenrath]

Naboo had already turned out to be more productive that Armis had anticipated. He had already met a pilot struggling with self doubt and trauma. He would like to think he had been able to help Sara but only time would tell.

After finding some temporary lodging for the duration of his stay Armis decided to take in some sites. He visited the Falls, took a walk around the city. He did some in quiet contemplation for a while. Towards the end of the day he made his way towards the Cantina. Armis was not a drinker but he did occasionally like to socialize. It was a habit he picked up patrolling the market district back home before ending up with the Alliance.


As he entered the place he smiled to the doorman greeting him like an old friend even though he had never met the man. Then Armis made his way up to the bar taking a seat. He ordered a Tea before glancing down the bar at those around him.

[member="Magdalena Lethe"]

 

[Magdalena Lethe]

Sitting at a table off to the side was a young woman dressed in traveler's garb. Hair mussed, plate of food half empty, a tall cup of drink in her hand, she munched her meal while bent over a notepad set beside her plate. The tavern was a quiet enough place to get some work done and, recently, had become something of a watering hole for the GUIDE Founder as she explored all that Naboo had to offer.

Today she was coordinating the information gathered from the last few days of work and preparing it to send off back to HQ. A census of the smaller outerlying towns of this larger city. It wasn't the Naboo capital of Theed, but just as grand and lovely as she expected otherwise. As well, research on the cultural aspect of beauty. While Naboo wasn't Hapes, it was well enough known for it's aesthetics, and that was precisely what Magda was looking for.

"Excuse me, Pella," she waved down the waitress that had spent the last several weeks serving her meals during her visits, "take a look at these facial images and select which ones have a friendly, appealing appearance."

"How do you mean?" Pella said, balancing a serving platter on her right hip as she leaned to look over at the images presented.

"Which ones would you be most likely to approach and talk to in a crowd?"

"Oh...well, hm. These three I think."

"Thanks Pella."


A few minutes later she was approaching a young man seated at the bar, "Excuse me, could I bother you for a short moment?" Magda offered a friendly, hopeful smile.

[member="Armis Vindex"]

 

[Kenrath]

Armis was sipping his tea when a young lady walked up and spoke to him wearing a friendly smile. He turned to her smiling back to her.

"I don't suppose there is any harm in it."

He motioned towards the open seat beside him.

"I'm Armis." "What can I do for you Miss?"

Armis would actually semi-stand waiting for her to take a seat before sitting back down himself.

[member="Magdalena Lethe"]

 

[Magdalena Lethe]

"No harm at all, I promise."

Famous last words? Magda took the proffered seat and set her datapad down on the bar counter, "I'm Magda. Could you perhaps do me a favor and scroll through this selection of facial images and select the ones you find to be friendly and appealing in appearance?"

She waited a beat then gestured to the tavern around them, "As if picking out the faces in a crowd you would feel most comfortable approaching for conversation."

[member="Armis Vindex"]

 

[Kenrath]

Armis looked thoughtful.

"Well it would depend on context would it not?"

He paused taking a sip of his drink before he continued.

"See if it was approaching someone for a good conversation or possible life long companionship then I would say that I have currently found the best person in the crowd to do that with."

He paused pointing towards a rather tough looking gentlemen.

"Now if I needed somebody to talk about being a bodyguard.........then potentially that guy would be the best person to approach."

Armis motioned towards a back corner of the room.

"Back there your less reputable types............smugglers, Bounty Hunter, code less Mercenaries."

Armis turned back to [member="Magdalena Lethe"] giving her a smile.

"So what particular reason for approaching a person are you referring to?"

 

[Magdalena Lethe]

A blink. Put-upon, Magda said nothing as the man nattered away, brows creasing upwards and lips thinning as the moments ticked by. This was...a bit more convoluted than she'd expected. She supposed he had a point; context was forever a thing of value often overlooked but context wasn't really what she was going for here.

You're overthinking this, she wanted to say.

"Oh," is what she said with another blink, "well-" a breath, a moment of consideration, the young woman's smile returned, "say you're looking for information. Perhaps you're on a planet you've never been to before, or a location you've never visited. You need directions, or perhaps you want to know the best local venues for food or entertainment. You look for someone that looks comfortable, like they know where they are, friendly enough to approach that you won't be bothering them by doing so."

Magda presented the datapad again, "Which ones fit the bill?"

[member="Armis Vindex"]

 

[Kenrath]

Armis chuckled.

"What exactly is this for?"

He paused looking at the pictures noticing they gave up nothing about the person.

"None of them." "For the simple reason there is no context in these images." "Who are they..........what do they do?" "How long have they been doing it."

He took a sip of his drink.

"For what you described the best answer would be the Bartender." "Even the things they may not have seen or heard about themselves would be learned from their customers."

He motioned towards two of the images.

"Sure these two have a friendly face......however does their disposition match their looks." "More importantly were they born on the planet in question or have the lived there for long enough to have that knowledge."

Armis looked thoughtful as he turned back to [member="Magdalena Lethe"] waiting on her reaction.

 

[Magdalena Lethe]

Magdalena Lethe closed her eyes and took a slow, steady breath.

"Oookay," she opened them again; bright blues reflecting the hint of tension in her jaw, "the object of this exercise is not about the person themself, it is about appearances."

"Galactic citizens, modern-day normal citizens, are creatures driven by an instinctual response to the appearances of others. Most people don't operate quite so...advanced as, well," Magda gestured to all of him, "you seem to. Most people, human or otherwise, act and react based on their first and foremost strongest sense: sight. So, let's try this again."

"Out of the faces you see presented on this screen, which ones would you be most likely to approach in a crowd for directions?"

[member="Armis Vindex"]

 

[Kenrath]

Armis chuckled.

"Isn't that an over generalization?" "You say most people..............which would insinuate you have met most of the inhabitants of the Galaxy." "I think you are underestimating the awareness of people around you." "In a Galaxy torn apart by war people...............not all people but more and more are becoming more aware." "Take the injured pilot I met earlier today near the shuttle port."

Armis sipped his drink.

"While you are not incorrect you are also forgetting a big part of sight." "The full picture, body language, attire, posture." "If i was smiling but holding a blaster to a child's head would I still be perceived as friendly has I would if I were smiling and say holding the child's hand instead of a blaster."

Armis smiled.

"Besides I answered your question a minute ago when I pointed to the two images on your pad." "You were so distracted by what i said you didn't see what I did." "Multi-tasking conveying knowledge while reading the reactions of the person you are trying to help."

[member="Magdalena Lethe"]

 

[Magdalena Lethe]

"In the grand galactic scope a generalization is a necessary platform," Magda intoned, "while allowing for special cases in species and personality traits such as yourself to skew results. And I didn't miss them, you simply didn't select them."

She lifted a hand to select the two the man had indicated earlier. He wasn't the only one capable of multitasking but he was apparently capable of missing a rudimentary point of a simple exercise.

Her smile persisted despite this and she slipped from the stool, "Thank you for your time, Mr. Armis."

Not unusual to get unusual answers and results, she knew, but Magda had a lot of work to do and more people to bother. Lingering to have a debate about the existential crisis of the galaxy wasn't going to get her any closer to collecting the results she needed. Striding back to her table Magda took her seat again and tucked it back to her meal, closing out the facial profile app on her datapad to switch over to codifying the latest results.

"Oh, Pella, the check if you would. Thanks."

[member="Armis Vindex"]

 

[Kenrath]

Armis chuckled.

"Characteristics?" "Should I feel insulted?" "And it's just Armis no need to be so formal and besides my family name is Vindex."

Armis watched her walk away before turning back to the bar. When the bartender shook his head Armis smiled.

"What too much?"

The bartender just shook his head and Armis shrugged genuinely saddened by the fact human interaction had been reduced to pretty smiles or not pretty smiles. He did his best to not to show it. Armis came from a place where people were as friendly as they looked. His conversation with [member="Magdalena Lethe"] was enough to make him want to go home. Not back to what Alliance world they sent him to to keep him away from the self righteous but his actual home.

 

[Magdalena Lethe]

"You know Miss Lethe, if the GUIDE is looking for friendly faces you might want to get in touch with the Oiran Guild House," Pella added as she carefully took empty plates and cup from Magda's table.

"The what?" Magda asked, blinking up.

"Oiran Guild House. They're mostly known for their escort services, but the women that work there are experts at diplomatic relations. We like to call them Professional Friendlies around here," the waitress smirked as she handed Magda her check, "One of them came in here with a Nabooian client once before. I think her name was [member="Saffron"] or something of the sort."

Now there was a thought. It was a bit... out there for GUIDE to look into an escort service company, but perhaps there was something to be said about women who were paid for their company from all corners of the galaxy.

"Thanks Pella, I'll look into it."

"Sure thing sweety. Will you be coming back again soon?"

"I can't be certain. Heading into Theed next. Hoping I might get an audience with the new King. GUIDE could use backing like his - a Jedi Master King, imagine that."

"Oh talk about pretty face," Pella fanned herself with her hand, grinning as she strode off, "he's a real treat. You take care now."

Magda smirked from her chair and stood to finish gathering her things.

[member="Armis Vindex"]