Private Another Slice of Life

[Ichika Masudo]

TRISTA'S DINER
LEVEL 1342
CORUSCANT

With all the change that time and conflict brought, it was a marvel that relatively little below the surface levels changed. The lower levels suffered less structural damage, though they always suffered by some measure: the population of the city-planet was too great to easily bring about full assistance and systemic change to, and the fact of the matter was that countless years brought together tight-knit communities, a microcosm of little cultures that would be quashed if not respected and not interfered with more than was necessary to assist them at their point of need. When and if they needed it.

She wasn’t down here for those concerns. She had memories down here too. Places that still stood, places she had haunted since her time as a padawan, and one of those places - a diner with pretty good pizza - was the first she’d walked into in her first days with the Order, before war changed so much for her and everyone else. Pulled apart her group of friends and acquaintances in the Order and set them on different paths over the years. In some cases, those paths stretched or condensed time itself - she herself was one such… victim? of becoming older than her peers. Or perhaps they didn’t age as quickly for the same reason.

It was hard to say. It had been easiest, though not all that comforting, to settle on it being the will of the Force. She could never profess to wholly understanding the Force, but she did her level best.

But what usually brought her here to Trista’s Diner was no occasion except a craving, or maybe something or other reminding her, a little bit of nostalgia. Hardly ever as a deliberate meeting place anymore. The staff had changed, so had the decor at times, and the food went through its ups and downs for various reasons, but the need for comfort food at any time day or night would always remain, and so did Trista’s.

“Pink sauce?” She blinked at the menu suggestion, “Instead of a tomato base?”

She peered curiously at the new item on the pizza menu - mushrooms, spicy sausage, olives, pineapple and a pink sauce made with the addition of cream to the tomato base. Weighing it against her usual options. Her blue gaze flicked back to the Falleen boy at the front counter.

“I’m not sure; do you like it?” Maybe that’s why the suggestion was made. 'Nn,' the boy shrugged, '‘cause ya pink and th’sauce pink, lady.’

She blinked again in mild surprise. The boy grinned.

“Oh.” Ichika looked at the menu again, her eyes narrowing a little. “Ohhh.”

✿ Jonyna Si ✿​

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAG: Ichika Masudo

Jonyna had always been slightly adverse to the lower levels of the city planet, or any city planet really. It always felt so...artificial. Born and raised in the jungle, the lack of any flora always made her fur stand up.

Still, being invited by a friend of Jasper Kai'el 's for a slice of pizza was...quaint.

She had done her best to help the people of these levels after the Invasion by the Dark Empire. Reconstruction had always been her first priority after the war, across all the Core Worlds. Beetle Construction had become a welcome sight in the depths of the underworld, and Jonyna was proud of that.

Walking into the pizza joint, Jonyna immediately spotted the pink lady off in the corner, and smiled lightly at the smell. Pizza was never her thing. Not something she didn't enjoy, just...not her usual comfort food.

"This does strike me as a place Jasper would frequent." Jonyna noted as she walked up to the zeltron. "You frequent here yourself, or is this just a meeting place for nostalgic reasons?"