Private People Are Always Getting Married in Chaldea

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Chaldea​

Valery: Appearance​

Outfit: Factory Link​

Lightsabers: Link!​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Ishani Dinn ​

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Valery placed a comforting hand on Iris' shoulder to make sure she knew it was alright, but she did have the almost motherly Please don't do that to me again type of look on her face. Her gaze then turned back to Ishani and she offered the woman a smile before nodding to Arlo, who still seemed a lot less thrilled about the situation.​

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"A pleasure to meet you both," she said with a respectful dip of her head.​

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"I'm Valery Noble, and this here is Iris Arani. My Padawan learner and painting enthusiast." she chuckled. "We're here because I wanted my young student to be more aware of different cultures in the Galaxy. I wasn't quite expecting it to go quite like this, but I'm glad the owner is not upset." Valery stared at the mural for a moment as she said this, and blinked. ​

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[Iris Arani]

"Mm. Yeah, the old lady didn't seem to care. Maybe it's the people here?" Iris mused aloud, idly holding her chin as she fell deep in thought. Her still paint covered hand holding her chin. Now covering her chin in paint. Not that she seemed to mind or care. Her eyes wandered off, staring through the streams of color emanating from all the life of this planet. Her hand fell away, and once more Iris was off in a world of her own.

Ishani Dinn | Valery Noble

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Padawan learner. Yep, that confirmed it. They were dealing with two Jedi. On Chaldea.

“It’s more an issue of failing to ask for permission before she started painting,” Arlo said, inclining his head toward Iris. “She’s lucky the owner didn’t care. If they had, she would’ve gotten in trouble.”

Ishani cast a sidelong glance toward the Padawan. She seemed to have completely spaced out.

“Uh, right,” Ishani murmured, clearing her throat. Hooking her arm through Arlo’s as if he were an infirm patient and she a nurse, she started to pull him away. “Nice to meet you too. I hope you don’t run into any more trouble while you’re here.”

Given that this was Chaldea, a planet that hated Force Users across the spectrum, it was a very real possibility. But Ishani assumed that Valery and Iris were already aware of that. They couldn’t have gotten through customs without noticing the prevailing attitude toward Jedi: that they would be tolerated, barely, so long as they didn’t cause problems.

Iris Arani Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Chaldea​

Valery: Appearance​

Outfit: Factory Link​

Lightsabers: Link!​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Ishani Dinn ​

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Looking down at the Padawan for a moment, Valery noticed Iris was getting back into her own little word. But almost as if to prevent her from wandering off again, she kept a hand on her shoulder, keeping her close. She then quickly looked between Arlo and Ishani and smiled.​

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"I'll make sure we don't run into more problems. Have a nice and peaceful rest of your day." ​

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She dipped her head to the two as Ishani began to take Arlo away, and then turned her eyes to Iris. They briefly narrowed into a disappointed mom's gaze, before she finally sighed and nudged the girl's side.​

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"Come on, you. I registered the ship so we can take a look around the city now. Just stay with me, and remember, these people are not overly fond of Jedi. So don't give them more reasons to hate or distrust us. Even on trips like this, you represent more than yourself - your actions reflect on the Jedi as a whole." ​

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"We call it to Honor the Jedi Order - it's part of a philosophy I'll be soon teaching you."​

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She then hummed and decided to drop the whole thing - enough had been said, and Iris was likely one to understand. After a moment of looking around, she turned her gaze back to Iris. ​

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"Hungry yet? I think I saw a nice place to eat along the way here."​

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[Iris Arani]

".. Hmm?" Iris blinked, turning her gaze towards Valery Noble as the Jedi started to speak with her again. Oh. Right. The girl frowned a bit, but nodded none the less. This was all part of her training. Learning other cultures. But.. Why did they not like Jedi? Her gaze drifted over towards Ishani Dinn and Arlo, watching them in silence. Then she smiled. "You two should come eat lunch with us. I want to hear why people here don't like Jedi, if that's okay."

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Valery seemed content to let them go, but Iris suddenly asked if they would go to lunch with them, and for very specific reasons. Ishani paused, looking back at them over her shoulder.

Under normal circumstances, she would find the offer more than a little suspicious. Having lunch with two Jedi who specifically wanted to know why Chaldea hated them, well, that was just asking for a nasty argument to break out. After all, people didn’t just let you sit before them and criticize their beliefs or way of life in stoic silence—not in real life, anyway. They got angry and offended and they fired back at you. Was she really in the mood for that kind of… discussion right now?

She thought Arlo was thinking the same thing, but instead of refusing, the old Mystic replied, “Who’s buying? I never refuse a free meal.”

“As long as you’re a cheap date.” Ishani smirked. “We have plenty of time, I suppose.”

Iris wanted to know why the people of Chaldea didn’t like Jedi. Well, here goes nothing.

“For religious reasons, mostly. Chaldea was first colonized by Jedi who had been denounced as heretics and exiled by the Order. They founded a new religion called the Chaldean Potentium. Some schools of thought worship the Force as a sacred deity, while others vilify it as an uncaring force of nature, and every other viewpoint in between—but all Potentiates believe that the Force should rarely, if ever, be used."

"It's too much power to be placed in the hands of a mere mortal," Arlo added his philosophical explanation. "We don't just dislike Jedi, we're wary of all Force Users. Only the Mystics can use the Force lawfully here, and that's because it's our job to rebuke any Force Users that threaten Chaldea—by taking away their power.”

Iris Arani Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Chaldea​

Valery: Appearance​

Outfit: Factory Link​

Lightsabers: Link!​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Ishani Dinn Iris Arani ​

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Valery stopped and blinked as Iris asked the two to join them for lunch. She herself had been okay with letting them go, as she wasn't quite expecting them to want to grab lunch with a pair of Jedi. Especially not after the way they met each other. But when Arlo spoke, she seemed even more surprised.​

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"I'll pay for lunch," Valery said with a kind smile as her gaze shifted back to Iris. She brought the young Padawan here to learn more about varying cultures, so this seemed like an excellent opportunity to do so.​

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With some guidance from the two who were more familiar with the area, the group would then begin their walk towards a nearby shop or restaurant where they could grab their lunch. But along the way, the discussion already started and Valery's interest was piqued by the pair.​

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"That's quite fascinating." she began.​

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"I was instructed according to very old traditional Jedi ways - from thousands of years ago. In my training, it was always stressed to use the Force only when necessary. Never as a tool for selfish desires, but as an ally to help protect others." she said before looking over at Arlo.​

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At the mention of taking away the power of Force-users, she tilted her head. "A long time ago, I learned a skill to do the same. The most common use back then was to Sever Jedi who had fallen too far, or in extreme cases, those who would prove very dangerous if they were to be exiled with their connection intact." she briefly frowned as a memory resurfaced.​

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[Iris Arani]

So that's what it was about? Iris listened to Arlo, Ishani Dinn , and Valery Noble in a relative silence. She didn't have a view point to put in. She'd only recently learned what the Force was, let alone the Jedi. And this new group? She didn't care who might be right, or wrong. Just, she was curious on who the people here were. She smiled softly, nodded her head if people looked her way. Was friendly in general.

But she just wanted to listen and learn.

 

[Ishani Dinn]

The four of them headed into a nearby restaurant, at Arlo’s suggestion. As soon as they opened the door, Ishani’s nose was hit with the pleasant aroma of meat cooked in a unique spice blend. “Good choice,” she remarked to Arlo, who snorted.

The discussion continued, though Iris was curiously silent compared to her master. Neither Arlo nor Ishani caught on that Valery was thousand of years old. They thought she meant she’d simply been taught in an older Jedi tradition.

Arlo rubbed his chin as Valery compared Mystics to the Jedi of old. Ishani feared it would sour the old man’s mood, but he surprised her.

“The difference is, it’s all that we do. Resist, suppress, and sever the Force.” Taking a seat at the counter, he leaned forward on his elbows. The hunched position pulled on the fabric of his tunic, making the outline of the fresh bandages around his torso more visible, as well as exposing some of the scar-strewn skin on his arms and the back of his neck. “No healing, no telekinesis, no telepathy. Sometimes exceptions are made for things that can’t be controlled, such as visions. We have a seer as Head Mystic right now.”

Though he didn’t come out and say it outright, the implication was that they couldn’t use the Force even to save others. If a building collapsed and was about to crush people, they couldn’t stop the stone from falling with telekinesis. If someone was dying from an injury, and they had no medical supplies, they couldn’t heal them with the Force. And so on, and so forth. The Potentium taught that if some people were going to die, it was better to let it happen than manipulate the Force in order to save lives.

It was certainly one of the more difficult things for Ishani to accept when she decided to join the Mystics. She’d become paranoid about having plenty of bacta on hand at all times, for one.

“There’s, uh, some history of bad blood between Chaldea and the Jedi, too,” Ishani began. “Recent history. Some Jedi participated in the Chaldean Civil War on the side that tried to overthrow the Potentium, and now that we've joined the Galactic Alliance, a lot of people are afraid that the Jedi will pull strings in the government to try and suppress the Potentium, or come here and recruit new members… even taking children from their families or from orphanages for training...”

She trailed off, looking down at the restaurant’s menu, but she was still watching the two Jedi out of the corner of her eye, half expecting a reaction from them. Her experience with the Jedi representatives who had come to Chaldea as diplomats hadn't been very promising, but these two weren't politicians, bureaucrats, or lobbyists trying to get their way or make a profit off of a planet's fear and desperation. Still, she didn't know how to interpret Iris' silence.

Iris Arani Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Chaldea​

Valery: Appearance​

Outfit: Factory Link​

Lightsabers: Link!​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Ishani Dinn Iris Arani ​

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Valery followed Arlo and Ishani into the restaurant and briefly stopped as the aroma of the food struck her as well. As someone who loved cooking, she could appreciate the smell of something new she had never tried before. It made her quite excited to try it out with her Padawan. ​

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As the discussion continued, she'd take a seat at the counter herself and listened to Arlo as he began to explain more about how the Force was used here. Or well, how much it wasn't used, really. The idea was strange to her, but as someone who actively tried to minimize her use of the Force, it's a take she could at least understand and respect.​

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Still though, seeing an older man such as him injured made her somewhat hesitant to believe that not using Force Healing was all that good of an idea. But she wasn't here to question or challenge the beliefs of others - she was here to learn.​

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"Jedi participating in a Civil War to change a world's ideals and beliefs?" Valery blinked and let out a soft sigh while her gaze shifted to the menu for a moment. The tone in her voice showed that she didn't quite like what she heard. ​

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"Jedi interference is always a complex subject. In most cases where interference is on the table, it's not as black and white as stopping slavery on a planet. The way I was taught, and the way I intend to teach my Padawan is to follow something we call Honor the Law. We are not above it, and we should not seek to forcefully change the law or culture of a planet or any group of people."​

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Valery then placed her order, not sure what exactly it was but it smelled great!​

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"I'm sorry this happened to your people, and the fear it caused as a result. And while it may not mean much, I do believe the Jedi of the Alliance will respect Chaldea and its Potentium. If they don't, they have forgotten something vital about being a Jedi."​

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[Iris Arani]

Taking children from families? Iris tilted her head, glancing still between Ishani Dinn and Valery Noble as they discussed what had happened. What was happening now. She just felt more.. Lost. Was there a right or wrong way to do something? From what Arlo was insinuating, to try and protect people with the Force was to go against it. Was that correct? Iris closed her eyes and thought more on it.

No, there was no right or wrong. Just belief. Everyone had their own. So long as they could respect each others, that's all that mattered.

The food came, and Iris immediately started eating. Smiling, even. The food was fantastic! And the perfect excuse for her to stay silent and continue to observe. She had no opinion to give on the subject. She just didn't know enough. But that's why she was listening. To learn more and, hopefully, understand.

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Arlo shrugged at Valery’s answer. “To be fair, they had plenty of reasons to get involved. We had a terrible track record for how we treated visiting Force Users, either driving them out with pitchforks and torches or straight up killing them in some cases. I remember they also argued that our government was mishandling things, pointing to the problems with slavery and poverty in this sector. I’m sure in their eyes, we were just a weird little backwater world full of uncivilized savages that needed to be uplifted and freed from the clutches of an inherently corrupt rule—and the rebels seemed the best alternative.”

He ordered his food. Ishani did the same. Like Iris, she had become a silent observer in this conversation due to having little to contribute on the subject.

“Good choice,” Arlo commented on Valery’s order. “Though I hope you like spicy food.” Then, as if they were merely talking about the weather, he casually resumed the discussion of war.

“Our population has always had a higher percentage of Force sensitives on average. Probably because of our origins as a colony of exiled Jedi. It came out years after the war that the rebels had agreed to let their Jedi allies recruit people for training as they saw fit, provided they helped them win. So there was that incentive as well—the possibility of more future Jedi. Then when they found out that the rebels had also made allies of a few Sith Lords here and there, making them the same promises, the deal was off… for most of them, anyway. Some switched sides in order to fight the Sith. I’m sure you can imagine how well that went over with the locals.”

"I'm sorry this happened to your people, and the fear it caused as a result. And while it may not mean much, I do believe the Jedi of the Alliance will respect Chaldea and its Potentium. If they don't, they have forgotten something vital about being a Jedi."

Arlo snorted, but Ishani was a bit less pessimistic. “So far, so good,” she said. “For the most part, the Alliance doesn’t seem to care about our beliefs—in a good way, I mean. They’re content to leave us alone. It was more difficult to ensure they wouldn’t exploit our planet for natural resources and profit than it was to convince them to live and let live.”

Iris Arani Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Chaldea​

Valery: Appearance​

Outfit: Factory Link​

Lightsabers: Link!​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Ishani Dinn Iris Arani ​

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Valery listened intently to the insight the two provided regarding the planet's history, but she couldn't help but also notice Iris' smile as she began to eat the food that just arrived. Ever since the girl's rescue, she had done her best to provide the Padwan with better meals, but sometimes it still felt like she was getting used to it.​

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“Good choice,” Arlo commented on Valery’s order. “Though I hope you like spicy food.” Then, as if they were merely talking about the weather, he casually resumed the discussion of war.

Her orange eyes shifted back to Arlo, and she'd smirk, "Oh I do." she then just chuckled and as easily as they went back to discussing war and Jedi interference, she followed along.​

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Arlo snorted, but Ishani was a bit less pessimistic. “So far, so good,” she said. “For the most part, the Alliance doesn’t seem to care about our beliefs—in a good way, I mean. They’re content to leave us alone. It was more difficult to ensure they wouldn’t exploit our planet for natural resources and profit than it was to convince them to live and let live.”

While she noticed Arlo snorting, she just met it with a brief roll of her eyes and turned to Ishani instead, "The Jedi involvement seems to be a rather complex part, then. But I'm glad things have been well enough thus far with Chaldea's place in the GA. I genuinely hope it will remain like that." the brunette said before she also received her food, and decided to try it out. ​

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"Now for a question about a hopefully more lovely topic." Valery said after swallowing a bite of her spicy food, "My Padawan and I are here to learn by seeing and experiencing things - to make our own observations. Is there anything you would recommend we visit or try to get a good impression about the planet and its culture?"​

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[Iris Arani]

Iris really had nothing to add. Not on account that she found the subject boring, just the young girl didn't know enough of politics, the Jedi, any of it to put an opinion in. Asides, she was much more curious on what Valery Noble had to say about all of this. That and Arlo. And Ishani Dinn . The three had a lot of politics to go over? Hmm. She wasn't too sure what the topic could be called at this point.

Though at least it moved onto something she could pipe in on.

"Is there an art museum?"

 

[Ishani Dinn]

“Everything’s complicated if you stop to think about it long enough,” Arlo murmured. “Nothing is ever as simple as it seems.”

Ishani glanced at him, then at Valery. “I hope so too,” she agreed.

The food arrived. Arlo had ordered a meal consisting of blackened meat and grilled vegetables in a slightly sour sauce, while Ishani had a sandwich. As they began to eat, the conversation inevitably shifted to lighter fare.

“There are art museums, yes.” Taking another bite of her sandwich, Ishani chewed and swallowed before adding, “Chaldean art is nothing special, though.”

“Nothing special?” Arlo echoed in disbelief.

“Chaldean music is better than our art.”

“You’re damned right our music is good, but you’re wrong about our art.” Arlo’s fork clanked against his bowl as he set his mind to a good argument. “Our paintings and especially our sculpture is magnificent. You’ve seen the marble statues in the Academy, the figures carved in relief—”

“It’s just a lot of white marble, and the marble isn’t even from Chaldea—”

“Chaldean marble is off limits, you know that!” Ishani smiled around her next bite of sandwich as Arlo went on. “If our artists went around carving all our marble, there’d be no more Bamarri, and that would be a damned shame.”

“Chaldean marble isn’t even really marble! It’s petrified wood!”

“Same difference!... It’s all dead organic matter that’s been compressed over millions of years! Or whatever—I’m not a geologist. My point is...”

Ishani was trying not to laugh with food in her mouth. Even the corners of Arlo’s mouth were curling upward in a lopsided smirk.

“... My point is, Chaldean art is fine. We have frescoes. That’s all we need.”

“Frescoes can’t be hung up in a museum.”

“It doesn’t matter if it goes in a bloody museum, only that it is art and it is beautiful! Or it means something.” He pointed a finger at the two Jedi women. “You’ll see. And if you don’t, then it’s like the Chaldean saying goes: ‘Some people have a taste for chit’.”

Iris Arani Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Chaldea​

Valery: Appearance​

Outfit: Factory Link​

Lightsabers: Link!​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Ishani Dinn Iris Arani ​

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Valery was about to take a bite from her food when the back-and-forth between Ishani and Arlo began. Blinking, the brunette's eyes began to shift between the two as she listened to the conversation, a small smirk of her own forming on her face. She then nodded at Arlo's saying and looked at Iris.​

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"I'm quite sure we will."​

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"I'm personally more interested in listening to music though, but Iris here will probably love the art," Valery said with a smirk before taking another bite from her food. It had definitely been a good idea to change the topic a bit - this conversation was a lot more pleasant.​

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"If you know a good place where we could start, please let us know."​

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[Iris Arani]

"Art should always mean something to someone." Iris nodded in agreement, though she obviously wasn't paying attention to everything Arlo said. Just picking and choosing what she wanted to respond to, then went right back to eating. Spicy food was.. Fantastic! It burned, but tasted good! Sure enough, the padawan was lost in the food, humming happily.

Valery Noble | Ishani Dinn

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Still unsure about the two Jedi women, Ishani was about to suggest a local art museum, knowing it would probably be the safest bet—but before she could speak, Arlo jumped in.

“We could take you to the Academy,” he muttered, taking another bite of his food. As Ishani turned to stare at him, he chewed and swallowed before adding, “Of course, you could go by yourselves, but you’d have limited access. I am considered faculty, so…” He paused to take a sip of water. “Unlimited access.”

“Are you sure?” Ishani asked.

“It’s the oldest building on the planet, the first major landmark built by the colonists. It also has a lot of great art. Come on—it’s all that’s best about us, wrapped up in one neat little package.” Raising his glass to his lips again, he muttered before drinking, "Besides, I want to see Jarael and the horses."

After looking a while longer, Ishani shrugged, neither protesting nor enthusiastically agreeing with the suggestion. There was nothing particularly dangerous or risky about going to the Academy, she just wasn’t sure if they would like it. She waited to see how Valery and Iris would respond to the offer.

Iris Arani Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Chaldea​

Valery: Appearance​

Outfit: Factory Link​

Lightsabers: Link!​

Ship: Factory link​

Tag: Ishani Dinn Iris Arani ​

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Valery looked at Arlo as he suggested taking the pair of Jedi to the Academy. Ishani seemed uncertain about it, but the idea of traveling somewhere with a bit of a guide was appealing. Looking at Iris, she figured the Padawan would be interested in seeing a little more too.​

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"That sounds wonderful, we'd be happy to join you both." she smiled and raised her own cup to her lips for a sip.​

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"It was on my list of things to visit with Iris here, but having faculty with us would be interesting. I'm sure you're able to tell us much more than we'd pick up on at a first glance." she looked at Iris.​

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"Ready to take a look at some local art?"​

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[Iris Arani]

Iris lifted her gaze from the delicious spicy food, glancing between the trio for a moment. Then smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I think I'm ready. If I eat any more I might loose feeling in my tongue."

Ishani Dinn | Valery Noble