Private Staring Straight Into The Shining Sun

[Lief]

He let her sleep without disruption, and shortly after her head lolled against the table a delivery drone arrived with all that had been ordered. Eliphas set the water and half of the snacks aside for Iris, so that she could rehydrate and get her energy back up before they headed back toward the apartment, and then he reached for his own. Quietly as he could he opened the bottle of juice, and drank it all in just a few big gulps. Thirstier than he'd realized...​

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The snacks crackled about as he opened the package, and while he ate he just stared out over the small parkway. It was nice. Still loud, there was traffic overhead after all, but... Nice.​

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Made him miss home, though.​

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He pulled out his holopad again, and stepped away from the picnic table. Annalis picked up almost as soon as he called, as though she'd been waiting to hear from him. ​

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"Eli!" Her voice was excitable, if a little groggy.​

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"What time is it there?" he asked her, eyes narrowing with suspicion. "Should you be asleep?"​

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"Not that late... How's Jedi life?"​

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"It's... Good. Fine." Fine? was that the best he could do. "Did you use the passage yet?"​

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On the other end, Lissa sheepishly nodded her head.​

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"Yeah? And?"​

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"Well it's not like playing with you, but they're nice..."​

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He spied the room past where she was sat, and a grin broke out across his lips.​

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"Oh, making yourself at home among my things? Nah, I'm glad. The room suits you, sis. Say... You should try painting some time. All of the things you need are there. Maybe you could send me something, a finished piece I can hang in my room here. Watcha think?"​

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"Fineee..."​

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He smiled, carefully sat back down at the picnic table and lowered his voice to a whisper.​

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"I was just checking in. You seem well though. Tell you what, I'll call you again tomorrow. Earlier though, when you're not supposed to be in bed. Alright?"​

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"Promise?"​

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"Yep. Pinkie promise. Go on, get some rest."​

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He cut the call a few seconds later, then just stared down at the holopad. Man, he really needed to figure out the timezone differences...​

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Iris Arani ​

 

[Iris Arani]

At some point Iris woke up. Or was waking up. She hummed softly, lifting her head just as Lief sat down. He was talking to.. Someone? Someone on the phone. The colors showed that it was someone important to him at least. She smiled faintly, lifting her head from the picnic table to stretch out and yawn. ".. Was I out long?"

 

[Lief]

Iris woke up just as he was finishing up the call, and upon hearing her voice he swung around and placed his legs beneath the table to face her. "Not too long, I reckon," he retorted, though he had no real concept of time in that moment. He reached for the water, and the couple of snacks he'd gotten for her, and set them before the girl.​

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"Here, why don't you have something to drink?"​

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For his part Eliphas had never been someone who liked to eat first thing after waking, so he didn't press for her to have the snacks. Just left them there in full view, close enough to her that they were obviously hers.​

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"How are you feeling, Sunshine?"​

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Iris Arani ​

 

[Iris Arani]

Water. Water was a good idea. She took up the bottle and pretty hastily started to drink it down. One of those "oh yeah I'm actually really thirsty" moments, but after she'd already gone asleep feeling that way. Iris took in a gasp of air shortly after, sighing in relief. Parched throat sated, she again leaned on the table, resting her chin on her arms as she watched the park around them. The colors, more accurately.

"More awake. Not as sore. .. Sorry for falling asleep on you."

 

[Lief]

She drank so thirstily that it made him wish he'd bought a second bottle. Maybe he should--- no. No that was silly. They'd waste their entire day here if he kept ordering more drinks and the like. Though, in that moment, Iris looked as though maybe she wouldn't mind being resigned to such a fate.​

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The way she'd leant down, and was now observing the denizens of the park, it was... Oddly endearing.​

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He smiled.​

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"I'm glad, and it's no bother. It's quieter here, not quiet-quiet but... Nicer than most of Coruscant. I couldn't think of a better place to unwind, personally." Except maybe back at home, but he was leagues away from Empress Teta and its mountains.​

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While she watched the world drift by, Eliphas was satisfied with watching her. The tiny smiles or other changes in her expression. Truth be told, he was just glad she was okay.​

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Iris Arani ​

 

[Iris Arani]

It really was a nice place to unwind. Iris nodded her agreement, still letting her gaze wander around the area they were in. The colors were so peaceful here. It'd be nice if she could show him. But.. They were too bright. Lief would likely only end up overwhelmed.

"We should paint here some time." Yeah. That'd be nice. The two of them relaxing in the park.

 

[Lief]

Her suggestion that they paint here some time was met with consideration, before he nodded his head rather eagerly.​

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"Heck yeah, that would be fun wouldn't it? I don't think I've ever painted outside before... Have you?"​

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Eliphas stood up for a moment then, and began to rummage through the bags. When he found what he was looking for he seemed triumphant, and then proceeded to set two items he'd snuck into the basket on the table between them. A brand new sketchbook, with thicker paper that allowed for multimedia use, as well as some charcoal sticks. They were chunkier than a pencil, easier to grip.​

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He slid them over to her.​

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"I got these for you..." He bit the inside of his cheek, nervously. "If you uh, wanted to sketch?"​

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Iris Arani ​

 

[Iris Arani]

"I used to tag buildings all the time. .. Turns out that's illegal though, so I had to stop." She visibly pouted at this revelation. As much as she agreed that painting other peoples things was something that should be against the law, she missed the days of whimsically painting whatever she felt like wherever she wanted. But those days were gone. She could see through the colors, understand why it was wrong. Understand why her friends told her to stop.

Why K-

She blinked back that thought, shaking her head. Then, Lief brought out a sketch pad. And charcoal? She smiled after a moment, reaching out to take it. Rather than answer, she just got right to sketching. Breaking in the book immediately by flipping to the first page and sketching onto the paper. She paused after several minutes of this, blinking. Then looking to him and smiling.

".. Thank you."

 

[Lief]

Illegal? Yeah... That was definitely illegal, at least without the permission of whomever owned the building. But Eliphas had heard of individuals commissioning the work of graffiti artists, hoping to end up with some great and unique mural to represent something or another. A company, a business, a school. Was that something Iris could look into?​

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He pondered that while she set about breaking in the sketchbook. To see it so readily used made his heart soar, and a somewhat goofy grin planted itself across his lips.​

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It was nice to see her lost in her art. Without worry or cause for concern. ​

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In fact her show of gratitude felt entirely unexpected when it was uttered, because of this. The smile deepened. "You don't need to thank me" he assured her, not for the first time that day. "What are you drawing?" Maybe a passerby, or a bird which drifted overhead? He was curious, but he knew better than to look over an artists shoulder and see their work if they weren't ready to share it. Hence the question.​

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Iris Arani ​

 

[Iris Arani]

She turned the sketchpad around, smiling faintly. On it, a mostly sketched out Lief . Smiling, staring off in the distance. There was a surprising amount of detail for just how long she'd spent on it, but at the same time she was always fairly good at drawing. Once Iris was sure he'd gotten enough of a look she turned it back around to keep drawing. "When you're not focused on me you're a very good model."

 

[Lief]

Eliphas' expression when she turned the sketchbook around was one of utter dumbfoundedness.​

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"Me..?" he breathed, unable to fully process what he was looking at. She'd drawn him? So quickly, too, and with such detail. It was amazing, fascinating, overwhelming. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been the subject of someone else's art. Outside of a family portrait they'd commissioned when Annalis had first learned to walk, he wasn't sure anyone ever had.​

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It was an oddly intimate realization; not for the first time, Eliphas' cheeks reddened.​

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"You're easy to focus on," he confessed, before realizing how strange that might have sounded. Oh boy, that blush only deepened in the aftermath of such. "I mean, uh... Well, frankly you're fascinating to watch. Especially when you're in your element. Is that weird?" He grimaced. "Sorry if that's weird. I don't always think before I speak."​

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Looking away from her, he peered out over the park space again. "Well, if you're ever lost for what to draw I'd be a willing model. Though... I imagine you'd get quite bored drawing this face more than once." Wasn't much of a face after all. Pretty plain in truth.​

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Iris Arani ​

 

[Iris Arani]

"People used to watch me paint back home." She didn't think it was weird, though the colors around Lief had her really curious about what was going through his head. Until he started talking about himself again. Iris smiled a little, focusing in on her sketch pad again to keep drawing him.

"I'd like that."

 

[Lief]

Back home?​

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Coruscant wasn't her home? But she'd seemed so... at home here. Maybe that was foolish of him to have presumed though, he hadn't exactly pressed her for too many details about her life. He didn't feel the need to, she'd say what she wanted and he'd say what he wanted and the rest was filled with silence, and sketches, and holoflicks. It was easy that way. No pressure. No worries.​

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Still... He found himself more than a little curious.​

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"Where is home for you, Iris?" he inquired, turning his gaze back toward her. He leaned his arms against the top of the picnic table, and then set his chin down atop his hands. Force, now he was feeling sleepy. Maybe because they'd spent so much time outside already. Sometimes fresh - as fresh as it really got on a world like this - air could cause sleepiness, right?​

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Right.​

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Iris Arani ​

 

[Iris Arani]

"I don't remember. The name, how it looked. .. I didn't see much through the colors. It was a city, no. A slum. Dirty?" She hummed with thought, leaning up in her seat and setting down the sketchbook as she fought to remember everything about her home before she came to the Jedi.

"I lived alone. In an apartment. The people there helped take care of me. There was.. A kind old man who made me dinner often." The only details she could remember of the man, though.

 

[Lief]

She didn't remember, beyond just vague impressions?​

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Eliphas frowned a deep frown, and tried to imagine what that must have been like. How would it feel if he couldn't remember Teta? Or his family? Or those he'd been around for his entire life? Horrible. Empty. Hollow. No he would not like it at all.​

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He was silent for a moment, and then he glanced her way again.​

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"Maybe the Jedi have records?" he suggested. If they had found her on that world, then surely they would know. Did she want to remember, though? "One day, you should visit my homeworld. Empress Teta. I think you'll like it... There's great bustling cities, sure, but where I live... Lived, we were out by the mountains. It was quiet, and peaceful, and verdant. Very verdant. You could walk for miles and there'd be no one else around."​

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All at once he found himself struck with a sense of homesickness.​

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Force, he thought he was over that already...​

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Iris Arani ​

 

[Iris Arani]

"The Jedi who picked me up probably knows. .. I don't remember their name though. Or their face." Maybe she should seek her out. Yeah, she definitely should, at some point. Though again Lief 's change in colors pulled her attention. .. Homesick, right? She'd seen it before with Briana Sal-Soren after everything that happened on Naboo. This color, shading.

"We can go together, if you want. Whenever you want."

 

[Lief]

"Do you, uh... Do you want to know? Where you're from, I mean..."​

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He knew he would, if he didn't remember, but not everyone was the same. If she did, well then he'd help her pursuit in so far as a lowly Initiate could, but if not? Well... Then he'd learn to leave well enough alone.​

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All the same when talks turned to Teta he smiled.​

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"I'd like that. Maybe once I'm better settled in, and the Masters approve of it. Do they need to approve of it?" It was clear that Eliphas had zero clue how any of this worked. "Annalis would love to meet you, I think... She's my little sister."​

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Iris Arani ​

 

[Iris Arani]

"Maybe. .. It's hard to think about, y'know? It's not like I know what I missed, so how can I miss it?" Though, the more minds she touched with her own, the more she did learn what she missed. Family. Her gaze lowered to her sketch pad. Even Lief had family. Well no, that shouldn't be a surprise. Everyone had family. Why didn't she ever wonder about her own?

"They might need to approve it? .. I'm not sure how that all works."

 

[Lief]

"That's fair" he said, it was hard to know how it felt to be on the other side. He didn't know what it was to not know, to not have something to miss, and she... Well... She probably thought similar of those of them who had family to miss. The idea of someone not having real control over their memories was saddening though.​

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"I can ask someone tomorrow, see what the protocol it. I doubt they'd have any real issues with it... Unless, maybe, they think it's a bad idea because of how fresh I am to all of this. But everything I've seen and heard says they're not like the Jedi of old who forbid such things, so..."​

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He shrugged. Boy, Eliphas really needed to learn more about the Order didn't he?​

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Iris Arani ​

 

[Iris Arani]

"The Jedi of old.. Oh, right. I remember reading about them. I don't think they're anything like that. My master, she's getting married. Has a child. I don't think there'd be any problem with you going home or such." She nodded once, still focused on her art and sketching. But only for a moment longer. The basis of what she wanted was there, the rest could be drawn later. Now?

".. I'm hungry. Not just for snacks though. Let's go get lunch."

Lief