Somewhere over the ... rainbow? [Torriana Marx]

[Dasquian Belargic]

Dasquian held up the book to his eyes closely and frowned in disbelief. It didn’t seem plausible that such a thing could occur, yet right before his eyes above him there it was. A giant band of colours spanning all of the visible coruscant skyline. Magenta, cyan, violet … a full spectrum of light, in a giant arch crowning the city top. Never before had he seen anything quite as unusual as this. According to the literature he held, such a phenomenon accorded right after a shower of rain when the sun suddenly came out.

Still, his brow was deeply knotted, though he quickly mentally vowed that it would be fruitless to get too into thinking about the weather. After all, it would take hours of taxi journeys to find the end of this ‘rainbow’ to examine it. Standing up, he began to walk off back through the gardens towards the living quarters … instantly being drawn to reading the book again.

He rose it up in front of his eyes and lost himself in the pages, so much so that within a few seconds he had bumped into someone and had dropped the text to the floor into a puddle.

[Torriana Marx]

She gave a small yelp and fell backwards onto the damp earth, landing with a wet squelch. The Padawan had been blindly pacing along the lane, bordered by small puddles where the water had collected below raised ground, gazing nonchalantly up at the sky. She was so rapt in this idle study that when she turned around a corner, head raised, Torriana slammed straight into a man headed in the opposite direction.

Flecks of dried mud speckled her face, resulting from the small splash she had caused upon impact, and her bare arms and legs were similarly coated with grime. With a groan, Torri slowly began to rise to her feet, but the toe of her boot caught against the sodden pages of a book. The filthy water had rendered the characters illegible.

Torri cringed in anticipation of a harsh scolding. "I am so so so so sorry!!" >_<

[Dasquian Belargic]

A grimace came over Dasquian as he looked down at Torriana, watching her get up. By bumping into her, he’d caused her to become completely caked in dirt. Guilt panged in his mind as the Knight held out a hand to help the Padawan up, though before he could she had already gotten to her feet. When she began to profusely apologize, he became a little confused – as it was he who had caused her to fall, not the opposite.

“No no, I should be apologizing. I wasn’t looking where I was going. Sorry.”

His eyes drifted down to the book, as he lifted into the air, carried by the Force. It came to his hands, soggy and already with pages slipping away, and caused a quiet laugh to pass through his lips.

“Oops?”

Pushing the wreck into his pocket, he sighed slightly.

“… I’m terribly sorry I knocked you over… do you have quarters here where you can clean up? If not, you’re free to use mine… I... can make you a drink or something to eat… to make up for this?”

[Torriana Marx]

The berating never came. Summoning up all her daring, Torri peered at him with one eye, the other still squeezed shut. "You don't have to be sorry for my being a clumsy buffoon," she muttered, more to herself than anyone. Her shoulders relaxed a little and she finally mustered the courage to glance him once over with both eyes. Huh... not too bad.

Her gaze traveled upward until it came to rest on the man's face. His expression caused the Padawan to momentarily scowl in disbelief - was he mocking her?! - before recognize the tattered remnants of the book in his hand. All at once Torri's features became strained and her back straightened rigidly. She wasn't quite sure what to make of this man... he should be yelling at her right about now, but he wasn't. Damn these Jedi! Guilt would be so much easier to manage if the harshness was reciprocated.

At his inquiry, she again made a face. "Uh.. sure..." she replied cautiously, her eyes crinkling at the corners in suspicion. Mommy did say never to talk to strangers, let alone trust them enough to follow them into their home.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Noticing the obvious apprehension, Dasquian gave a light shrug of his shoulders.

“I’m not saying you have to, of course. I understand if you’d rather get on with your day only it would ease my guilt a little to help you out.”

Perhaps introducing himself would break the ice a little.

“I’m Dasquian, by the way.”

[Torriana Marx]

The tension between the two dissolved further as Torri offered the man a small smile. "Dasquian," she repeated. He wasn't lying; nothing in his eyes suggested an ulterior motive that involved decapitation. "Nah, I've got nothing better to do, anyway. Nice to meet you, and er.. sorry about your book."

[Dasquian Belargic]

“Good to meet you also, and don’t worry about the book, I’m sure I can replace it.”

Motioning a hand forward, Dasquian began to walk, assuming his new acquaintance would follow suit.

“So… to whom to I have the pleasure of speaking to?”

[Torriana Marx]

"Torri," she stated simply, falling into step beside Dasquian, "and believe me, it's no pleasure." She ended with a resentful scoff; however, the bitterness drained from her voice as soon as she cast another quick look at the ruined volume, this time out of curiosity rather than panic. "What were you reading about?"

[Dasquian Belargic]

“Rainbows,” Dasquian replied with a small embarrassed smile.

“I hadn’t seen one until today, quite unusual things… Well, aren’t I boring.”

[Torriana Marx]

The Padawan grinned sincerely. "Boring? Hell no! It's not often you come across a guy fascinated with rainbows. It's kinda sweet," she said. "But.. how can you not have seen one before? They're a pretty common sight in Coruscant."

[Dasquian Belargic]

“I haven’t really ever spent much time on Coruscant. It’s only since the move that I’ve gotten to know the place.”

Dasquian shrugged, “And my old home didn’t ever have any rain, so I don’t think it would have been possible for one to form there.”

[Torriana Marx]

"I'm a Coruscant girl, through and through. Never been anywhere else, really," she mused. "Where is it that you come from originally? I mean, what kind of a world doesn't have any rain?"

[Dasquian Belargic]

“Well it wasn’t my original home… but it was an arid planet named Woostri. Somehow, without any rain, the rivers still managed to run to allow is to grow crops, but I didn’t ever once see a drop fall whilst at home. Of course, I travelled to Coruscant sometimes back then, but it always seemed to be a bright shiny day,” Dasquian said with a shrug.