Discovering the lower levels of Nar Shaddaa

[Seraphie]

((OOC: RP between Ziziya (Seraphie) and Valeiro ( @HeroOfStuds ) but if you'd like to join in at some point, please DM one of us!))

Ziziya woke up with a start. She huffed at herself. Dozing off during her meditation...served her right for staying up so late chatting with Valeiro after her shift. She smiled, still, it was a fun conversation. At least she had told him to meet her at 11 for their trip to the lower levels.

She got up, stretched a little and turned to her plants. Her apartment at Dancer's Palace was full of hydroponics units, growing vegetables, herbs, medicinal plants and a few just pretty flowers. She checked levels, checked the regulators, then started collecting her stuff. She packed several vials of herbal remedies, for everything from fevers to rashes. She also carefully packed four small bottles, each holding a plant seedling, in a growth medium pod, of a plant Stell had recently hybridized. She added to her pack a few snacks, even though she knew she would probably never eat them - she usually ended up giving them out as treats - a few ribbons and pony-tail elastics she'd recently picked up for some of the girls in the settlements and her datapad.

She reached for her weapons. She carried a vibrosword and a small blaster. While she had done some lightsaber training with Anaris, she preferred just a vibrosword. The one she had was really more of a baton than a blade. She preferred something less lethal. She put the strap of the vibrosword over her shoulder, crosswise, so that it hung on her back, easy to draw, slid the small blaster into its holster on her belt, then slid on her duster, which hid the weapons. She threw her pack crosswise over her opposite shoulder from the vibrosword and stepped out of her apartment.

She headed down to the Palace kitchen to start with, where the security droid was ready to go. It followed her out of the kitchen and up the stairs to the entrance of Dancer's Palace, where she was going to meet up with Val.

[HeroOfStuds]

Valeiro was waiting for her - but he looked like he'd only just woken up. His medium red hair was an absolute mess, sticking up in every odd direction, and the shirt and vest he wore were both wrinkled beyond imagination. He gave Ziziya a bleary eyed smile, which only accentuated the noticeable dark spots under his eyes. The man also had a massive backpack slung over his shoulder, but it looked like it was giving him no trouble at all.

As if to make it even more clear that he'd only just woken up, his vest was on inside out. A holdout pistol was slung at his belt, and he was snacking on a banana.

"Good mornin', good mornin'. Lookin' good! Ready to go do some good deeds?" His voice was husky - yet another sign that he'd probably been asleep just a few minutes ago.

[Seraphie]

Ziziya gave Valeiro a guilty smile, "Hi! I'm sorry I kept you up so late last night! You're sure you're up for this? You can join me another time if you want to go sleep more."

[HeroOfStuds]

The man gives her a dismissive wave. "No, no, no no no. No. I mean, no to wanting to go sleep more. I mean, I would like to sleep more, but I made a commitment, and I'm honestly a bit excited to go do some actual nice things for people who need it. Besides, maybe it'll be nice trying to help people who aren't waiting for a chance to shoot me, for once." He gave her a thumbs up.

[Seraphie]

Ziziya smiles and nods, "Ok, then, let's go." She led the way to the Dancer's Palace taxi, which would drop them off at the top levels of the Industrial Sector. The security droid which had been following her had kept moving forward while she had chatted with Valeiro and had already secured itself in the back section of the taxi, leaving the back seat empty, behind the lone droid driver. Ziziya climbed into the back seat and waited for Valeiro to join her before the taxi would head off.

[HeroOfStuds]

Val slid in next to her and casually rested an arm along the bottom of the back seat window. "So, what's the game plan? How does one feed refuges? Now, I know I'm always positively oozing confidence, but I'm kinda scared of doing something wrong and offending somebody. Is that silly?" He gives her an uncharacteristically sheepish look.

[Seraphie]

Ziziya chuckles and shakes her head, "No, not silly. A lot of these people have a rough life, many have been through a lot of trauma, but they're proud. Proud of the lives they've carved out for themselves and proud of what they've overcome. Don't suggest they're any less than anyone else, or that their predicament is their own fault and you should be fine. As for the how, I have a path I normally follow and hand out rations and other things. They're all stored in the security droid that's accompanying us. But I also have a couple stops where I'll meet with the leader of a settlement to see how things are going, check on the hydroponics equipment and hand them a few things I'm bringing just for them."

[HeroOfStuds]

"Oh... pff. Well..." The red haired man gives her a flustered smile. "I can do that - easy. Guess I'm getting worried over nothin'. What's the name of this settlement leader? I wanna leave a good first impression!"

[Seraphie]

Ziziya smiles, "Also, don't patronize them. Just be sincere in whatever impresses you, honest with any concerns. We'll be meeting with Minara first, she leads a settlement with a mix of mostly Twi'leks and humans, more of the first than the latter. The other leader we'll meet with is Easton, the Evoci leader of a very mixed species settlement. There are more humans than any other, but they supported Easton as a leader, both out of respect for his wisdom and to help the other Evoci feel more comfortable, as the group that arrived there had been through a lot of heavy trauma. Easton had been leading them, and when they came into the settlement, the settlement accepted him as a leader for all of them. Such kindness is such a beautiful thing!"

The taxi lands at a docking port in the lower Industrial sector. There's no sky visible, only a sky of metal with lights in it. Ziziya climbs out and the security droid detaches itself from its perch at the back of the taxi.

[HeroOfStuds]

Val gives her a look of incredulity as he steps out after her. "I swear, I promise, I'm not a pessimist in any way, but..." He trails off for a moment, searching for words. "The way you're talking, it seems a bit unrealistic to me. I ain't particularly used to folks sounding so... nice to each other. 'Least, not when they're in this sort of situation. On the streets back home, I'm used to people with nothing being desperately... hmm... what's the word..." He narrows his eyes, looking at the taxi  for a moment. "Selfish. Not that they could help it or that I could blame them. And I swear, I swear, I'm not trying to make any assumptions about these folks, I'm an open minded person it's just new." The red haired man offers her an apologetic smile.

[Seraphie]

Ziziya gives him a smile, "Not everyone down here is like that. We tend to put most of our efforts into the settlements that are like that. We've had others that we've approached and left, some that we have to guard our other settlements from. But Stell has been helping them for quite a few years. She values kindness strongly and that tends to spread kindness. Many of the settlements have no leadership and we just go through and hand out rations and whatever else we can to help."

[HeroOfStuds]

"Kindness spreads kindness, eh?" He gives a wink. "Well... makes sense, I suppose." The bear of a man rubs his eyes - he seems to be properly waking up, now. "I'm more than happy to help out in any way I can, too! Usually, that just meant 'Val, move this heavy thingie over here, thanks' when I was growing up. I am much more than a muscley piece of meat! I've got smarts, too!" Val shakes his head and tsks at himself. "This'll be fun, though, I promise. I'll be on my best behavior for all the refugee friends!"

[Seraphie]

Ziziya chuckles and gives him a reassuring smile as she leads the way, the security droid clinking along behind them. She leads them down roadways to a set of lifts, which they take down to their bottom, about 10 levels. They get out of the lift, follow more twisting and turning roads and corridors, until they reach another lift, which they also take to the bottom, this time 15 levels. When they get out, Ziziya remarks, "Just one more lift down." She leads the way through more twisting and turning corridors and roadways.

[HeroOfStuds]

Valeiro seems completely un-phased by the journey. As soon as they entered both lifts he would start humming to himself and slapping his thighs to a beat. As soon as she says 'one more lift', he perks up. "Oh, I think I've been down towards this part before! Was hunting this scumbag weequay gangster who was trafficking children as drug mules. That was a good bounty..."

[Seraphie]

Ziziya frowns, "Well, if you've been down here before to protect these people from a monster like that, you should get along with them well." She leads them to one more lift and they take it all 15 levels down. As they step out, the gradual deterioration in the environment they've seen as they keep going lower becomes more apparent. Not all lights are lit, some are out and some are flickering. The air is warmer, but it has a stagnant warmth, and carries a mix of smells mechanical and organic that takes some time to get used to. Graffiti covers walls that are stained, scratched, sometimes dented, with occasional holes showing wiring within. They follow the corridor until it opens up into a courtyard. Looking up, they can see the levels of windows with apartments and shops, but between the narrow vertical rows of windows there are large spaces taken up by pipes and conduit of all sorts, the machinery keeping the upper levels going. Around the courtyard, in nooks and against walls, there are a few makeshift dwellings, made of scrap metal and sheets of various fabrics. A few small groups sit in various spots between the dwellings, a mix of species, a few chatting but most seeming barely aware of their surroundings. The air smells heavily of spice. Any gazes that actually turn their way seem more despondent than hostile.

Ziziya reaches into her pouch and pulls out a small apparatus that she clips onto her nose, sliding up into her nostrils. She pulls out a second and offers it to Valeiro, "A filter. Make sure to just breathe through your nose. It will filter out the spice in the air."