revivalproject | bright lights, big city

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bright lights, big city

WHO: Sansa Stark + baby James
WHERE: Coruscant - surface levels; a diner + a network post
WHAT: shock, awe, annoyance
WHEN: 24 March
WARNINGS: TBD

Sansa has been to a few planets in her time both in the Fleet and on Agra 10 but this one has to be the busiest one she's ever seen. She feels like she's in the midst of everything and no one can hear her at all over the noise of speeders and the crush of other beings. She holds James close, not wanting his curiosity to have him touching anything he shouldn't, and calls out for someone she might know.

"If the Agra are doing this, you ought to give me a direction. I cannot help you with whatever task you have if I don't know where you are or where I am," Sansa shouts. A few aliens look her way and shrug and the overall feeling she gets is one of indifference. Seems she isn't the only lost person around here.

Thinking inside would be better than outside, she ducks into what turns out to be a restaurant and settles in one of the booths. The menus are in runes she cannot read and she ends up pointing to what she wants; the staff at least speaks common. While she waits on her food, she jiggles James a bit to try and quiet him.

"We're going to find out where this is," she says, sing-songing. "Mother has to help the Agra again, she thinks, and you're a big enough boy to help too."

***

( Somehow, the communicator had ended up in her pocket without her noticing and Sansa thinks she ought to have tried this first. Of course, she has it now so there's no use in beating herself up over it. )

Fleet! It is Sansa Stark and I have no idea where we are right now. I don't know this planet but I hope some of you still know me. I can send coordinates?

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He gives the infant a cheerful wave with a hand mostly covered in green fingerless gloves.

"Hello, James. I'm Ezra."

To Sansa he says, "I'm going to be honest here - I'm kinda new to the Fleet and Temba. Like, I was there in Temba for a couple of weeks, but really, I slept most of the first one." He'd had a rough time, before then.

"And then we got put onto our 'misson' here, a few weeks ago. The good news is, this planet's the capital of the region of space I grew up in, so most everything's familiar enough to navigate."

"You're very lucky. If you all wound up at Winterfell, I don't know how I would explain it or how you'd fit in," Sansa says. She hopes it's never an eventuality she has to face, quite honestly, because Westeros is a hard life for all of those involved. This place seems like it's big enough to blend in and be anonymous, at the least.

"Temba...it can be nice. I used to have a house there," she explains. "I lived with my child and with a friend. I had a nice life. There's challenges, of course, but good to be found as well."

"Winterfell," Ezra echoes. "I'm gonna guess it gets pretty cold there. It's a pretty name, though. This-" he waves a hand around at their surroundings in general, "Is Coruscant."

Then he points towards the speeder. "Come on, I'll drive us to the hangar."

Sansa has never been in such a machine before but she trusts it's no different than the ships and shuttles she's been in before coming to this place. She adjusts James a little against her chest before getting into the speeder, settling in before looking at Ezra.

"So, how much is this going to terrify me? Remember, I come from a place that has nothing that flies."

He laughs lights as he climbs until the drivers' seat. "Eh, possibly slightly terrifying by default, but I'll drive carefully, promise. You know, I just assumed you'd prefer this to a crowded train?"

"I would, actually. Packing myself in with others would be terrible for the baby," Sansa says. Ezra had made the right choice even if Sansa is having to summon her strength for it.

"Who knows, I might even like it. I won't know unless I try, right?"

"Definitely a good attitude to have as a Tembarian," Ezra agrees, brightly, as he starts the speeder and launches them to a traffic lane as smoothly as he can.

It is very different but it's not as terrifying as she thought it'd be - so long as she doesn't look down terribly often. Sansa clutches James close to make sure he doesn't fall out but otherwise, it's more pleasant than terrifying.

"Does everyone here know how to fly these?"

"Let's go with 'most'. There are the trains, and droid or professionally driven taxis, so plenty of ways to get around without learning. How do people get around where you're from?" he asks.

"Horses," Sansa says, shrugging a little. "So as you can see, learning about ships and the like has been a little eye-opening. Thank the Gods I've been here before."

"Horses. Horses," he muses, trying to place that in his mental lexicon. "Big animals, right? There are planets around here where people ride animals; I rode Loth wolves on my home world a few times, but strictly on their own terms."

"Big animals, yes. Back in the days of the First Men, they say there were direwolves big enough to ride. When I had one, though, she wasn't quite that large," Sansa says. "And yes, I imagine you would ride a wolf strictly on its own terms."

"Wait, wait - how did you have a wolf?" Ezra asks, making sure to keep his eyes on the skylane and traffic, but if he weren't flying, he'd be staring.

"I raised her from a pup. Her name was Lady," Sansa says, explaining. "Wolves are the sigil of my house. They are our symbol, our banner - and to find a direwolf was very lucky. My siblings and I all had one for our own."

"Oh," Ezra replies. "Houses and banners. That reminds of how the Mandalorians are organized. Do you have clans under Houses, too?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes. Some of the mountain clans of the North ended up becoming houses that come under House Stark," Sansa explains. "So it's not unheard of. And there's houses that are sworn to greater houses. Of course, mine is the greatest in all the North, the ruling House. Is it similar to what you know?"

"Well, where I grew up is mostly farmers and miners, ruled by a governor that used to be elected and is now appointed by the Empire. But one of my good friends - adopted family really - she's Mandalorian. Sabine Wren, of Clan Wren, under House Vizsla. Her mother's a Countess. Honor, family, their armor - Mandalorians are big on those things."

"I think I might get along with these Mandalorians, then. They seem a little similar to what I'm used to," Sansa says. "Your friend didn't come here with you, I guess? Some people have friends from home and some don't."

"Sabine isn't here, no." And he misses her fiercely. "There is a Mandalorian here. He's been going by Mando, which is...different. And I've only seen him in full armor. But he's got a kid with him - adopted. Grogu. Who thinks the world of him." Which Ezra has seen and felt, rather directly, through mental connection.

"So whatever reason he has to be cautious about his name and face, I've giving him the benefit of the doubt."

“Perhaps he’s afraid of revealing himself for fear of capture,” Sansa says. “It could be any number of reasons. You say he has a child, though? Is he of an age with my boy or is he older?”

Sansa is always interested in playmates for James, as few children as they have among the fleet.

"He's definitely older," Ezra replies with a chuckle. "The things is, Grogu's a species that lives a really long time. I don't know a lot about them, but the only other member of his kind I've met was centuries old. So - he's a kid, definitely. Older toddler, emotionally, is my best guess."

"How strange," Sansa says, trying to wrap her mind around it. "But if he's young in spite of his age, I should like to meet him. He sounds terribly adorable."

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