[D9, EE, Garden Park, closed] Small hopes

[Korvin Hikarrin]

Ruby and her two passengers, damp from the drizzle, pulled to a stop just outside one entrance to Garden Park, which sat about equal distances from the motel and Restaurant Alley, and not far from the affluent Old Garden neighborhood. Now somewhat run down, the park occupied a few blocks of the Middle City. Though not what it had been in its heyday, it remained pleasant at least in parts due to some effort by volunteers and some funding by wealthier citizens with a sense of both civic duty and local history.

Korvin dismounted from the bike and offered Dhel a hand, remembering for a moment the first time he'd done that --what seemed like an eternity ago.

"See, it's on the way. I know we need dinner, I know it's raining, but... I need to show you something." It'd be a stretch to say he was excited, as everyone's spirits seemed as damp under the circumstances as the plants in that park. But somehow there was a little spark in Korvin, in spite of the dark shadow hanging over their tomorrow.

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

Damp is just part of the season. Dhel's rain cloak is a lot less use on the bike as well, though she does her best to keep it from being a wind-dragging banner flying behind them.

She takes his hand on the dismount, smiling, and hangs onto it as he leads the way. "Well, you have me curious. Lead on."

[Korvin Hikarrin]

Korvin leads her along one of the paved but well-worn paths through the park. The mist in the air is vaguely pleasant, although less so since there's been nothing but wet all over all day.

"My mom and some of her friends insist on keeping the park up. At least some of it. I thought it was kind of a, 'don't forget the old days' kind of thing. But, uh, there's this thing about the old days..." He stops and, with the hand not holding tight to Dhel's, waves at a small patch of very young plants. "What we remember of the old days can, uh, be the..." Korvin looks frustrated for a moment. "I was... I was trying to have this cool speech about hope." He gives Dhel an embarrassed smile. "Sorry. But look at these little things," he says with some enthusiasm. He waves to the small... cacti? shrubs? Whatever they are, they're small but vibrant looking.

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

Dhel laughs a bit at the lost speech, fond rather than mocking. "It's ok, they don't really need a cool speech. They're fine on their own." She crouches down to look at them, still holding onto his hand. "How long have they been working on this?"

[Korvin Hikarrin]

Korvin smiles at the pleasant laugh, looking down fondly at Dhel.

"I planted them about three weeks ago. During that last heat wave. And i figured they didn't have much of a chance, but they're... They're doing pretty good." Korvin's voice mixes surprise and pride.

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

"Some things are tenacious like that." Dhel looks up at him, not really fussed at the drizzle on her face. "So you're taking up tending the place?" She stands, using their joined hands for a bit of extra lift.

[Korvin Hikarrin]

"No, I've been..." He looks embarrassed for a moment. "I've been helping with the park for a while. I just..." He looks up to the spitting sky, letting some of the drizzle refresh him in a way.

"I don't know how often I'll be able to come back, but it made me hopeful that these guys will still be here. And maybe someone else will get them to grow really big, or plant something else. Because it's not..." He looks at Dhel with a kind of sad smile. "It doesn't matter if I'm here, if somebody else can think, 'Yeah, I can do a small thing too.' We need more of that."

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

Dhel smiles. 'Yeah...it's nice to have something that you've done left behind. Even better when it's something that can make people smile a bit."

Raingear or no, she slips her arms around him, resting her head on his shoulder, letting her weight shift against him. "Worried about tomorrow?"

[Korvin Hikarrin]

His arms wrap around her, strong but not so tight she couldn't move if she chose to.

"I know I'm doing the right thing, not worried about that," he says, sidestepping her real question for the moment. "Are you worried?"

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

She pulls back a bit, searching his eyes to find that purposeful sidestep before nodding once and tightening her hold, pressing her forehead beneath his chin. Words tumble out in a rush. "Terrified. I don't know what they've done with Petra all this time, how she'll be. And everyone going in who's in danger just to help. And you. And me...and afterward? If there's an afterward."

[Korvin Hikarrin]

"Yeah," he says calmly, though there's a hard swallow. "I get all that. It'll be hard, I'm sure. But we have great people to help us," his calm sounds thin, like maybe he even practiced this, but it doesn't waver despite the length of her list. "And we've got a good plan, and Sera wouldn't even let us go if we couldn't do this."

One of his hands came up to gently rub the back of her neck, similar to how he had the night before. "Afterward is gonna work out the same way as the last few weeks have," he says, the false bravado a little more noticeable -- maybe even irritating -- from him now. "In ways totally unpredictable three weeks ago." With the last words, he tries to look in her eyes, to show her this little part, at least, he really does have hope for.

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

Touch is comfort and grounding, and something the Bothan craves without really understanding the need. So she does relax against him, even as she hears the bravado. That's alright though. They were all going to pull themselves through with with whatever worked best. Outside of this moment of vulnerability, she planned to pretend that nothing could possibly end badly for them, because it just couldn't.

"Korvin? I don't think things are going to be at all the same. Imperial response alone..." Catching his gaze, she pauses, hands tightening at his back before she leans in to kiss him with a need tinged with fear of loss to come. Coming up for air, she disengages enough to tug him toward a bench with a sheltering tree.

"I've been meaning to ask you what you thought of everyone..at the movie night and all," she says with a solid shift in subject and determined tone.

[Korvin Hikarrin]

He's as needy for the continued touch, the anchoring in a positive place, as she is. Korvin happily leans into the kiss, seeing it as a positive reaction to the look he'd given her. He's not happy to let her pull away at all, but lets her go and, as usual, gives in to the pull she exerts.

He smiles a little, at the changing of subjects rather than the new subject. "I, ah, had fun. Thought everyone was interesting," he says with a bit of hesitation. Then he cops to what's really on his mind: "Did I do ok? I mean... Well, I mean that. Did I pass their tests?"

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

Dhel looks at him strangely, no need to force that reaction at all. "Their tests? Like...making sure you were, I don't know...not mean to me or something?"

Shaking her head. "They just wanted to watch a really dumb movie with friends."

[Korvin Hikarrin]

He looks at her, somewhat incredulous. "Not mean to you, not too clingy, not... Not that weird guy who someone's dating that'll be gone in a week..." Not seeing that she understood, he huffed. He squeezed her hand, then in a quiet voice said, "Your friends are there to tell you when someone's not good enough for you."

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

Dhel blinks, then smiles with a huff through her nose. "I think they'd give it a little longer than one night before deciding that. And maybe, you know, trust my judgement a little?" Squeezing his hands a bit, she adds. "OK, maybe they don't know my track record well enough to distrust my judgement, is more like it. You did fine..."

"...did you get to enjoy things a little bit, at least? Or just worry all night?"

[Korvin Hikarrin]

Korvin nods, accepting logically that he'd overblown the importance of one night. "Well, I'm glad I did ok then... And I was worrying too much," he admits. "I did really want them to like me," he says quietly. Before that settles, sounding too much like an excuse, he adds, "And it was fun. I mean, Raven and Sho are nice, and Manny's really good at that magic stuff..." There's a little twinkle in Korvin's eye as he thinks about that card trick again.

"I still don't know what to do with the giant shark person," he says honestly. "I'm used to..." He huffs and shakes his head. "I'm used to being the one that people think is out of place. And I know how to deal with that. Phroth is... Well, I guess I need to give it more than one movie night, right?" He gives her the kind of cocky grin that she has hardly seen in recent days.

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

Dhel shakes her head. "Nobody thought anyone was out of place. And Sholua likes you enough for a nickname. Anyway, Phroth's part of the crew. He's..." Dhel hunts for words. "I don't think I've run into anyone as comfortable with who they are and where they are. Honestly...you could probably learn a few things hanging around him a bit. I have."

But the topic has some less friendly avenues too, and Dhel sighs. "But...you're maybe not entirely chasing treewees in gartiger territory. I've only known most of the folks there a bit over a month. We trust one another, but it's different than friends you grow up with."

It's not easy to say aloud the sort of bargain that's always just implied, assumed, whispered about in the third person. At least not easy to say it directly to someone who'd been part of that kind of game. It's not shame though, that creases her furry brow, it's worry there in her eyes. "The folks I grew up with aren't going to tell me you're not good enough for me. Those are going to figure that I'm trading on my looks to enjoy a bit of the money and security that comes with your name. A few months back, they'd be absolutely right."

[Korvin Hikarrin]

Korvin's eyes show a touch of surprise at how she describes Phroth, but it's followed by a nod of agreement. "Comfort with who he is..." he murmurs softly, some envy evident.

As Dhel goes on about the crew, he nods in understanding. As she transitions to some other people, he looks down at the bench between them, but he squeezes her hands to show continued connection.

He looks up at her from under his brows when she says that in the past those people would have been right. It's not a hopeful look, but it's not the despondent one he might have given her just a couple of days before. Mostly, it's just patient, as he listens to what she wants to say.

[Dhelih Dotaivi]

A held breath is released. "Maybe that's not really a surprise to you, yeah? Maybe you were playing a bit of that game too at first? Buying a drink means there's a little bit of push to feel obligated, so what's a fancy dinner worth on that scale, eh?"

"Don't get me wrong, the passion is real." She's leaning closer as if to demonstrate that passion, but thinks better of it, though her thumbs brush along his in a caress as her hands tighten.

"But I've gotten some breathing room, with a place to stay and credits I can't spend in just a day. It's nice." Her hand comes up to brush his cheek. "Just...enjoying things without needing to calculate. Without constantly assessing what someone wants, and if I'm willing to provide it for the price of whatever they're offering."

She looks at him, intent. "Thing is...I'm way better at knowing what people want than what they need. Not that it's hard to see what you want." A hint of smile plays across her lips. "But I'm free to worry if this...is good for you? It's what I'm able to give, but it feels a little like letting you pull a med tape off slow and painful instead of getting it over with and shaking it off."