"Arguably, anyone can paint or sing. It's how well you can do them..." Meaning Padmé would not be using those skills for anything. It also wasn't a passion of hers, so while she may attempt to paint a tree or sing a song, it would only be for nothing serious. No, she was apt as a politician and did enjoy it.
"Perhaps one day then. I know that even my own planet has gone through shifts. It used to be ruled by a lineage, and then shifted to elections. We used to be more out there in the galaxy, but then withdrew for a time and cut off most ties that we had made." Padmé had worked on getting some of the ties back. Being isolated had not helped Naboo.
She laughed though. "That's good. I may have a decent palette, but nothing too out there."
That made Tinya giggle. "Me neither, I don't want to be divebombed by angry songbirds trying to make me stop." Tinya had ballet, she put so many hours into practice that it had to be enough. She was honestly enjoying being "off-duty" from the Legion for a while, though she still missed her son and husband endlessly.
"If my family has anything to say, we'll keep our hold on power. There's...too much pride involved to let go. Though, at least Bgztl has a reasonable excuse for keeping to itself, being in another dimension entirely. We're part of the United Galaxies, Mother is even President of it, but we still keep our own council most of the time. Even though it would be a really good idea to let other worlds and their ideas become more commonplace. But, may I ask...why did your world go into itself?"
"It won't be. Just don't order anything with three chili peppers next to the description, Tinya replied with a smile.
"Although it would make an interesting spectacle..." She offered a small playful smile at Tinya's giggle. Arguably it would be slightly better than the birds dropping dead from having their ear drums blown, which was there Padmé might have gone with that. She might be able to hum decently, although that was the extent for Padmé.
Padmé nodded in understanding though. Pride often was a factor. She wouldn't say that she had no pride, as she did find it in various ways, but she also knew that pride could get you killed. It was one of the reasons why she had bent to the Gungans. "It wasn't really just one thing, but something that happened gradually. Naboo does stand in a position of power in our spot in the galaxy. Maybe it was pride, or arrogance, or our own internal issues."
They had their own strife and conflict, wars and battles. Rulers had been killed and they way that they had governed had been overturned. "I'll keep that in mind."
"Yes, every songbird in Trench either divebombing me, releasing their bowels on me, or both! I'd never escape in time," she said with a wide grin. And she'd feel horrible for killing birds. In the 31st century, it was easy to be a vegan, but it wasn't easy in the other world, or this one. But at least it's mostly fish here, she doesn't feel as bad about fish.
The Mistress knew that her mother and foremothers had enough pride to choke. She wanted to think that her mother had ascended as high as she could so she'd be satisfied with that, but she wasn't sure. She did know that her mother wouldn't be happy until Tinya fully took her place as heir. And Tinya nodded at Padmé's explanation. "Such things can happen slowly all too easily. Once isolation begins, it's hard to end it. But I'm glad that your planet has become part of the intergalactic community of your home galaxy. Even if it did take some humility in place of pride."
Not so on Bgztl. Her foremothers ruled with an intertron fist sheathed in a silk glove. Any who dared challenge their rule got a swift lesson on why they'd ascended in the first place. "Good. I had a friend I forgot to warn and they had to bring out a glass of milk for him to overcome the heat."
She grimaced at the mental image. It was not that Padmé was always pristine, as she wasn't. She wasn't a soldier or a warrior, but she had fought when was needed, and would do what was required of her, what she felt right about. There were times when she could still feel the claws of the Nexu shredding along her back.
"We were trying. It's not always easy and there are those that don't want Naboo to lose any of it's power. Yet, there are also those who understand that it's not a weakness." Offering aid doesn't need to be a negative. It can be something good, a hand offered that may one day be returned if the circumstances ever required.
Tinya often wasn't pristine, between her daily sparring matches with Sasuke and her training with Terry Silver. Even before then, Val Armorr and Lyle Norg had proved both excellent teachers and ruthless taskmasters. If they wanted Tinya to perform a certain block one hundred times in a row, they'd keep at her until she did, even when she was exhausted and her muscles were screaming for mercy. But they--and mother--didn't have any, so neither should she.
"I agree completely. One of Bgztl's weaknesses--there's no one but us in that dimension, even the other planets are uninhabitable. There have always been those who saw that and looked outward." Her great-great-great grandmother, for one. When she'd seen Terra exhausted and broken after its last world war, she'd seen a world ripe for conquest.
"I honestly do not even know how long ago we started space exploration... If the knowledge exists, it's probably stored somewhere deep. Yet there are still planets where it isn't always known to have strangers. From my perspective, that does seem strange. Yet, I know that we must learn to crawl before we can walk, and not everyone achieves that at the same time, but I feel that we are so much richer from having others with different views and beliefs around." Humming softly as they walked forward. Her approach had always been to broach with an open hand compared to a sternness that might make others feel like their backs were against the wall.
"That must have been a really long time ago, then. We did try, but like I said. A dimension with no one but us. That...sort of consolidated rule in my family's hands. There were no genuinely new ideas after a while, so there was no one to shake my foremothers off of the top of the tree." People had tried, of course. And were met with a hard line response. Tinya's approach was similar to Padmé's perspective, though, so she often wondered what she'd do when it became her turn. She knew what she didn't want to do and that was become her mother.
"A very very long time ago," Padmé murmured. There were tales and of course history that went beyond just that of Naboo. Certain galactic events were also taught, and as a politician, she tended to know a bit more about how they interacted with each other. Padmé did pause for a moment, contemplative. "Have you explored the entirety of your galaxy then? Or how exactly does your dimension work?"
They were in similar situations since for a very long time, she'd been her mother's right hand. Tinya was expected to know a plethora of galactic information, all of the people, places, and reasons why they were important. Of course, she figured that Padmé hadn't been expected to take that information, use it to get more information, and report back to Mother.
"It's sort of parallel to Earth? There's Earth, the Phantom Zone which is sort of its own dimension, and then there's us. We initially sent out people in search of other life, but once we reached a certain point with no results, that idea was scrapped. So instead we send out the occasional probe and leave it at that."
"But there is space around you? Stars and asteroids, and even other planets?" Just not life close-by, if at all. Padmé knew that space travel had not always been as quick as it was now. There were times when voyages between planets had taken years. That was a long time past though, and Padmé was thankful for that. At least most of the time. The intergalactic issues had been a point of contention. Not everyone sought to aid each other.
"In the Phantom Zone? No. In Bgztl's home dimension? Yes. It's...we really did want to find other life out there. The problem was, Earth was instable for a long, long time. They were kind of our last resort when it came to making official first contact with another planet." But Tinya's entirely happy that they did. Earth was so vibrant, so lively that she'd loved it there. Granted, she now lives full-time on Legion World, an enormous space station, but Earth isn't an impossible trip to make in a single day.
"Perhaps one day then?" Padmé really doesn't understand the set up, but there could always be hope, no? Hope is the one thing that people should hold onto. She knows that there are people who haven't even gone to the stars yet, feels privileged that she has been able to.
"Maybe. Though, knowing my great-great grandmother and my great-grandmother, they'd see them as potential worlds for us to swoop in on. They're never ones to pass up opportunities to show their strength. Neither is Mother, for that matter, although you'd think she'd recuse herself since she's already President of the United Galaxies." Tinya tends to be very realistic about her foremothers' perception of power and how to exercise it. Grandmother had been different, but that hadn't saved her in the end.
"... what does happen when they come across those who are stronger, or has that happened?" Colour her curious, as to whether they would back off, make allies, or... try to get the upper hand in some matter. It's not really something that Padmé thinks about, although she approached different species with an openness and a desire to understand them.
"It...hasn't really happened? Our tech level is close enough to Earth. Not as good as Colu, but no other planet is. When we made contact with the outer dimension, we mostly did it because there was only so far our planet could go without becoming stagnant," Tinya said with a slight shrug. And because her foremothers wanted to expand their sphere of influence further than just their own planet.
"What is this... Colu like?" Padmé found herself curious, wanting to see if it was akin to her the galaxy. While it can vary from planet to planet and where they lay within the galaxy, from the inner rim to outer rim to wild space...
"It's home to the smartest beings in the entire galaxy. Of course because they are smart and everyone knows they're smart, they can be more than a little arrogant. I have one for a teammate and he's the smartest of them all. And again, knows it and considers everyone but his boyfriend beneath him," she says with a chuckle. That boyfriend is her best friend back home, so she'd gotten a front-row seat to the two of them dancing around each other for years before finally getting their act together.
"Is it a natural talent or are they well educated?" Although there are differences between educated and smart. Padmé wonders what that would be like. On one hand, being smart is helpful, yet on the other... do they still learn or want to learn? Perhaps it is a competitive thing?
"Both. But a certain bloodline excels above all others--the Dox clan. There's a title bestowed on the very smartest of them and there's no guarantee that it's a generational honor. It has to be earned, so that makes it very competitive through the generations. 'Brainiac.' I'm teammates with Brainiac 5. He's smarter than the rest of us put together and he's not shy about saying so." But she says it fondly. She's gotten to know him better ever since he started dating her best friend.
"So, if you marry into it, does that mean your children have a better chance, or?" If they even have any manner of union. She assumes given the whole generational comment, but also knows that marriage isn't necessary. Her own sister is an example of that, but not all are as forward as Naboo may be. "I take it he doesn't do it in an annoying way, or he just has other talents that off-set it?"
"I guess you do? But...that's not really a story that's mine to tell." Because the previous Brainiac attempted to murder her own child for the sake of a cheap thrill. She didn't find out about this first hand, though, she'd gotten Lyle drunk and he spilled. Ordinarily, he wouldn't be so sloppy, but he couldn't help being angry at his boyfriend's mother for what she had done.
Tinya keeps wanting to go to Brainy and explain that she knows how it feels to have one's own mother want her dead. But she's been too afraid to. Brainy was very private.
"Of course." She gives a small tip of her head acknowledging that and not seemingly bothered by the reply at all. After all, if that is how she feels, then Padmé cannot hold it against her. There are, no doubt, instances where she would do the same thing.
"Thank you. And Brainy's getting better. His boyfriend is kind of a...mollifying influence. And since the boyfriend has been a friend of mine when we were children, I'm supporting their relationship. They're very good for each other."
And there had been a time when Jo had been very good for her. He helped her break free of her mother's influence as much as it was possible. She still loves him, but she's no longer sure that's enough.
"It is what a relationship should be." Being good for each other. You don't always need to see eye to eye, but so long as they were there for you at the end of the day, that was what mattered. That they could lift you up or call you out on your bullshit. "Do I want to ask about why is it a mollifying influence...?"
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deercountry2022-04-11 07:02 pm
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"Perhaps one day then. I know that even my own planet has gone through shifts. It used to be ruled by a lineage, and then shifted to elections. We used to be more out there in the galaxy, but then withdrew for a time and cut off most ties that we had made." Padmé had worked on getting some of the ties back. Being isolated had not helped Naboo.
She laughed though. "That's good. I may have a decent palette, but nothing too out there."
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"If my family has anything to say, we'll keep our hold on power. There's...too much pride involved to let go. Though, at least Bgztl has a reasonable excuse for keeping to itself, being in another dimension entirely. We're part of the United Galaxies, Mother is even President of it, but we still keep our own council most of the time. Even though it would be a really good idea to let other worlds and their ideas become more commonplace. But, may I ask...why did your world go into itself?"
"It won't be. Just don't order anything with three chili peppers next to the description, Tinya replied with a smile.
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Padmé nodded in understanding though. Pride often was a factor. She wouldn't say that she had no pride, as she did find it in various ways, but she also knew that pride could get you killed. It was one of the reasons why she had bent to the Gungans. "It wasn't really just one thing, but something that happened gradually. Naboo does stand in a position of power in our spot in the galaxy. Maybe it was pride, or arrogance, or our own internal issues."
They had their own strife and conflict, wars and battles. Rulers had been killed and they way that they had governed had been overturned. "I'll keep that in mind."
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The Mistress knew that her mother and foremothers had enough pride to choke. She wanted to think that her mother had ascended as high as she could so she'd be satisfied with that, but she wasn't sure. She did know that her mother wouldn't be happy until Tinya fully took her place as heir. And Tinya nodded at Padmé's explanation. "Such things can happen slowly all too easily. Once isolation begins, it's hard to end it. But I'm glad that your planet has become part of the intergalactic community of your home galaxy. Even if it did take some humility in place of pride."
Not so on Bgztl. Her foremothers ruled with an intertron fist sheathed in a silk glove. Any who dared challenge their rule got a swift lesson on why they'd ascended in the first place. "Good. I had a friend I forgot to warn and they had to bring out a glass of milk for him to overcome the heat."
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"We were trying. It's not always easy and there are those that don't want Naboo to lose any of it's power. Yet, there are also those who understand that it's not a weakness." Offering aid doesn't need to be a negative. It can be something good, a hand offered that may one day be returned if the circumstances ever required.
"Perhaps I'll order a cup to begin with..."
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"I agree completely. One of Bgztl's weaknesses--there's no one but us in that dimension, even the other planets are uninhabitable. There have always been those who saw that and looked outward." Her great-great-great grandmother, for one. When she'd seen Terra exhausted and broken after its last world war, she'd seen a world ripe for conquest.
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"It's sort of parallel to Earth? There's Earth, the Phantom Zone which is sort of its own dimension, and then there's us. We initially sent out people in search of other life, but once we reached a certain point with no results, that idea was scrapped. So instead we send out the occasional probe and leave it at that."
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(CW: murder of a child, underage drinking)
Tinya keeps wanting to go to Brainy and explain that she knows how it feels to have one's own mother want her dead. But she's been too afraid to. Brainy was very private.
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And there had been a time when Jo had been very good for her. He helped her break free of her mother's influence as much as it was possible. She still loves him, but she's no longer sure that's enough.
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(CW: grooming)
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