Document 1278803-4576b

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Entry 5-

Once outside, I quickly realized that I should have brought two leashes with me in order to keep track of my tourist friends. Since this was their first time visiting New Metropolis, they acted foolish, running to and fro with no concern for traffic, tourist traps, or unsuspecting passers-by.

"Oh look!" Thaal cried in excitement, "Kamino's Consulate General! And the Consulate General of-"

I ignored him for the moment, trying to figure out where Arno had disappeared to in the last five seconds.

"Hey Brainy, what's down here?" Arno asked from behind me. I whirled around to spot him about fifteen feet away, pointing down a busy street. "It looks cool!"

I sighed loudly before raising my voice. "Both of you come here and please attempt to restrain your yourselves for a few minutes."

Thaal paused and looked at me, still pointing at the Consulate General of Kamino. "…What's wrong?"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Come here, please."

Thaal and Arno meandered over, still distracted by the unfamiliar sights and sounds of a bustling midmorning New Metropolis. "What?" Thaal grumped at me. "I thought you were making jokes earlier. Why did you suddenly become so crabby?"

"Because you two are acting like mindless dunderheads who've never been off the family farm, that's why," I retorted. "You two are wandering around, gaping at nothing in particular. That's just begging to have your pockets picked, your purses snatched, the wool pulled over your eyes, and experience other undesirable circumstances."

Thaal mock pouted. "You're being mean," he whined, before straightening up suddenly. "And what makes you such an expert, anyway?"

"In case you'd forgotten, New Metropolis isn't my hometown either," I reminded him, quirking an eyebrow in his direction. "I had to learn the hard way. I'm just trying to make things a little easier for you two."

Arno nodded slowly. "So, what do you recommend we do?"

"Obviously it would be impossible to explore all of New Metropolis in one day," I said, "So you should chose a district to explore. The nearest districts are the Cultural district," I inclined my head in the direction of the Consulate Generals that Thaal had been drooling over minutes earlier; "the market district," I nodded in the direction Arno had been pointing; "the heritage district," I pointed my chin straight ahead, "and the tourism district." I glanced over my shoulder to indicate the location of the tourism district, behind myself.

"Shouldn't we go to the tourism district first?" Arno asked hesitantly.

"It would be a great place to start if you wish to be 'ripped off' and 'fleeced' and generally waste your money without having much to show for it," I said, shrugging.

Arno blanched. "Er… being a poor, starving art student… I don't have a lot of pocket money."

I nodded. "Exactly why I would not recommend beginning your tour in the tourism district."

Thaal scowled. "Of course you wouldn't, since that's not what any tourism information packet says," he grumbled, eyeing his handheld padd with disgust.

"Who sells the tourist information?" I reminded him, smirking. "Who makes more money off of a tourism information packet than someone working in the tourism district?"

Thaal considered that for a moment before shrugging. "Good point."

"The heritage district is full of museums, art galleries and educational centers. Thanks to substantial grants from various firms and prestigious companies, most of the attractions in this district require little or no entrance fees," I told them. "The Cultural district has Consulates, interplanetary relations hubs, and-"

"Legion HQ," Thaal interrupted me. "Am I right?"

I nodded. "Yes, Legion headquarters is also located in the heart of the Cultural district."

Thaal frowned thoughtfully for a moment. "Okay. I think I want to go-"

"The heritage district!" Arno said excitedly. "I want to find some art galleries and some museums. I've heard that if you go to galleries in New Metropolis, you'll be able to see exhibits from just about every member planet of the UP."

I nodded slowly. "Generally speaking, that's a fairly accurate evaluation of the Heritage district."

Thaal smirked at Arno. "A bunch of old, dusty museums with stuff that I've never seen before? Sounds like fun to me…"

Arno gave Thaal a disgruntled look. "You know you'll find it interesting," he told him.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure," Thaal said offhandedly, staring off into space.

Arno glanced at me in concern, before turning to Thaal. "If you don't want to explore the heritage district…"

Thaal grinned then. "Nah, I was just having too much fun messing with you!" he said, elbowing Arno and shooting a grin in my direction. Weakly, I responded in kind, giving a halfhearted smile of my own.

I must confess feeling a great amount of relief that Thaal did not get a chance to voice his desire to visit the Cultural District first. It would have been rather difficult for me to see Legion Headquarters. Although I have tried to forgive myself for what I have done, I still struggle to rectify myself with my previous actions. Seeing Legion HQ, everything I betrayed and destroyed, would have been too difficult to bear on my first day back in the city proper.

Perhaps, in time, I could bring myself to lay eyes on Legion HQ without the heaviness of guilt constricting my chest and abdomen. But for now, the mere thought of coming close enough to see it brings a sick feeling of dread to my stomach. I wonder if I will ever be rid of these sensations, or if I will be forever cursed by the guilt that viciously separates me from the one place where I can be myself and truly feel at home.

A/N: I must confess feeling a great amount of disbelief that it has taken me this long to update, and for this travesty, I beg your forgiveness. I could make all kinds of excuses about school, work, home life, internet issues, and other niceties, but it's really beside the point. I must thank Artemisgirl91 for PM-ing me with the all-important question of whether or not I planned on updating this fic, to which I could only think, "Of course I'll update it... when I have time. And inspiration..." Fortunately, inspiration struck not soon after. Sometimes all I need is a little reminding... and some free time.

I'm sorry to my readers, but in my writing, original fiction always comes above fanfiction. Since I have had very little time to write lately, I've only really been writing original fiction. I really do have a lot of ideas and plans for this fic, but I lack the time necessary to really do anything with this fic. I have not given up on Brainy and his plight- truly. But it may be quite a while before anything is resolved, and I'm sorry to any readers who were expecting me to update sooner- a not unreasonable expectation.

Be that as it may, I thank those readers who have not given this fic up for lost, and I hope to have something more up in the near future. After that, I'm not sure when my next update on any fanfic wll occur.

As another quick side note, if you're bothered by my frequent updates to the fanfic "Absolution" while all my other fics seem to be pining away, please note that I have not written more than five pages in Absolution in the last two months. It really is all just pre-written, I promise, whereas I have no pre-written work for this fic. My apologies to anyone who is confused by what appears to be me speaking out of both sides of my mouth.