Arkuhn Charity Raffle

[Judah Dashiell]

Apparently his replies weren't good enough for the pallid businessman, the other spotting someone else in the crowd and excusing himself. It left Judah alone in the crowd, thankfully. He wasn't one for parties or balls or galas. The only reason he had showed up was to support [member="Danger Arceneau"] and the charity organization she and her husband and their hand in. Medical support for underfunded and far flung worlds was important, something he was working closely with in the Kathol Outback. Well, mainly it was [member="Bryce Bantam"] and [member="Matthew Robinson"] ,but he liked to think there was a level involvement.


Hearing his name, he turned to spot the redhead Trade Queen moving his way. Despite the warm smile, Judah could feel her eyes searching him, wondering if he had been getting along fine. Physical wounds had healed, leaving an occasionally sore shoulder. Other wounds still cut deep and Judah sought to keep those hidden deep down. There was no need to burden the woman.


"Its a pleasure to see you again as well." He leaned in, placing a kiss on the Trade Queen's cheek. "Quite the charity event, I expect nothing less from the infamous Miss Arceneau however."


Ocean eyes flicked back to the bar, spotting Makai talking to a woman with a drink in his hand. There was a small chuckle as he pointed the boy out to Danger.


"Getting a drink. I think he was looking for Myra but it seems another lady has snagged his attention for the moment."

 

[Marzena Vaas]

It seemed that Marzena and the small boy had been equally distracted, and now were just as equally apologetic. The child’s manners and his compliment made her smile grow wider, and she held out her own gloved hand to shake his. Her eyes paused for a moment upon seeing that his skin was lightly speckled with what appeared to be scales. It would seem that he was not an ordinary little boy.

“I’m Marzena Choi,” She said with a nod, withdrawing her hand. “It’s nice to meet you too, Makai.”

And with that, she stood up once more and with her free hand she smoothed down the front of her dress to ensure that it was free of wrinkles or creases.She looked around the room again, not sure which direction to head... but then her eyes turned down towards Makai once more. Surely this young man was not here alone; perhaps bumping into him would turn out to be a happy accident.

“You’re probably pretty important around here, am I right?” She asked in a friendly tone, “Would you be able to introduce me to some of your friends?”

Marzena’s brows arched just slightly, a hopeful expression on her face.

[member="Makai Dashiell"]

 

[50H31]

The robot prophet wandered about, eyeing the room with interest. Businessman, politicians, and well-to-do philanthropists. Pretty much an entirely typical set for the bunch. Not much in way of security, which was nice. Frankly, he had done enough war details to know the procedures, and this room seemed to be full of people who had no expectation of violence. Well, at least not the physical kind. It was arguable the sheer opulence of all this could be an act of war on the diets of many, and if someone actually asked the droid prophet to dance, there would likely be a hazardous incident within ten minutes.


As he glanced, he found someone almost as studious in stance as he was. The blond-haired man--well, he was fairly certain it was a man, given the jawline, even if the hair was far more prominent than most men he had dealt with--seemed to stand in his formal wear, looking around the room for someone, but not someone specific. It was the kid of evaluation somebody gave when they wanted an opportunity. On a battlefield, it mean they were looking for a hard target to soften or a soft target to take. In a ballroom, it meant he was looking for someone to assist him. The droid mulled it over. The man wasn't out of place, but his bearing seemed mote traditional than the executive set mostly in the room. Still, part of the man's conversation was definitely about assets and stocks. The droid considered his options.


After a series of silent calculations that equated societal parameters of decorum with a mixture of close-quarters-combat and command chain determination protocols, the droid decided that nothing ventured was indeed nothing gained and walked towards the pale blond man with an extended hand. "Greetings, I'm Five-oh, how are you this evening?" After all, sometimes simple and direct was the best approach.


As he waited for a response, the server from earlier tapped him on the shoulder. "Your tea, sir," she said with a smile.


Five turned with surprising speed. "Ah, thank you, miss! By the way, I didn't happen to catch your name..."


"Lai," the woman said with a bit of surprise. Who on earth asks a drink server for their name?

"Thank you, miss Lai," the droid said with a smile, taking the tea with his other hand. "I hope everyone's as nice as you've been tonight."

Lai nodded and continued on, checking on the other people milling about.


[member="Audren Sykes"]

 

[Alize Rosenheim]

Whenever there was a charity event in her vicinity, Alize would always be in attendance without fail. However, she was not one to attend purely out of the kindness of her own heart but did so with the intention of potentially networking with others who may be of use to her one day. Dressed in a muted pink dress with her hair in an updo, Alize arrived on the arm of Frederick, her droid bodyguard who wore a slim-cut black silk suit.

Fashionably late, the pair entered the dance hall and scanned the crowded room for familiar faces. Unfortunately, to Alize's disappointment, due to the amount of people in attendance, they were unable to recognise the faces of their acquaintances.

After walking around for a minute or so, Alize spotted a bar and subtly signalled Frederick to lead them in its direction. Although she was still slowly reacquainting herself with these social events, she knew the bar was the place where most conversations were initiated and more importantly, she was thirsty and was in need of a drink!

 

[Makai Dashiell]

He took in [member="Marzena Choi"] for a moment, finding her more than odd. It would be rude to say such a thing out loud, but something he could tell his Dad later on. His gaze left the woman in front of him and searched again for [member="Myra Elspeth"] .Makai couldn't bear to go stand back and listen to boring conversation for the rest of the night. It seemed like that was his only choice now.


"No, I'm not important."


Makai only knew two people at the charity raffle. His Dad and Miss Ar-cen-now. Both were now chatting in the corner with no sign of his new friend. A frown deepened on his face. Realization dawned on him she wasn't coming. Makai didn't know he was so eager to hang out with Ellie until she wasn't around, then it was the only thing on his mind.


"I can take you over to my Dad and Miss Ar-cen-now. That's the only people I know."


Drink in hand, he started to lead the blacked haired woman back to his original spot. Hopefully Miss Ar-cen-now wouldn't go too far, he wanted to give her a hug after all. It seemed like he hadn't seen her in ages either.

 

[Audren Sykes]

If he were to be completely honest, which he doubted happened very often in settings like this, the Sephi would have acknowledged that he knew very little on the subject matter. Oh, he could tell the basics: buy stock when the price is low and sell when it's high, know the difference between a long-term and short-term investment, and more. But it was just the basics, what was learned in standard schooling. He'd not gone taken further classes to learn more about businesses, nor had he learned much in the area of stocks on his own. He was sole owner of Ceredir after all, and didn't own stock in any other companies. Why learn?

As a result, he was quieter than the other two. Oh, he spoke every so often, chiming in with a comment on how a particular company had released a certain product and how that would affect their current matter of discussion. Enough so the others wouldn't notice he was talking less than they, enough that he didn't necessarily reveal his lack of comparative knowledge. Whatever one of them saw on his glance around quieted him somewhat though. The other person in their little trio saw it next, then Audren turned to see what they were both looking at. A droid. Not uncommon, even if there were biological servers present. This droid had one hand and arm outstretched in the typical pose for a handshake.

"Greetings, I'm Five-oh, how are you this evening?"

"Doing well, Five-oh. I'm Audren, these are Ventik and Lersen."

Most unusual, but the Knight knew how to react on his feet. From a droid there wouldn't be any intent to harm to be sensed, just a general danger, but he sensed neither of those as he went to shake the droid's mechanical hand. At the same time, he shifted somewhat, including the droid in the group rather than keeping himself in the middle. The moment after introductions were made one of the servers walked up with what seemed like tea...apparently for the droid?

Whatever the droid was, 'stock model' didn't fall into the description. It went beyond the normal politeness towards a server, had ordered a drink when droids - most of them, at least - didn't imbibe, and had offered its hand for a handshake in greeting. A considerable bit of effort had gone into this droid's programming, that much was apparent. And it wasn't just the programming, Audren had noticed how smoothly and quickly the construct had turned when tapped on the shoulder by Lai. The programming wasn't the only thing time and effort had been put into.

"So what brings you to the Arkuhn Charity, Five-oh?"

[member=50H31]

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Judah Dashiell"] | [member="Danger Arceneau"]

Alric let the two talk for a moment, half lost in his own state of mind as he began to peer about the room. There were a few people around them that he didn't quite know the name of, some that he had never met before and other's who he had never even seen before. That last bit seemed odd to him, but then again he was probably a bit out of touch with the galactic community as of late, especially since Myra had taken up more then a bit of his time.

"She's still not quite comfortable in crowds." Alric chimed in as he turned towards Judah.

It was true. Myra still didn't do good in crowds. It was a bit different when those crowds were inside instead of outside, but both he and Danger knew that the little girl would not have done well intermingling with the dozens and dozens of guests that were running around down here, especially since the two of them didn't even know most that were attending. It was better to let her have some time with Rose, the sisters needed time to bond anyway.

Or so Alric thought.

"My other daughter is taking care of her." Alric said with a smile. "The Explorer, not the Empress. Can't drag the latter away."

 

[Marzena Vaas]

Well, even if young Makai only knew a few people here, it was more than she knew. Curiosity nudged at her when she saw the boy’s mouth form a frown and she wondered if perhaps her request had made him feel put-upon. However, her smile lit up once more when Makai offered to introduce her to Ms. Arceneau and his father. It was certainly a good place to start, and it did seem a far better option than attempting to approach the hosts on her own. As the party had only just started, it would also be nice to get her introduction in before they were inundated by other guests.

“That would be splendid, Makai,” She said with a nod, “Thank you.”

Marzena’s dark eyes shifted towards the corner, though she had never met the Trade Queen before, she certainly recognized her by her signature flame colored hair. And next to [member="Danger Arceneau"] stood the stately figure of her husband, [member="Alric Kuhn"], if ever there was a power couple... So she presumed that the dark haired man standing with them was Makai’s father.

She took a small sip of her champagne before moving to follow Makai, and she kept a careful watch to ensure that she did not lose him in the crowd. Marzena threw her shoulders back and cleared her throat on the way, she wanted very much to make a good first impression.

[member="Makai Dashiell"] / [member="Judah Dashiell"]

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Marzena Choi"] [member="Alric Kuhn"] [member="Makai Dashiell"] [member="Judah Dashiell"]

Judah Dashiell was the sort of man that reminded her of her roots. No nonsense and what you see is what you get. There was no guile in the man, holding onto a set of morals and ethics that made Danger appreciate how he'd managed to stay unchanged since he first joined the corporate sector. The kiss on her cheek would provoke one of hers against Judah's own, with a wide genuine smile in turn. He had the scent of the sea with him, what with his time now spent on Dac more often than not. Reminded her of warm beached wood, with a hint of ocean salt. His son was no different; the two were practically peas in a pod.

"Is that so?" she'd ask with notable amusement, arching her brow to follow the line of sight Makai's pa directed the Queen of Trade to. Alric got to talking with Judah about Myra and Rose, and in the meantime Danger spotted the dark mop of curls ambling towards her direction with a wide smile and the brightest ice blue eyes a boy could ever have.

"Makai Dashiell, is that you?!" she gave a soft, if not, exaggerated exclamation

 

[50H31]

[member="Audren Sykes"]


The droid chuckled and made a slight whirring noise as he brought the tea towards his face-plate. Green, with Bergamot seed oil and....mint? Hmm, interesting. Not quite like the old stuff at home, but still, the kind of blend that speak to an odd mix of formality and luxury. It suited this gathering well. Not quite aristocrats, not quite businessmen, these barons of trade were a different set with a different scent entirely. Minty and energetic, with just a tinge of old oils to keep a style in usage. He wished he could smile.


The Sephi addressed the droid, and it was quite the philosophical dilemma. Why was he here? Why was anyone here? Frankly, there were many answers to that. The will of heaven. The desire to learn more of the galaxy around him, to find companions who also sought to alter the galaxy. To gather more knowledge, and philosophy, and the odd bit of wisdom. He cocked his head to the side. "A pleasure to meet all three of you," he said with a slight bow, shaking each hand in turn, noting the slightly confused expressions. Unsurprising, but the blond fellow at least seemed more curious than alarmed. That was refreshing. "The simplest answer to that is that I was given an invitation from an anonymous patron who was invited but unable to make it," he said with nod. "As a leader in charitable work on Ord Cestus, I felt it would be good form to meet like-minded individuals," he said with a smirk. The other two businessmen still seemed a bit awestruck, so he smirked and decided to lighten the mood.


"I do apologize if my appearance at all this seems a bit odd," he said with a snicker, his tone sounding a little too cheerful for the apologetic opening. "This tie seems to clash with my photoreceptors, but that's what happens when you let a monk dress himself," he said with a laugh. He waited to see if the organics would allow tension to diffuse or not. He hoped so. He didn't want to walk on eggshells all night, and he could only levitate for twenty minutes.

 

[Makai Dashiell]

[member="Alric Kuhn"] | [member="Marzena Choi"] | [member="Danger Arceneau"]



"We're not too far off now." Makai half-glanced behind his shoulder, making sure the woman was still in tow. It was easier, away from the bar now. Most of the party was eager to down as many glasses of libation as possible for there species. He still had his glass of green concoction, easier to carry now that he wasn't in the thick of the crowds.


A genuine grin broke out when he spotted the redhaired Trade Queen. Passing his father on the way, Makai handed over his refreshment for safe keeping while he greeted his friend. Not caring they were at some charity raffle, arms went around the woman's waist, hugging her tight. It was a long moment before he let go, remembering that it was probably wrinkling her fancy dress.


It was nice to hug his friend, a woman that was slowly becoming a surrogate mother to him ever since his own had up and vanished.


"Hi Miss Ar-cen-now.....Mr.Kuhn...." Makai went to ask more questions, but remembered he had a guest in tow. "This is Miss Choi, she wanted to say 'hello'."

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Danger Arceneau"] | [member="Alric Kuhn"] | [member="Marzena Choi"]



"I don't blame her. Hopefully the kids can get together for some fun soon. Myra's been a big help in helping him keep his mind off Thes-" A small pause, a stumbling block.Judah cleared his throat before continuing on. "Off what happened. Besides, its a little amusing to watch him be bossed around by such a small girl."



He grew silent as his son approached, taking the small drink for himself. It looked a bit like the kelp juice the boy drank every morning and he briefly wondered if it tasted the same as well. Makai had brought the woman in tow and he extended his free hand out in greeting.


"Judah. I see you've had the pleasure of meeting my son already."

 

[Marzena Vaas]

Marzena watched with interest as Makai moved to embrace Ms. Arceneau, by the way his small arms held tight to her, it was clear that the two were close. It was a heartwarming sight. She remained a few feet away from the group, not wanting to intrude, until Makai mentioned politely that she had wanted to greet them. Just a couple graceful strides brought her forward, the points of her black stilettos clicked against the polished floor.

“Please, call me Marzena,” She offered in an inviting tone, her eyes flickering from Alric, to Danger, and then to the man that had just introduced himself as Judah. She turned a friendly smile in his direction, and then shook his hand, her brief grip upon his hand firm, yet not overly so.

“Yes,” She nodded, “Makai is a very charming young man.”

Her slender hand was then extended to each of their hosts.

“It is wonderful to meet you, Mr. Kuhn, Ms. Arceneau,” She said pleasantly.

[member="Alric Kuhn"], [member="Judah Dashiell"], [member="Danger Arceneau"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

[member="Valashu Elahad"] seemed to be a little quiet. Maybe his little 'have we met' comment to [member="Gray Raxis"] was meant as a cue for her to excuse herself from them. She wasn't always the best when it came to reading people, especially strangers. "Well, I shall leave you two to catch up. Enjoy your evening."

Kay bowed her head to the two of them and then took her leave of the bar. She sipped her virgin drink as she walked, politely declining any offers of appetizers. Instead she just walked over to one of the walls and leaned against it, to watch everyone else.

 

[Audren Sykes]

And the day continued to get weirder. The droid claimed to be a "leader in charitable work on Ord Cestus" who had been given his ticket by an anonymous invitee. Audren had to assume that Ord Cestus was a world, he'd never heard of it before. The anonymous invitee was odd, but fell within accepted practices. Heck, the whole situation in this small section of the gathering fell under that category now. And it all had to do with the arrival of the droid.

The Sephi did his best to keep the thoughts from reaching his face, he generally had good success with that sort of thing. The entire situation was odd. He had nothing against droids personally - with the exception of those that tried to kill him of course - but had yet to meet one that claimed to be involved in charitable work, let alone to be a leader in the field. From the way the droid acted, it was likely manumitted or its master had an extremely unique sense of humor. Speaking of sense of humor, the droid cracked what was clearly intended to be a joke. And snickered - odd hearing that come from a vocabulator. To boot, he got the feeling that if the droid's face wasn't metal, it would be smirking. Odd programming.

Personally, the Knight didn't find the joke funny. He merely allowed his right eyebrow to twitch somewhat. The motion served to both convey his response to the joke and to test how well the other could see and interpret minor expression changes. Lersen chuckled politely, but Ventik actually laughed in true amusement.

"Nothing to do with being a monk. My wife won't let me choose the outfits I wear to gatherings like this, says I have no sense of what matches with what."

[member=50H31]

 

[50H31]

The droid probably would have sighed relief if he had anything resembling a respiratory system. Still, while the joke was met with mixed reception, it at least provided some alleviation to slightly stilted reception the droid tended to receive. He relaxed his shoulders, adopting a slightly less formal stance. "Ehh, old jokes aside, it actually is quite nice to see so many people here. Warms my processors to see this kind of effort happening for good causes," he said with a nod.



The droid seemed to appraise the room slightly as the fellow discussed his wife. "You're married? Lucky fellow. It's tricky to find people crazy enough to stick with others in this Galaxy sometimes. I don't know if I could ever handle something like that. What's the phrase people use? Married to their work? I think that's closer to my life," he seemed very relaxed, all things considered. "So tell me, Audren, do you often attend these charity events? I have to admit, I find myself sticking out a bit at all of this," Five intoned with a wave of his hand, gesturing to all the...fanciness of it. This was far from the industrial salvage of Ord Cestus or the old Monastery he worked at. Still people did seem nice, if a bit surprised to see a droid.



[member="Audren Sykes"]

 

[Alric Kuhn]

Myra bossing anyone around was a half comical sight, mostly because the little girl didn't speak. It was a concern for him, and for Danger of course, but so far they hadn't pushed the girl. They had both figured that the trauma she had endured was enough to silence anyone, and the doctor himself had said that she was perfectly capable of speaking...she simply didn't want to. A frown touched his lips for half a moment, then he regarded the woman that approached them.

He didn't give a greeting, simply a small incline of his head.

In truth his mind was far too wrapped up in thoughts of Myra. He was concerned about his daughter, had been since their trip to the shipyards. He looked up towards where he knew Rose and Myra would be, casting a glance back towards Danger and realizing that he was probably fitting into the roll of overly concerned father a bit too well. He supposed it was only natural really, someone had to worry, and although most of the time that was Danger, it could sometimes be him as well.

Suddenly a robotic voice called over the microphone.

"The Charity Raffle will now begin!"

There was a loud spinning click of a wheel, a blink of lights that nearly blinded Alric, and then suddenly the announcer spoke once more.

"The First prize, a 5% Real Estate ownership of Cloud Nine goes to ticket number...A21([member="Marzena Choi"])!"

 

[Matreya]

Holding an arm out, he guided his friend toward his other companion, "No, no. Stay and talk. I do apologize. I came and interrupted, simply to be caught in my confusion. I recognize you, but not from where, which is the main issue. Please, let us talk. I am Valashu Elahad, owner of Merr-Sonn inc, and friend of this here Raxis.

"I like to imagine he, having seen my loyalty, can call me an ally in dire times." Valashu said then grinned.

[member="Gray Raxis"] [member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Makai Dashiell"] [member="Alric Kuhn"] [member="Marzena Choi"] [member="Judah Dashiell"]

You could see it in his eyes. That cordial smile used to hide the lingering pain. It was an expression, a mask, Danger had worn herself for years. There were pieces of the heart that just wouldn’t see no amount of healing; Judah Dashiell found himself going through a gauntlet and tested. Who knew what would come next.

“Always a pleasure to see you both,” she’d say, reaching down to ruffle Makai’s hair. Those brown curls would cling to her fingers as she gave him a gentle cafune. “I hear you were lookin’ for someone in particular hmm?” she’d tease him for a moment, before lifting her gaze up towards the unfamiliar woman.

“Good evening, Ms. Choi.” with a warm smile, she extended out her hand towards the brunette.

“Danger Arceneau.” she introduced herself, then gestured to Alric,” And my husband, Alric Kuhn.” A pause and then her eyes grew wide.

“Well, looks like congratulations are in order for winning the first prize!”

 

[Marzena Vaas]

Marzena returned Danger’s smile with one of her own, and a small nod of her head to Alric. Her brows rose just slightly as the voice announced the start of the raffle. A pleasant smile found her rosy lips as she watched the spinning wheel in the distance, the colors and lights flying by in a blur, until the wheel finally came to a stop. As the announcer proclaimed the winning ticket number, Marzena merely clapped her hands softly. Then she paused. Hadn’t her ticket number been A-something? Pulling the ticket stub from her clutch she blinked a couple of times, dark eyelashes fluttering.

“Oh my goodness,” Her smile grew, “Well, that’s my number. I certainly wasn’t expecting to win anything tonight.”

A gloved hand had come to rest upon her chest, it could easily have been an act, but she truly had been caught by surprise. And to win such a prize, she was feeling very lucky.

“Thank you, Ms. Arceneau,” She nodded, “This is actually quite a coincidence, as I currently live on Bespin.”

Marzena lingered for a moment longer, but figured that she would need to turn in her ticket to claim her prize. She took a last sip of champagne and smiled to her new acquaintances, she knew that she had also interrupted their conversation and did not want to overstay her welcome.

“Well, I don’t want to keep you.” She smiled, “It was lovely to meet all of you. And if you happen to need entertainment for future events, please keep me in mind.”

With a last wave to Makai, Marzena began to wind her way through the crowd, towards the booth set up near the stage.

[member="Danger Arceneau"], [member="Alric Kuhn"], [member="Judah Dashiell"]