Faction Night of Passion [TSE & Friends]

[Vaylin]

It had been a very long time since Vaylin had set foot in a nightclub, at least in terms of recreational purposes and not for a mission. Establishments like Passion were not the Zabrak's usual stomping grounds, her previous...experiences had certainly drawn a more cautious and kinda negative outlook on them.

Albeit, that was primarily the fault of her old Master, Aria. She had essentially thrown her into the deep end, in an attempt to help the Zabrak become more 'social'.

Getting dragged along onto a Party Boat full of alcohol and spice was certainly one way of doing that. Many regrets came in the wake of that, but all these years later and those had turned more into amusement now.

Vaylin was vaguely interested upon receiving the invitation from AMCO . She had caught wind of his fairly recent ascension to the Dark Council, and it wasn't every day that said council member opened up a nightclub soon after. But it wasn't enough for her to make the choice to leave Mygeeto. At least not until Adriana Fortemps contacted her.

Both women were almost constantly busy with their respective jobs, but often finding time in between to spend with one another. Whether it was physically going somewhere, or just chatting over the Holo. So it wasn't unusual to Vaylin when the Echani wanted to go to the newly opened nightclub together. But what did catch her attention was the almost disdain tone in her voice when talking about the establishment.

And she wasn't sure if that was over the nightclub itself, or maybe it's owner.

Needless to say, Vaylin found herself stepping into the Nightclub 'Passion'.

Vaylin was dressed casual, albeit lacking the armour and the pointing things (or at least the obvious to see ones). She immediately got hit with some Zeltron pheromones, but Vaylin didn't let it distract her. Brought up particular memories from years ago, but she was more focused on tracking down Jorryn, who she assumed had already hidden herself away in some corner.

 

[Farah]

A briefly feral look crossed her face when she heard her name—by whatever deities there were or weren’t, Farah was not a social creature. Not in the same capacity as the rest of her kin were (if she even considered them that). She went to events like these primarily for networking, or to get her hands on something she wanted. Speaking of, she glanced over to her partner for the evening to find him chatting up an even more scantily clad Zeltron who appeared to appreciate his advances. She almost snorted, simultaneously unbothered and relieved that she didn’t have to spend any more time on the arm of that old codger.

Now she straightened, pupils relaxing when she realized who’d approached her. “Vandiir.” It was as much of a confirmation as it was an acknowledgment, with a curl of surprise at the edge of her tone. It had been a while since they’d met—back then, they were both simple apprentices with a penchant for scientific endeavors. Adrian had always been the more socially apt of the two, whereas Farah had retained her reputation as a bitter, ruthless surgeon over the years. “Nice try, Adrian. You’ll have to try harder than that for proprietary information.”

There was almost a playful inflection in her voice, and she ignored the fact that it was actually a good feeling to see someone she knew. He’d grown since she’d last seen him—taller, confidence in his posture, someone at ease with who he was. “I have to say, I’m disappointed in you Vandiir.” She reached for another toothpick, unabashed in her desire for cheese. “You showed such promise—who new you’d abandon your talents as a scientist and resort to the entertainment industry like some common Zeltron?”

Truthfully? If she was that unimpressed with him, she’d have walked away by now. But she remained, allowing curiosity to leak through her frigid exterior. Idly, she played with the nullification ring on her finger, spinning the band back and forth. She’d felt more than a handful of sith presences since she’d stepped through the threshold, so perhaps it would be appropriate to remove the mock-wedding ring from her finger. Farah squinted over Adrian’s shoulder as her eyes caught sight of a familiar head of stark-white hair.

“Hey, Far!” She had to keep from bristling at that. No one at Coruscant General called her Far. It was...odd, and oddly nice to have that sort of familiarity of a nickname. Farah wasn’t sure if she enjoyed it.

“What is this, the new dark council meeting?” She speared her toothpick into another cube of cheese, swallowing both food and sarcasm. “I’m well, Jorryn. It’s good to see you alive, and intact.”

It was an honest compliment.

AMCO | Adriana Fortemps

 

[AMCO]

Mouth quirking upwards with amusement at her almost-playful remark and wider still as she followed his example by throwing the dullness of decorum to the wind, he grabbed another piece of cheese for himself - it really was top-tier - before tapping the gleaming floor with an equally gleaming shoe.

"Pleasure and politics, Farah, pleasure and politics - but deep beneath lies quite the lab. I'm sure I could show you some interesting things."

Chuckling with amusement, he shook his head. "Speaking of science, you really should have seen the faces of the Order's Sorcerers when I tried to make them apply the scientific method during my brief stint as Triumvir, one would think I had ordered them to drink poison!"

Turning slightly to see the newcomer - Echani, Sith... Knight-Inquisitor Fordyce, was that it? - he smirked slightly, fully aware that she had likely not seen him before speaking. "Surely talking with me can't be that terrible a fate, hmm?"

Farah | Adriana Fortemps​

 

[Farah]

Pleasure and politics. One was more tedious than the other. But then Adrian said something that he knew would pique her interest. “You’ve built a laboratory underneath the dance floor?” Sounding as though she quite didn’t believe him, Farah raised a brow to Jorryn as if to make her point to the other woman. “Interesting things? Still a smug bastard, I see. I’ve been told that I am hard to impress.” Every resident that had walked the halls of Coruscant General’s operating facility would attest to that fact.

Another pink hued waitress fluttered over, this one bearing a tray of wine glasses. Farah received one, took a sip and made a small noise of amusement when Adrian described his adventures in handling the Sith sorcerers. “Typical. They only care for what we produce in the end. No respect for our methods.” Her gaze unfocused onto the crowds beyond their little trio, recalling the senseless brutality she’d witnessed from certain Sith—even those who’d worked as physicians and researchers. “Present company excluded, I hope.” Her eyes slid over to Jorryn, something of a wry grin peeking out from behind the rim of her glass before she took another sip.

“It is good to be away from Coruscant, I have to admit. Working within Galactic law has forced me to be creative in certain areas, but it’s easy to get tired of the restrictions.” Now that her ties to the Coratanni cartel were gone, there was less opportunity for less-than-legal dealings. Ever since the Jedi moved in, she’d felt more heat on her back. Besides, it was nice to be back in a place where people didn’t outright avoid her rigid gaze and yes ma’am her.

“So do you…” She gestured in the general direction of the waitresses and dancers. “…have a Zeltron fetish or something?"

AMCO | Adriana Fortemps

 

[Adriana Fortemps]

Truth be told Jorryn hadn't noticed the man as he moved in to talk to Farah as well, the Echani was more focused on the fact that she saw a familiar face. She felt a sort of jealous annoyance as she looked the man up and down, sipping her drink to hide conveying that emotion across her face. It wasn't until Farah mentioned dark councilors that the Echani's expression changed, regarding the man once more.

Vandiir was an Inquisitor until recently, but the two had never worked together. At least she could finally realign a face to the name that shot up so high so fast. It would be worth remembering if Jorryn could curry some favour to rise the ranks as quickly as he did.

"Could do worse than free drinks for a meeting." Her amber eyes lingered on AMCO for a moment, before flicking her attention back to Farah. "It would make dealing with some of these new Inquisitors much more pleasant." The annoyance in her tone being over-exaggerated but the duties really had been wearing Jorryn's patience thin. "That's good to know, I'm doing fine myself though if I wasn't I'm sure that I'd be seeing you regardless. Perhaps slightly more corpse-like."

Words from the Dark Councillor flanking her caused the Echani's stomach to sink a little. Asking that he hadn't noticed her missing him was a tad too much for the galaxy.

"Of course, I do apologize My Lord." A polite bow coming along with the words. "To be honest with you, I haven't been out to a... venue... like this in awhile. I kind of just ran to the first friendly face I saw." Hopefully the placations went over well, it was always easier to be liked by the lordship than not. "I hope anyone that rises through the ranks like you is as good with their words as I'd imagine."

Jorryn followed suit with the Zeltron as she replaced her empty glass with one full of wine from the tray.

"Trust me, your science is something I would much rather deal with than the chaos that comes with the magic that some of our more... eccentric lords have to offer." A dark brow furrowing as it clearly struck a chord with the Echani, magic truly only made her job harder. She would much rather leave that business to her girlfriend, Vaylin , so she could avoid that nonsense. "Can never tell if they're going to help guide us to battle or turn us all into some grotesque Sithspawn."

The glass pressed back up to her black lips as Farah began to talk. "So do you... have a Zeltron fetish or something." Some of the drink went down the wrong pipe as the words caught Jorryn horribly off guard, her hand lifting the her collarbone as she tried to clear her throat. It was a fair enough question, but the bluntness was surprising to say the least.

Farah | AMCO | Vaylin

 

[AMCO]

Smiling softly at her disbelief, he shook his head. "Before, the club actually. Some of my projects are rather sensitive, so it seemed a sensible precaution." Winking slyly at her follow up, his smile broadened slightly. "Is that so? Maybe I like a challenge."

Nodding as she spoke of the difficulties of operating under the restrictions imposed by Coruscanti authorities, it was clear that he understood her plight only too well... though now that the Pyramid of Scientific Advancement was his, there was no one left to tell him what to research or not.

Though he smirked at the Echani's placations, the glimmer in his eyes and his relaxed pose made it clear that he found the situation more amusing than offensive - truth be told, he could not understand how anyone could take much offence from such a minor faux pas unless suffering from abysmal self-confidence or a complete lack of sense. "Not bad, though the flattery comes off a bit forced."

Truth be told, prodding others to measure their reactions was a bit of a hobby of his... a rather odd one, by most standards.

Laughing mirthfully at Farah's question even as the Echani choked on her drink, he flashed her a perfect smile before responding. "You could certainly say that... Echani too." Pausing for a moment to observe Jorryn's reaction - and smirking visibly if it was as shocked as he hoped - he continued in a more serious tone. "Ah, but truth be told it's largely pragmatism - excellent social skills, you see. Perfect for entertainment..."

"... and the pheromones certainly don't hurt."

Farah | Adriana Fortemps​

 

[Vaylin]

As Vaylin moved through the nightclub, she was immediately reminded of just how deliberately distracting they were. No matter which way she looked, there was always something that was tempting to approach, and the Zabrak knew if her younger self had been here she would've absolutely fallen prey to several.

If not everything...

But these days, Vaylin had a lot more self control. Having the experience she had lacked all those years back then to know what a downward spiral falling into all that was, how easy it was to descend and difficult to try and climb back out of it. Fortunately, she had Aria to help pull her out.

After several embarrassing incidents that is.

The Zeltron Pheromones were certainly helping the overall mood throughout. A smart decision, keeping the club goers malleable and not wanting to leave any time soon.

Eventually, Vaylin caught sight of Jorryn sitting in her corner booth. At this point she was facing away from her direction, speaking to two other individuals standing there. It allowed the Zabrak to approach unannounced until she was literally standing just behind Adrian, catching the end of their conversation.

"You just have to be careful to not get drowned in it." Vaylin chuckled lightly. "And personally I prefer Echani, I like the fight." At least that was how her current relationship with Jorryn had started. Mutual attraction, mutual appreciation for the others fighting ability, and lots of sparring. The Zabrak slid past Adrian and into the booth itself, leaning down to give Jorryn a small kiss. "Sorry for a delay, traffic was rather packed on the way here. Which speaking of..." She looked over at Adrian. "It seems congratulations are in order, Mister Vandiir. Looks to be you've had tremendous success with attendance on your opening night." Vaylin went to sit down, only to pause when she finally got a good look at Farah's face. She had initially just passed her off as another Zeltron, but the biggest difference she now noticed was the distinct abundance of clothing in comparison to the others. Vaylin's eyes narrowed as she tried to recognize her, then a slight tilt of the head until the realization finally struck.

"Farah! If it isn't my favourite Non-Perl. Good to see you're still kicking around."

Adriana Fortemps | AMCO | Farah​

 

[Farah]

“That’s a fetish, Adrian.” Farah deadpanned.

She thumped Jorryn on the upper back with her fist in an attempt to dislodge the water from her lungs. The Zeltron’s face had never been referred to as ‘friendly’ before, and though she knew what the adage meant, it made her like Jorryn a little more. The Echani was a sensible woman, after all.

As they settled into a booth, they were joined by a tall woman with a crown of horns protruding from her forehead, circling a mane of long dark hair. Her head tilted to the side as the zabrak leaned down to give Jorryn a quick kiss before settling into her seat. Where had she seen her before?

“Farah! If it isn't my favourite Non-Perl.”

She’d been mistaken for her template before—why in the force did Joza Perl know so many Sith?—but it hadn’t happen since she’d taken up residence on Coruscant. All at once, the feelings of inadequacy at being a clone of another living being came rushing back. The pink hand wrapped around the bowl of her wine glass constricted, and she gave the zabrak an intentionally tight smile. Who cared if her DNA was not her own, right? Who cared if the more she lived her own life, the more she struggled with the concept of her thoughts and actions being governed by something that was not her own?

“Glad you’re not dead, Vaylin.”

The wine glass shattered in her hand. Farah tisked, then raised a finger to summon a very prompt waitress, who was likely on standby for the impromptu VIP table. A new glass, freshly filled was provided.

She tilted her second wine glass to gesture between the two women.

“It seems there’s been some…developments since I’ve last seen either of you. Careful, or Vandiir here might just lure your woman off with a horde of cafarel.”

True to form, she’d retrieved a pair of tweezers from her bag and was idly, yet carefully picking out the shards of glass sticking into the skin of her right hand, and dropping them into a napkin at her lap.

AMCO | Adriana Fortemps | Vaylin

 

[Adriana Fortemps]

The frog in the Echani's throat certainly wasn't helped by the Dark Councillor doubling down on Farah 's question. When you're as white as Jorryn is, it's a bit difficult to hide the redness that came with being flustered like that. The Inquisitor didn't want to give AMCO the pleasure of her glare even though she could feel the smugness that came with inciting a reaction coming from him. She allowed Farah to see the annoyance in her eyes as the Zeltron helped Jorryn clear her throat, a fist placed in front of her mouth and she coughed lightly.

Assaulting a Dark Councillor was never the greatest way to make friends.

The feelings of annoyance were quickly and nicely pushed away as a wonderfully familiar voice came around Jorryn's side, prodding back at Vandiir's teasing better than the Echani herself could. "Don't worry about it babe." Her hand grabbed onto Vaylin 's collar as she leaned up to lengthen the kiss a smidge. "In fact you arrived just in time." Hopefully Vandiir could take a hint.

Surprise was the newest in a quick succession of emotions as it turns out Farah and Vaylin knew of each other. Jorryn was relieved she didn't have to do introductions until the Zeltron crushed the glass in her hand, provoked by Vaylin.

Non-Perl?

Judging by the fact that the good doctor was now picking glass out of her hand it probably wasn't a good idea to press the fact. The Echani would rather avoid having to pick the glass out of herself.

"Even a Dark Councillor would have to do a little bit better than a couple Zeltrons to steal me away." Her tone going exaggeratedly smug as she leaned onto her Zabrak's shoulder. "I'd wish him good luck with it, though." A lash batting at Adrian. An attempt to throw some teasing back his way.

 

[AMCO]

A less experienced man might have been shocked at the girlfriend of someone he was teasing appearing from behind, but Adrian simply smiled, moving to let her slide past him into their booth. "Why thank you... Lady Moirai, is it? I'll admit to being of a more scholarly disposition myself... thus my position."

Smiling softly at Farah's comment, he shrugged. "Oh, certainly... though I'm sure you have a few yourself."

Eyes flickering back to Jorryn, his smile shifted back into a smirk. Blushing too, now? My, he really had gotten on her nerves. Something to file away for future use. For now, however, he was more interested in Farah's rather interesting reaction - he had heard of the Perls, vaguely, and he knew she was the clone of one. Clearly a sensitive subject, an identity crisis, perhaps? Another thing to file away for later.

Politely ignoring the Zeltron picking pieces of glass out of her hand, Adrian turned to face Jorryn once more, faux-offence on his features. "Only a couple? Why, Miss Fordyce, you offend me!" Tempted though he was to suggest that he had never intended to steal her away from the rather attractive Zabrak, he desisted; he had already gotten a measure of her from her reactions and Vaylin? Well, he had little interest in offending a Valkyrie Elder; after all, he had few enough allies in their organisation already...

... unfortunate, really, considering how intriguing he found the idea of a Sith sisterhood...

Vaylin | Farah | Adriana Fortemps​

 

[Vaylin]

Politics were something Vaylin never had a strong interest in. Knew they existed, why they existed and the twisted game of words and deception that usually intertwined with one another. The Zabrak preferred a more...direct approach, still did to this day. She had been trained, hell you could argue she had outright conceived to be a fighter with a single minded focus.

Even the Jedi's efforts to teach her ended up failing when Dxun happened. It had taken years for Vaylin to move away from her mentality of approaching something with a hammer, not a scalpel.

Now it was more of a...pointed hammer?

The point being was that at an earlier point of her life, Vaylin would've punched Adrian without putting too much thought into it. A response to his attempts at flirting with Jorryn, that would be it. But these days the Zabrak didn't act on impulse, even though she was confident she could take Adrian down with a small bit of effort. She had no doubt he had something up his sleeve waiting for his beck and call, guards more than likely, though Vaylin couldn't see any beyond the typical bouncers.

Her attention shifted over to Farah, watching as the Zeltron continued picking glass shards from her hand. She was almost eerily calm about the whole thing, but Vaylin wondered if there was some degree of passive-aggressiveness beneath. It was certainly a more extreme response compared to the last (and first) time they had met.

Which now that Vaylin thought about it...that was a good few years back at this point. The Sith Empire's ever expanding force tackling a new planet's challenges. With a science team tasked with something, and a protection detail keeping them well defended. And it immediately reminded her how much she had hated the limited movement in those old hazmat suits.

"Oh, I'm not worried Farah. Unless Mister Vandiir can suddenly go toe to toe in an all out spar."

Adriana Fortemps | AMCO | Farah​

 

[Farah]

“Of course I have fetishes, Adrian. They’re proprietary.” Farah scoffed and continue picking the glass from her hand with the expert touch of a surgeon.

To her pleasure, no one had called attention to the shattered glass. Things would have been different on Coruscant, even among other physicians. The Sith didn’t bat an eye, leaving her to work in peace.

Even their topic of conversation was far more interesting. Despite her caustic attitude, Farah was enjoying the company.

What lingered in the back of her mind were the open displays of affection between Jorryn and Vaylin—not that she hadn’t seen two people kiss before. She’d passed by far more ludicrous acts in public anyhow. It was moreso the genuine fondness radiating from the pair, so open and authentic that fascinated her. The clone hadn’t experienced much in the way of deeper relationships, even with her previous paramour. With Nik it hadn’t been anything close to love, more like a mutual need for companionship.

Finishing her work with the tweezers, she pressed the tips of her uninjured fingers to the shallow cuts on her hand, willing platelets to aggregate and flesh to mend. Her gaze slid over to Adrian as the Zabrak woman made a not-so-veiled threat.

“In any event, I’ll be here to stitch Vandiir back together.” She patted the aforementioned Sith Lord on the shoulder with a not-so-sympathetic smile.

Vaylin | Adriana Fortemps | AMCO

 

[Adriana Fortemps]

"I might enjoy seeing that. You don't have a sparring den around do you my Lord?" Somehow the Echani forgot to add the intonation of joking, totally unrelated to Vandiir's smirk. As much as Jorryn would enjoy seeing how the Dark Councillor matched up, having her girlfriend attack a Dark Councillor probably wouldn't be the best way to curry favour.

The glass was raised up to her lips once again before returning to look at Farah.

"Unfortunately I can't speak much for your skill under a knife, My Lord,"Her chin resting on her hand as she turned her attention from the Zeltron to Adrian.
"But I think you might end up even better with Farah patching you back up." A smirk of her own coming back to return Adrian's as Farah blandly patted his shoulder.

:What type of doctor are you anyways, My Lord?" Her brow raised as she began to interrogate the man, black fingernails tapping rhythmically against her cheek. "You don't get an estate like this and the title of Dark Councillor with simple science." Hopefully Vandiir had had enough to drink to spill his guts.

His unconventional career path was of interest to her, as well as how an Inquisitor became the Pyramid of Scientific Advancement. The part that intrigued her most was the Inquisitor's... access to some of the Empire's less favorable inhabitants.


Jorryn had a curiosity of this man that she needed to sate.

Vaylin | Farah | AMCO

 

[AMCO]

As amusing as the thought of Farah's "proprietary fetishes" was, Adrian let it pass without comment, focusing instead on the rather interesting back and forth precipitated by Vaylin. Chuckling softly, he sipped his drink then spoke, tone only half-way joking.

"Of course I do, somewhere, though I can't imagine I'd need specialised facilities to get curb-stomped." Pausing to meet Farah's unsympathetic smile with a wry one of his own, he continued. "You wouldn't just be looking for an excuse to start cutting, would you?"

A more turbulent Sith might have reacted with ire at her patronising pats and Jorryn's comments, but he was nothing if not self-confident.

Choosing instead to neatly skip to her question, his answer was earnest - oddly enough for a Sith, he tended towards honesty more often than not. "Oh, you would be right - the estates are largely from other sources, but I consider myself quite the expert on the mystical sciences; shaping life, crafting items of power, binding souls, and so on."

Eying Farah, he opted to pre-empt the inevitable. "Emphasis on the science - even the most supernatural of phenomena can be understood in time."

Vaylin | Farah | Adriana Fortemps​