[Open] Drinking with the Ravens

[Jan VonFowl]

I laughed, and realized that another milkshake had somehow materialized as Sebastion spoke. At least it gave me something to do while I watched Cryax turn about as red as a Chiss can get, and just stop him from talking. I shrugged, and smirked.

"Random articles of clothing do seem to go missing around Chiasa. Can't say I'm overly surprised."

I spun on my chair to Jen, and took a sip of my drink.

"So, fix anything interesting lately?"

[member="Cryax Bane"] [member="Sebastion Wulfsorrow"] [member='Jen']

 

[Frederick King]

With each passing second that King had spent listening the young man speak about his numerous exploits, doing his damnedest to keep a straight smile on his lips, the more adamant he became on his stance that the boy was full of hot air, and nothing else. Taking a firm hold of his glass, he brought it closer to his lips and pretended to take a long, theatrical sip of his drink, in order to hide his subdued laughter. He had little doubt in his mind that the boy was the heir of a respectable business, making this judgement simply through his sheer presence at this event, and the clothes he donned. But going as far as implying he actually owned a well-to-be establishment, as well as being the target of numerous attempts at his life and well being, were simply a pill too large for the man to swallow. Nevertheless, his stories were at the very least highly entertaining for him, ones that he would compare to that of a drunk smuggler in need of credits for his next drink. In Kings eyes, it seemed that even his companion was finding it a tad difficult to take him on his word regarding the latter part.

As for the young girl herself, she appeared to be more down to earth when compared to her eccentric friend, if not for the fact she didn't seem sure of herself, or her reasons for being present at this party. Somewhat comical as well, as far as King was concerned, but in it's own way. The sudden appearance of the Chiss was well timed for him, giving him a few minutes to properly clam himself, and wipe the stupid grin on his lips, while the others carried on a discussion with their friend. Turning around in his seat to face the bar, he quietly enjoyed what remained of his drink, stealing glances at the new arrival with the corner of his eye. A fairly well built individual, an assumption he made based entirely on his frame, draped in one of the more tasteful suits he saw as of late. A man with good taste, if nothing else. When gestured by Jennifer regarding the new arrival, he simply shrugged his shoulders in indifference. He was, after all, the odd one in this group, his opinion on whether or not their friend could stay was inconsequential.

Kings opinion of the Chiss quickly rose as he leaned towards the others and began to speak in a whisper when it came to more private matters, even if it seemed Jan was less keen on keeping his voice down. Listening in halfheartedly to Bane speak, he could only make out a few things every words words due to the musics changing pitch. What little he managed to understand, however, made him genuinely curious about the mans skills and his willingness to be employed for a few jobs unrelated to the Ravens later on. The appearance of a fourth individual started making him feel slightly out of place in the whole ordeal.

"You mentioned your name is Bane, correct?" King asked tentatively, turning around in his seat to properly face the Chiss and the new arrival that had his hand draped over his shoulder, his laugh completely subdued and his grin transformed into a smile.

Spoiler

Dreadfully sorry for the long wait to post and whatnot, and being out of the conversation for so long.
[member="Jen"]
[member="Jan VonFowl"]
[member="Sebastion Wulfsorrow"]
[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[Cryax Bane]

Glad that he could let the kids get to know each other, the Chiss turned to answer Fredrick's question.

With a nod, Cryax smiled, "You can call me Cryax, or 'Bug.' I'll answer to either."

"What is it that you do for the Ravens, Mr..." he paused. "King?" He remembered that Jen had mentioned his name earlier.

He hoped he wasn't too tipsy to remember their conversations. The mix of alcohol in his blood wasn't at [member="Sebastion Wulfsorrow"] level yet so he was pretty sure that other than a few, well, dozen or so spilled drinks, that he was holding his own tonight.

Stirring his drink absently, he patiently listened to the other Ravens speak. It wasn't glaringly obvious because he was geniunely interested getting to know them, but every now and then a glimmer of distraction would cross his face, his red eyes distantly searching around the room.

[member="Jan VonFowl"] [member="Frederick King"] [member="Jen"] [member="Anastasia Rade"]

 

[Jen]

And the group of four turned to five with the arrival of Sebastion. A great merry bunch, especially Sebastion which seemed even more tipsy than Cryax, and as he, the drunkest of them that was, turned his attention towards Jennifer to ask a quick question she gave him a likewise quick and kind smile. "And hello to you too Seb. And I'm fine, the music is a little loud perhaps. Yourself?" Seb, heh. That was a good nickname, actually. Jennifer tended to shorten down peoples names so they would only consist of three letters. And with Cryax she didn't even have to come up with one, he had found on himself, that being Bug. Three letters were much easier to remember than a long, long name. And to be quite frank, it gave some sort of impression of knowing the person, did it not?

She simply smirked subtly as he started to talk about Chiasa and "such things" only to be stopped by Cryax. Yea! Seventeen was way too young to hear about such stuff, perhaps Jan was too young, she didn't know. Maybe she should check if ears were already bleeding from the satanistic related words? Nah that probably wouldn't happen anytime soon. If anything it would be because of the loud music.

A familiar voice took Jennifer out of her thought process, her eyes snapping towards Jan. "Nah, haven't been able to do a lot as of lately. Being here on Antecedant takes a lot of your time." She answered a bit absentmindely, deciding to finally slide down into a chair by the table. "So do any of you have news from across the galaxy?"

[member="Cryax Bane"] :: [member="Frederick King"] :: [member="Jan VonFowl"] :: [member="Sebastion Wulfsorrow"]​

 

[Jan VonFowl]

I spun around on my chair, indulging one of those fun little mental tics I have.

"Apparently, the Sith now place bounties on people who steal relics from Korriban. Who knew?"

I smirked jokingly, and took a sip of my milkshake.

"If my pilots keep getting prices on their heads, I might even have to find a real job..."

[member="Jen"] [member="Cryax Bane"] [member="Frederick King"] [member='Sebastion Wulfsorrow']

 

[Raziel]

There was a tension in the air. Barely tangible, yet most with even a background level of Force Sensitivity would notice it as the orders were passed on to security guards and Ravens around the complex. For Raziel - a Jedi particularly sensitive to the emotions of others - it was remarkably obvious. His phone buzzed and he pulled it from his pocket.

Meeting tomorrow at 3 cancelled.

An innocuous enough message, from a number he’d been exchanging messages with all week, just to avoid suspicion in case anyone was monitoring the open comms closely. Meeting – one of the groups watching the facility. 3 – team three out of four. Cancelled – all contact lost. This wasn’t good. He had a Spynet exfiltration team in the system, he decided to get them closer to the locale.

Understood, ensure catering are ready anyway

From his vantage point Raziel saw the guards shift and move, the droids were mostly heading towards exits. Odd. Casually walking through the bar, his mind wondered elsewhere. Skimming the surface thoughts of those around him, searching for someone from the Ravens who might know. So many Jedi used the Force to throw rocks and swing swords in crass displays of power. It enabled so much more. He watched with interest as [member="Rave Merrill"] was escorted away.

The threat was outside, that much he managed to gather from some errant thoughts. Altering his course he stepped up to a window, keeping his face away from it. Daring to stretch out further with the Force, he risked being detected by a sensitive Force User.

Hostile intent, several minds spread around vantage points in the buildings opposite. Trouble was certainly brewing. The Black Sun, here for a bounty on the alchemist, Raziel made a mental note to follow up on that. He’d asked someone at Spynet to start some operations to try and monitor AEL a little closer following the request for information on one of ACA’s suppliers. These things took time however, especially when faced with a well-funded counter espionage department, and it could be a year before anything came of it. He had, of course, at the same time funnelled some minor information on Circe Savan to the alchemist just to see what happened.

Raziel returned to his group, suggesting they head to the nightclub in the upper levels. They were all too happy to acquiesce. Once they were in a lift, he located the cameras and put his device’s screen out of view. He opened a Spynet created application and entered a message to be sent encrypted. It was a risk. An encrypted message had a signiature that could attract attention, but he had no pre-designated code for this:

Marek Starchaser present. Warn his people of danger. Get him out.

As he reached the high level he extended his influence once again. It was time to misbehave. Finding a booth with his group of cover "friends", he carried on shouting to them above the music. Another incident involving the Sun would be perfect to rile up the nest. He reached out towards the Raven guards on the roof, hoping there might be some organics. At the same time he touched the minds of the Sun privateers nearby. He delicately played on their emotions. The Sun would be nervous; after all they were here to capture a Master of the Force. He attempted to play on their already high emotions and fuel the flames. All it would take would be one extra squeeze on a trigger…one errant shot to kick the whole mess off.


[member="Isaac Ideus"] [member="Flora Burn"]

 

[Velok the Younger]

Rave continued to sit behind the table in the security side office. The bare room had no windows and only one door; both door and walls, she sensed, were relatively well reinforced.

She entertained herself by alchemizing the table. It would be, from now on, a very sturdy table with a slight dislike for Sith.

 

[Jace Beleren]

Jace regarded her with contentment, seems she was fine, another passer-by looking for some money with the Ravens. "Sure," he said with a smile, he got up from the counter and brought her over to Lysle. "Hello sir," he said with a small bow, "This woman is named Anastasia, and she wants to earn some money helping the ravens." He then leaned into Lylse and whispered something to him. "She's a witch, so she might prove more useful than any of the usually fans looking for a job." he leaned back, then once more gave a slight bow and left the scene, he knew when he was a third wheel.

[member="Anastasia Rade"] [member="Lysle of the Hydian Way"]

 

[Frederick King]

"Very well, Bug."

He replied in a soft, dejected tone, forcing a chuckle through his lips as he uttered the mans nickname, followed shortly by several seconds of silence where he found himself at a loss for words. His lips moved ever so slightly, yet no audible words emanated from them. The only sound coming from the man himself being the slow drumming of his knuckles on the counter. He turned his upper body around to face the bar, waving over the employee and motioning for a second shot as he halfheartedly scrounged his pockets for another pair of chips.

"I don't work for your organization, I'm afraid to say." He spoke in the same tone as before, forcing his lips into a defeated smile. "I pay my taxes and I donate some funds here and there. Other than that, I have little to do with your employer so far. Not my proudest achievement, I admit."

Spoiler

[member="Jen"]
[member="Jan VonFowl"]
[member="Sebastion Wulfsorrow"]
[member="Cryax Bane"]

 

[Kyber Salurra]

Kyber had roughly finished his beer when he decided to throw his hat into the ring. He'd done enough scouting and had finally decided to get into the thick of it. Kyber noticed one man that everyone seemed to congregate around. Whether they walked up to him and spoke or just gave a silent nod, Kyber could tell that man was at the top. The man definitely looked the part and seemed to be handling the multiple people coming and going quite well. Kyber recognized the man as well, he remember him employing another Mando in a bar that's name failed to reach his memory.

Kyber finally decided to walk confidently over to the man after he found an opening in the man's various conversations. He snapped off the cap of his second beer as he approached the man and took a quick swig. As Kyber was in conversational distance from the man he smiled wide and thrusted forward a welcoming hand to shake "Wonderful Party you have going on here, I'm quite enjoying myself."

Kyber wasn't used to all the pleasantries of a party and after they'd finished their greetings Kyber lost his smile and gave of a more serious presence. "I came to this 'social gathering' to gain contacts, and as far as I can tell you're the best man I could talk to." Kyber took another swig of his beer and a deep breath followed by a sigh before continuing. "I'm being honest when I tell you that I'm not good at any of this 'political dealing' that gatherings like this entail when trying to gain employment. The point is; I have a ship and I'm willing to use it. With the way people have been acting around you it seems like you're the employer type." Kyber took another swig of his beer before settling it at his side and awaiting the man's response. Kyber was hoping this man had some good news, he really wanted some fresh employment. He could not only use the money for some parts not scavenged at a junkyard, but also for the thrill of the unknown. He missed it.

// [member="Lysle of the Hydian Way"] //

 

[Preliat Mantis]

The stranger sat in the back of the bar, marked by the heavy leather jacket, and the hooded shirt he wore underneath. He looked the thug type, seated in the far side of the bar, away from everyone. His hands were firmly grasped around a mug, his head down. His hair covered most of his features, though he doubted anyone really knew what he really looked like. Preliat never liked to take off his helmet, especially around non-Mandalorian persons. Now that he was a vagabond, he had to either make an identity for himself as a new person. That person's name was Holdan. Simple enough to remember, simple enough to forget as well. It'd been a few days, where he'd stop drawing from his accounts and simply drifted from one place to the next.


This bar, was no exception. However, the company was. Though he had little idea what the actual company, in question, was really all about. He was here under the premise of the Red Ravens, another dime a dozen criminal organization coming to take the Black Sun's crown- or at least, trying to. But Preliat knew the Black Suns would never recover from the crippling blow the Republic landed them a while ago. They were back to their old ways, in the shadows and manipulating secretly. As they should. He wondered how the Ravens would fair.

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Raziel"]

Say one thing about Cassidy, say that his life is exciting and suicide at the same time. His core values were a personality that bordered on obnoxiousness, which was only compensated by a severe lack of morals and a capacity to fullfill the most suicidal missions without a scratch on him. But, today wasn’t a good day to be Adrian Cassidy; his running mouth had brought him in trouble (again)

It didn’t really surprise anyone that when the Spymaster contacted his Spy that said Spy was being beat up in an otherwise abandoned alley adjunct to the Casino. Grunts were audible, as fists met weak flesh and hit the air right out of the Cassidy.

‘All you got punk?’ the Spy managed to get out, before having to catch another pound to his abdominal region. No, it wasn’t a good day to be Adrian Cassidy. Another hit was incoming but interupted by the ringing noise of a communicator in Cassidy’s backpocket, it enabled itself and the faint, annoying noise of casino noises filled the alley with sounds other than fist-on-meat action and the grunting of tired old men at the end of their productive years.

Adrian didn’t manage to catch most of the message, but the intent - and more importantly the voice - was instantly recognizable to the Veteran Spy. He grunted and then called out: ‘Bit occupied here, boss. Give me a moment or two.’after finishing that sentence, Adrian looked over to his assailants and amended himself. ‘Make that two minutes.’

One of the thugs blinked at that response, truth to be told he was pretty annoyed and maybe slightly insulted that the Spy didn’t consider him worth more than perhaps 20 seconds of his time. He was about to react to the transparent insult the only way he knew how, by kicking the feth out of him. Said plans were derailed when Adrian winked and bashed the back of his head against the nose of the thug who was holding him in silence.

Said silence was quickly inaudible, when he crumbled to the ground with a whine. It returned pretty quickly though, when the two other hooligans were blinking their eyes out at that sudden aggressive display. One of them managed to get a question out though.

‘W-why… didn’t you do that immediately when we took you?’

Adrian pondered that question for a moment, before answering with something that was akin to a self-satisfied and happy smile. ‘Oh… well. I like to get beaten up for a while, before cranking down. Seems to be more fair for y’all to get a few punches out, before eviscerating ya.’

Those words were promptly followed by a thorough evisceration and not two minutes later Adrian Cassidy found himself within the Casino, waltzing furiously towards his Boss and Spymaster of the ACA.

His tuxedo seemed flashy and only sported a single small bloodstain on the right side of his collar. With a nod he greeted the man.

‘What do we got?’ his question was to the point, no nonsense and blunt. All the points of a successful nerf herder.

 

[Raziel]

[member="Adrian Cassidy"]

“Ah!” Raziel called out in response to Adrian’s greeting. Raziel was sat at a booth with new drinking friends. Turning to them he said, “This is the guy I was talking about, he’s a riot! Call him Queen.” At that, one of Raziel’s inebriated ‘Friends’ made a relatively homophobic noise. The Spymaster ignored him and continued, introducing Adrian to his colleagues, after naming them all he added, “Definitely some of the best drunks on Antecedent!” which was met with a cheer and raising of glass - and much spilled drink.

“Going to head down to the bar and buy Queen a drink, gotta chat work stuff and it’s too noisy in here,” Raziel said, awkwardly manoeuvring himself out of the booth without knocking over any more glasses. In truth he’d had enough of the nightclub anyway, his attempt to use the Force to goad the Sun mercenaries into attacking hadn’t had any effect anyway. His keen connection to the emotions of others was proving a little…distracting. Up on the nightclub floor the emotions of all the patrons who were busy gyrating on the dance floor were pretty high, but also nearly universally focussed in one direction.

As he turned to walk beside Adrian he leant over and whispered. He was acutely aware of how advanced some of the listening devices were these days, but it would be hard to pick up even the specific waveform of his voice above the background noise here.

“Picked them up as cover last night,” he said, referencing his new ‘friends’. “We’ve got some Sun mercs outside watching, so take care. We’re just here to have a look around, see who’s publically engaging with the Ravens. We’ve got the Sun and Republic intelligence operating on our doorstep, this lot might be the key to disrupting their activities whilst keeping our hands clean,”

 

[Velok the Younger]

Rave continued to sit alone in the little windowless security office, facing the door. The table was, by this point, fully alchemized. Motionless, she started on the door.

 

[Velok the Younger]

The door's inner surface acquired a glossy black finish that it most certainly had not possessed. The blackness spread to the hinges, the frame, the joists, the lock. It was now approaching unkickdownableness -- an apex quality of alchemical alteration.

 

[Matreya]

Entering the premises of the building with little more than the urge to converse with a potential target, Damien headed through the buildings rear entrance. His mental prowess allowed him to pass by those with biological brains, and those that were run by computer programming he simply told them, “Got any good drinks in this place?” To which he was directed to the bar.

Taking a seat there, Damien sent his Force Shadow out from his persona. Moving as if it were his own corporeal form, the Ancient Mandalorian found himself distinguishing faces among the crowd. Few he actually recognized, and those he did were not from a personal level, rather being a CEO of a large company having allowed him access to knowledge one wouldn’t have.

It didn’t take that long before Damien realized that while yes he sensed Rave, she was not in the current room.

With this in mind, he extended his search to the rear stairs and above. Before long a large door stood before his mental eyes, and this he phased through until he stared at the woman whom destroyed what he held dear in such a recent betrayal…

“Rave. Come down stairs if you would be so kind. I wish to talk to you alone if the chance comes. You should know whom this is your hearing. You almost killed me when I helped you.” Damien allowed his form to speak, knowing that in reality it was simply a mental thought pushed through him to the invisible entity, then onto the woman in the same fashion: she would have to be receptive to mental contact for her to hear it in anyway.

Raising a gloved hand towards the bartender, he enjoyed the feeling of his lovely Myriad Singlet, it was quite a beautiful stitch, “Got any Corellian Scotch??”

“Of course sir.” The bartender said, leaning forward onto placed hands that rested against the counter top.

“Two rocks, one glass, give it a twist also if you can.” He replied, reaching into his shirt pocket to withdraw his credit card. Once payed, he leaned back, his drink clasped in hand. Resting against backwards placed elbows, the man sipped at it. Its tart, yet sweet, approach was something he had wanted and couldn’t put a finger on for weeks now.

[member="Rave Merrill"]

 

[Isaac Ideus]

Isaac saw [member="Rave Merrill"] grow impatient. "Go back out an mingle. Don't stray too far. I'll be keeping an eye on you, as will the rest of the security. When you're ready to leave, find me or Lysle and we'll arrange something." Isaac knew there were likely one or two confederates inside the casino, and he dint want to raise too many suspicions by locking Rave away all of a sudden. He just didn't want a new mess on his hands on casino grounds... not today.

 

[Corey's OOC]

OOC oops delay

Looking at [member="Lysle of the Hydian Way"] he nodded. There was work to be done. "Well... I represent aND own a company focused on entertainment. Namely casinos. Not sure if you're looking to expand."

He was keeping an eye on [member="Selka Ventus"] and Rave. But really the SpyNet was here without his own knowledge. And he was fairly sure he wasn't wanted.

 

[Hira Mitsae]

[member="Raziel"]

Smoke curled around the room, mixed with the usual tunes of the place. Banter, inebriated shouts and the clunking noises of chips being thrown ‘round.

Adrian carefully listened to his boss, while taking out a cigarette out of the folds of his jacket. Ain’t nothing wrong with smoking on the job if you asked him - he quickly lighted it up and tugged it behind it lips, nodding in response to Raziel.

‘Awfully lot of muscle running ‘round, Zil. Heard some musings ‘bout a big, big bounty in the casino. Anything we want to be involved with perhaps?’

 

[Raziel]

"Maybe, one thing I'm certain about is that I'd rather stick something in the Sun's crawthan have them pull off a coup on the Raven's door step," Raziel replied. He thought on this for a moment. He'd sent Merrill a small datagram a few weeks ago on Circe savan. Nothing to compromise ACA security, but he liked to putting out feelers and being owed favours. Perhaps a second favour would be useful. Of course, if the Spymaster was fully aware of just how capable a Jedi the alchemist was, he probably wouldn't have bothered.

Then he saw her. Oh, too good to be true, he thought to himself. It wasn't though, nearly the same outfit, similar build. The same woman [member="Rave Merrill"] had disdainful noticed earlier. Raziel reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out two identical slim necklaces.

"You know what this is," he said. "Do you think you could convince that pretty slip of a thing over there to wear it for us?" he asked Queen with a wink.

Raziel headed to the bar, asking the barman for a slip of paper and a pen. He wrote out the note carefully.

Another minor favour. Please wear out of sight and squeeze gently. Not a trap, look behind you. We have an airspeeder and men two blocks away if required.

Raziel folded up the note carefully and passed it over the bar to the staff with the necklace. "You know who Rave Merrill is right? A present for her, and a bottle of the seventy three," he near shouted over the music, passing over far too many credits for the drink. A curt nod and he was gone.

The adrenaline was pumping now, another challenge to be tackled head on. High risk, almost no reward. Fortunately, for raziel, it was the risk that mattered.

With any luck, and if Agent Queen was half as charming as he thought he was, Rave would be in for a minor shock when she turned around.

OOC/ As agreed, no violence in this thread. If anything happens it'll have to happen well away from the casino and in a separate thread.