Public Talk Wordy to Me [Lady Velvet Book Release]

[Cato Harth]

Cato didn't totally seem to buy Inanna's excuse, probably because of his own overcautiousness rather than in spite of it. He squinted, "Uh huh…" It made him a bit less worried about his own book now, "You never told me you were leaving on writer business. What kind of business does a writer even get up to, exactly?" That part was more genuine curiosity, but if it helped unravel the story, all the better.

Inanna didn't exactly offer a glowing review for Lady Velvet's style, but did reveal something about her own writing in the process, "Have you now?" Cato raised an eyebrow, "Clearly I haven't read enough of your novels, because none of the ones I read had anything like… this," He lifted up the provocative Lady Velvet cover.

"So you wouldn't find much value in this huh," He then gestured over to the veiled figure over at a signing booth, "Even if it had the author's autograph on it?"

Inanna Harth​

 

[Mystra Midnight]

A diminutive figure with a familiar dark aura walked into the book the store and bossily pushed her way through the crowd. "Get out of my way." She said shoving some weird alien thing out of her way. There was supposed to be an autograph signing at this event from Lady Velvet herself. Mystra was not going to miss it, the main reason she didn't like mysteries, she had to know who this Lady Velvet was. Second was she held her makers love for romance trash novels. Something she wished she didn't share she almost hated herself for that fact.

She continued to push her way through people and butting in front of people trying to form a line where the book signing was to begin. She pushed and shoved her way to near the front of the line. Her eerie dark aura that she did not even remotely try to hide getting closer and closer to the target at hand a veiled figure ( Corazona von Ascania ) the Lady velvet herself or perhaps a stand in. This bookstore probably would do that shady booksellers on Zeltros you never could trust the pinkies.

The aura around Mystra would be familiar to Corazona von Ascania but not the face. The face was very different to the maker of Mystra, due to time and various other cosmetic alterations. The hair was also silver and not raven, the eyes platinum in color not the burning sulfuric orange. Though her and the maker did share the same very pale skin tone and dark forever tainted dark signature.

As reached the front of the line Mystra held out her book to be signed one that had been tucked under her left armpit until she had reached the front of the line. It wasn't one of the new books but rather a copy of Melting the Chiss' Heart of Ice. She held it out to be signed and with that same voice that once said, "You can call me Daddy!" Mystra spoke soft and sweat. "Please, signed it to Tegan Starfall ." She sure as hell wasn't going to use her real name, no way would she be caught dead owning such a book. So, no better name to use then the makers name herself, plus if she ever did decide to sell it a Lady Velvet book signed to a terrorist would go for a lot of money in the right dark corners.

---

Tags: Corazona von Ascania | OPEN

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

The line moved fairly quickly, thanks in part to the steely-faced Gammorean guards at her side. While there to manage the flow of the event, they mainly acted as deterrents to anyone who had designs to unmask the mysterious author.

Assuming it was the authentic Lady Velvet buried beneath the formless shroud, and not just a third potbellied Gamorrean.

While speaking to the author wasn't discouraged, the guards ensured that no one lingered. At most, a quiet "Thank you." or "You're too kind." would emit in garbled monotone from beneath the billowing veil.

A small woman pushed her way to the front of the line and and offered a copy of Melting the Chiss' Heart of Ice, one of Lady Velvet's older works and a fan-favorite that had launched her career.

"New copies only." One of the Gamorreans grunted, stepping forward to remove the interloper from the line. Cora raised a gloved hand, staying the guard.

Voidstone had the dual effect of both suppressing Cora's presence in the Force, and her ability to read the flows. There wasn't anything overtly alarming to the woman until she spoke.

"Please, signed it to Tegan Starfall Tegan Starfall ."

Ice chilled every vein, wide blue eyes blinking unseen from beneath their covering. She almost went for her lightsaber on instinct, but recalled that she wasn't carrying the weapon, and remained still. Causing a scene could potentially reveal her identity, or Gildenleaf could drop her for attacking a patron.

Did the witch escape? No, this doesn't look like her. Still…

Instead, she calmly took the paperback, flipped open the cover, and produced an autograph with a few strokes of her pen.

"What an interesting name." She intoned flatly, handing the book back to "Tegan" as on of the guards waved her away. He held up his hand, chubby fingers indicating that only a few more would be let through before the line closed.

Mystra Midnight Jenn Kryze Gatz Derrevar Kassogtha Cthylla Cato Harth

 

[Inanna Harth]

"You never told me you were leaving on writer business. What kind of business does a writer even get up to, exactly?"

“We have lots of business,” she protested. “Book deals, cover design, book signings…” Not a lot of business that she couldn’t do from home, though. She sighed. “I wanted to keep it a secret until I was sure things would work out, but I have a new book ready to be published. I sort of went on an unplanned hiatus six years ago, and the publisher dropped me for breaking my contract. I wasn’t sure if they would take me back, or if my reputation was ruined, or what. So I came to Zeltros to meet with my agent, present my case and try to smooth things over.”

Her dealings with the ultra-competitive, cutthroat world of publishing wasn’t the most pleasant subject, so she steered the conversation into a more lighthearted topic: her side hustle as a peddler of smut.

"Clearly I haven't read enough of your novels, because none of the ones I read had anything like… this."

“Probably because I self-publish them under the name ‘Glup Shitto’, and...” She hesitated, blushing slightly. “I might have used a certain person I know as inspiration...”

She could admit that out loud, but confessing her love for old lady murder mysteries was too embarrassing? Well, we all have our insecurities.

"So you wouldn't find much value in this huh. Even if it had the author's autograph on it?"

“It would be funny if I owned it.” But she was unlikely to actually read it. “Why, were you planning on giving it to me?”

Cato Harth​

 

[Kassogtha Cthylla]

Though one eager fan ( Mystra Midnight ) shoved their way to the front of the line, the wait was relatively short. Kass eventually reached the table, where Lady Velvet herself (supposedly, anyway) sat flanked by two Gamorreans. Quite a lot of security for a romance writer.

Kass laid her copy of Rescuing the Pantsless Pylantian (she found that version of the title more amusing) on the table. "Sign it to Oukranos Cthylla, please." Then, in a lower voice, she added, "I know who you really are."

Corazona von Ascania​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Against all odds, Master Cythlla approached. When one of her pseudopods presented a copy of Rescuing the Pantsless Pylantian - which had been later reprinted to Rescuing the Pylantian Jedi - things made a little more sense. Terrible, terrible sense.

"I know who you really are."

Beneath her shroud, Cora was sweating bullets.

Even among rural communities, good stories spread like wildfire. They didn’t have to be entirely true, they just had to be entertaining, and Oukranos' and Kassogtha's crash had been the talk of the village for weeks. It wouldn’t have been far fetched for the tale of a lovecraftian creature and a beautiful man who'd bled green in the fields of Ukatis to travel, making its way to the capital where transient ears could listen in.

Fortunately, she’d left some of the more intimate details out of the novel.

Pen held at the ready, Lady Velvet tapped the inside of the cover.

"Could you spell that, please?"

Kassogtha Cthylla

 

[Kassogtha Cthylla]

Oh, Kass was convinced she had figured out the identity of "Lady Velvet". There was no way it could be Cora - she was far too prissy to write anything remotely suggestive, let alone sully her dignity with purple prose. Which meant there could be only one other likely option not yet exhausted...

"Could you spell that, please?"

"Asking me to spell your own name," Kass muttered with a shake of her head. "Sure thing, Oukranos."

Corazona von Ascania​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Oh. Thank. the. makers.

Without further comment, Lady Velvet quickly signed the novel and handed it back to Kassogtha Cthylla .

Poor Oukranos. It was nothing personal.

 

[Cato Harth]

Cato was about to ask when those sorts of things were happening for Inanna, but she just as quickly clarified that she was in fact on a long-term hiatus of sorts. He could sort of understand why she'd keep this meeting on the down low, but still, "I wish you'd have told me. We could've worked through this together." Not that he could be of much help in the writing-a-book department, but he was happy to support her leading up to this negotiation.

“Probably because I self-publish them under the name ‘Glup Shitto’, and...” She hesitated, blushing slightly. “I might have used a certain person I know as inspiration...”

"Ahhh," Cato hummed absent-mindedly. Clearly his skull was extra-thick today, as he didn't quite pick up on what she was implying about him. He scratched his chin, and dwelled on the part that did stand out to him, "Isn't there already a guy who goes by Glup Shitto? How'd you get around that?" Sounded like a legal minefield to him, but what did he know.

“It would be funny if I owned it.” But she was unlikely to actually read it. “Why, were you planning on giving it to me?”

"Uh… No?" Cato seemed unsure of his own answer, "What kind of books do you like anyway?"

Inanna Harth​

 

[Ryana mina]

Tag: Corazona von Ascania | open

Pip wiggled his way out of the mirians hands and ran to ryana as he passed cora as she sat at her table under the view of the gamoreans. Going straight to ryana in line pip climbed up ryana and sat on her shoulders his head rested on ryanas head as he showed ryana a brief vision of running into cora as ryana stood in line ryana smirked "really never took her for a fan" ryana chuckled quietly as pip chirped up.

As she awaited her turn she looked around and didn't see cora or sense her presence at all ryana stayed in line as she stood behind master cthylla. Awaiting getting her book signed by "lady velvet" pip was behaving very well now that he was with ryana the one person who could keep the little racyon in line most of the time although Ryana partially blamed cora if it wasn't for her ryana might not have adopted the small creature and ryana's Jedi life would have been easy even if it would have been boring. She could sense pip looking at lady velvet and getting that mischievous energy he was known for "be good or no grapes" she whispered for pip to hear.

 

[Inanna Harth]

"I wish you'd have told me. We could've worked through this together."

Force, she loved this man. "I didn't want to burden you," she answered. "But if you really want to be part of this, I'll let you in from now on."

Either he didn't understand what she was implying, or he didn't care. Either option was entirely possible with Cato. "You've been very inspirational," she said. Momentarily forgetting that she was in another form than what he was used to (and that she was holding an embarrassing book), she reached for his hand. "I mean in general. After everything that happened to my family and my people, I didn't think I'd ever be able to write anything again. Meeting you changed that. Maybe it's cliched to call you my muse, but it's true."

"Isn't there already a guy who goes by Glup Shitto? How'd you get around that?"

"It is, how do you say... a common pseudonym, used by many people. Like Alan Smithee in the holos, Glup Shitto can be anyone. The name belongs to everyone."

"Uh… No?"

Inanna raised an incredulous eyebrow.

"What kind of books do you like anyway?"

"Uh... I dunno." She quickly hid her book behind her back.

Cato Harth​

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons:
Tag: Jenn Kryze

"That's me," Gatz droned dryly, "pretty and smart."

Gatz might have commented on how unfair it was for her to drop his name, but disallow him to drop hers. But then he remembered... the war. He didn't know if Jenn was with the Enclave, and frankly he didn't much care, but he did know that pretty much every Mandalorian was presumed to be an enemy of the Galactic Alliance. That was a little screwed up, in his mind, but he could hardly blame people for being afraid after what he'd seen on Ukatis.

"My reputation is shit enough, Jenn," Gatz practically whispered to the Mandalorian, "I'm already a no-good scoundrel who used to sell drugs. I'd like the rumors to stop there. At least then, no one has any details about my personal life."

Not that he had one of those, really. His whole life was go to point 'A' and help someone. Then go to point 'B' and somehow get hurt. Then return to New Cov for some training with Valery, in the hopes it would help cut out point 'B.' But it never did, so really it was a long cycle that he rinsed and repeated on a near weekly basis.

Man, he missed having a personal life. And family. Or, hell, just people in general.

"You're insane to even come here, you know that, right?"

 

[Saria Rae]

Zeltros
Tags: Corazona von Ascania , Valery Noble , Gatz Derrevar , Jenn Kryze , Kassogtha Cthylla , Cato Harth , Others...

"…Nice hat."

"Why thank you," Saria dipped her head. "Say, do I..."

And then the other woman was gone. It was... strange. She looked familiar, but Saria couldn't place a name. Wait, she had it. Corazona, one of the friends that had been at the birthday of Shan Pavond . A secret enjoyer of trashy romance novels? It was a possibility. After all, she didn't seem to be alone in her descrete attendance.

It wasn't long before Lady Velvet herself had appeared though. The young diplomat's heart skipped a beat. Something about having her copy signed seemed more special, in a weird and superficial way. It didn't really. Saria knew this for a fact, but she still very much wanted that signature. Whenever Kassogtha had recieved her book, Saria made her way up to the anigmatic author. A member of the Jedi Council being here was certainly odd, but she couldn't dwell on it. The Mirialan had to get her signed book and get out as fast as she could. The book she held was the new one, Under the Tattooine Suns, and Saria presented it to the author in a polite, but perhaps descrete manner, though poorly executed.

"Greetings. Just a signature will suffice, please," the young Jedi stated. "I don't have any kind of more advanced message in mind."

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Force, why were there so many recognizable Jedi here? Cora didn't know whether to be delighted or horrified.

She settled on cautiously optimistic. Everyone needed a hobby, right? Ultimately, she was pleased that someone other than herself found enjoyment in Lady Velvet stories. Her novels were never meant to be great literary works, but she'd settle for the label of guilty indulgence.

…just as long as no one knew that she was a disgraceful smut peddler.

Next came Ryana mina with Pip nestled comfortably in her arms. Fortunately, the little racyon did not appear to recognize Cora, prompting a silent sigh of relief. Flipping open the book, Lady Velvet applied her signature to the inside of the cover before handing it back to the Twi'lek. "He is cute." She murmured, voice warped.

The Mirialian girl from before approached, to which Cora felt a little bad for how she'd both left in a hurry and shoved Pip into her arms. "Very well." She supplied, skimming a gloved finger into the part at the cover to open the novel. A few strokes of her pen, and Under the Tatooine Suns was returned to Saria Rae . “I do hope you enjoy.”

It was possible that any of the Jedi in attendance had seen her face prior to donning the outrageous security measures, but that would be far easier to explain than the damning truth.

Fortunately, there was a redhead next in line who Cora could say for certain that she did not recognize. She was flanked by…

…oh, Force, it was Gatz Derrevar . The pilot who’d helped her get back on Ukatis discretely to check on her family. Was there no mercy in the bookshop? Was this some sort of cosmic punishment?

Jenn Kryze

 

[Jenn Kryze]

As soon as Gatz began to speak ill of himself, the Mandalorian gave him something that was somewhat approaching a shove. Evidently, the redhead was having none of it, even less so now than during their first meeting.

"And I used to be a proud Crusader of my people. Most of us sucked before, Gatz, get real. Now, I'd love to beat that through your thick skull, but I will be damned if I pass up on the chance to get my favorite author's signature." Strolling right past him, she gave him a shit-eating grin when he mentioned how bold it was, for her to show up in the first place. "Zeltros isn't Alliance territory. And I think it'll take my chances for an opportunity like this." Did she just mention she was fine risking so much for the sake of getting a paperback copy of a trashy romance novel and having it signed? Why yes, yes she did. And without skipping a beat, too.

There was no hiding just how excited she was to meet the author as she set down one of her four copies of The Jedi's Fall for the Sith. Giving the enigmatic figure a truly beaming smile, the Mandalorian tried her best not to gush.

"Hello! Could you please sign this over for Jenn, please? Two "n"s. And, I'd just like to say, I'm a big fan of your work. Can't wait to read this once I get home."

​

Gatz Derrevar Corazona von Ascania ​

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons:
Tag: Corazona von Ascania Jenn Kryze

Gatz wanted to respond to Jenn, but suddenly it was her turn for a signature. Oh wow, right. Lady Velvet was here. Right in front of him, hidden behind only a veil. A part of Gatz wanted to ask why she was anonymous, but immediately thought better of it. He was here anonymously too. Maybe she was just as ashamed of writing smut as he was of reading it.

Or hell, maybe she was just worried about some crazy fans learning her real name, and personal information—that kind of stuff. Fans got real weird, real fast.

Oh no, it was almost his turn. What was he supposed to say? He'd be sunglasses-to-veil with his favorite author in fifteen seconds, and he didn't have a clue as to how to interact with her. Dammit! Why had Nar Shaddaa only taught him how to interact with criminals, and people to be preyed upon? Why couldn't the Smuggler's Moon have taught him how to interact with normal people, and/or his idols?

Maybe he should flirt with Lady Velvet?

Back in his scoundrel days, that had been his go-to move with women. Hell, half the time it still was, just in a humorous manner instead of an amorous one. But how did he flirt with a woman in a veil? He couldn't exactly comment on her beauty, because for all he knew, she wore that veil because she was hideous underneath! No, come on now, he'd worked with more difficult material before. He could totally come up with a pick-up line for a woman he couldn't see!

Oh shit, it was his turn! He didn't have a pick-up line ready!

Time for 'ole reliable,' he supposed.

"Hi, my name is Gatz Derrevar, but you can call me tonight or tomorrow."

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Unlike many of the patrons who'd tried to obscure their faces - author included - the redhead was unabashed as she eagerly handed over her copy of Jedi's Fall.

Cora admired the self-assurance with which she carried herself. The bright smile and genuine complement kicked those butterflies right back up.

"Hello! Could you please sign this over for Jenn, please? Two "n"s. And, I'd just like to say, I'm a big fan of your work. Can't wait to read this once I get home."

"You're too kind." For the first time today, Cora did regret how the voice scrambler made her sound so monotone and uninterested when her heart was clearly singing. Oh, how she wished that they could sit down over a cup of caf!

She took her time with this signature, eager to bask in the woman's praise for just a bit longer before she handed back the book.

"I do hope you enjoy it, Jenn. This is one of my favorite works."

Gatz was right behind her, displacing some of Cora's excitement with anxiety. Hopefully he wouldn't somehow recog-

"Hi, my name is Gatz Derrevar, but you can call me tonight or tomorrow."

Beneath the veil, Cora blinked. Hard. Very rarely had the sheltered young woman experienced flirtations, and when they did happen, she usually wasn't wearing a blanket over her face.

"Um…er…ah…"

Lady Velvet's veiled head tilted to the side. Fortunately the fabric was opaque enough to conceal the tomato-esque flush of her face.

"P-pardon?"

One of the Gamorreans leaned over and grunted irritably at the pilot.

"If you don't have anything to sign, beat it."

Jenn Kryze Gatz Derrevar

 

[Cato Harth]

"Oh," Now he got it. A bit of red touched his face. He wasn't sure whether to be flattered by his status as a muse, or bashful about the thought of certain spicy details being revealed to the public. Perhaps if the people didn't know it was about him it wasn't so bad. "Well… I'm glad I could help with that, then." Cato smiled at her, even though his hand was a bit limp when she took it. Still felt weird getting intimate with a woman who technically didn't look like he wife, even though she literally was.

"Uh... I dunno."

Cato squinted, and tried to look behind her back, "Whatcha got there?"

 

[Inanna Harth]

“Nothing…”

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

That wasn't suspicious at all, "Uh huh," Cato grinned slyly, starting to catch on, "Are you sure?"

He leaned forward, rested a hand on the shelf by her head, and gave her The Smolder™ .

Inanna Harth​