The Magrath Family White Tie Formal

[Taeli Raaf]

Taeli took a breath to steady herself. If there was one thing she found extremely uncomfortable, it was the subject of slavery. She understood using prisoners as laborers and such, that was a legitimate use for an enemy, but slavery. She preferred people who worked for her to be doing so willingly, and that was why, unlike other Sith, she refused to have slaves.

"Oh lovely, I do so enjoy Mandalorians," she replied, making sure the sarcasm was extremely heavy. "Well guess its only fair to say I grew up on Lorrd, Mother was a Mando but got out of the life and Father is a professor at the university there, focusing on the era of history around the Old Republic."

The Chiss would probably wonder how the daughter of a former Mando and a university professor ended up such an event, but she wanted to be cautious and make sure Zerrene didn't spook if she mentioned she was a Sith. Her mention of learning how to be around social events, and how to kill piqued her interest even more than Zerrene's Force presence had. It sounded to her like she had been trained to be a slave assassin by this Hordal.

"So this Hordal trained you to be what exactly? An assassin? Seems a bit weird to train a slave to learn how to kill. I would think that might not end too well for the owner," she said, even more curious than earlier.

[member="Zerrene Torran"]

 

[Zerrene Torran]

She winced once more.
"He took. . . .measures, to make sure I would stay loyal. Before every mission, he the memories from my mind of what he had done to me, and would keep me like that until the end, where he would shove them back in. And yes, that is as unpleasant as it sounds."

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"How exactly did he rip the memories from your mind and put them back?" Taeli asked, her academic curiosity taking over now. She had heard of such Force techniques before, she wondered if perhaps he had simply done something with a combination of drugs and mindwashing techniques. Either way, Zerrene was proving more and more interesting. Depending on how she answered though, would tell Taeli why she was so distressed by so many Force users in the room.

[member="Zerrene Torran"]

 

[Zerrene Torran]

"How about we just say he had a lot of subordinates, and some of them were Force Users, and leave it at that."
Syreen popped into her mind, and Zerrene shuddered. The Twi'lek had been one of her more enthusiastic tortuers.
"Not to mention drugs, brainwashing, and just plain old torture. He liked to try out different methods, 'keep it fresh'."


[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"My apologies if I was prying, my academic curiosity gets the better of me sometimes," Taeli said, bowing her head and taking a sip of her tea. "I'm sorry to hear that you had such a rough . . . time, to put if delicately. I can safely say I don't understand exactly what you could have gone through, but you aren't the only one to have suffered a barbaric action against them."

[member="Zerrene Torran"]

 

[Zerrene Torran]

She shugged.
"Yeah, some of the other slaves had it pretty rough, too."
She smiled.
"But hey, I'm a free woman, now, so that's all behind me, now."

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"You broke free of your chains," Taeli said, wondering if the Chiss would catch the double meaning behind that phrase. She was certainly intelligent, so it was very possible she would catch the subtle quote of the Sith Code.

"But I was actually referring to myself there," she said with a small laugh at the end. "When I was leaving Lorrd, I was assaulted by three boys that intended to . . . violate me and leave me either a broken mess or dead."

She could still remember how that felt, to lose control. Her memories of the slaughter were still hazy, but then it didn't matter to her anymore. The old Taeli Rae had died in that alley anyways.

[member="Zerrene Torran"]

 

[Zerrene Torran]

Zerrene nodded.
"My sympathies. I've suffered that as a slave. Traumatizing does not begin to describe the experience."
Zerrene ordered a strong drink. She was starting to get sober, and the voices in her head were getting louder.
"Want something a bit stronger, Taeli?"

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"I actually don't drink alcohol," Taeli said, for the second time that night to her amusement. "For someone in my . . . position, I don't like to have any of my senses debilitated. Some of my colleagues are a bit . . . cutthroat, so to speak, and I've learned that it's always more prudent to be cautious when in a crowd."

She knew even just saying that might start the Chiss guessing what exactly Taeli was, and if she could figure it out, well . . . things could get more interesting. She could always reveal her own Force presence, but she was going to hold off until Zerrene figured it out. It would probably be a slight shock to the Chiss.

[member="Zerrene Torran"]

 

[Zerrene Torran]

She shrugged. "Your choice."
Her colleagues? Zerrene was starting to wonder just who the woman in front of her was.
"Something tells me the Baroness wouldn't allow violence at her party, though."

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

"Oh I know, Baroness Magrath made that quite clear that any guest who starts trouble will be promptly escorted out of the party," Taeli said with a laugh. "None of my colleagues are here, well none that I know of at least. But, that's why I've avoided the Jedi here, we wouldn't exactly see eye to eye, so to speak."

Now if that wasn't a major hint to who she possibly was, Taeli didn't know what was.

[member="Zerrene Torran"]

 

[Sage Bane]

When the Baroness Margrath finally made her entrance, all eyes were upon her. And with good reason. She was beautiful, rich, and had a karking tame Nexu as a housepet. The opulent estate party was a far cry from the seedy crapholes that Sage frequented on Nar Shaddaa. But a part of him missed those crapholes. At least on Nar Shaddaa he knew stood on the same low level playing field as the other racketeers and stim addicts. But even worse, the lavish affair was starting remind him of some of the parties he was forced to attend as a slave for his former Hutt master, Dasha. Events in which he'd been forced to entertain the guests in ways he wished to forget. The memories put Sage in a sour mood.

But then Bael asked him to dance, and Sage put on a charming smile for his lover. Any feelings that the half-Chiss couldn't drink or drug away, he locked up in a deep, dark place, carelessly tossing the key. Sage took Bael's hand and led him to the dance floor. "I thought you'd never ask, Baelfire." he said using the other man's full name and brushing his hand across the Epicanthrix's cheek. As they danced, Sage cast a glance around the room, making note of all the noble guests. He had no doubt that some among them owned slaves much like his younger self. He held Bael in his arms and let a smile play across his face, enthralled by thoughts of all of those slave owners rotting away in their graves.

[member="The Cartographer"] [member="Baroness Magrath"]

 

[Nefertari Sovint]

Nefertari was happy to see that the gentleman was interested in her story. The Chiss had slipped away, something obviously troubling her.
"...I never found what he sent me for. While I was in the marketplace, I saw the man; clad in black with his hood up. He stopped in his tracks and snapped "You should learn to mask your presence, kid!" before he turned around and flipped two lightsabers from his sleeve. People fled from the streets screaming as we engaged in a duel with two blades a side. He was good, very good. His techniques were sharp and quick. One of them took one of my blades. The other, gave me this." She said, holding up her left hand.

[member="Armand Temi"]

 

[Zerrene Torran]

Zerrene's eyes flashed as she finally realized just who the woman in front of her was. A Sith.
The Chiss took a long pull from her drink before opening her mouth.
"You must be powerful to conceal yourself from me, Sith."

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Laguz Vald]

He nodded in quiet recognition of her words as she explained she wasn't a supporter of the less savory members of her faction. Cailin could understand without much effort; contrary to what most of the Republic was led to believe, Sith were never an uniformly evil organization. As always, there were some extreme fanatics to be found therein, but the same could be said for any other such power, including the great Republic itself.

"Enjoy your evening, Lady Rae," the man said in goodbye and turned on his heel to delve deeper into the undulating mass of people. With a few fleeting apologies always ready on his lips, Cailing made his way out of the vestibule and into the ballroom that the Baroness had revealed a few minutes prior. The music that caressed his ears upon entrance was exquisite, and he followed it to its source, coming to a stop in front of the small stage.

He picked up a new drink from a passing servant and started sipping the cool liquid, his hazel eyes scanning the room for potential dance partners.

[member="Baroness Magrath"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Zerrene Torran"]

"I like to think it's more than just power," Taeli replied with a sly look. For a brief moment, she allowed her full Force presence to appear, showing the Chiss just how powerful she was. She wasn't entirely sure how Zerrene would react to feeling it, it could range from several different scenarios.

"Regardless," she said, reigning her power back in so it seemed to disappear, "I'm not one for the more . . . extreme actions of my colleagues. That includes the practice of some of the lords to hold slaves. I personally find the whole practice intolerable, and it just distracts one from seeking knowledge and control over oneself."

 

[Zerrene Torran]

Zerrene was taken aback as she sensed the Sith's full power in the Force. How could anything disguise themselves like that?!
She simply stared at the woman, barely hearing her words.
"Well. . ." She said at last. "It would appear I have much to learn; about my power, and about the Sith, it seems."


[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Armand Temi]

Armand looked at Nefertari's hand, which was robotic up to the wrist. He took the hand gently and asked, "Is there any feeling in it at all?" Then he slowly dropped her hand, not wanting to appear too bold. Although the Jedi was very pretty, he wasn't sure she would appreciate him flirting. He figured caution was a good course of action with a Jedi.

"Do you ever want to replace the hand with something less mechanical?" he asked. "I happen to be a doctor in bio-implants. There are more state-of-the-art replacement limbs these days." He stopped hoping he was coming off as helpful and not insulting. "Of course," he said. "It would require surgery which is inconvenient to say the least."

[member="Nefertari Sovint"]

 

[Keter]

Keter smiled soflty at his wife as they made their way through the crowd of guests. Feena ever the diplomat, him the silent spectre at her side. He may not play the game she did, but he liked to think that was becuase it was somewhat behind him, in his past. No schemes now - just him and results. Still, he Feena had finally torn herself away from her work (a miracle really), and he was not going to ruin this night for her. SO though he wanted to sigh at her gentle reminder of how to behave (as if he was still a boy - honestly!) he bore it with good grace. "Of course. I will await you whilst you present yourself to the Baronness," the man added quietly.

Alright, so he was also somewhat uncomfortable around anyone with a position of responsibility. Habits of a lifetime were hard to break.

[member="Feena Mason"]

 

[Feena]

The Queen smiled at each soul she passed. It was always a good idea to be pleasant, even when you did not yet know a person at a party. You never know when you might need their support. Every second was an opportunity.

"You're coming with me, Keke," she whispered, leaning in so only he could hear, "You are my husband, after all. She will be expecting you as well."

She wasn't about to wait for his excuses or objections. She was on the hunt for [member="Baroness Magrath"] now.