The Ziost Affair [The Primeval][PM for late invite]

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

Damn. Her dress again. No. Never mind. Lorane fixed it for her... and just kept touching her backside while he was at it. She sighed and threw him a 'look', but did not move to stop him. He was her husband. These things were expected. She'd just pay him back for it later... if none of this was a trap.

"Alright then, lead the way, Lor'ika."

she followed him out, more than happy to be out of the crowded room. These people made her nervous, even more so without her rifle. It was bad enough that she might expected to talk to people. Now she might have to do it in a dress with no weapons. She was way out of her element here.

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Kyber Salurra]

Kyber had just about finished half of his drink when he decided it was time to start 'mingling' with some other patron of this masquerade ball. So, with as much alcoholic fortitude as he could muster, he began scanning the room once again for someone of the opposite sex to begin his venture in the deceptive art of conversation. This person of the opposite sex would preferably not already be in conversation with another male, so that helped slim down his choices a bit. What helped slim it further was the hope to find one with less than malicious intentions, as Kyber did not feel like getting into any altercations this evening.

After a few minutes of perusing the various attendants he pushed himself off of the bar and began walking around, drink in hand. He walked by a few people he had in mind, none really catching his eye, until he happened upon one female who was not surrounded by a mob of potential suitors, and actually seemed quite lonely. Taking this as his chance, Kyber strode up to her with a confident smile and a slightly puffed out chest (guess the booze was getting to him). Once he reached his target destination he offered a hand to the young lady and made his smile as heartwarming as possible; "Hello there, my name is Kyber Salurra. I couldn't help but notice you from across the gala. I hope I'm not intruding on a solitary evening, or being too straightforward, but you looked like you could use some company."

Kyber would run his free hand through his gelled back auburn hair after she either accepted or denied it before letting it rest in his pant pocket. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, would you be so kind as to inform this gentleman of your name... and perhaps if you'd care for myself to fetch you a drink?"

// [member="Minna"] //

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lor hooked a finger around the floating tray next to them, smiling as he moved his hand back over to Rawnie's waist. His hand was still a bit lower than strictly necessary to help her walk with those heels on, but he knew she'd get him back later. Most likely in some way he'd enjoy immensely. When they got outside, the area they were in held one solitary table, the kind of stone one he usually saw in public parks. He very carefully put the food and drinks down on the table, and then turned to put his arms around his wife.​

​

"Jeez, visahot, I've seen you more comfortable with no shirt on than you are right now... Not that Zandra needs to know that."​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

Well, at least with no shirt on, she could move around easy enough. With this dress, it was just constricting all over. She set her food down too and let her husband envelop her in his arms.

"Look what I'm wearing. Of course I'm uncomfortable. This dress isn't practical for anything other than baby making."

She glanced down, grumbling as she tugged the dress up again and tried to adjust the furs over her chest. And she had half a mind to throw her stupid shoes over the balcony too! Just walk around barefoot. Sometimes when it warmed up in the summer, it was nice to do that back home. She so rarely got the chance to do it...

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

That made Lor chuckle a little bit. The two of them had far more practical attire for bedtime... like the sheets off the bed in question. As good as Rawnie looked in that dress, he could see it beginning to wear on her.​

​

"I went from wanting to take it off you so we could go to bed, to wanting to take it off you because you look uncomfortable."​

​

Probably not the result dressing provocatively was supposed to have. Actually moving his hand down to his wife's waist to deep the dress from sliding up on her again, he sat down and leaned against the table with her in his lap. At least she was off her feet, now. Lor gave her a kiss on the cheek. There was a rather nice view of the rest of the partially snow-covered city around this place.​

​

"Take off your shoes, and let's sit here for a while."​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

No. Not the result a skimpy dress was supposed to have. Rawnie sighed, letting her husband pull her onto his lap. Well, at least they were both of the same mind about the shoes. She reached down, unhooking the many straps around the ankle and kicking them off one by one.

"Ah! That feels so much better," she moaned, "I will never understand women of the Galaxy, do you know that? They wear awful shoes that they can't run in, and clothes that provide no protective covering. All for what? The hopes of attracting a mate? Back home, the most desirable quality in a mate was, you know, 'do they know how to survive?'."

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lor shook his head a little as he leaned his head against Rawnie's.​

​

"The scariest part, to me, is when some women do learn how to run around in that kind of stuff. For me it was always, 'do they like me?' That was a hard enough goal to set myself as a kid."​

​

He took a look at the shoes his wife had just kicked off, and gave her a little squeeze as he gestured towards the dress.​

​

"I promise, if you ever have to wear a dress again, I'll find you one that's not made of colored shrink wrap... And I'll get you some boots to go with it."​

​

[member="Rawnie Tal'verda"]​

 

[Keira Priest]

If there were two things Keira had learned when it came to dealing with [member="Slade Zambrano"], it was that most of his excuses were nothing more than just that, and that he often used drinking to weasel his way out of most every situation, regardless of exactly what it entailed. As it was, it should have come as no surprise to the man when she remained exactly where she had sat and simply watched him, for awhile, her gaze impassive. It was clearer now than ever that she didn't plan on leaving anytime soon, meaning that his efforts to dissuade her were all but useless as well. Apparently some people never learned. He seemed to be the prime example of that trait so far. That would only make this talk more interesting.

"Nice try, bashard, but you know me a lot better than that." And he did, truly. The two had lived together for months, sharing her apartment in the Dragon Palace Casino on Antecedent while he attempted to sort himself out and determine just where he was going with his life. Apparently that bout of soul-searching had landed him back at square one, with the same addictions and emotional baggage that she had found him clinging so desperately to. There was no time like the present to provide her own unique sort of assistance, that which would hopefully prove more useful than it had before, when she had been just as broken as him. Now some of those cracks had been smoothed over, and she was better for it somehow.

Reaching over she took the bottle, taking a long draught of the tequila before passing it back, pulling a face at the pungent taste of the alcohol before a crooked smile overtook her features. It had been awhile since she had drank much of anything remotely intoxication, and even longer since she had seen the man sitting next to her. It was only fitting that she get to do the same in one night. "Not bad. Anything Corellian is better, but it'll do." That was idle conversation meant to fill any voids of awkward silence as she stretched out in the ethereal to truly get a gauge as to how he was coping. The feedback she received was unsurprising, his dependence on alcohol and more illicit substances never more clear than in that moment. Still, she hadn't expected much less.

Her gaze cut briefly to where [member="Connor Harrison"] and [member="Kezeroth the Beholder"] were conversing, and she couldn't help but crack a smile at the scene unfolding. Apparently conversation didn't come easily to either of them, not that she had foreseen that encounter going much differently. Nondescriptly she motioned for the former to join her if he so wished, leaving her former mentor to his own devices. Being dead likely left a lot of catching up to do. It was then her attention turned back to the man of the hour. "The only 'thing' you have going on is drinking, so forgive me if I don't much care about that. Level with me, Slade. This is the second time you've dropped off the face of the galaxy. What's the deal?"

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Judah Dashiell"] @Vengence [member="Kana Truden"]

Darcy? Miz Darcy?

Danger couldn't help but have the corner of her mouth quirk at that introduction, but you can bet your sweet aunt Fannie that she didn't bat an eye. "How do you do?" came her warm and cordial greeting, washing over with notable welcome and just a high of her drawl.

"As I was just telling my escort," she would say, waving her small fan just over the lower half of her face, a small draft of air cooling her with every sweep of her hand. She took the offered card. "One can learn so much by mere observation --" she began, then pointed out a couple to the far right she had brought up to Judah earlier.

"I believe that the lady is interested in the gentleman, but he only has eyes for the man to the far left of the room." a grin would flash, "Either that or she simply adores the cut of his jib and wants to know where he got suit."

 

[Rawnie Tal'verda]

Rawnie made a face as she also looked down at the shoes.

"If I ever need to wear a dress again, Lor'ika, please shoot me on the spot. It is your duty as my husband to put me out of my misery."

It was a joke, of course. Still, his offer to find her boots and something a bit more practical was appreciated. She just hoped they avoided parties from then on.

"Or better yet, find me a set of formal armor, so I won't have to wear a dress at all! I would have just tried to wear my own armor, but..."

It was a mess, to say the least. Scratches, chipping color, burns...

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Titus..." he rolled the name over in his mouth for a moment, letting the weight of it sink into his consciousness. Yes, he faintly remember his despised father mentioning the name Titus once or twice in Kaine's company, but he couldn't remember ever meeting the man personally. He chuckled, "I've formed a habit of voiding all memory of my father from my mind, but even now I find myself picturing his face within my mind... The pitiful louse." The cup in his hand began to collapse in on itself as his grip suddenly tightened, his muscles tensing as the metal bent before his strength. The shadow of old anger passed over him like a foul wind, but quickly enough it was forced back down to the depths with an eerie smile and a loosening of his grip. The now crushed cup clattered to the floor rather loudly, but because none of the servants were very keen on approaching the vile duo it remained there like an eyesore on an otherwise flawless floor.

"Forgive me, Uncle. He brings out the worst in me, even his memory..." A slight wave of his hand brought another cup, one so nimbly stolen from a passing servant's tray, into his awaiting grip. He took a quick drink, found it acceptable, and swallowed with a content sigh. "Oh, but let's not waste air on the dead, uncle. How fairs the Primeval? I hate to say that I've been gone for some time and have not yet familiarized myself with new happenings and events. It was only a stroke of luck that I managed to notice my invitation to this summit and arrived in the nick of time."

[member="Zambrano the Hutt"]

 

[Slade Zambrano]

[member="Keira Ticon"]

Slade looked very unamused at Keira's antics, he wanted his alcohol and he wanted it now. But the moment she smiled at him his heart melted and he wanted to fall to his knees and cry in her lap, he missed her embrace and her presence. He missed laying on the love seat of her cramped apartment with his head on her lap as they watched whatever was on the tube and passed a cigarette back and forth. But most of all he missed being sober, he missed being sober with her. But it was just so hard, being sober was so hard and no matter what he did there was always going to be this nagging feeling in his head that needed to be fed. Part of him knew he wasn't strong enough to fight it, so why even bother? So Slade took those longing feelings and shoved them away as his eyes watered a bit. Reaching his hand up to his nose he wiped it across it and sniffed deeply as if he had something irritating him.

"I went places, saw some people, bought some things, probably wasn't best for my family to see me fraternizing with the enemy..." He said letting his last word fill with a little venom.

His heart broke and he wanted to run, he had so many feelings for the woman but he just couldn't say them. He couldn't tell her these things because he knew the drugs and drinking would pull him back from her. So snagging the bottle of tequila he raised it up and decided to go for the finishing blow. Looking as if he was about to take a drink he instead poured all of the expensive liquor on the ground in front of her before dropping the bottle itself to the ground to impact with a loud clink of impact, the bottle cracking but not quite shattering.

"I don't drink with traitors." He said his eyes almost welling with tears as they grew more red.

He was all but internally screaming at this moment, when this was over he would be headed to the bathroom to meet up with another old friend that would help calm his nerves.

"Get, lost." He said with his voice almost cracking.

 

[Evor]

A deep breathe in, a deep breathe out. A deep breathe in, a deep breathe out. Two ice blue eyes scanned the room, darting from person to person, lingering on the odd facial feature here-and-there. They were bland people for the most part, nobody's meant to fill space. He was truly unsure how he ended up in this wretched place. The last "dance" he had been to had been with the Red Ravens, a congratulatory shindig for Cryax Bane and their promotion. What a joyous occasion that had been. It marked the start of a new era to Evor, both the start of his apprenticeship and his time as VP with the Ravens. However both left him with a sour taste now. Neither had truly come to fruition, both equally his own fault as anyone else's.

Shaking his head slightly, he pushed the useless thoughts from his mind. It did not matter no longer. He could not change the past, nor did it make any difference as to what happened tonight. Even while his mind played games with itself, he scanned the room for any threats or even something to do at this point. He raised the cigarette in his hand to his mouth, taking a long drag as the red ember light up his face and accentuated the sharp features. One face caught his attention as he scanned the room for a second time... the face of [member="Keira Ticon"]. Ah, what a long time it had been since he had lain eyes on her. What misfortune had befallen her that she was here today without any of their former companions.

Silently he leaned against the wall behind him, taking another long drag and starting at her intently, his eyes not breaking from her face. He reached out with the force, feeling the area out and trying to discern if it truly was her.

 

[Keira Priest]

"Shut your karking mouth." Those four words shouldn't have surprised anyone that knew her even slightly, and least of all Slade. Her gaze remained steadily on him even as he tried to shy away, his attempt at cutting ties doing nothing to subdue her typical stubborn and defiant attitude. The phrase 'Never tell a Corellian the odds' existed for a reason, and it was that mistake he had just indirectly made. If he thought her headstrong before, he had yet to see much of anything. Keira straightened slightly in her chair as she watched him, her eyes never leaving his no matter how much he likely wanted nothing to do with her at the moment. Or so he liked to say, at least. Beneath the surface the truth was more than evident.

Just seeing him again was enough to bring a lifetime of memories to the surface. None of them were of the sort she wanted to forget, but right now they were the last thing she wanted or needed to remember. But unlike him she wouldn't push them away, not completely, allowing them to hang at the edge of her subconscious as if to remind her why she even bothered trying to converse with him in the first place. Sometimes those reminders were necessary, especially in situations such as this, when she was dancing the line between quite literally knocking some sense into him or instead trying to talk him down first. Both options were just as equally appealing, the longer he kept talking.

A cigarette was produced first, then a lighter. Taking the former between her teeth she lit it, tucking the small silver object away and exhaling a cloud of smoke from the corner of her mouth. Before speaking she took another drag, passing the cigarette to him and driving the smoke from her lungs. "Yeah, I'm sure you don't. But you do share an apartment with them for six months. That makes perfect sense." She had to restrain a roll of her eyes and a few more colorful expletives. He really did pick the best of times to be entirely senseless. "If you're done putting up the act, why don't you talk to me like we used to? You've always been a terrible liar, Slade." Among a few other insults here and there.

Immediately another presence in the Force caught her attention, one that reached out to her across the span of the ethereal just to make that single moment of connection. Her focus shifted to that one spark as she glanced over the room. With the number of sensitives gathered so closely in one space it was difficult to pick the individual responsible at first. Difficult, but not impossible. A slight incline of her head was the only visible outward response offered. Sith. That had been blatant the moment he made himself known to her. And for some reason this one was familiar to her. Not as an enemy, but rather as an ally of old. She reached back through that crudely formed link telepathically, "Find me, then."

[member="Slade Zambrano"], [member="Evor"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lor kissed Rawnie on the cheek again as she cracked her joke. He understood her discomfort, at least. Never would he have been caught dead wearing the clothing he was wearing right now. He'd ended up breaking down at Zandra's insistence that it was the only way he'd be able to sneak his weapons in. Obviously, they'd both overestimated the palace's security.​

​

"Huh. I dunno about formal armor, but I wonder how you'd look in a suit."​

​

And, of course, he was already thinking of ways to get rid of the various dings and scars in his wife's armor. He did it to his own set, often enough, so there was no reason it wouldn't work just as well.​

​

[member='Kaster Sane'] [member='Rawnie Tal'verda']​

 

[Komo]

Enoch didn't seem to recognise her. For a moment, she thought he would, a fleeting gaze of his affixed onto her, but it soon passed as he turned his gaze elsewhere, a personal comm unit robbing him of his attention. She walked past him, pretending not to notice him as she walked past a person heading to speak to him. Her own comm unit gave a buzz, and she slipped it out to take a look at the message. Main floor huh. Heh. Greta then gave a snort as she saw the word Blondie.

She chose not to type out a return message, instead intending on surprisng him in some form or shape. Heading back the way she came, Greta traced back her steps as sneakily as she could, mask and dress intact, she made the steps directly behind Enoch, jabbing him in the sides with a bolt of force lightning before the blonde covered his eyes with her hands.

"Guess who?"

She knew he would have hardly any problem guessing who it was, but she asked anyway, after all the reason she even came was to mess around with him. It was fun that way. Greta doubt he would pose any objection to that anyway. Oh, and she completely ignored the fact that he happened to be talking to the other guy she saw earlier on. Because she can, yeah.

[member="Enoch Zambrano"]

 

[Kenrath]

Marcus smiled to [member="Judah Dashiell"] with a nod.

"No matter Consultant is just a very unclever way of saying I offer unwanted and largely useless advice to people smart enough to think for themselves."

He shrugged.

"Pays the bills though and puts food on the table."

He turned to [member="Kana Truden"] with a nod.

"War is a terrible business to be sure." "Nobody should have to leave there homes."

He smiled at her tired of war comment.

"Yes it would make me feel much better about my wife having to travel for work if people would stop trying to kill each other for five minutes."

He briefly turned to look at [member="Danger Arceneau"] before turning back to the other two sipping his wine.

 

[Evor]

A grin spread across his face as Kiera reached back through the ethereal void, delivering her message. Taking another long drag from his cigarette, he let the smoke come out his nose in small wisps that seemed to cling to his face longer than usual, as if trying to hide and contain what lay beneath the tobacco-laced cloud. He heaved his large frame off of the wall, stifling a small yawn into the crook of his arm. He rubbed his eyes, wiping the involuntary tears from his eyes. He started walking around the outside of the room, swiping a bottle of whiskey off of an unsuspecting table as he did so.

He did not go right to his old acquaintance, letting the suspension build. He doubted she could recognize who he... he had changed much since they last met. He completed a lap around the room, before approaching her from behind. The tail of his cloak fluttered softly behind him, brushing against her side as he walked past her, placing the stolen bottle on the table. He walked to the other side of the table before addressing her, pulling the chair out, spinning it around and straddling it. "Black always was your color."


[member="Keira Ticon"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

”I see,” Connor said slowly to [member="Kezeroth the Beholder"]. ”Keira talked very highly of you – she literally was floored when you…died, apparently.”

He looked to [member="Keira Ticon"] again, and her gaze caught his with a sharp incline of the head. There was something empowering about being around these people, ones like Kezeroth as it made him see the galaxy was far larger than he thought. He was a speck on the spectrum of Light and Dark, a very pale one when he looked at this hulking warrior.

A friendly face joined - [member="Ijaat Akun"] - and bolstered his confidence an inch. With a smile, he nodded the acknowledgement back.

”My thanks, and yes I am with the Silver Jedi – Sanctum. Either or. I hope my reputation hasn’t been too tarnished.”

Looking over to Kiera again, he excused himself as it was clear the two men knew each other.

”If you’ll excuse me for a second? I hope we can continue our conversation once I’ve pulled her away from that gawker.”

With a small smile, he blended into the crowd. So his name had gone around? Hm. That was interesting. Walking and keeping himself to himself, he came up to Keira and her companion.

”Well that was fun,” he said. Then, he looked to her “companion”.

[member="Slade Zambrano"]

 

[Laguz Vald]

Nope. If there was a shred of doubt still persisting before, it was now gone with the wind, swept away by the nickname that left those lips in the familiar, sing-song manner.

There was no missing it.

"Tasha," xe responded in kind, tone colored with something beyond xir usual excitement at new, unexplored things. The other assassin wasn't a new variable in the game per se, but Laguz had long learned that encounters with her were nothing short of gay. In the best way possible.

Which is to say, fun. Get your mind out of the gutter, sheesh.

"Only twenty-three? Getting slow in your old age, I see," the merc teased as xe drew closer, xir strides never making a sound even as xe crossed the distance separating the two of them. Stealth, xe had found, made for long-lived shi'ido, and Laguz liked being alive.

"Agree. She got burned though, some nerf herder guard had forgotten the keys to his speeder or something. Came back during shift change and caught me red-handed."

Laguz shrugged with one shoulder, as if being intercepted by security mid-robbery was nothing out of the ordinary. Which, considering their line of work, really wasn't. [member="Kala Maedrin"] had always leaned more to the murdering side of the business, whereas the sniper played the field more evenly, spread between assassinations, intel gathering, and displacement of valuables.

"You're… different."

Didn't mean all that much when you were talking to a shapeshifter, but there was an implication there that went beyond mere physical appearance. Whole decades had passed since they'd last seen each other, and while that was completely normal for the relationship they fostered — such as it was — Kala had never changed so much before.