Garden Party

[Doctor Zendu]

Robert jumped when the kitten scrambled up his leg, its claws like handful of knives raking against his pant leg. Then the blasted thing was on his shoulder and trying to knock his glasses off his head.

"Shoo, little guy" he said and tried to unsuccessfully wave the kitten away. The Doctor smiled at the Duchess sheepishly. "The pleasure is mine, Benedali." As he took another sip of champagne, his brown eyes scanned the garden. He noticed a droid who was arguing with security over bringing its weapon to the party, and roguish looking man who strided over to them and introduced himself as "Carlos."

"You certainly do have an interesting mix of guests."

[member="Benedali Serrus"] [member="Sky"] [member="Tiger and Lili"]

 

[Seth Harkness]

[member="Benedali Serrus"] [member="Doctor Zendu"] [member="Tiger and Lili"]


" my name is sky, its nice to meet you miss." She said with a shy smile " sorry.. im not.. use to crowds of people." she said looking around with a slight nervous look. " those are some really cute cats."

 

[Tiger and Lili]

Lili still asleep, she's having a good day

When the woman outstretched her arm towards Tiger, he gave one last menacing glance towards the doctor, then jumped onto her amr with a soft meow. He climbed over to where his sister was lying and he tried to wake her up by nudging her, but she wouldn't wake up, so he decided to lie down too keeping an eye open on all the guests.

 

[Benedali Serrus]

[member="Carlos Castillo"] [member="G12-B"] [member="Doctor Zendu"] [member="Sky"] [member="Tiger and Lili"]

"Sky? What a lovely name," Benedali said warmly. "And yes, they certainly are adorable." The corners of her mouth quirked up slightly as the male kitten laid down beside his sister.

The Duchess turned to where Robert was looking, her brow slightly furrowed. She hoped that the droid could be reasoned with, and made to understand that it would get its weapon back once it left. "Indeed..." If nothing else, she was sure that Orron, Maka, or her brother would take care of it.

Yet another guest caught the Duchess' attention. "The pleasure is all mine, Carlos of Umbara. Please, just call me Benedali. We are all equals here." The way he held her gaze caught her off guard, but not for long. In a teasing tone, she added, "I would curtsy to you, but as you can see it's not just a party that I am playing hostess to." Benedali gestured at the kittens. "Apparently I make a wonderful bed."

 

[Maka Sumoto]

Maka stepped over to the small crowd, more interested in the curly-haired nobleman than the other two. Anybody with the ability to sense the Force could tell that this man had power in the Dark Side. He nodded, and greeted the nobleman, "Carlos, was it? I am Maka, of the House Guard. Among the mountain villages here, I may also be called the White Archer."

Then, his gaze finally travelled to the girl, and the doctor. The doctor had not been invited by mistake. Rather, Maka had decided to invite him on some whim. The droid at the door had been another whim that had seemed like an interesting idea at the time. He held out his hand to the doctor to shake, and greeted him, too, "Doctor. I'm glad you accepted the invitation. Enjoy it."

Looking back over at Benedali, he grinned, and informed her, "Don't worry about the droid. He was a, uh, last minute guest I invited. I thought it would be interesting to see Arick jump a few feet."

[member="Doctor Zendu"] [member='Benedali Serrus'] [member='Carlos Castillo']

 

[Carlos Castillo]

The Umbaran noble didn't let his bow last long, rising almost immediately upon acknowledgement. An arrogant gaze was cast upon the kittens, weighing them before finding them wanting. He didn't see a reason to ever have pets, the worthless little things. "I see..." His voice trailed off, disappointed his hostess could be so caught up in the more average things in life.

A new face made its appearance, not exactly startling Carlos, but the abrupt arrival was a surprise. The House Guard's words almost made the politician snort. "Why do they call you that? Skin tone?" A sly grin could've told the man he was joking, but some of these lessers occasionally misunderstood him.

[member="Doctor Zendu"], [member="Benedali Serrus"], [member="Maka Sumoto"]

 

[Seth Harkness]

[member="Benedali Serrus"] [member="Tiger and Lili"] [member="Doctor Zendu"]

" Thank you.. I.. Its nice to meet you. " she said sighing as her voice stuttered a bit. She put hand over her eyes " S sorry" she said turning and walk away ~ ok please don't start now~ she thought taking a few deep breaths.

 

[G12-B]

G12-B wouldn't let anyone, anyone take his weapon away. He let out a mechanical sigh and punched one of the guards in the face. Blood started dripping from the guard's nose as he entered. He walked up to a large group of people which must have been the guests and the host "I apologise for the 'aggressive negotiations' back there but the guards are a stubborn group" he said. He was probably going to get kicked out in a few minutes, scratch that make it seconds.

[member="Benedali Serrus"]
[member="Doctor Zendu"]
[member="Carlos Castillo"]
[member="Sky"]
[member="Orron Thrask"]
[member="Tiger and Lili"]
[member="Maka Sumoto"]
[member="Arick Serrus"]

 

[Doctor Zendu]

Relieved that the Duchess had managed to tempt the feral kitten off his shoulder, Robert warmly shook the hand of the House Guard. "Ah, so you're the fellow that sent me the invitation. Thank you for having me."

He turned to the Duchess, pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. "Might I add that you have one of the most beautiful gardens I've ever seen. I live in a sky tower, and I wish I had a thumb as green as yours. I might be tempted to put some plants out on the terrace." He doubted the noble woman got her own hands dirty, but it would be rude to vocalize that.

As he watched all the guests, the Doctor was tempted to make some notes in his little black book, which was tucked away in his pocket. He watched Carlos jeer at Maka with amusement and surmised right off the bat the man was possibly a sociopath. There was another young woman among them who seemed to have a bad case of social phobia. That was the problem with parties. All of the curiosities of human and near-human social interaction inspired Robert to psychoanalyze the guests. The Doctor never seemed able to just relax and be himself.

[member="Maka Sumoto"] [member="Benedali Serrus"] [member="Tiger and Lili"] [member="Carlos Castillo"] [member="Sky"] [member="G12-B"]

 

[Orron Thrask]

While standing with Maka Orron had let his thoughts get the better of him and distract his mind for a moment. He only glanced at the arrival of the odd doctor who began to speak with the duchess while feeling something off. He sensed something off among the crowd. At first he belived it to be the assassin, especially when he could see an armed droid present that had attacked one of the gaurds for trying to take his weapon, however he realized that wasn't it. He was sensing the dark side.

Orron had been floded with the overbearing sense of the dark side during the invasion of Courascant. So any fluxuations of power in the different sith, from acolyte to lord, and had become all too familiar with that sense. It was like an aftertaste to a drink that you assured you'd never have again, yet that taste would still linger on your tounge for nearly all the rest of your life.

He looked about before seeing the young man speaking with the duchess, sensing he was the source. As much as he wanted to make a move against him he knew it was best not to start anything in the middle of a party; at least not in front of everyone. Instead he made his way over and stood close to the duchess to garter both hers and the man's attention. Still keeping his cyber body hidden Orron would lift his head to at least expose his face, hopfully letting the Sith apprentice or acolyte, whatever they'd called themselves these days, what he was dealign with.

Once he did he said "Pardon me, Duchess. Uh, I mean Benedali. Sorry. I don't think I've had the chance to meet your newest guests." looking towards her before glancing at [member="Carlos Castillo"].

[member="Doctor Zendu"] [member="G12-B"] [member="Sky"] [member="Maka Sumoto"] [member="Benedali Serrus"] [member="Tiger and Lili"]

 

[Carlos Castillo]

Halving his sneer at the House Guard, Carlos glanced back at the apparent Doctor Zendu who was standing before him. A hint of intelligence sparked in his eyes as he sent his glasses rising up the bridge of his nose. Probably some hotshot smartie-pants who liked to tell people what their problems where. This particular Umbaran halfblood preferred to merely solve the problem before it even was one in the first place. He had to win at everything. Defeat was never an option.

Before he could ask the fine doctor here a question, some unpleasant feeling arose in his gut. The Light. The nobleman almost literally snarled at the presence, but kept himself utterly and completely composed in front of these pathetic little mongrels. He was here to have a little fun, maybe even stir up a ruckus if need be. An actual Jedi strode up to him, he could tell from both his presence and composure. Concealing his frame like he was mattered not, even if he seemed kinda big. Even that strange little droid appeared to be a possible future annoyance.

"What do you want?" Carlos asked bluntly.

[member="Orron Thrask"], [member="Doctor Zendu"], [member="G12-B"], [member="Maka Sumoto"], [member="Benedali Serrus"]

 

[Kries-er Waltz]

He rushed in the palace, breath heavily as he picking up his pace back. Looking forward to Serrus

"Am I late? Or it's just starting right now?"

[Holding the invitation letter up in the air as he bow]

He wore a traditional Chubbit's Saharan suit, quite fancy and fit for his style, lightly covered in sand near his leg.

[member='Benedali Serrus']

 

[Seth Harkness]

[member="Doctor Zendu"]

After a moment sky walked back over to the man she had spoken to a moment before " So sorry for walking away like that. I did not catch you name, i'm Sky. " She said with a friendly smile.

 

[Maka Sumoto]

Maka's expression suddenly turned cold. The blue of his eyes turned to ice. The cold glare ran over the two men, the Sith and the Jedi. The Dark and the Light. He drew his cape back to display the silvered lightsaber hilt at his waist, and said coldly, "You are guests in House Serrus. You will handle your problems elsewhere, or not at all."

His gaze softened when he looked back over at Benedali. Maka let his cloak fall back over his waist. Then, he stepped back, and looked at her, smiling crookedly, and added, "Benedali did work rather hard on converting this courtyard, after all. I'd hate to see it get blown up by a couple of idiots fighting over the Force."

[member="Carlos Castillo"] [member="Orron Thrask"] [member="Benedali Serrus"]

 

[Benedali Serrus]

[member="Maka Sumoto"] [member="Carlos Castillo"] [member="Sky"] [member="G12-B"] [member="Doctor Zendu"] [member="Orron Thrask"] [member="Kries-er Waltz"] [member="Arick Serrus"]

((Good heavens I'm gone all day and when I come back there's a bazillion posts xD))

Benedali shook her head, a good-natured scowl upon her face as she replied to Maka. "Of course, trust you to be the one who invites the rough crowd." She cast a quick glance at the droid and Robert. "No offense, of course. And thank you; but most of the credit should go to the gardeners -- I simply chose where everything went."

She then sized up Carlos, before deciding that it would be best to not respond. Nobleman though he may be, something about the man gave her an uneasy feeling in her stomach. It could have been the arrogance that Benedali so disliked in other nobles, or the fact that he looked t her as if she were a mere commoner, but the Duchess was going to go with her gut feeling and keep an eye on him.

Another presence came up beside her, and a little smile of relief danced across her lips when she realized it was Orrus. Now, if my brother were here as well then everything would be alright. Not that she doubted Maka's and Orrus' ability to handle anything that went wrong -- she was just a strong believer in being prepared and ready. Gesturing to each newcomer, she said, "Orrus, meet Robert, Sky (and don't worry, no need to be sorry), Carlos, you already know Maka, and..." She trailed off when she got to the droid. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

Then out of nowhere a peculiar-looking alien ran up, waving about his invitation and saying something about being late. "Oh, don't worry, you're not late. Welcome to our estates, by the way."

((Dangit Maka!!!!))

When Maka displayed his lightsaber, Benedali felt a surge of annoyance at his blatant disregard for her request of no weapons. That, however, disappeared as soon as it arrived when she considered the fact that it might come in handy later on.

 

[Kries-er Waltz]

"Thank you for inviting me here," He wipe out all of the sand on his suit. "Sorry for a little mess here, just came back from my rough village"

"Anyway. . .what'd we've here?"

[member='Benedali Serurus']

 

[Maka Sumoto]

Maka smiled back, his anger at Orrus and Carlos forgotten. Holding out a hand for the droid to shake, he answered Benedali's question, "Our metal friend is G12-B, an expert marksman who I was hoping to help me organize our defenses better. Old assassin model who was reprogrammed for total sentience."

He looked down at the frog thing, and grinned. He greeted the little man with a nod, and replied, "I'm Maka, of the House Guard. You're Waltz, right?"

[member="Benedali Serrus"] [member="Carlos Castillo"] [member="Orron Thrask"] [member="G12-B"]

 

[G12-B]

G12-B shook the man's hand. "It seems you knew a lot of me but I know very little about you" he said.

He looked around to see some small traces of chaos beginning to dawn.

[member="Maka Sumoto"]
[member="Kries-er Waltz"]
[member="Benedali Serrus"]
[member="Carlos Castillo"]
[member="Sky"]
[member="Orron Thrask"]
[member="Doctor Zendu"]
[member="Tiger and Lili"]

 

[Kries-er Waltz]

"How can you know my name?" He replied

"Yes, I'm Waltz, "Village Guardian", "Pirate Destroyer", "Explorer", "Kn-. . . you'd know me, nice to meet you, 'sier' " (mean sir in Chibbini)

As he looking around, he silently staring at the droid. He's getting worry and curious about what's going to happen next.

[member='Maka Sumoto']
[member='G12-B']

 

[Carlos Castillo]

This House Guard was a fool, completely. Carlos had no confirmation of this "Jedi's" Force sensitivity and Maka's words not only did so, but proved that he too was of the Force. You had one mouth and two ears for a reason - to listen. It wasn't like Carlos was going to fight this mangy mutt in front of a Duchess and her guests. That'd be far too impolite of him. Lips drew back into a wolfish smile and cobalt eyes glimmered with mirth.

"Problem," he asked innocently, "What problem?" His hands were splayed out, palms upwards. "I'm just tryin' to enjoy the scenery and the lovely ladies gathered here."

It was originally his intention to keep his curved-hilt lightsaber out of sight and out of mind, but if this man and this guard wanted to tussle, he'd give 'em one.

[member="Maka Sumoto"], [member="Orron Thrask"], [member="Benedali Serrus"]