Public KGM Charity Gala - (Fully Open)

[Kiran Arlos]

"Sorry."

Kiran's grin faltered just a little at her bluntness, but he recovered quickly, leaning back on his heels as though to put a casual frame around her words. "Not trying to impress," he said, though the quick flicker in his expression betrayed that he cared more than he let on. She was blunt, and he loved it, it kept him honest with himself and even more so kept him grounded in reality. "Uncertainty's just… familiar. You don't miss what you never had, right?"

Her last question caught him off guard. He glanced toward the band, who were finishing up the last of their songs, then at the thinning clusters as guest's began to finish conversations and wander over towards the exits

"Where I'm headed?" He gave a short laugh, half amusement, half hesitation. "That depends. Normally I'd just find a quiet rooftop somewhere and wait for the traffic to thin out." His eyes flicked back to hers, more serious now. "But… if you've got someplace in mind, I'm not opposed to better company than my own."

He didn't add that he wasn't sure she'd actually want him tagging along. But the way he said it carried the weight of an invitation, open, cautious, yet hopeful.

Persephone Dashiell

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

"Not to assume, but are you asking me on a date?"

Sometimes these social situations could be hard to decipher. Could be Kiran Arlos wanted to leave and continue to speak and grab a small snack. Which could be considered a date....but also just wanting to catch up as just a general interest type of thing. Each would have their own connotations, important for her to know.

 

[Kiran Arlos]

"Not to assume, but are you asking me on a date?"

Kiran blinked at her question, caught mid-step by how directly she'd put it. His first instinct was to deflect with humor, but something about Persephone's steady gaze made him pause. She deserved a straight answer.


"Well…" he began, rubbing at the back of his neck, his usual crooked grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. "If I say no, then I look like I don't have the guts. If I say yes, then I risk you rolling your eyes at me." He let out a small breath, somewhere between a laugh and a sigh.


"I guess what I'm asking is… would you want it to be a date?" His tone softened, the playfulness dropping away in favor of something more genuine. "Because for me, yeah, I'd like that. Doesn't have to be fancy. Just you and me, talking, maybe finding something to eat that doesn't taste like ration packs."


He held her gaze now, less wary, more open than he'd been all night. "But if you'd rather call it something else…?"

Persephone Dashiell

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

Persephone worked better when she had some parameters of the truth set out. Due to her upbringing she was a more black-and-white type of person, gray areas were for philosophy majors. Now, she wasn't going to get all fluttery and blush. Just because someone wanted to go on a date didn't mean they liked you per se, but perhaps were more interested in getting to know someone on a different level to decide their next direction.

"If you want it to be a date, you'll have to speak to my father first."

Younger Persephone would rebel at such a thought. As she was older there was a finer understanding of the what and why behind the rules that were now set in place. It was annoying at times sure, but this was the first time someone had really asked her out in a long time. Without a doubt, most teenage boys faced with this task would go running for the hills.

Part of the reason her parents put the rule in place. To weed out the unserious ones.

"If you don't want to call it a date then yeah, I guess we can hang out. Don't know anything about this planet but Zee can find us somewhere to eat before I go."

Kiran Arlos​

 

[Kiran Arlos]

Kiran froze for a minute, the confident grin still stayed on his face, yet faltered slightly. Speak to her father? That was… unexpected. Yet the confidence in himself returned from the lightly faltered, but it was softer now, tinged with something more earnest. "If that's what I have to do, it says a lot about who's worth the effort." And Kiran truly did want to get to know her better, if this is what he had to do, he would do it.

She was at least for his part, one of the closest friends he had. She was blunt and straightforward with him, and the grounded him in truth.

He hesitated then, letting a rare vulnerability sneak through. "But… for the record? Talking to your father doesn't scare me half as much as making the wrong impression on you. So, a date it is then."

Persephone Dashiell

 

[St. Thomas Barran]

TAGS
Adrikobe Kellrule

KGM CHARITY GALA
2

'I like the privacy offered here, Mr. Kellrule.... Jus' quiet enough to keep prying ears away.'
​

Walking in to the hidden storage room to find two chairs and a metallic table, the Khan in bartender attire was still shaking off a certain extreme of irritation at the time, as the Gilded Man had drawn dangerously close to blowing the Supervisor's cover; however, this sudden generosity had been shrugged off as a welcome surprise, played off as a gormless acceptance of the host's benevolence. But as things went in the clandestine world of infiltration, such risks were always worth their weight in Songsteel reward, considered well as the one-eyed Woad calmly drawled,'I presume you have been granted enough time to make your decision.... So I won't ramble, not tonight.', sitting only when the Gilded Man had taken his seat first.

The Khan then made a slow, showy display of reaching into his shirt pocket, calming the local bodyguards' tensions whilst the gravity of the situation was given it's full, silent weight of importance, a show of good faith with fellow consummate professionals, people of whom the Khan knew were to be acquainted with Rook's brigade in the event of a positive outcome to the meeting. After all, Barran was only reaching for cigarras and a lighter, appearing ever more like the common barman of his chosen disguise, lighting one and taking a few drags before he continued,'The right men for the job will be ready for travel in a week or so, an' if the terms are favourable, they'll show up as GA-tagged contractors - sticking to the shadows, blending in.... Say the words, an' I'll make sure you survive for as long as our contract holds.', trailing off in the effort to flick the first of his ashes into the ashtray between them.

'So, what sayeth the Gilded Man?'

 

[Adrikobe Kellrule]

Tags: St. Thomas Barran


Adrikobe steepled his fingers, he was well aware of the risks of his rather... obvious display. Then again, perhaps the Gilded Man wanted a certain few people to witness his display.

He extended a hand to his side, towards a droid. He was handed a data pad, once which he looked through carefully

He began to speak now, his tone far colder and calculated than the showman he'd put on for the outside Gala, less host and more... cutthroat businessman.

"You may not intend to ramble, but I certainly do." He stated, looking through the data pad briefly, as he began:

"In my experience, even the simplest of budget cuts can do wonders for you. Reducing wasteful spending ultimately leads to both me, and my valued employees feeling... (for lack of better words), 'happy'. Now, when I examine the risks of diminishing returns after hiring you... I do not feel happy."

He suddenly glanced to his side, gesturing toward one of the security droids flanking the table

"I practically make these myself. I harvest the materials, sell them to factories that manufacture them, and purchase the finished product. That little spending mishap is something I intend to correct, and, if I were to, I would be able to create a private security force large enough to act as a paramilitary unit, all without having to go through any third party." He stopped, allowing his words to sink in.

He resumed, setting the data pad down on the table, leaning forwards and resting his clasped hands on the table.

"I've had ample time to learn about who you are, Mr. Barran. As well as your... associates. Yet, I still find myself hesitating to pay you what you've requested. Why should I pay you with one of the most valuable materials in the galaxy, when I could just as easily program everything you know into a hunk of metal that does it more efficiently, and for a tenth of the cost?"

He rested against the back of the chair now, seemingly expecting the best sales pitch of his life.

 

[St. Thomas Barran]

TAGS
Adrikobe Kellrule

KGM CHARITY GALA
3

'I see.... Where to begin, hm? Ah, I know.'
​

With an appreciative smirk, the one-eyed Woad, with cursory glances toward the standing, serving handiwork of the Gilded Man, took another drag from his cigarra before returning his tunnel-like focus to the task at hand. Stubbing out the burning head after that, the Khan had given himself ample time to consider the right framing, though only in search for succinctness as he revealed,'I'll start with the intended purpose, hm? for I, personally, intend to forge the greatest war-swords this Galaxy has ever known - with my own hands, my own tools, in my own forge.', turning palms upward to show the callouses he earned the process of smithing their Beskar predecessors.

'Sometimes the simplest, smallest act of resolve is enough to change history, to change the here-and-now, and even the future toward which we're all hurtling now.... I've seen it happen, I've made it happen.'

Another, strafing glance was afforded to Adrikobe's inventions, appraising the complexity of the handiwork as he considered the challenge of wit pertaining to the differences between droids and sentients respectively. It was then that he considered what metals of similar grade could do with a little droid-programming moving them in similar, warlike fashion, but came crashing into the same wall of superior human instincts as he noted,'Works of art, especially the sort you've made with your own hands, as I have for swords with mine own, only ever seem to ascend so far with the right prompts, the right programming.... The sentient, empowered mind, however.... Now thats an entirely different beast.', drawing toward thoughts of seeing Mawsworn cyborgs laying waste to battle-droids in their thousands during the Second Hyperspace War.

'With a mind like mine, even back in the day, when it was still fragmented an' broken, I knew enough to purify plundered scraps of Beskar into a single slab.... And with the swords I forged with it, the Emperor's very own culture climbed to prominence, and the New Imperial Order were eradicated; an' with those same swords, the Maw's legacy has continued to survive an' grow as a Khanate, holding out against the Galaxy's champions - unbroken as a movement to this very day.'

Fixing the bar-service issue tie on his shirt, a natural, prideful consequence to the most-bombastic of claims, the Khan could no help but feel that enough had been endeavoured in his life to be remembered, and long after his eventual demise. Not only in the feats required to amplify said-bombast, but also in the relevance of the swords he smithed to amplify the grandiosity his subordinates' feats in turn, realising then that he missed the moment his reputation began to precede him, the moment his name began to enter into the upper-echelons of Dark Side influence. The hard work had been done, the rest was the great adventure to cement his name for all eternity, and in this realisation, the ambition began to flutter in Barran's one remaining eye, revealing that which the Khan had kept tucked away in perpetuity before that moment of moments.

'An' that was just with a fractured mind, an' plundered Beskar - just imagine what I could achieve now, an' with Songsteel.... The most-legendary, the most-mythic metal the Cosmos will ever know.'

 

[Adrikobe Kellrule]

Tags: St. Thomas Barran

Adrikobe seemingly thought for a moment, though, his mind had already been made up.

"Cademimu V. KGM warehouse on level 14, deck 7. You'll be receiving your payment, and a bit in advance. I have your first assignment already prepared."

He handed him the datapad, which now showed a briefing of the assignment, as he continued:

"Pirates and Smugglers on Phaeda and Wistril. I need them removed, parasites are bad for business. Unfortunately for me, they're wedged between the Diarchy and Mandalorians, and either side intervening would likely start a war. That's where you come in."

He paused for a moment, before continuing:

"However, it would be best for everyone involved if nobody knew an Imperial affiliate was operating so far outside the core. That would be rather... problematic, don't you agree?"

"Just make it obvious it was me, and all will be fine."

He rose now, speaking with clear authority:

"I imagine a man of your talents will find this simple, so best not to disappoint me.", and with that, he began making his way back to the Gala.

"Enjoy the festivities." Is what he left off with, returning to his 'gracious host' persona.

 

[St. Thomas Barran]

TAGS
Adrikobe Kellrule

KGM CHARITY GALA
4

'Can't.... Cover stays up until my shift ends, then I'm gone.'
​

Stubbing out his cigarra, the Khan stood to join the guard-entourage of the Gilded Man, nodding in compliant accordance with the nearest of covering bodyguards as the door was opened to the hidden hallway outside, likely the only route back to the party from that particular, lower segement of the property. Rook Darkhan would likely be content with the security offered in the choice-venues, as it seemed to the Bloodhound that Kellrule liked to be fortified in buildings that resisted the rigors of bombardment, and as Barran knew himself, there was always a chance to expand outward in trenchworks if ever the need arose.

'For better or worse, I believe the Arkanian will appreciate your intentions. He answers to the name,"Rook", an' from here - he will be your main line o' contact to me.'

Speaking his mind whilst trying to catching up with, he had no qualms in doing so, as even in the process of slipping on the mask of the host, St. Thomas knew that Adrikobe was still listening quite intently at the time. It was not until they were eye-to-eye that Barran's tone took on a near-whisper, though the seriousnes of the voice beneath the hush left no lingering illusions of aloofness when he continued,'What we jus' did, as you know, will set a dangerous precedent for the future.... We're walking the thinnest of tightropes now, an' all whilst the most-powerful Jedi in existence, like those upstairs right now, hold the sharpest of scissors - at all times.', unblinking in his one-eyed gaze until his courtesy warning was imparted in full.

'Never - slip - your - mask, Mr. Kellrule. Ever.'

It was then that the cold, occupational guile suddenly vanished from the Khan's face, replaced by the static arrival of affability's mask as the Supervisor returned to state,'Now, my good sirs. I can handle orders tame an' strong alike, jus' call me over to the high-table when you're ready.', with an expressive commoner's bow to finish his cloak-and-dagger flourish. Then with little more than a few paces forward, the slide-door mechanism was switched on with a smile, the Supervisor would then chance a quick look to the bar as the first of the detail's bodyguards stepped out, bowing once more to the Gilded Man before returning to his station in silence.