The Clock Ticks On

[Riamah]

​There were some part of the castle that weren't well used, but there was a need now. More people had been arriving and expressing interest in working with Ra'a'mah and her people.

Making sure everything was ready, cleaned up and prepared for these new arrivals, she requested Mercutio to join her in this meeting. The reason, one of the people coming today they had rescued from the clutches of the First Order. The other person had come from the Iron Empire, a government that had fallen at around the same time the Metal Lords had.

She wore business attire and no weapons. These two men, to her knowledge were not Force users and here as allies, so she had no fear for them. They were allowed to wander the castle freely and could come and go as they needed to. The summons were sent out and now she waited for them to appear.

[member="Mercutio"] [member="Edward Thane"] [member="Decker Willo"]

 

[Decker Willo]

Decker Willo got the call. Leaving in his X-Wing he arrived and moved in a hurried fashion. He had no idea what it was for that @Ra'a'mah had called upon him. He came to the castle, and couldn't find her right away. So he ended up wandering the place. He didn't know she had a castle, and wandered till he came across her. Pausing, he gave a salute. "Decker Willo, reporting" he announced, a smug look on his face as his salute went down. He had his pilot outfit, which he wore everywhere.

"What's it you might need me for? Mission? Flying off somewhere? Helping some people?" He was overly eager, having not had action in months.

[member="Edward Thane"] [member="Mercutio"]

 

[Edward Thane]

Dressed in his formal whites, the former ensign of the Iron Empire stood at the bridge of his corvette, adjusting his buttons and tugging on his outfit to remove any folds or creases. He had never heard of this 'Ra'a'mah', but understood the meaning of their invitation.

His datapad had received the invitation just days before, giving him little time to prepare and make the voyage. Yet here he was. Departing from the ship he took no entourage, trusting that this would be a formal and pleasant gathering, akin to the one he partook in on Ariondight.

He spent no time exploring the castle or its courtyards, instead taking a direct route to their appointed meeting location. Spotting another, he raised a brow, but pushed up next to him, and performed a formal bow to whoever the pilot was addressing. He then shifted to a militant stance of attention, folding his arms behind his back.


[member="Mercutio"] | [member="Decker Willo"] | [member="Ra'a'mah"]

 

[Mercutio]

Mercutio sat alone on the corner of the bar in a stinking cantina, drunk. A man approached him quickly slapping down a few hundred credit chips a split second before Mercutios hand collected them

"Who?"

He asked, the man pointed out across the way to red hooded woman quickly attempting to make her way out.
With sluggish movement Mercutio slipped on the steel half mask that was once part of a full mask, slipping it over his face before jerking away from the bar.
What had once been a full force cloak became more of a flicker, like an eerie specter on an old roll of film as he approached his target, his visage flickering in and out of visibility before suddenly and orange lightsaber blade pierced through the young girls sternum before being pulled free.
"AARRRRGGGGGH!!!"

Mercutio hollered as the body fell and miscreants fell upon it to rob it of any valuables.
Nothing had been the same since his Mistress died.
Nothing Would be the same.
But
His old com link blipped to life as he was sent location coordinates to the old castle.
He sighed before taking the time to ditch the local authorities and leaving the planet and heading for the new destination.

 

[Riamah]

She was surprised Mercutio wasn't the first one there, but she would adjust. Standing up from her seat at the table when Decker and Edward entered, she held a hand for them to shake. Ra was not a military person and did not salute either of them, but nodded.

"I am Ra'a'mah Numare. Decker, we have already met once, but I am not sure if you remember. I do apologize for not talking with you before. Thank you for joining us, Edward. Please have a seat and call me Ra."

Doing as she suggested herself, she took a seat at the table and motioned to the other two to join her.

"Would you care for some caff or tea?"

[member="Mercutio"] [member="Edward Thane"] [member="Decker Willo"]

 

[Decker Willo]

Decker wasn't as aware as he used to be before his time in the First Order prison, so when [member="Edward Thane"] appeared by his side it almost seemed out of thin air. And that made him jump visibly, almost like a shock. "H-Hey there" he greeted to Edward, and then @Ra'a'mah gave her own greeting. "I still have yet to repay you for that. My squadron and I are in your debt for saving me."

He took a seat, and then Ra offered some caff or tea. "Caff would be nice. Always wake up on the wrong side..." It kept him awake and aware.

[member="Mercutio"]

 

[Edward Thane]

The dour man merely gave [member="Decker Willo"] a nod of the head as he took a seat. Waving an open palm towards their host he responded. "Tea, if you would please, ma'am. It is a pleasure to be here." He cupped his wrist, rubbing at some slight pain, though he seemed unconcerned. "Rare do I get an invitation to a place such as this, though it is not my first time."

[member="Mercutio"] [member=Ra'a'mah]

 

[Mercutio]

The small personal transport ship aimed directly for the tall standing castle
Coming closer
and closer
and closer
Until at the last second a very hungover mercutio tapped the controls to lean to the right just enough for the left wing to barely knick the structure, forcing the ship into an insane spin before crash landing.
with half a bottle of Korriban Red Wine, his half mask and his orange bladed shoto saber strapped to his forearm, Mercutio made his way into the castle he had hoped never to see again before he had managed to drink himself to death.
Making his way into the meeting room he slammed his empty wine bottle down before helping himself to the tea that was meant for [member="Edward Thane"] taking a sip from it before spewing it out in disgust all over [member="Decker Willo"]

"This has got to be the nastiest tasting brandy I've ever had... Is there anymore?"

 

[Edward Thane]

Edward recoiled from the man, scowling as he tugged on his brilliant white uniform. "Yes. Is there more?" His visage smoothed as he returned to his emotionless guise, shifting in his seat.

[member="Mercutio"] | [member="Decker Willo"]

 

[Decker Willo]

Decker spotted [member="Mercutio"] come in, and he recognized him. "Oh hey, remember me?! You and Ra, you-" He closed his eyes, and closed his mouth up but it was a bit late for that. He just stayed still, trying not to do anything that might make him react. Just remaining still, and simply turned his closed eyes to Ra. "May I....May I clean up?"

[member="Edward Thane"]
[member="Mercutio"]
@Ra'a'mah

 

[Riamah]

At least her apprentice didn't strip or arrive naked to the summons. His condition though brought a raised eyebrow, but nothing else. When he vomited on Decker though, she almost face palmed. Not something good to do right now though.

Vincent brought in the requested drinks and left the room. When he saw Merc enter, he decided to bring in more drink and a towel as he witnessed what happened.

"Of, course, Decker. Go on, Vincent will bring a towel and then you can go clean up. Please return when you're done."

​Letting out a sigh, she looked at her apprentice and shook her head. Things had been bad for him and he still thought she was a droid. Hopefully her words and actions today would let him know she was more than a simple HRD.

"Mercutio, go get yourself cleaned up and come back."

Turning to Edward, she was at a bit of a loss.

"I will resume once the two of them have returned. Would you care for more tea?"

[member="Decker Willo"] [member="Edward Thane"] [member="Mercutio"]

 

[Edward Thane]

"Yes of course, please." With a twitching brow the man folded his arms, leaning to the side. "What colorful company you keep," he almost muttered. "Far from the standards I am used to." The Officer drew a datapad, beginning to scroll across its surface to quickly check in with his crew in orbit. "This is not the first castle I have been in, somewhat of a cry back to the Iron Empire."

[member=Ra'a'mah] | [member="Mercutio"] | [member="Decker Willo"]

 

[Decker Willo]

Decker as soon as he got to a bathroom, he let loose. He had been rather disgusted and that incident upset his stomach. Vincent waited for him, and then once he was cleaned up Decker thanked Vincent for the towel with a light smirk and a two finger salute. And after he started getting himself back over. Of course, it had taken a long while and on his way he did stop off every now and then as he looked the sights around the castle on the way. Even though Vincent urged him on.

@Ra'a'mah @Edward Thane [member="Mercutio"]

 

[Mercutio]

"I don't take orders from metallic puppets like you. I just came to see you do your little song and dance while wearing her face one time before I force activate your self destruct sequence... Though I am sorry about the shirt Decker."

He replied to 'Ra,' or in his mind the droid wearing her face.
His tone changing from one of mock enjoyment to one of deadly seriousness.

While he rummaged through the nearby collection of beverages, his right hand dropping down to his side a moment before the fist clenched and the formerly golden but now orange tinted blade ignited with a 'hiissssss' as he finished speaking.
As his left hand continued to hunt through the collected assortment of bottles he lowly hummed the old tune 'No Strings On Me' to himself.

@Ra'a'mah @Decker Willo [member="Edward Thane"]

 

[Mercutio]

((Ignore doble posted, on phone, very tired.))

 

[Edward Thane]

Lifting a brow to Ra'a'mah at the comment of metallic puppets, the officer left the datapad upon the table, pushing his chair back to stand. "Could you settle down, brute? Stow your weapon and act civil." Scowling, he tugged on his formal uniform. Not daring to reach for his meager blaster pistol. "We are here to break bread and discuss, and you've done nothing but act like a savage."

[member=Ra'a'mah] | [member="Mercutio"] | [member="Decker Willo"]

 

[Decker Willo]

Decker came back to find things...somehow got heated. If he were honest, half of him wanted to get out just like that. Ready to just nope right on out. "You go get yourself cleaned up, and people are fighting" he murmured to himself. He was confused as to what exactly he had just walked into. What a fun meeting this was so far. Then Mercutio drew his saber and Decker was just about ready to run. "Okay, woah! No need for weapons out!"

[member="Edward Thane"] @Mercutio @Ra'a'mah

 

[Riamah]

What her apprentice said irritated Ra slightly. When the news of her 'death' had happened, he was gone. Anything he learned was by word of mouth and what he had known was his master had died and been replaced by a droid. However, she wasn't wearing her droid suit today. Merc must be thinking she was some sort of HRD and treated her as such.

When he brought out his shoto saber, she reached out with the Force and deactivated it. This was no skill a droid would be able to accomplish no matter what technology they had.

"I am not the droid you think I am, Mercutio. But I highly doubt you'll ever believe me."

If that didn't disarm th​e situation, there were other things she could do, but only did that for now. With the additional words of both Edward and Decker, she hoped Merc wouldn't do anything else.

Turning to Edward and Decker, she gave them both a slightly thankful look.

"I'm sorry for his behavior. Something that happened in the past he took very poorly and is still coming to terms with and recovering from it."

Decker might know, but ​Edward was still rather new to things. He may need to get filled in on some of the details.

[member="Decker Willo"] [member="Edward Thane"] [member="Mercutio"]

 

[Mercutio]

Mercutio paused for a long moment after his blade was extinguished.
He opened his mouth several times to reply but no words came.
Finally he picked up a bottle of cheap vodka and downed half of it in one go.

"Now I understand why Jedi choose not to feel. Whether you being dead or you being alive and not telling me is more mind breaking I will never know."

He then moved to the table before sitting back and propping his feet up, offering his half empty bottle to [member="Decker Willo"] for a drink

"So why are we here again?"

[member="Edward Thane"]

 

[Edward Thane]

"We're here to meet with-" He paused and motioned to [member=Ra'a'mah]. Taking the fresh cup of tea he took a sip, letting the warm liquid wash away his annoyance and once more cool his nerves. "I believe we are discussing a sort of employment, yes?"

Directing his, and hopefully the others, attention back to their host, the ensign gave a short nod. Lifting he cup up,"Shall we return to it?"

[member="Decker Willo"] | [member="Mercutio"]