Finding Home

Sreeya

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Val stepped off her ship and immediately into swampy goo. With a grimace, she yanked her foot out, swatting away at mosquitos. Of course, she had to land in the most swampy area around. Val had read up on Mutanda, knowing that there were rainforests and lot of forestry all around. However, she had forgotten the kind of climate that entailed. Val cursed out loud. She looked down to find Raziel blinking at her curiously.

"Uh...I didn't say anything.."

The boy gave her a quizzical look. Val scowled at him.

"You're way too sly for your age.."

She had come to Mutanda to meet with Sheng. He had handled her pregnancy quite well, so he would handle the news of her marriage well...right? Val grimaced at the thought of his disapproval. She would have come to Mutanda for nothing. Val waited for a shuttle to take her over to the Winters mansion. As she glanced around, she was shocked at the number of Horansi all around her. It wasn't the fact that they were all Horansi that shocked her, it was the fact that she felt right at home. Having grown up around Kasa Horansi and Cathar meant she felt extremely comfortable around them. Of course, she most likely stood out as the strange human among the lot.

The shuttle took only minutes to get there, taking her right near the estate. Val stepped out and had to marvel at its size. What was it with her friends and being rich? She still lived in crappy little apartments. Val shook her head, quickly distracted from her thoughts when Raziel poked her for attention. She looked down at him and he pointed to the ground.

"Walk!"

"Oh come on.."

"Walk!!!"

"It'll take us 80 years to get to the front door!!"

After a comical argument between the two, she finally set him down. Raziel was developing surprisingly quick. He was over a year old and walking as if he had been doing it for a while. His speech still had to develop quite a bit, but his confidence was becoming more of a source of concern than anything. Val slowly followed as Raziel happily wandered around, stopping every five seconds to inspect everything on the ground. Any attempts at putting anything in his mouth were thwarted, much to his displeasure. Val looked down at the time, realizing that he was slowing her down considerably.

"Okay that's it."

Val scooped him up and quickened her pace, ignoring his complaints. She ignored him till she arrived and the front door, setting him down. He quited down instantly, his yellow eyes curiously peering up at the door. Val knocked on the door, wondering who would answer. She quietly hoped to run into Sonam on this trip.
 

Jiang Winters

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"Shuttle's here."

Weisheng's ears perked as he heard Sonam mention something about a 'shuttle'. The white-furred feline leaned out of his quarters and glanced at Sonam, who was staring out one of the windows looking over the estate's vast front lawn, basked in sunlight yet still covered in a light dusting of snow. While much of Mutanda was jungle, the territory of the Winters family was perched closer to the northern pole, placing them squarely in a temperate region. As such, they enjoyed far milder weather, and even snow-filled winters.

"Hm," Sheng mused. "What d'ya know, it is here. I'll be down in a minute to say hello, unless you wanted t-"

Sonam cut him off. "I think it'd be best if someone else answered the door, just to play it safe. I'll send for Jiang."

The elder Winters chuckled. "He's going out of his skull trying to finish Val's gift. Not a good idea. Try Dalang. He should be dressed by now."

Sheng walked back into his office as Sonam darted off and straightened out the sleeves of his Kamishimo. After fixing his Daisho -consisting of his Katana and Wakizashi - to his belt, the feline replaced his glasses with contacts and made his way out of his room. His room, along with Jiang's quarters, were located on the uppermost story of the mansion. An office and library were there as well, along with a lounge for entertaining guests. The third story held the rest of the family's rooms, the second floor held the guest rooms, a second library, and a family shrine containing relics from the Winters' past, and the first floor contained the kitchen, dining area, and a host of other rooms for the purpose of housing and entertaining guests, along with a large sparring room. The basement held the wine cellar and refrigerated storage room, along with the latest additions to the house; a lounge loaded to the gills with the latest in electronic entertainment devices and a massive workshop and garage, used solely by Jiang.

The house itself was gigantic and elegant, with old-fashioned stonework used in the construction of the walls and a steep slate roof. It was as old as the Winters themselves, and had seen generation after generation come and go. Constant renovations kept the mansion as modern as possible, but left very little of the original work in place; only the exterior and some of the furniture and walls were still original, with the rest having been replaced with safer, more modern components ages ago. Price-wise, it was well beyond what any of the Winters could have afforded - except, perhaps, for Dalang, when he was on the payroll of Jade Galactic.

As for the estate, a host of outbuildings littered the area behind it. Each had been added by a previous generation; among them was a poolhouse, a garage, a landing pad and hangar, a soundproofed shooting range, servant's quarters, and a greenhouse... Which, unsurprisingly, hadn't seen a lick of work in years.

Sonam, wearing black slacks and a tee-shirt since he didn't exactly intend to attend the upcoming ceremony for fear of making Val feel awkward, headed down to find Dalang. He pushed open Dal's door and stuck his head in. "Dal! Valena's here, can you go greet he-rrrr... Uhh, oops?"

He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly as he averted his eyes; he'd caught Dalang in the middle of dressing. "Sorry. I'll go greet her myself, I guess," he mumbled apologetically. He slammed the door shut and fled before he died of embarrassment, and headed down to the first floor with his shoulders slumped. "Great. I doubt my face is the first thing Val wanted to see... This is gonna be awkward," he sighed.

The cat pulled open the double doors just as Val knocked and smiled faintly at her. "Hey Val. Come on in, the rest of the gang's almost ready for you," Sonam said. His tone was warm, which surprised even himself - he'd expected to sound awkward or distant, but he didn't. Secretly pleased with himself, the feline's smile brightened and he gestured towards the stairs leading up to the second story. "They're going to meet with you up in the family shrine. Just head upstairs and go straight down the hall. You can't miss it."
 

Sreeya

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Val was frozen in place when Sonam answered. To say that she was shocked to run into him already was an understatement. Thankfully, he appeared nonchalant, which allowed her to ease up a little. She smiled at him, dragging her luggage in. Raziel stayed outside, simply gawking at the towering Kasa Horansi. The boy knew he was familiar, but didn't know how to react. Val went over and grabbed his hand, leading him inside. She looked around, her eyebrows raising.

"Wow this place is huge! It looks amazing!"

Raziel was equally impressed, never having been in a setting that had so many places to explore. Usually he was confined to Val's tiny apartment or some Jedi living quarters, which were even smaller. She glanced up at Sonam, smiling.

"How've you been?"

Val was truly happy to see him again. She didn't feel any negative emotions radiating off him, which only made the situation more comfortable. Before Val could say anything, she was distracted by Raziel walking over to attempt to grab a hold of Sonam's tail.
 

Jiang Winters

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Sonam laughed and smiled at Val's surprise. "It is, isn't it? We've lived here for generations now. There are times that I think this house is as old as the Republic itself," he chuckled. "There's a guest room made up for you and Raziel. We stole some of the children's toys from Jiang's old room to give Raz something to occupy himself with while he's in there." The feline paused and held out a hand. "Here, I can haul your luggage up there if you want to carry Raz. It'd probably be safer for him; the stairs are a few inches taller than what you'd usually find, since they were built for Horansi, not humans. It'd be hard for him to move up them, and..."

His voice trailed off as he felt little hands wrapping around his tail. The feline's eyes widened and he glanced behind himself at his tail. Sure enough, Raz was holding onto his tail. Sonam grinned and gently tugged his tail out of Raz's hands, then slowly swished the appendage back and forth in front of the little one, giving him something to chase after and play with.

"Anyways... I've been fine. Had some trouble getting back on my feet, job-wise, and I had to undergo a lot of surgery to fix everything that was going wrong with my cybernetics, and to get some upgrades done. That's all done now, though, so I'm just focusing on family and work now. What about you? How's life been treating you?"
 

Sreeya

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"Oh thanks!"

Val pulled over her two small suitcases for him to grab. One was entirely for Raziel. It was shocking how much stuff he needed. She paid close attention to Sonam's body language and manner of speech. Nothing suggested he was dwelling on the past. Sam had been right, he had moved on. Val exhaled a sigh of relief, glad to have her friend back once again. She picked Raziel up, smiling when Sonam asked how she had been.

"For once, life's treating me well. I'm more involved with the Order, Raziel's growing up and..I'm married! It's a big secret, of course, you know the Jedi code and blah blah.."

She rolled her eyes, disliking the fact that it had to be such a secret.

"I came to tell Sheng and thought I'd stay here for a few days. I've known you guys for so long and have never been here. It's insane!"

Val followed him up the stairs, glancing around.

"Where is everyone? It's damn near impossible to track you guys down individually so I was hoping to collectively run into everyone here."
 

Jiang Winters

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Sonam took the two suitcases. They felt small to him - it never ceased to amaze him how few things humans needed. He couldn't remember the last time he went somewhere without an entire section of his suitcase devoted to his hygiene supplies, specifically those used to maintain his pelt. He kept an ear perked towards Val as she spoke, and marched on up the stairs as he listened.

"Married, huh? Sheng'll be happy to hear that," Sonam remarked. He reached the top of the stairs and paused to wait for her. "The family's all here. Jiang's in the basement, tinkering on something. Sheng's trying to find the last half of his Daisho, and Dalang's struggling with his Kamashimo... Or he gave up and crawled back into bed. The poor guy's tired and stressed out, and he won't say why. Naomi's in the basement with her dad, but I bet she's playing video games in the lounge, not helping."

He hitched his shoulders and started towards Val's room. Reaching out through the Force, he pushed her door open and stepped inside. He didn't even think to explain to Val that he was a Force Sensitive and that he'd received training; to him, it was no longer important or impressive. He set the suitcases down on the boot of the large and comfy bed, then gestured around. "This is what we've got for you. Let us know what you want for Raz for a bed and we'll bring it right up, and if there's anything else you want or need, just ask."
 

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A black ship flitted through the air, small enough for only one person and a very loud hyperdrive unit. Eventually, it was given a landing solution, and the craft touched down on plascrete. Solid ground at last.

Huang extricated himself from the cockpit of the craft he had requisitioned from the order. He needed to get a personal ship. Those new MX-57 Shuttles were fuel efficient. Lots of cargo space too... He'd been thinking of moving off Ossus anyway... permanently taking residence in his winter home...

He shook his head. Now was not the time for that. Knight Jiang Winters had sent him a message. It had been cryptic. Just enough to entice the Sword master. He moved across the swampland, to the agreed co-ordinates. He wasn't foolish, he had his katana and one lightsabre on him.

The home was opulent, but not his immediate destination. He had to get to the basement. Fortunatley, he was directed by one of the large humanoid Felines dotted around. For once, the ceilings in the coridoors weren't oppressively low, made for the seven foot tall Cat people.


''Knight Winters?''
Huang rounded the corner to where he was told to meet.
 

Sreeya

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OoC: Short reply to move this along

Val raised an eyebrow when Sonam used the Force. She had known him to be Force Sensitive, but had never witnessed him actually applying it. Val followed him into the room, looking around.

"Wow..this is really generous of you guys."

She glanced over at Sonam.

"Have you been training? I don't think I've ever seen you use the Force before."
 
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