Ask No Appearance Fee

[Crix Aran]

Was this what people who weren't Jedi did when they had an 18th birthday party?

Crix wasn't sure if the party he had just walked into was 'normal' and he was weird for thinking it was a massive deal, or if this was actually a bit over the top even for the non-Jedi of the Galaxy. Because hiring out an entire nightclub so that one woman could celebrate making it to 18? It seemed excessive, especially since it was packed and he very much doubted that she was friends with ALL of the people who where there. Some of them, sure, but there had to be a couple hundred people in the nightclub, easy.

Still, they were here to be seen to be here and to rub elbows with the great and the good so it was time he got to work with that. Someone on the door had noted their entrance and headed off deeper into the club. Crix wasn't sure if he should be worried he was about to be ganked by local mobsters or if they were just going to warn the birthday girl that her Jedi delivery had arrived.

He was still in his armored robes, his lightsaber rather obviously hanging on his belt. Crix hadn't come alone however and he leaned over to speak to Drastus without having to scream into the void of loud music.

"Let's head to the bar!" he suggested, jerking his head towards it, "See if we can't get seen a bit more! Birthday girl should be able to find us easier that way!"

And if she didn't? Well then he'd have a drink in him before he went hunting through the over-crowded nightclub to find her and make sure she got a good impression of the Jedi Order.

@Rhogar

 

[Drow Venn]

Nestor's daughter, Madela, was 18 but, from the spectacle, you would have thought she had cured AMS. Gladiator droids were having fights to the circuit death in mini rings all across the crowd, numerous exotic creatures were confined to petting zoo exhibits for delighted teenagers, and there were even Jedi mingling.

One particularly reluctant Ishi Tib Jedi in particular. As awkward as Crix felt here, Drow Venn felt even more uncomfortable. At least Crix and Drastus were young and could properly mingle with these teens. Drow was an old soldier and had no idea what the kids nowadays were listening to, talking about, or interested in. From what he could garner of the slang, he wasn't even sure they were speaking Basic half the time. But, making an appearance at stupid Nestor's stupid kid's party was part of the arrangement they'd made to return Cin Drallig's holocron back to the Jedi so Drow would endure.

A couple of excited teens had come up and asked for a holopicture or a demonstration of the lightsaber's capabilities and Drow had reluctantly obliged through gritted teeth. He had committed actual war crimes back in his day so he supposed this was a small price to pay for the redemption the Order had given him. Making their way to the bar, Drastus and Crix would find Drow already there, nursing a Takodana Quencher, having escaped the masses for a much needed reprieve.

"Hello, boys. Enjoying yourselves? I'd be more comfortable if the Sith attacked right about now. At least then I'd know what to do and where to put my arms." Drow said, referring to how awkward the old Ishi Tib soldier looked mingling with high society teenagers. The sooner this was over, the better.

@Rhogar @Nefieslab

 

[Crix Aran]

Parties like this were out of his price range now that he was a Jedi, right? He got some allowance from the Order but it was supposed to be for mission expenses. Honestly, he was considering adding some of the drinks to his expenses account just to see if Hans would try and call him out on it or not. Part of his honestly thought that his Master would just think it was funny more than anything else, which he could work with.

Of course that didn’t mean that everyone other Master and Knight would be as impressed, quite a few of them were more strict. Taking the drink, he paid at the bar before taking a sip. It was fruity and he didn’t have to pretend to like it, it was rather nice honestly. Raising his glass to Drow in a salute, he grinned a little bit.

“Having a lovely time.” He assured the Knight with a wink over the rim of the glass, “I think these kinds of missions could be something I could get used to.”

The drink really was nice but it was a bit cloyingly sweet so he didn’t take another drink straight away as he moved up to stand beside Drow. He handed the drink to Drow, to let him try it himself, even as he eyed the VIP area. There was a commotion from the VIP area and a small mass of people making their way out.

“Force save us from the true threat against the Galaxy; drunken teenagers.”

Was that kind of bad since he was a teenager as well? Probably. But the fact that he could hear the excited shouting even over the music did not fill him with hope that he was wrong. One joke about “holding his lightsaber” and he was going to either burst out laughing or run away.

@Fantasy Liver @Rhogar

 

[Drow Venn]

Drow snorted in his drink. The audacity of Crix complaining about teenagers when he was hardly any older himself! But Drow couldn't fault the half-Zabrak. The old Ishi Tib Jedi was hardly any better when he'd been a teenager. In fact, if teenaged Drow were to have discovered how lame old Drow would turn out, he'd sure his younger self would disapprove.

"Alright, let's go check it out, Crix. Drastus, watch my drink." Drow ordered, not trusting the teens around him not to put laxatives or a worm in his drink as part of laugh. It's what he would have done as a youth. The Jedi hadn't necessarily been hired by Nestor for a security detail but it was much more within Drow's wheelhouse to do that rather than pose for another selfie.

It seemed the VIP area was being evacuated by the birthday girl herself. Madela Praji had evidently gotten into a bit of a fight with what appeared to be her boyfriend? Or a boy she liked who didn't like her back? Or a boy she didn't like but was bothering her? Drow couldn't keep up with the teens and all their drama but he could tell she was particularly angry at this youth; an athletic-looking Nautolan boy who was currently trying to dodge yet another bottle thrown at his head by her.

"YOU! SAID! YOU! WOULD! BE! ON! TIME!" Madela howled, punctuating each word with another thrown drink towards the boys' way. Drow figured it wouldn't do the Jedi any favors if they laid a hand on Madela but he also figured that defusing the situation was probably important. Using the Force, he caught the next thrown bottle in the air and gently set it on the table.

"Madela, it's your special day! You don't want to be angry during it, right?"

"SHUT UP!!" she howled, turning to find another bottle. Out of ideas, Drow turned to his younger companion.

"Crix?" he said, hoping the boy had some ideas.

@Nefieslab

 

[Crix Aran]

Teenager that he was, Crix didn’t miss the snort of bemusement that Drow let out when he complained about teenagers. Crix took exception to that! He might be a teenager and he might be rebellious enough to rush off to Corellia while he was supposed to be on a school trip to the spaceport of Coruscant but he was still now a Jedi Padawan. Now he was a Padawan, Crix was downright respectable!

Hells, he was even still keeping up with his droid engineering course – and not just because his mother had demanded he not let his education suffer for all the Jedi nonsense.

“Yeah yeah, watch my moves Old Man and despair.” He joked at Drow with a wink, “Keep watching and you just might learn something.”

Seeing the scene unfolding in front of them was going to turn violent if they weren’t careful, Crix decided that it was time for him to step up. Walking fearlessly into the fray, his Jedi robes flowing with the movement, the Padawan smiled brightly at Madela, completely ignoring the Nautolan boy she had been throwing bottles at.

“Madela, just who I was looking for!” he announced, loudly enough for others to realize who he was addressing as well, “Forgive me for being a bit late, I got caught up with defusing a situation – unfortunately I needed to bring out the lightsaber, you know how it is.”

Already he was speaking as though they had known each other for some time at this point, drawing the watchers into the lie. They would draw their own conclusions, as though Crix, a Jedi, had been in with Madela for a long time at this point. Considering this was exactly what she wanted by asking for a Jedi to attend her party, she straightened and barely stuttered as she answered.

“Y-yeah, of course I know how it is.” She lied through her teeth as Crix approached, “I’m glad you could make it.”

Crix reached out and took one of her hand’s in his own. Without breaking eye contact, he tugged gently at her hand to make her take a step closer to him.

“I wouldn’t miss your birthday for the Galaxy.” He assured her, causing her cheeks to redden slightly and some of her friends to start whispering and tittering but Crix kept his eyes only on her, “Lets not waste time with anything else – lets dance.”

The music switched up and Madela let herself be guided by Crix to the thick of it on the dance floor. He lost sight of Drow but he hoped the older Jedi was making sure that the other half of the situation was defused. Well, she was drunk but she was still flush from his flirting and seemed to be getting into dancing right up against him.

Oh the things he did for the Light eh?

Spoiler: Flirt Roll on D20

19

@Fantasy Liver

 

[Drow Venn]

"Oh for the love of..." Drow shook his head, never having felt older than he did tonight. Here he came in trying to do the Jedi thing and this kid just busts out some lines and a couple of winks and the situation just defuses like that? Ridiculous.

Still though, he had to give the kid props. No matter what people might say about Crix, no one could deny the kid had game. NOt that Drow didn't back in the day, of course. In fact, were there anyone at this party over the age of twenty, the Ishi Tib might just have to turn the old charm on for a night, if only to show Crix just how much the Zabrak had to learn when it came to flirting. But there wasn't and, more importantly, another situation was unfolding. Evidently, the Nautolan boy wasn't too fond of the fact that Madela was dancing very up close with Crix. The youth was glaring daggers at Crix and muttering darkly to his group of friends that surrounded him. Drow could recognize a teenaged friend group preparing for a fight and decided to step in.

"I hope we're all enjoying the party boys." Drow said.

"Get bent, old man." the Nautolan said, continuing to glare at the dancing couple.

"Hey ease off, Fritts. Is that lightsaber actually real?" one of the Nautolan (whose name apparently was Fritts) told him. A couple of the teenaged boys seemed excited by this. Drow smiled and withdrew it from his belt, igniting it and performing a few fancy looking Makashi tricks to the delight of the boys.

"Fritts are you seeing this?" the Nautolan's friend asked.

"So he can twirl a shiny stick. Big deal. Are we teaching this moof milker a lesson or not?" Fritts spat towards Crix.

"Hey, Fritts, maybe go a bit easy, huh? You know how Madela can get. Just enjoy the s-well, there he goes..." Fritts' friend remarked almost casually as the Nautolan began sprinting towards Crix and Madela.

"Oh kriff...Crix!" Drow shouted a warning at his fellow Jedi. He was in full armor and Fritts had a head start so he wouldn't catch the boy in time. At least he'd distracted his friends. Now, Crix only had one angry teen to deal with.

@Nefieslab

 

[Crix Aran]

Dancing in a nightclub… not exactly what Crix had come to expect from his time as a Jedi even if what he had come to expect was “Try not to expect anything because you’ll just end up getting taken by surprise”. Still, he hadn’t expect that to be literally taken by surprise as the shout from Drow only managed to get his attention enough to have him turn his head.

This meant he took the fist on his chin rather than to the back of the head.

Spinning from the blow, Crix gritted his teeth and counted them with the tip of his tongue even as he straightened up again, hand rubbing at his cheek. He stared at the teen who had decided to try sucker punching him. The teenager looked angry but what he could feel from the teen more than that was jealousy.

The girl? Ugh, the girl was practically getting off being fought over. He thought it was a terrible generalization on the media’s part that women liked to be fought over? It might still be but she seemed to be enjoying this. That everyone in the club seemed to be interested all of a sudden, it didn’t leave Crix with a lot of options.

Still…

“Feel better now?” he asked the other teen, eyebrow raised, “Or are you going to need to throw another punch? I’m a Jedi, kid, so let me tell you something…”

He held up a finger.

“You get one free hit and I’ll forgive you. Try and hit me again and I’m not going to let myself be hit so do yourself a favor?” he lowered his eye-ridge and stared blankly at the other teen, “Tuck your tail between your legs and kark off.”

… he wasn’t the best Jedi all of the time he supposed.

@Fantasy Liver

 

[Drow Venn]

Silence emanated from the crowd now as the party guests turned their eyes to the aggressive Fritts and the Jedi Padawan he'd just decked. It seemed for a moment that Fritts might actually heed Crix's words and back off but that was not to be. One look at Madela was all it took for Fritts to be emboldened enough to wind up for another punch...

And promptly trip over his own feet and fall to the ground.

"Poor guy had a little too much tonight! Don't worry folks - I'll take care of him!" Drow said, cutting through the crowd. That seemed to placate the onlookers somewhat. A few chuckles sounded out through the crowd and, after a few seconds, people seemed to go back to normal. What the crowd did not know was that Drow had actually used a tiny Force Push to knock Fritts on his ass to help the situation. The jealous Nautolan got to his feet, looking embarassed and Drow helped him up to his feet.

"Shake it off, son. No one will remember this in the morning." Drow said. Fritts numbly nodded and sheepishly made his way back over to his friends. Madela called after him and began running to follow him. Sighing, Drow turned to Crix.

"I don't know how to say this without hurting you but I hate teens." Drow said, making his way over to the bar. "Want a drink?"

@Nefieslab

OOC: Unless you wanted to do something else, I'm fine wrapping up the thread with your next post Nefie

 

[Crix Aran]

The guy had been moving to make for another punch and Crix had been readying to respond. Unlike the punk who was going to try and punch him, however, Crix had been preparing to make sure that when he threw a punch? The kid stayed down. Using the Force to enhance himself physically wasn't all that hard and he had warned the teen that he would retaliate - it wasn't going to be his fault that the other teen was a lightweight in terms of booze and throwing an actual punch.

Still, he was relieved when Drow tripped the guy up and he forced himself to relax. Acting like nothing had been about to happen at all, Crix flashed a carefree grin at Madela. She wanted to see Jedi, not a couple of teenagers throwing down so he didn't do anything that wasn't entirely expected of a Jedi.

Including leaving to de-escalate a situation.

Weren't the Jedi so nice?

"My dear I'll not take up anymore of your time - I just wanted to make sure you had a great night. But you don't need me hanging around for that; your friends are all waiting for you."

Crix continued the grin even as she leaned in close, kissed him on the cheek and passed him a piece of paper before running off to her friends. Amused, the Jedi teen patted Drow on the back even as he showed the Knight the com-unit number he'd been given.

"I got her number - how about them meilooruns, eh?" he joked, "You know I'm technically not of legal age to drink on this planet, right?"

Ah but old enough to fight Sith and such.

Funny how the Galaxy worked.

@Fantasy Liver

 

[Drow Venn]

"If the bartender has a problem with it, tell him to talk to me." Drow said, passing Crix a bottle he'd bought. In his experience, bartenders tended to look the other way when you were as armed and scarred as Drow was. And even more so if one was a Jedi.

"Besides kid, getting a number from a girl at her own birthday? And without getting punched either? That's gotta be worth celebrating at least a little, right?" Drow said, giving a cheeky wink to the kid and raising his own botte in a celebratory toast. He was sure the Council would hardly approve of his actions (some of them anyways) but he didn't think that anyone would mind once they'd snagged the Holocron out of this. And in the meantime? Drow was content to sit and drink the night away...

@Nefieslab

/ExitThread