You Are Cordially Invited...

Posted on Fri Dec 7th, 2012 @ 6:33am by Berry
Edited on on Fri Dec 7th, 2012 @ 12:20pm

2,828 words; about a 14 minute read

Chapter: Chapter II: Era's Dawn
Location: Galactic City, Coruscant
Timeline: 1603 (local time), Day Six

OLD

Bomoor looked at the Gran, suddenly dazed once more. Had Berry done that? He turned away from them, "I think that might be best..." he spoke, feeling himself become rather frustrated at the stubborn people surrounding him, "...but this will end badly."

He made his way out of the racer's bay and back up the stairs. He paused at the top, wondering whether to go back. But as the announcer rang out to beckon on the next racer, he shook himself and carried on out of the stadium.

It was best that he saved his patience for someone else more worthy (and more needing, if Berry felt Thane correctly). The part-Aquar shoved the helmet back onto her head and marched out to the bike, expression serious. Saving a life didn't take much effort, but more needed to be done than just punching. All she had in the galaxy—no, in the universe—was the honor of her word.

"Let's do this!"

NEW

Berry’s sandaled feet swung back and forth as she sat on the edge of the bench. She munched on a fried green vegetable stuck on a stick. The almost rhythmic sounds of the audience cheering reminded her of the ocean back at home…although there wasn’t any racing. Well, besides the pirate racing she had to do to win back her crewmembers.

Eva sat beside the part-Aquar, her arms crossed and lips in a tight, displeased line. “Is it any surprise he ‘won’?” the mechanic groaned. She glared at a passing racer who looked at her too long. She had cut her hair for a reason…maybe disfiguring her face would be the next step in shortening unwelcomed gazes. Or cutting off her chest. She sighed. The sooner they were out of here the better. But she owed Al and had to see this through.

Berry also agreed, she owed this pickled fried vegetable a thorough munching. She swallowed and looked around. “Oh, so it’s done? Hey, can we go? I ran out of food.”

Eva nodded as she stood. “Yeah, let’s go.” She didn’t blame the Ithorian for leaving—races had long lost its thrill once she knew when to spot riggings. It didn’t happen all the time…but people like Jesper started to show up more often recently.

Like now. The Human strode into the Racer’s Bay, chest thrust out as he half-posed for all the gossip holonets and his rabid fans. He wore dark fitting pants of some kind of animal skin, and his shirt was flowy and showed enough of his manly chest but hid what only those privileged with his attention could see. He reached up and took off his racing helmet, slowly shaking his head to loosen his dark waves out. Maybe he practiced enough for his father’s hair product company advertisements, but today he did so purely for himself.

Eva tried not to throw up as she glared. “C’mon, we have to confirm the transaction before we go.” She marched over to the other Human. “Jesper, we need to talk.”

His green eyes flitted over to the woman. Her again? “Speak, then.”

“In private,” she muttered, still glaring.

Jesper smirked, amused at her proposal. “I’m sorry, but you don’t interest me that way.”

“It’s about Allegan and the races,” Eva shot back. “You don’t interest me that way, either.”

“Too bad,” he mused. His gaze rested on the golden-green girl scampering around with a stick in her hand. Ah yes, the green girl. He waved imperiously at the crowd around him and walked on to the bay, the fans pushed back by guards.

“Berry, is it?” Jesper asked in his voice full of manly timbre, his question a mere formality.

The part-Aquar grinned confusedly at him. “Uh, yeah, I’m Berry. What’s up?”

“Nothing yet,” he replied before looking her over. Nothing stood out to him at first glance, and even now…but there was something hidden in there. He knew she could have beat his time, but to stop herself for the sake of some gambler’s debts? To throw away the chance of all that attention and fame? How one could do such a thing confused him to no end, and so Jesper was intrigued. “Are you going to speak about this deal I made with Allegan to anyone?”

Eva rolled her dark eyes. “Well, that’s up to her, isn’t it, Jesper? You’re the one who came up with these deals in the first place.”

His green eyes narrowed at the feisty female. They were in some kind of private area, but still at the stadium teeming with beings. “We will talk of this later. How about at…my place?” There he had more temptations to distract and quiet the troublesome women…besides himself, of course.

Berry smiled curiously, not really listening. That race took up a lot of energy… “Huh? Do you have food?”

“And more,” Jesper said with a glimmer in his eye, a smirk forming on his lips. “Although I’m more interested in something else…”

Eva groaned, shaking her head. “That’s disgusting, Jesper.”

Berry laughed. “Yeah, that’s gross! You better watch out or I’ll punch you!” She chuckled.

The human man frowned slightly. To be called out by one female, let alone two…he glanced at Eva. “You know where I live. Meet me in six hours…that’ll be when the party’s going.”

Berry frowned to herself. “But I’m hungry now.”

“Then I’ll take you somewhere,” Eva quickly added before Jesper could say anything. She glared at the man—if you could call him that. “Just pay Al, okay?”

As the mechanic dragged the young woman off, Jesper’s eyes narrowed after them. He knew who that Eva woman was…but who was Berry?

= 2058, Top Floor of a Residential Tower =

Eva stood at the front of Jesper’s apartment, an exclusive penthouse kind of place that took up almost the whole floor of this building. He was obviously wealthy, with the mechanic standing in some kind of lobby about twice the size of her pretty good apartment.

The woman had the decency to change into a nicer shirt without oil stains, with even a small frill at the bottom hem. The cloth across her hair was more of a decorative headband, but that was all Eva would put forth for this shit excuse of a party.

Berry, on the other hand, only had two pairs of shirts with her and she didn’t feel like changing since they were the same kind of shirt. Her waterproof bagpack bounced on her back as she bounded to a decorative plant, immediately wondering if it was edible. Her utility belt was slung over her slim hips, bouncing as well.

The fancy filigree doors slid open, a butler droid scanning the person in front of it. “Names?” it intoned a question.

“Just Eva,” the mechanic snapped. “And Berry.”

The droid glanced at Eva with its shiny eyes. Female…young…attractive with a proportional figure. It looked around. “There is no Berry present.”

“Berry!” Eva called out to the girl.

The part-Aquar scampered back, smiling in awe up at the droid. “Ooooh…”

“This is Berry,” Eva said, very annoyed.

The droid looked the girl over. Female…young…mildly attractive but only to those gravitating towards slight neoteny. The droid was skilled in evaluating appearance per its master’s orders, and so was confused at why he invited such subpar specimens…nonetheless, it had orders.

“Please, come in.”

Berry stepped through the fancy doors to see a strange world. Below them was a party pit of some kind, with lights flashing and a music of some kind throbbing. The globes that hung from the arching ceiling barely illuminated the room—no, it was more of a large hall. Large windows made up the whole back wall, where a terrace showed the brightly lit Coruscant skyline. It took lots and lots of money to afford a view of the sky, but Jesper had it, and so there they saw it.

Eva scowled as she walked down the stairs to the party pit, past the scantily clad dancers and party goers. “I feel overdressed,” she muttered.

Berry didn’t really see the people, but rather tried to smell for the food. But there were so many smells here! All those weird alcohol fumes and perfumes and alien people smells… “Where’s the food?” Berry whined as they stood outside the wall of people.

“I don’t know but we better get outside. It’s too crowded in here.” Eva took Berry’s hand and led her around the edge of the dancefloor to finally some fresh air on the terrace. Even she had to admit it was nice not having to be surrounded by all those bright flashing ads.

Berry just liked being surrounded by food and ran to the table loaded with it, starting to stuff her face.

The terrace was as wide as the dance hall, with a large, long pool of water located at the very edge of the terrace to seem like it opened up into the skyscape, with the pool just going on forever. Just an illusion, really, but one real enough to add some thrill to swimming. The Human man was arrogant enough to think that those who couldn’t swim in water wouldn’t swim at all…at least there was terrestrial dancing and mingling still possible.

Around the pool were dimly lit lights pulsating to the music. It was softer out here, and so were the voices…less raucous and more intimate. Every so often a female’s laughter echoed across the water.

Berry heard none of this as she grabbed a bowl of something green-looking, and she slurped it down. Ew, these weren’t vegetables!! It was some weird slimy thing that tasted like fruit wine—ew!! She swallowed it anyway with a very pouty face, then cautiously foraged amongst the table, slowly popping weird shrivelly things into her mouth, the crunch drowning out all sounds of the environment.

Eva busied herself with looking for the man of the evening so they could get out of here. It wasn’t hard to spot him, though, as a throng of people surrounded him as he sat on a chair by the pool.

Most notable, though, were the three closest beings to him—physically speaking. Draped over him with her tendrils was an attractive red Twi’lek, scantily clad, of course, and very beautiful…but to Eva’s trained eye, desperately so. For standing beside him was a very handsome, sometimes beautiful, sometimes manly, svelte and chiseled Zeltron, obviously feeding off of the emotions of the people around him…including the arrogance radiating from Jesper. Finally, a Rodian female with an attractive body stood even further away, but still close…was she there for the money? It was unsure.

But for the main man himself, not a hair was out of place. His black hair had been untied, and now it flowed to his shoulders. His green eyes remained cold as his lips smiled in laughter. He looked bored…but some attention was better than none.

Eva paid the crowd no mind as she pushed through it to reach Jesper. She glared down at him. “I thought you said this was going to be private.”

The Human man smirked up at her from his seat. “But it is…my private party. Enjoying yourself?”

The Zeltron eyed and dismissed her with his gaze in one brief second. Obviously she was here for business…not for aesthetics. Unless Jesper was interested in her personality, but that was so farfetched the Zeltron had to laugh, still in a provocative way, of course.

“Not until you confirm the transaction to Al,” Eva snapped, clearly enjoying herself.

These bad feelings were getting Threx down…the Zeltron sidled over to her, wrapping an arm around her slender waist. “C’mon, relax,” he cooed to her, giving her his most welcoming expression.

Jesper’s smirk widened. His constant Zeltron companion proved useful in defusing situations like these…

Eva’s glare faltered slightly as she was taken by surprise by the Zeltron and his pheromones. “Not until I have a confirmation from you, Jesper.”

Then suddenly Berry bounded through the crowd to Eva, some blobby fruit globe in her hand. She swallowed some of it and grinned. “Hey, Jespy!” she said in greeting as she arrived. “This is really good food.”

“Of course,” he said, his stance having suddenly changed. Now he leaned forward some more, and his eyes were focused on the young woman. “But are you sure you don’t have an appetite for…other things?” He then stood, revealing at a better angle all his masculinity. He even shrugged the Twi’lek off of him. He wore his black plants and flowy shirt, but it was even more exposed now, and his gloves were off.

Threx the Zeltron companion knew when Jesper got into one of his…amorous…moods, and so ushered the crowd away from privacy. Couldn’t have everyone on Coruscant knowing his moves, could they?

Eva stared. Was the Human actually trying to seduce an innocent? She still had a knife in her boot if it came to that.

He stepped towards Berry, his chest slightly thrust out and his lips smirking. “Other things than…food?” His eyes had narrowed into that familiar smolder he had for those company advertisements.

The part-Aquar just grinned at him like he was stupid. “Uh, not really…” She paused, frowning in thought as she tapped her lips. “Well, besides getting stronger!” She suddenly felt trace remnants of fruit juice on her lips and stuck out her tongue, licking them off of her chin.

Jesper paused. “To be a stronger…racer?” He knew she could’ve beaten his time…she must have a lot of experience.

“Racing?” Berry asked, eyes blank. “What’s that? OH, racing. Ha!” She chuckled. “I’ve never raced before…well, except for today.”

The Human man overrode his surprise by attempting to divert her attention…to him. “Racing will not be the only new thing you will have witnessed by the end of tonight.” He smirked. “Let me give you a tour of my apartment…one of many, you should know.” He stepped forward and placed his hand at the small of her back, steering her to the pool’s edge. “Here is my outdoor pool. Let us take a swim.”

He withdrew his hand to expertly pull off his flowy shirt and pants, to reveal pretty much nothing except for a poor excuse of swimwear. He had broad shoulders and a chest and a delicious pelvis, all meticulously taken care of—and almost all natural, Jesper was proud to say.

Unfortunately for him, Berry’s gaze was stuck on the pool. She was seemingly mesmerized by the large body of water, something she loved. “A…pool??” She grinned excitedly over at him, with the wrong kind of excitement, for she only stared at his face. “CAN I SWIM in it?!!!”

Eva grinned to the side, amused at this immense gap in communication. What was she worried about Berry for?

Jesper frowned confusedly at her. “But of course…I am about to myself.” He did not strip just anytime. Did she not notice his impeccable skin?

“Awesome!” Berry exclaimed before expertly pulling ~her own~ clothes and bagpack off, to reveal—her pajamas!! Her seaweed string chest strap was secured tightly on her own modest chest, her scar peeking above and below it at a diagonal angle, running above her left breast down the middle and to the bottom of her right one. She had on her short seagrass skirt on with her belt still across her hips. One might beg the question of how did she wear a skirt under her pants, but the skirt itself consisted of individual strands of seagrass that moved where it needed to, and so fit down each pant leg. This was all water proof, of course, and to prove it so, Berry kicked off her sandals and ran across the deck, jumping into the pool with a big SPLASH.

She paddled around the pool, almost as fast as she was running on land. This was obvious to any, and Jesper chuckled amusedly as he slowly waded into the water. “You’re quite the fast one.”

“Yup!” Berry replied as she churned around the expanse of the pool, splashing many displeased party goers. “I was born in water, but too bad I can’t breathe on it like other Aquar…”

It was then the Rodian female’s dark eyes glittered, and she left the party. Jesper wanted to know more about this strange girl…and perhaps would pay well for information.

O-O TBC O-O

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