The Ascent was dreary, as usual, but that was to be expected with so many dour faces manning the various offices and sub-positions. Yet something seemed…off. The cold hallways had flashes of colour. Garlands glistened in the occasional flashes of light from the storm outside. But that wasn’t all. No, it was far from even the worst part of it.
The Justicar walked with an even tempo and no expression on his cold features. Yet a bright, festive hat stood tall upon his head, only for the giant white puff on the end to drag it back down towards his face. He also wore a gods-awful sweater that looked hand-knit, adorned by the phrase ‘This is my jolly face’.
Zxyl was seated in the Antechamber, which for the holidays had - surprisingly, to him - been furnished with an assortment of couches, lounge chairs, and a large chunk of Wrooshyr tree in the center. The decorations actually confused the Regent greatly, but he chalked it up to Darth Nehelam’s incessant need to throw massive amounts of large parties. Why would he miss out on the opportunity to have another one, even if it was partly a celebration of freedom.
The large and comfy sectional sofa the Dathomirian’s ass had taken residency on had an assortment of small red and green pillows, contrasting hard with its black material. A datapad was present in the Mandalorian’s hand as he reviewed various reports, including the construction status of the new Erebus-class Space Station, and his new droid IG-series Assassin Droid - H8-U - stood nonchalantly at the edge of the room.
The third Regent of the Brotherhood was wearing typical holiday attire, a very very rare occurrence for him to be completely out of his armor. There were no weapons on him, but he felt a moderate sense of security with H8-U standing watch.
The sweater was a bright red, decorated with accompanying red and green ornaments. Two Wookiees were displayed, hugging, with the text “Wook It Out” below. Dark grey denim pants and a set of black shoes completed his ensemble.
Thane finally entered the Antechamber, stifling a yawn as he crossed the threshold. Far too many sleepless nights of late. That tends to happen when you’re standing up a new facility and dealing with the fallout of the Children’s attack. However, there was much to celebrate he supposed. It was mostly at the insistence of his daughter and he wasn’t one to put up much fight in that regard these days.
On some level, he wondered if anyone would suspect it was him that had facilitated the festive decorations. It was doubtful, after all, but…could happen. Evant was an easy patsy to take the fall.
Idris entered the chamber walking backwards, spring in his step as he bobbed and swayed to the festive music his Ascendant-series drone, E.D.I. was pumping out.
“… it snow, let it snow,” he sang along bobbing. He spun, and came to a rapid stop, nearly dropping the carefully wrapped to perfection presents in his arms.
Eyes wide he took in the sight before him. His pause was not out of embarrassment but wonder, not only at the great decorations filling the Antechamber, but the appearance of the Justicar and Regent who were markedly on time. He smiled wide, much like when he was a boy and given his first toy blaster. Much like the Justicar, Idris too had a festive hat on, and like the Regent was going without his customary armor.
The Voice quickly placed the presents down, revealing his own sweater, embroidered with the words Let’s get Sithfaced on it.
“I see we have adorned the appropriate attire,” Thane remarked upon greeting Idris with an upward nod.
“This is the way,” Idris replied still smiling, returning the upward nod.
Thane approached one of the nearby tables to retrieve his datapad. A few quick gestures brought up the delivery status of the gifts he had ordered. The experience had been anything but prime, as it had been delayed far beyond the supposed next day shipping. His eyebrow raised as he saw the “delivered” notification. Perhaps a droid was on its way up with them.
“Are the others coming?” Zxyl asked, not even lifting his gaze from his datapad. He had so much work to get done, and these “holidays” were not helping - with much of his staff taking an unfortunate but well deserved break.
“They better. Got some great holiday themed party games we can play,” Idris said from across the room. He was slowly stacking presents into a grand pile.
Zxyl lifted his head to see Idris going about his stacking, and let out a small sigh…
So this is how it’s going to be. Alright.
The Dathomirian turned off his datapad, tucking it into his pocket as he did a lazy verbal strain getting off the comfy sectional. He put his hands together, throwing his arms far above his head and leaning backwards to stretch his back. Nothing popped or cracked, of course, since his spine was almost entirely cybernetic - but it was a hard habit to break.
Bes'uliik glanced over at H8-U, who stubbornly returned his gaze with his red photoreceptor.
“Go grab the presents, Hate-You.”
The Mandalorian Regent understood how that sounded, and it almost brought him to a giggle every time. In fact, in order to solicit amusement he typically said the assassin model’s name last.
“I am a precision instrument of speed and areomatic destruction… But you expect me to fetch paper wrapped cheap ‘gifts’?” queried the IG.
“Uh… Yeah,” came the Regent’s “no shit” reply. H8-U droned for a moment, before pushing off the wall and leaving the Ascent’s antechamber in the direction of his owner’s office.
“SO!” Bes'uliik clapped, “How you boys been? We find Mav yet?”
Rajhin thudded into the antechamber wearing light leather pants and a garish sweater adorned with a cute tooka and the aurebesh letters UWU. “This thing itches.” He sat at the table near his colleagues.
Idris slid the Fist a drink. “I hear this helps with that,” he said.
The Togorian fiddled uncomfortably with the collar of the sweater then caught the proffered drink. “Thank you friend.”
Thane stood at the makeshift bar mixing a variety of liquors with a substance conspicuously labeled ‘eggnog’. The Firrerreon sniffed the mixture tentatively before taking a testing sip. He mulled it over while turning to eye Zxyl.
“Reports of Mav are…unreliable at best,” Thane explained. “Kamjin’s insistent use of the name muddies the waters.”
The Justicar decided his cocktail was at the least palatable and returned to the table. His black-gold eyes did a quick review of the assembled gifts, even as a floating droid carried in additional packages. The aurebesh characters denoted his name.
Good. They showed up.
“Others should show up before the gifts are opened.”
“Ah yes, the self proclaimed ‘Emperor’,” mocked Zxyl as he threw up hand-articulated air quotes around the word Emperor, “I wondered if that might have an effect. I would of offered to track Cantor myself… but I just don’t care enough. There are bigger things on all of our plates. I do agree on waiting for gifts, though I wouldn’t mind getting out of this silly sweater sooner rather than later.”
Besu'liik assisted the floaty droid - and H8-U when he returned from the Regent’s office with a stack of boxes - in stacking the gifts by the large tree. In all honesty, he was a bit surprised they were even celebrating something like Life Day considering the make-up of their Council. It would for sure be a nice change of pace and break from the regular going-ons.
Thane walked to the large transparisteel windows as the storm picked up outside. He sipped once more from the creation swirling in his glass as his ID10 seeker droid—named ‘Beholder'—hovered over to him. He offered it a sidelong glance as its pincers click-clacked, presenting a gift to him. The Justicar’s black-gold eyes narrowed as he eyed the droid suspiciously.
Beholder offered a facsimile of a shrug before placing the gift down and drifting away. Still, Thane wasn’t sure what to make of the gift. His droid had a bit of a predatory inclination and thought itself a glorious hunter. The Firrerreon didn’t feel much like prey, but who knew what the droid was thinking. Perhaps all those 1’s and 0’s were misfiring.
“It is easy to forget the simple things,” Thane remarked as he stood there. Can only stand at the top for so long before you lose sight of what is below.