[Citadel, Tayseri] Leaving the Ducts Charity Dinner (Open to all)

With the annoyance of the reporter out of the way, Shaart returned to the sidelines to keep an eye out for trouble.

"Ms. Rondor, Leaving the Ducts has lawyers at their disposal, doesn't it?" he spoke into his link, to make sure that threat he had made wasn't just bluff he made up.

Moving past another small crowd at one of the holos, Snow watched his boss schmooze the crowd, for once glad he was meant to be seen and not heard this evening. As he neared the end of the first half of his circuit, he spotted Laykalar talking with another hanar, the caterer in Snow's estimation. Nearing the two aliens, he saw a third one, but he had to concentrate, the drell accompanying the caterer knew how to keep himself inconspicuous, "Almost missed him", thinking to himself, Snow slowly drew up beside Laykalar, knowing that the young hanar would have spotted him as soon as he entered his vicinity, a little fact Snow had learned in the first week working with the hanar student.

"How are ya holding up Laykalar, so far so good on my end. And you must be the caterer that my colleague convinced to work the event? Thanks for the willingness to work on short notice and I hope it won't be too much strain on you and your...associate",Snow greeting the trio, giving both the caterer and her colleague/bodyguard a deferential nod, maintaining his casual demeanor while his hard gaze took in the sight, focusing on the drell again before turning back to the caterer.

Outside a maroon luxury sedan sidled up to the entrance of the reception center, the doors opening to reveal a tall, willowy asari gracefully exiting, her evening garb consisting of a black skirt to her upper shins, calf-high dress boots, a bright yellow sleeveless blouse and dark blue peacoat. The indigo skinned maiden speaking briefly to the driver of the vehicle before turning towards the entrance, her stride slow and graceful with the hint of a swagger. Alystae T'Naron slowly made her way to the entrance, watching the stream of people while she made her way to the open doorway, a brief second to confirm her invitation and she was in.

"Hmmm, maybe Randall coaxing an invite out of Leaving the Ducts wasn't a bad idea",thinking aloud, a wry grin creasing Alystae's lips as she joined the cluster of people being greeted by the head of the charity, a Michelle Rondor according to the file Yara gave her, and even that was rather slim. "I suppose it's time for the personal approach, we are neighbors after a fashion," smiling to herself as she moved effortlessly through the crowd, seeing a couple more asari amongst the guests. Making sure to avoid them for the moment, she eventually reached the rotund woman greeting the guests, a smile forming on Alystae's lips as she took the charity head's measure,

"Love what you've done with the place Miss, very festive yet cosmopolitan, the name is Alystae T'Naron, a pleasure to make your acquaintance", Alystae's Nartin accent a marked change from most asari on the Citadel, the maiden towering over the plump do-gooder as she extended her hand to Miss Rondor's....

Max smiled and gave a warm greeting as he shook the hand of the woman in charge of the organization. He'd completely forgotten her name; all he could remember is that it started with an 'R', or something. He'd pick it up later. He was good at that.

Taking the woman's advice, he made his way over to the dextro table. He glanced around the room casually as he walked, getting a feel for the crowd. There were many possible benefits for a skilled politician attending these functions, aside from just good publicity. You never knew where you might find a potential political ally, a donor to your campaign...

...or company of the opposite sex, he thought to himself as he saw several striking females of various species enter the gala and start to mingle. Yes, attending this charity dinner was starting to look like the best decision he'd made in a while.

Before his fellow hanar could respond to Laykalar's lengthy reply - should it deign to do so at all - Snow approached them, wearing (Laykalar noted happily) the suit that had been selected for him. The human addressed the lead caterer with surprisingly elegance, which was in itself an argument for Laykalar's position on the issue. Julian Snow was a blunt and often forthright being, but he was capable of being diplomatic. Laykalar wondered if the humble hanar would appreciate that. There were many forms of etiquette, and with the (by now) all too familiar thrill of a possibly subversive thought that just felt *right*, Laykalar wondered if there wasn't greater virtue in the effort than the outcome, in the drive to change rather than the form assumed. He didn't yet know how to convey this argument to the others, but he thought, more than ever, that he was "on to something".

He noticed that music was drifting from the stage. A familiar guest had arrived, and was apparently warming herself up by playing what amounted to a demonstration of part of the evening's entertainment. He shimmered, and decided he should greet her in person. Perhaps she would inform him of the cultural significance behind her choices. He was aware that despite both Rondor and Snow, none of his hired VIs were human. The people of the Systems Alliance needed some representation.

"Please excuse this one. It shall leave the other to converse with Mr. Snow. Once again, it is grateful for the other's commitment. It reminds the honoured other that the learned Rondor wishes to address it".

Cheerfully, he moved on, headed to the ball pool moat and the stage.

Kari was relieved to see Tango and Breaker leave. So she could thank her ancestors for that small favor.

"I know it is, Davril", she sighed, looking down at the turian as they walked towards the entrance. "But must we really go here and support that... thing?" she was of course referring to the hanar that ran the Hungry Tides in the first place. "But if I get to pick the next location. I want to go to..." she paused before continuing because what she had in mind wasn't really a restaurant. "Taetrus. The relay recently opened and I just want some closure.

Then she saw Michelle approaching her and closed her eyes in frustration. Was that human just following her around the Citadel at this point? Because this was getting ridiculous.

"Hello", she said, trying to sound as pleasant as possible so as not to embarrass Davril.

Sarah took a drink from a glass of wine and looked over her plus one. A scar across his left brow, golden eyes that were bloodshot, and a camera drone flirting about over his swept brown hair. Another camera flash. "Are you having a good time?" She asked, peering over the rim of her glass. Paul Duffy gave a nod after he looked away from his collected photos.

"As good as I could be. As far as work-dates go, I've only been threatened once Did you know that Raloi?" He pointed over at Shaart. Sarah shook her head dismissively and set her glass down. She opened her purse, removing a data pad from the side pocket as Laykalar approached. She turned, putting a smile on her face- and gently, she prodded Duffy so he'd do the same.

"Laykalar! It's good to see you! I imagine that 'a you, our caterer doesn't seem the outgoing type. Here is the literature you wanted- it's a volume of famous books with an audio read by famous human stage actors like Maxwell Stuttan and Penelope Voight." She offered the datapad over, before gesturing to her plus one. "And this is Paul -"

"Paul Duffy, Citadel Free Press and freelance journalist." The man interjected to Sarah's irritation, "Liekalar, is it? It's nice to meet you. I've not met many of your kind."

"Greetings! It extends welcome to the other". Laykalar chose not to correct the mispronunciation, lest he appear impolite by contradicting guests. Having a journalist present would do wonders for the charity's image! To Sarah, he offered the approximation of a bow, having realized that humans found it difficult to tell when a hanar was actually addressing them.

"This one is extremely pleased to see the other attending! It has not forgotten that the other was the first to greet this one upon its arrival at the station, when it was still extremely uncertain. If this one can provide any aid to the other in the coming months, it will do so gladly. It hopes the other's polyp is healthy and strong!"

"So you're one of the people running this thing?" asked the male human - a friend? An intimate partner? Laykalar was suddenly unsure of correct etiquette.

"It has organized this dinner on the instructions of its learned employer" he told Duffy, "It is privileged to be involved in such important and fulfilling work!"

To Sarah: "It thanks the other for the literature. It has been immersing itself in human writings; it has recently studied the works of Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust. It was not in fact aware that humans had such lengthy names!"

His next question was probably low on the list of "things a grown human might expect to hear".

"Does the other approve of the ball pool?" He gestured with a tentacle to the "moat".

"I'll start the arrangements as soon as we get home," he said quietly to Kari, before turning back to the woman who greeted him, and smiled, doing his best to be pleasant. "Military life is unfortunate like that. Flower has too many duties to attend to, and doesn't have the flexibility I do in handling them," he replied, trying to be as gracious as possible. "The event is just inside, yes?" he asked, noticing that Kari didn't give her name and assuming she didn't want to, and trying to steer the humans attention away. "I'm sorry, I've never been here before, are seats reserved, or do we just sit wherever we wish?"

"Plan?" asked Luoon as the pair loitered by the entrance.

"Mingle, make friends," said Veranex, "Find someone worth talking to."


"Like who, exactly?" asked Luoon. The hanar changed color ever so slightly, almost amused by the suggestion. Veranex scanned the building, looking for someone to speak with.

"Like the CEO of Single Order Solutions," said Veranex, "Or maybe the Separatists, or those drell."

"Compactees are...distasteful, at best," said Luoon, "You can speak with the CEO, I think, and I will attempt to find company that is neither sanctimonious nor the next-best-thing to a slave." There was a nod, and Luoon floated towards the tables, while Veranex cut through the crowds like a pacifistic, polite, well-dressed buzzsaw.

He stopped just next to Rondor, right in front of Davril and Kari. "Mister Wilde, Miss Rondor, a pleasure," he said. He extended a claw to the other turian, "Veranex Vadarat, co-founder of RedOut Protection Services."

inconsiderate polyp Quylid thought to itself as it watched Laykalar drift away. The younger hanar wasn't doing a good job of endearing itself to Quylid at all.

It turned and looked at Julian, a feeling of revulsion coursing through its body as it looked at the human's fish like eyes and mouth. Before finally relenting and talking to it. A tentacle twitching in disgust as it did so. It hated conversing outside of its natural bio-luminescence. "Greetings. This one welcomes the other to the Hungry Tides. It trusts the other is enjoying itself?"

"I'm afraid you mistook me for a guest, Sir or Madam? I'm Laykalar's co-worker, Julian Snow. Just came by to offer thanks, and my apologies for this interruption." "Careful Snow, don't push too hard", the red hood thinking as he made sure to maintain a respectful distance. One thing was for certain, this hanar caterer was nothing like his colleague, Quylid was much more formal and forbidding. Keeping his face and body language neutral, Snow decided to break off the conversation for the time being,

"I'm afraid I have to continue my rounds, pleasure meeting you and your...co-worker", giving the stone faced drell a knowing glance, ""and good luck with the rest of the evening." Turning from the Hungry Tides display, Snow continued the circuit around the hall, recognising a few faces from extranet articles, Max 'the maverick' Vallario and Daia T'Nara, others he had met first hand including 2nd LT Thompson and Arina Caenis, asari embassy functionary. "No sign of Alystae T'Naron' ", thinking as he rounded past the 'ball moat'. Keying on the comm, Snow whispered into Shaart's channel,

"So far so good here Shaart, how are things at the entrance? And has Miss T'Naron arrived yet, I sent you her holopic. I'd like some advance warning when the New Dillinaga Co-op head decides to reveal herself."

"Ho it's going wonderfully for now", she answered Albert, "it's an amazing turnout! Something undreamed off for an organization as young as ours actually. And yes, lots of CDNers here. Speaking of which, I know those two!"

Indeed Daia and Arina were arriving.

"Welcome you two! It's so good to see both of you again, thank you very much for coming! Also, you both look amazing!"

Michelle's eye narrowed as she got Shaart's question on her commlink.
"Well there is this volus lawyer who give us preferential prices... Why? What happened?"

Before he could answer Alystae introduced herself. Michelle's smile stiffened a little when she realized who she was shaking hands with.
"The Indigo Ice Maid herself! Thank you so much for coming Alystae. Please come in. Welcome to my world, don't break anything." she said in a half mocking tone.

"She's here", Michelle simply said in her commlink when Alystae had entered, "smug like you wouldn't believe..."

Michelle recognized Pariah's voice when she greeted her.
Hu, that's really her... Between all the CDNers, Pariah's the one I seem to be destined to run into. Great...

"Ho of course Commander", she answered to Davril, "I hope you don't think I meant that as a criticism. I know she's out there doing good, and the reason we're having this dinner is so that other kids can do too later.
You can sit wherever you like. Laykalar -WavesHaveBroken on the boards- arranged the event according to the hanar philosophy of free flowing exchange of thoughts and ideas."

And now RedOut was greeting them both.

"Very nice to meet you Mr Vadarat, and thank you very much for coming! I hope you enjoy yourself tonight."

Daia, almost at the door, turned at her name, and smiled.

"Arina!" She reached out a hand in greeting, remembering to present her other - more importantly, the omni-tool - to the attendant at the restaurant's entry, with a smile and a 'Thank you.'

"By all means," she laughed, offering her elbow once Arina had had her invitation checked as well. She didn't have a partner in sight, so Daia didn't at all mind claiming her for the walk in. "Lovely robe you've got, and you do it justice. It's good to see you again - not thirty seconds, hardly, and already I'm glad I made the last-minute dash to be here. That bodes well for the evening. And here, we've been spotted," she added, seeing a face turn their way as they passed through the door.

"Thank you Michelle," she beamed. "Congratulations on tonight, quite a turn-out, and the preparations look admirable." She caught sight of the 'moat' while glancing around, and suppressed a giggle.

"I'm fighting an urge to jump in," she admitted in a whisper to Arina, once she too had exchanged greetings with their host.

"I do! Are children expected to show?" Sarah responded politely, setting her wine glass down on the table. "I mean, this is an occasion for them, it makes sense." She peered up at the hanar with an inquisitive blue eye. "Proust is up there. I've not read his work personally, I'm more of a sci-fi kind of gal. You know, daring raids by attractive tough women with sensitive souls.." She scratched at her arm and tugged a loose strap of her dress up her shoulder before smiling at her friend. "I'm - I do hope you've grown to like it here on the station and I hope I've been a good representative of my people. You'll have - oh! Here!" She activated her omnitool and brought up a picture of her son, dressed in a onesie with a funny graphic on the chest. Paul peered over and smirked.

"Look at this little fart. His auntie is watching him for the night but I'm sure he'd have been thrilled to meet everyone."

Paul took another drink and poured Sarah another, which she quietly walked away with, sipping every few moments as she made her way back to the podium. Paul brought his camera drone to focus on the Hanar. He cleared his throat and set his drink down before speaking. "Laykalar, can you part with anything my readers and viewers could know about your charity?"

Arina returned the greeting with a very appreciative gesture. She had followed the thread on the boards and knew that Daia seemingly not only had friends. She wondered if anyone ever would actually say it to her face and not just on the extranet. Sad story. Anyway, it seemingly had provoked the escort to wear a dress that was exquisite tonight.

“Thanks for the compliment. Looks like we represent two ends of a spectrum tonight. You know, the one where the circle meets again.” She was smiling wide.

Upon entry, she let her eyes wander for a quick scan the place already filled with some quite interesting people. There were two exceptionally looking turian couples, people Arina did not recognize though. There was -unmistakable – Max Vallario, she also noted Albert Lowell and some other people she vaguely remembered the faces of, some she didn’t recognize. It would not be surprising to meet a few fellow CDNers here – there was Sarah, playing on the podium again. Her eyes rested for a short moment on a bit of an odd couple nearby, a relatively short turian, accompanied by a tall quarian female. Who might they be? And there were hanar of course, hard to identify individually.

Anyway, she smiled nodded towards Shaart upon recognizing him and looked for Michelle, as she was of course to greet the hostess first. This human was not overlooked easily and there she was, near the door, greeting the guests!

“Good evening, Michelle. A wonderful occasion – may I say this is a banquet I have been looking forward to for a change?” she winked and flashed her Omnitool again.

“I bring the best wishes on behalf of the asari embassies and advisor Tevos. We appreciate what you arranged for us with the presentations and the effort you put into your charity work. Rest assured that we support the cause and please accept this donation.” Arina executed the transfer of a very respectable sum for LTD.

When Daia made her comment on the ball pool, Arina poked her in the ribs. “Please don’t, for the sake of asari decorum!” Arina had to laugh at the image though.

Since you only had arrived at a cocktail party or banquet when you had something to drink, Arina picked a glass from one of the various tables and greeted Sarah.

“You should consider a career in music. Every time we meet you are playing, which I don’t mind. Is the baby doing well?”

"This one would be pleased to provide illumination! Leaving the Ducts aims to raise awareness of, and provide caring and constructive solutions to, the problem of long-term homelessness among Tayseri youth! Many disadvantaged youngsters have been left adrift by the tempestuous events of the last few years. They are unmoored from the essential living standards and opportunities otherwise available to those in Citadel Space. As such, they face frequently bleak futures, unless generous effort is made to improve their condition. They also remain distressingly vulnerable to exploitation by those who seek to prey on others, particularly coercive criminal gangs. It is Leaving the Ducts' assertion that no child should live in ducts! These ones hope that the generosity of the ward's community will help them provide these vulnerable youngsters with every opportunity for a better future!"

He noticed that he'd been pulsing with particular intensity. He was getting better at making speeches. More humbly subdued, he added:

"For further information, the other may rest assured that the learned Rondor will be making a formal speech once all the guests have arrived. It may also consult one of the room's VIs, which help place the charitable effort in wider social and philosophical contexts!"

While he answered the male human's question, an asari arrived and promptly greeted Sarah. He wasn't sure, but he believed it to be the individual who had arranged the huntress recruitment event.

Ahsaala wanders over to watch Sarah play the violin. As a singer, the foxy turian is definitely intrigued by music, and she tries to imagine how it would be to sing with such an instrument playing accompaniment. Very formal, she thinks, very classy.

Battis, meanwhile, casts his eye on Max. He's seen that man posting on CDN and has three primary thoughts: that Max is a very different order of politician from Vindi; that if Max denigrates Vindi, Battis must resist the impulse to biotically flip a table on him; that if Max touches Vindi or Ahsaala, Battis will flip a table on him, propriety be damned.

Vindi waves, trying to catch Daia's eye. The asari is the one who bought her this amazing dress; she wants her to see that yes, she's actually getting some use out of it.

Even if Notras isn't here.

The diplomat nodded towards Michelle and let her continue mingling with the other guests, something het too should do, he headed towards Maxentius.

"Citadel Assemblyman Maxentius?" Albert asked, as if he didn't know, he stepped closer. "What a coincidence to see you here. Please excuse me, we've not been formally introduced, my name is Albert Lowell, Systems Alliance. I hope life is treating you well?"

Max was sipping from a drink he'd managed to acquire- the first thing you learned as a politician is where to find the booze at any function -and continuing to assess the crowd gathering at the dinner. There was a wide variety of people attending, that was for sure. He'd only just noticed the group of... 'colorful,' Turians that had walked in earlier. He thought he vaguely recognized the female who seemed to be the leader. Wasn't she supposed to be some chieftain from a separatist Hierarchy world, or something? Wasn't there someone that fit that description on the CDN website he sometimes posted on? He knew she had some sort of connection to his home ward, but he couldn't quite remember at that moment.

His train of thought on that subject was de-railed for the moment when a sharp-dressed human male walked up to him, introducing himself as someone from the Alliance. Max put on his best political-smile and shook his hand in a friendly manner. "Well enough that I can find some time to attend this dinner, and attract attention to an important issue, Mr. Lowell. I hope things are going well for you too."