Rookies and Legends: Legends Never Die (PM LD if you want in)

[Daanarri Raurrssaatta]

Fjiftjy-fjive! The greying female stared at herself in the reflecting pool in the gardens of her Carshoulis estate. She'd inherited it from her mother...that crazy female had never had her head on straight. It was a good thing that the Meorrrei's had been willing to take over raising her when she was a cub.

Saarrreeaa had always been good to her. The female's ears flicked back and forth as she remembered the past, and then a large koji fish swam underneath her nose. Daani shot out a slim arm and snagged the overgrown goldfish right out of the pool. Nothjing ljike food to calm the nerrrvesss. The inside of the koji was soft and delicious. The elder Meorrrei, Taataani, had always liked fish. As a cub, Daani had nearly idolized the hyperactive female, and so had loved fish right along with her.

The family news was...quiet. Non-existant, even. Saarrreeaa had stolen Daani's brother away, and moved as far from Coruscant as she could. Apparently they'd gotten as far as the Outer Rim before a bounty hunter had caught up with them. Sasseeri Reeouurraa was not related at all to Daanarri, but she'd carried a deep grudge against Daani's sister-in-law, for whatever reason. Daani had been still too young to totally understand everything that had been going on.

A bone poked her between her sharp teeth, and Daani took a moment to get it out. Saa had been killed, and Cirrseetto, her beloved older brother, had moved back to Carshoulis. He'd been taken care of, of course, but had eventually melted away from what could only be described as a broken heart. It was touching to think about, really.

All of this had happened nearly thirty years previously. Daanarri sucked out the fish eyes, and rolled them around on her tongue for a moment, lounging back on the viewing rock and letting the warm Carshoulis sun bathe her nearly naked body. Her own children, twin daughters named Taanadri and Taanabri, were grown and gone, making their ways in the world already. Already! They'd been moved out for over ten years.

Dri and Bri were precocious young females, and already had made quite a mark in the shipping buisness.

Sasseeri was retired, officially, but the halfbreed still lived on Coruscant, in a huge skyhook. She had to be at least in her nineties... Daanarri thought about that for a moment. jI wonderrr what ssshe looksss ljike now? Still beautiful as always? Cosmetic surgery and careful attention to details worked wonders on the elderly. Or perhaps she was an old, tired crone. Her human blood would not age as gracefully as her Cizerack blood.

Daani flipped the fish bones onto the lawn, and giggled as her manservant nuzzled her neck.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

The thin hand scrabbled for a moment as a tic overtook the body, and then steadied. Sasseerri reached for the stylus again, snagged it that time, and frustratedly brushed off the male that was trying to help her. The male, a younger Cizerack full blood, sat back in the corner she angrily pointed out to him, his ears flattened against his head.

Sasseeri, former Vigo of Black Sun, former CEO of The Sector Rangers, formerly many things (not the least of which was young and healthy), rested for a moment, taking a deep breath. Then she dragged the stylus over the datapad, pecking with it at the keys. Her coordination was down a bit, after the stroke, making handwriting virtually impossible. The ninety-one year old half-breed sighed in frustration, trying to compose a letter to an underling.

"I am tired." A droid-like voice came from the side of her hoverchair. The stroke she'd suffered four years ago had left her speechless, but the implant she'd recieved in her brain assisted with speech. It read electrical currents in the cerebellum, transmuting certain thoughts into verbal speech. The technology was confusing to the elder Reeouurra, but as long as it worked. It had taken a year to keep from blathering on about everything that was in her head.

The male returned to her side, carefully picking her up from the hoverchair and carrying her over to the huge bed that dominated her ornate bedroom. She lay quietly in his arms, a mere shadow of the dynamic leader that she once had been.

Finally tucked into bed, the male held her against his warm body, snuggling with her as she attempted a mid afternoon nap. She was much to far gone for the more...energetic types of affection, but touching, holding... Sasseeri still lived for earthly pleasures. Her white hair was thinning, and her once beautiful skin was perilously holding onto her body.

But her mind was strong. Would always be strong. You could see it in her eyes, still sharp and glittery as thoughts whirled around inside her head. Retired or no, Sasseerri still held a dominant spot in underworld activities. Her skyhook was one of the most ornate on the planet. Her security team was not to be trifled with. People who knew, and those who guessed, compared her most often with Prince Xizor. But not to her face...after all, I think we all know how he ended up.

The male (she'd not forgotten his name, she'd just never tried to remember it) fell asleep before she did. Sasseeri turned her head slightly, and looked at her favorite decoration. Stjill mjine, afterrr all these yearrrs. jI told you jI'd have you. You always laughed. There was a smile on her lips as she drifted off to sleep.

[Daanarri Raurrssaatta]

Daani sat down at her dinner, and picked at her food. To a human eye it still looked like she was gorging herself, but her manservant could tell something was the matter. He picked up a thigh bone and brought it over to her, sitting closely beside her. "Daanji... what jisss trrroubljing jyou?" He tore a piece out of the meat, and offered it to her.

The female winked at him, and snapped it up, licking at his bloodied fingers a bit. He moved closer, nuzzling her neck as she chewed thoughtfully. "jI'm old."

He murmured against her warm skin that she wasn't.

Daani drew away from him, and he looked confused. She was angry. "jI am fjiftjy-fjive! Mjy gjirrrlsss arrre rrrajisssed. jI have no morrre ussse." Inexplicably, she started to cry, the half eaten meal forgotten.

Her mate and manservant gathered the slight female up into his arms. Raantirro had never seen his mistress like this before, and it worried him. "Daanarrrrrrji..." he rumbled her name as he carried her out of the feeding pit. The Cizerack female only cried.

[Mikale Reeouurra]

"I'll take it."

Mikale lit a stim, and shooed off the lackey to find a proper box for the painting. He looked at it again, this time through a veil of smoke. It was vibrant, colorful, and was a piece designed to evoke pleasant emotions. Yet, Mikale Reeouurra couldn't care less about such details. It was just another conversation piece. Another expensive bit of fluff that held absolutely no meaning to him. He glanced sidelong at his companion, a brunette-haired woman in her early twenties who was still transfixed by it. She, like the painting he had bought, were only decorations. He knew her name, exchanged pleasantries with her, and shared a bed with her every other day. That was all. Like nearly everything else in the world around him, she was just a possession.

Of course, if it was up to his mother, it would be the other way around. She would have pimped him off to the wealthiest bride she could find, in exchange for a lucrative dowry. But times were changing, and Mikale often spent many late nights in the solace of his mother's most prized "conversation piece".

His father. The carbonite statue that was Sanis Prent.

It was one of the few things in this life that could make Mikale Reeouurra start to dream, if only in passing. The reality was still as apparent to him as the day he was born. His mother was a permanent crutch to his greatness.

[Daanarri Raurrssaatta]

Some things never changed. When she got depressed, Daani took a vacation. It didn't happen very often, mind you. This was her fourth vacation since she'd been a cub. Business came first. But she'd risen to the top of her paticular pile, and most of the work was done by others, now.

Rantirro was at home, taking care of the house and lands. He such a gift to her at times like these. The Cizerack female walked into a familiar restaurant in the Upper City, a blinking neon sign proclaiming it Yog's Bar and Grill. She hadn't been here for ages.

Unfortunately, it appeared not to have changed even the slightest bit. There was probably still dirt under the tables from thirty years ago. The cook was hidden behind a cloud of steam as something sizzled on the grill. Daani sat at the bar.

"Whaddya have?" The bartender leaned on his hands across from her.

"Ah, jI'll have a Nadda Sssljide, wjith extrrra currracou." Daani wondered if she should have ordered blood wine. "On sssecond thought, make that a blood wjine."

"Very good, Miss."

He called me mjissssss. Mussst be bljind. Daani turned on her stool, leaned back, and took in her surroundings.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

She brushed the outside of the statue with her thin fingertips, manicured nails lightls scratching the carbonite, although not making a mark. Sasseeri sagged back into the arms of the male who was supporting her, and angrily motioned for him to move her around to the side of the 'decoration.'

There, on the side of the carbonite statue of Sanis Prent, red and green indication lights flickered and blinked quite healthily. Watery blue eyes narrowed, and a hand made a stabbing motion, as though to stop the lights forever. The male helping her accidentally stopped her from reaching the control panel, and she snarled at him weakly. A mewly growl that burbled up from her throat and caused spittle to coat the side of the tawny male's neck.

He sat her back down in her chair, carefully arranging her twisted body in the hoverchair. She waited impatiently until he was finished, and then concentrated. "Leave me, you imbecile." The droid voice lacked the proper emotion, but the ears on the male flattened, and he backed respectfully away from the old female.

The doors to her bedroom closed with a soft click, and Sasseeri would have rubbed her hands together if her coordination had been up to the task. Her spindly hand brushed against the joystick control, and the hoverchair moved towards her desk smoothly. Mjikale wjill be home tomorrrrrrow for my bjirrrthday. He would probably want to talk about her will again.

She hadn't decided what would become of the carbonite Sanis Prent upon her death. What her will read now was that the control panel was to be smashed on the day of the funeral, but she wsa thinking that perhaps thawing Sanis out, and then shooting him would be better. Her hands shook with anger as she reached for the datapad and stylus once more. Or perhaps she would do as Mikale wished, and gift him with the atrocious piece of art. But if he thawed out his father...

A hacking lopsided laugh over took her, and Sasseeri tried ineffectually to wipe at the drool coming out of her mouth. Sanis would finally know he had a son. And that everyone he ever knew was long dead, including that tramp Navarrrrjia. Or perhaps he would he overcome from the long time frozen in carbonite, and never recover from the carbonation sickness.

She didn't intend to find out. If he was thawed, then he would get away from her, and that was something that she would not allow.