Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

[Serasai Onashi]

"Jovan Station has recently undergone some large attacks by an unknown terrorist group. All rogue elements have been captured or destroyed, and there is now no reasonable concern for a repeat attack. Please comply with all directives and officers of the Security Division, and everything will go smoothly and peacefully."

He leaned back and frowned.

"Figures all the fun goes down when I go somewhere else looking for it," he murmured, ignoring the nonplussed passengers on either side of him trying to put as much distance between him and them as possible.

A couple cage matches and tourney fights had proven something of a good distraction, but either he was too good or the civilized leagues didn't look for the real challenges like the Hutt championships did. Still, he'd made some credits, and Rai'faani couldn't be too angry at that. She might be angry with how he spent almost all of it, but it was his money. Besides, he wasn't dumb. His account was locked up tight, and he wasn't giving her the passcode. He was already married. He didn't need another wife on top of that. Even if she had some spirit to her.

Onashi stopped and thought for a moment how cizerack women seemed to be becoming more prevalent in his life. Maybe he'd visit a brothel and find a nice Falleen woman to screw. It'd been a while since he'd done properly screwed a greenie.

"Please watch your step and enjoy your stay on Jovan Station!"

Serasai Onashi grinned and stepped off the shuttle's ramp and breathed deeply. Still recycled air.

"Now, time to find a woman, and then Rai'faani. Or maybe the other way around."

Jovan station didn't seem all that different from many of the planet side Starports he'd been to; there were large concourses with plenty of greenery and bright lighting near the ceiling to simulate the time of day, and storefronts lined the walkways. He spotted a well heeled caf stop, more than a few little pubs, clothing stores and offices for various companies and corporations. No brothels, but this was a pretty 'high-class' area. The escort services would be only slightly hidden.

He had to hand it to them though as a cizerack and a chiss woman passed by him. They had some fine women here.

Maybe he'd stick around for a bit after all.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

She'd needed time to convalesce. Yeah, that was a good explanation. Of course that was usually done in an infirmary, but as Rai'faaani Meorrrei was physically unharmed from the recent station attack, that funny-looking horn-frog Doctor simply prescribed her rest and relaxation.

Madame Maillanaarro's Tea House seemed as good a place to do that as any. It had amenities. Aromatherapy. Hot baths. Massage with fragrant oils. Tea. The last part was certainly the most important. A miniature lagoon of a hot bath, full of fragrant salts, rose hips, baiyuu'a, nectar grass, and jeeta. Enough jeeta to make the skin buzz after minutes of a dip. Enough jeeta to make every touch feel...

"Aaaahh...mmm..."

Rai'faani shivered in ecstasy as the latest wave built up in her loins to overtake her. She panted, sucked on her lower lip, then bit lightly as...what was his name? As whoever he was continued to work below the euphoric water. Whoever he was, he had a talented tongue, and could hold his breath.

In the calm before the storm of orgasm, Rai'faani opened her eyes and looked up from the edge of the heated pool. There were six other ladies of quality in various stages of enjoyment of their tea, each sharing it with a particularly-interested male. A few of them with two.

Watching over it all, the ample-portioned Madame Maillanaarro clasped her thick hands together in polite greeting of her guests.

"Ladjiess, would jyou carre forr anjy rrefrresshment wjith jyourr tea?"

[Benita Lupe Quez]

The 'black sheep' of the Quez family absolutely adored the concept of matriarchy, adored it moreso in the process of becoming a free woman again, but otherwise the culture she was introduced to by the woman to her left baffled her.

When she'd heard of what happened to Rai, she came, well, as soon as she could. Moral support, you know. Within reason, when things were safe enough. Benita wasn't frightened, no, but her station in life meant she did have to exercise some caution. Why, she'd be a fool not to! All things, however, were washed away in the relaxation of this... uh... tea, which everyone around her was enjoying far more than she was capable of. No matter, because she got to watch, her thoughts lazing the way through references to other times she had seen Rai in any state remotely close to what she was seeing now.

Nah. Not even close.

Dark eyes peered up through lashes as her head titled back to see the ample woman who'd just spoken, from a rather upside-down perspective.

"Surprise me, Madame, would you?" and she rolled her head to peer at her friend again, "You too, Rai?"

Not that she thought she'd get a coherent response.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

"AIY...yeeehhhh..."

Rai, for her part, was all panting and grunts, splashing herbal bath water on her face in the throes of it all. At last, her casual paramour popped his head out from the water, no-doubt reaching the limits of his lung capacity as he resumed satisfying the Meorrrei socialite in a more traditional sense.

Simply nodding to 'Nita was the best she could afford as she climaxed, seizing her partner's shoulders mid-thrust. A few more seconds of transcendent decrescendo, and Rai sank a bit into the water for the moment of afterglow.

"Ssjissterr Njita, don't be sshjy. Therre'ss alwajyss morre, and thejy enjojy ssharrjing."

What a queer happenstance, meeting Cirrsseeto's sister in law here. They'd barely had any time to acquaint on Dantooine, but the two had become friends of a sort. Sure, she was human and that had some amount of baggage, but some of Rai'faani's fathers were too. The onward march of modern times and all. They both had the same fashion taste, both liked to dance. Both had spanner-monkeys for siblings. Nita knew how to have fun, and what better tie to bind?

Rai's partner had stayed awkwardly close after the moment, and he purred as he pawed at her breasts, angling in to kiss and play. She gave him a mildly disinterested push, then splashed a little water towards Benita.

"jI'm takjing a brreak. jYou rrealljy sshould trrjy...what'ss jyourr name?"

"Ku'aanaalo"

"Ku'aanaalo!" she brightened, remembering now. "He'ss a gjiverr."

[Minnie Starshine]

What a place to stop off. Who booked Star Tours to take them to some station that had just suffered a terrorist attack anyway? Minnie wasn't impressed by the station, she certainly wasn't impressed by the shopping, which offered nothing that competed with her usual shopping sprees, and after she had only bought three bags full of shoes and clothes and returned them to the Starspeeder, she decided rather than spend the day shopping, it was time for some relaxation. This didn't seem like the kind of place to ID, so she might actually get a drink or two out of it and have a good time.

Dressed in a sparkly pink mini-dress, heavy make-up with glossy pink lips, heavy expensive jewellery and equally sparkly stiletto pink sandals, Minnie looked as girly (and therefore, out of place) as ever on the space station. She hadn't let that deter her though (even if it was possible for Minnie to be deterred; she was the type who would dress like that in a swamp), and soon came across the Tea Bar. It wasn't perfect, but truthfully, all the shopping had left her parched, and well, tea quite often would help a dry throat. She could get alcohol after that.

After ordering tea, something which for some reason was treated as much bigger than just ordering a drink, she was escorted in to another room, where multiple women seemed to be, uh, enjoying themselves in pools. Minnie paused as she entered, all glittering pink glamour, perfume so strong it threatened to overwhelm the delicate scents in the room, taking it all in with eyes wide.
"So, uh, do you bring the tea to the pool, or....?" She asked, utterly lost and confused.

[Kalleeiha Maillanaarro]

Madame Maillanaarro dutifully hovered about the tea pool, taking drinks orders for the ladies of quality and their guests. Some might need to rely on a datapad to keep track, but the good Madame had the mind of a steel trap. She never forgot a face, or a customer's preference. The key to being a good tea shop owner was to be enabling when the client needed encouraging, and then to be invisible. The latter part may have taken some practice for someone of her gregarious nature, but the good Madame knew when it was time to mingle, and when it was time to let the customers mingle with each other, as it were.

So as Madame Maillanaarro turned to leave for the bar, she saw the curtains that lead to the other room part. Her assistant Daaiahaani was leading in another human woman, who had a look on her face that the tea shop proprietor was beginning to realize as a common expression of just what have I done. Humans were such a literal people. They came to a tea house for tea, when anyone with good sense and civility knew that one drank tea at home or at work.

Nevermind her naive assumptions. She'd crossed the threshold. Perhaps she would still find something she liked? The good Madame spread her chubby arms wide in a gesture of greeting, her elaborate bangled earrings clinking as she nodded her head to Minnie.

"Ja irra korra'nai, and welcome, rrou'eita..."

She looked up expectantly for the young creature's name, which Daaiahaani supplied to complete the introduction.

"Mjinnjie Sstarrsshjine."

A practiced polite smile as the foreign-sounding name tinkled on her ears, Madame Maillanaarro quickly took the young thing by the crook of her arm.

"Thjiss jiss jyourr fjirrsst tjime wjith uss forr tea, ne?" Hardly a question worth asking, but one never made assumptions in public.

"jI am deljighted to hosst jyou. The tea housse jiss a..." how to say this for a human... "...ssocjial club. We don't sserrve tea, but we have manjy rrefrresshmentss and jyourr chojice of rrelaxatjion."

[Minnie Starshine]

Minnie was greeted by a large, welcoming woman with earrings that were far too common for her own tastes, but that she decided to ignore. Mainly because she still had no idea what was going on. She gave her best smile in an attempt to seem like she belonged, even though she had no idea what was going on. Clearly from the scenes around it was something sexual, but Minnie didn't actually have anywhere near as much experience there as she liked to pretend when she was around boys, and so she was actually clueless to quite what was going on.

"Ohhh! So... I could get a pedicure and wine?" She asked, suddenly excited. Alcohol! They hadn't bothered to check her age, so alcohol was totally a possibility. "I mean, I only just got my nails done on Naboo, like, a few days ago, but there's no such thing as too many pedicures, right?" She said cheerfully, still apparently oblivious to what was actually going on in the tubs.

[Serasai Onashi]

He'd spent a good half an hour wandering around and giving security guards the slip, but hadn't found anything really worthwhile catch his attention aside from the larger number of felinoid babes crossing his path. Speaking of Cizerack, Onashi thought as his eyes lit on a sign posted above a wonderfully tacky doorway: Madame Maillanaarro's Tea House.

Remembering what happened the last time he'd gone to the Cluster and asked for tea, Onashi's grin widened and he turned to saunter in.

"Welcome! Welcome to Madame Maillanaaro's Tea House..." the attendant said, hearing the chime and trailed off as he looked up. Onashi nodded once.

"Oi," he said, sucking on his teeth a second while he sized up the boy greeting him as a threat. After coming to the conclusion that he could kill the kid bare handed in three seconds, he continued. "Can I take my blasters in here, or do you take 'em and I get a ticket or something? I need a bath, some tea, a massage, and some tea. Not necessarily in that order."

He paused, suddenly thinking of something.

"You have female attendants, right? I'd like those."

[Kalleeiha Maillanaarro]

"Ohhh! So... I could get a pedicure and wine?" She asked, suddenly excited. Alcohol! They hadn't bothered to check her age, so alcohol was totally a possibility. "I mean, I only just got my nails done on Naboo, like, a few days ago, but there's no such thing as too many pedicures, right?" She said cheerfully, still apparently oblivious to what was actually going on in the tubs.

The good Madame clapped her thick hands together at Minnie's suggestion.

"Ai, Farr'jaanderr."

Tending to the coat rack, Farr'jaander, a lithely-built Meera'in Cizerack male in a sarong approached the Madame and her guest. He brushed back his coiffed hair and smiled to each.

"Rrou'eita?"

Maillanaarro put a hand around Minnie's shoulder in another show of physical rapport-building as she spoke to her attractive hireling.

"C'e ailaa jeelainaa sai'tuu'a kinnai va Mjinnjie Sstarrsshjine, s'in daa'llo nai pai leeha aavika shaai."

Farr'jaanderr nodded in understanding with a "Rrou Ve" as he extended a hand to escort the human client along. Madame Maillanaarro gave her guest a jowly smile as she nodded toward her male help.

"Thjiss jiss Farr'jaanderr. He'll be happy to attend to jyourr pedjicurre, and jI'll make ssurre jyou have a prroperr wjine to make jyourr sstajy herre pleassant."

Simple enough. For a start. The good Madame spied Minnie's toes through the open shoes she wore. Human pedicures were a simple enough affair. As for the wine? Maillanaarro gave Minnie a glance. She seemed young, and she vaguely remembered some sort of announcement on Jovan about age restrictions, but to her understanding, the Cizeri businesses were still operating under the aegis of Cizeri trade law, and until she was compelled to act differently, the good Madame paid them little heed. She was young, but Madame Maillanaarro could certainly see the quality of attire she was displaying. She wasn't about to turn her business away for trivium. Not when she could also upsell the human her more expensive wine, as she didn't seem to specify. Ah, details.

Meanwhile, at the tea house vestibule...



"Oi," he said, sucking on his teeth a second while he sized up the boy greeting him as a threat. After coming to the conclusion that he could kill the kid bare handed in three seconds, he continued. "Can I take my blasters in here, or do you take 'em and I get a ticket or something? I need a bath, some tea, a massage, and some tea. Not necessarily in that order."

He paused, suddenly thinking of something.

"You have female attendants, right? I'd like those."

The front attendant, Kuuaserro looked a bit unsure at the unusual man's questions concerning weapons. That wasn't a usual sort of request, although they did have personal strongboxes for jewels and valuables that the usual sort of ladies of quality were often armed with. Surely that could suffice.

"jI would be happjy to take Arr'o's perrsonal effectss forr ssafe keepjing. Majy jI have jyourr name?"

"Name's Onashi, kid."

Kuuaserro nodded in appreciation as he retrieved a small basket to hold Onashi's weapons.

"Da'ne."

He went to enter Onashi's information in the computer, when the question about female attendants made him pause.

"Forr the bath and and masssage, Arr'o? Mjy apologjiess, but ourr rrelaxatjion attendantss arre men."

Kuuaserro gave a reassuring nod to placate his concern.

"We arre, howeverr, well trrajined jin hosspjitaljitjy arrtss."

[Serasai Onashi]

"Forr the bath and and masssage, Arr'o? Mjy apologjiess, but ourr rrelaxatjion attendantss arre men. We arre, howeverr, well trrajined jin hosspjitaljitjy arrtss."

Onashi watched as his two blaster pistols, four spare tibanna packs, six knives, three switchblades, two dataspikes, his roll of throwing needles were placed into the basket, and to the kid's credit, he hid his nervousness well. The blaster rifle was placed on the floor next to the basket, and almost missed the attendant's answer as he made sure it was well placed and not in danger of falling over.

"Kus," he hissed. He'd forgotten that in the cluster women were culturally dominant. So obviously women joined the military services, and those services that catered to women in service catered to their tastes, and most of the time they liked themselves a nice demure man. Ah well. It had been too long since he'd had a nice Cizerack bath. "Fine. Also, tea menu. Hopefully you at least have kairrin if I can't get myself rubbed down by a woman."

Imperial teas were delicate and nuanced (Chandrilan teas had such a rich array of flavours; and Alderaani blends, noted for being smooth and calming on the whole and naturally somewhat sweet, were being sold for astronomical prices); Rylothi teas were spiced like nothing else, and that was without spices being added somehow. Cizerack teas were robust, and kairrin was the closest he'd come to caf while not having caf. It was his go-to Cizerack tea, and he knew how to prepare it right, if being proposed to after brewing it meant anything.

He supposed it might. Maybe he could get the Madame to talk to him if he brewed it. At least it would be good conversation.

[Minnie Starshine]

Minne smiled. Okay, well, this was turning out pretty well so far. A pedicure and wine! Who could argue with that.
"Okay, sounds pretty great!" She smiled, following the male and taking him in. He was certainly attractive, although Minnie usually found herself more attracted to humans. She thought that she'd have fun flirting with him a little, so shot him a coy smile, waiting for him to start first because, well, that's how Minnie always did things. She grabbed the boys' attentions, not the other way around! At least, that was her plan. Often it didn't really work, as quite often boys actually avoided her, due to her in-your-face girlishness or, truthfully, the overwhelming scent of her perfume making her unpleasant to stand too close to if you weren't used to it.

She followed the lead of her new guide, trying not to take in too much of what was going on in the other pools, but getting the distinct impression this place was more than the beauty salon she was interpreting it as.

[Benita Lupe Quez]

She looked from Rai'faani to... Ku'aanaalo, her eyes widening ever so slightly. She pursed her lips, before managing to tease a willing, welcoming smile onto her face. This was unfamiliar territory, even more daunting than being, as-yet, the only human with a single lick of skin in this mug of tea. Her toes curled under the surface, and she flicked a glance at Sister Rai, the entirety of her expression transforming into something that sported a lick of salacious anticipation.

"Alright, Rai. I'll take your word for it."

And that was all she gave her friend, before turning turning her gaze back to the offered male; shifting her lithe form off of the edge of the 'cup' and lowering herself into the waters, she never once took her eyes off of him. Once settled, an outstretched hand of hers poked above the surface and after a scant moment, curled gracefully inward, as if she were giving an invisible cord a soft tug.

"Keep me company," and her tongue made its best attempt at wrapping around the memory of how his name had been said; names had power, she believed, "would you, Ku'aalaano?"

She would be fibbing if she claimed anxiety didn't have some presence in her psyche, just then, when he began to make his way over to her. A big, fat fib, without a doubt.

[Rai'faani Meorrrei]

Rai gave a little hop, springing out of the water and using her hands to haul herself the rest of the way to the edge of the heated pool. She let her legs dangle within, picking up the sweet embrace of the jeeta as she dripped dry and picked off the collection of rosehips and aromatic leaf that clung to her skin. The manservant returned with the two drinks Nita ordered, and upon seeing the confused face from the Meorrrei heiress, he offered a description.

"A Tam Antjilljiess, rrou'a."

It was slightly cloudy, fizzy, garnished with some yellow fruit, and it smelled of something that made her nose wrinkle.

"Gjin, rrou'a"

Leave it to the human naturally. Rai'faani wasn't about to be cowed by foreign indulgence, and she took her drink from the tray, sipping the cool, effervescent, and bitey drink through a straw.

"Qujite njice, rrealljy." she mumbled to herself, stirring the contents around as she realized the waiter was waiting to know what to do with Benita's own cocktail.

"Njita, jyou majy want to delajy the thrrusst of the matterr, jyourr drrjink jiss herre."

Pausing to crunch at an ice cube, something troubled the young Meorrrei woman. A topic she really wanted to get to the bottom of. Might as well broach this matter of importance in the calm before the storm.

"Wherre djid jyou get jyourr sshoess, bjy the wajy?"