Alderaan - Love and Intrigue

Nicely dressed though with a holstered lightsaber on her hip attached to a pretty belt, Katarzyna moved through the cruise, asking around for Duke-Consort Zeno Thul.

Someone had even pushed on her a stupid little purse that she barely managed to cram her datapad into. (Probably Riss)

Zeno was present and mingling. He may not be the most popular Alderaanian noble on the ship, but he wasa spectacle to some and the only source of Thul gossip for others. But he saw Kat and approached.

"Good evening Katarzyna," he says in greeting. He was wearing a standard but classic black tie getup.

"Good evening, Duke Zeno," she offered in return, bowing her head in greeting. Still Jedi-mannerisms even when she had been made to dress up.

"How are you this evening? Are the family here with you too for the cruise?"

"I am here alone," he says. "My wife still indisposed and my daughters at home. I am simply here to make an appearance and to be aware of any goings on at such a large gathering."

"Ah, I see... a shame. Though I suppose the cruise would've quickly been boring for the girls." There was a lot to do here, but probably a bit too adult. She did feel sorry for them missing the Flower Court earlier.

"Might I steal you for a second, if you are not too busy?"

"Hopefully nothing too scandalous," he says. "I saw how the Jedi are in Laynes holo-vid."

His smile suggested that he thought it was a ridiculous fake.

Kat started to grimace but held it back. Clearly she had seen it too. "... Nothing as gauche as that, I assure you," she said, regaining her calm center. "I spent some time this morning to reconstruct a portrait of the man I talked about yesterday with you. It's not as a good as a holo-photo or anything like that, but... I feel it did a good enough job to capture his likeness."

Opening up the stupid little purse Riss had pushed on her, Kat managed (with a little fight with the cramped space of the purse) to get her datapad out. A few taps, and making sure no one was nearby to sneak a peek at it, she passed it over to Zeno for him to look at.

Zeno might recognize the figure known as The Emperor's Wrath.

"Ah... that's surprising. That's the Wrath. Talk to Layne," he says with a nod. "She's more familiar than I ever was. He and my former master had issues."

"The... Wrath? Like the Wrath of the Emperor?" Kat looked at the datapad and back to Zeno. "Are you certain? I've heard tales but... I didn't think the man was real. He seemed more mythical than anything from the few accounts I'm aware of, similarly to the old Emperor."

"The thing you have to understand about the Sith is... they are crazy, they acquire and use power in crazy ways, and half of the crazy rumors are based on some kernel of truth while the other half are just plain true," he says with a shrug. "I've seen some insane things that you would never see in Republic space, and I came from a practical military family."

Kat chuckled a bit nervously, and powered down the datapad to put it away. No need to parade that image around.

"Those words are not exactly comforting, your grace." She could guess why the Sith had been at Coruscant. Probably Jedi to kill in wrath's name, or whatever it was his job description was, but it didn't answer any questions she might have. "... Thank you though. At least I have more now than before. I appriciate your help."

"Well. If that's all for business, then how about pleasure? Would you care to dance? I've heard it's poor etiquette to refuse the Duke of a house under investigation and barely allowed to attend," he says with mock seriousness. But the extended hand was not joking.

"Dance?" she raised an eyebrow, surprised by the question. "I was never a graceful dancer, my lord, so I must warn you that your feet will be stepped on." Kat warned him, before accepting the hand.

"Have you been trained in sensing others feelings?" he asks as he guides her to a dance floor. "If you have, I give you full permission to touch my mind to get a sense for my movements and intentions. It should make things a bit smoother."

"I have. One of my earliest lessons, actually," she nodded. That he was going to allow that was surprising. "I can't say I've ever used it in such a way before... but, with your permission. I offer the same in return then."

Letting her senses extend beyond herself, Kat felt that she brushed against the darkness that was Zeno Thul, but it was not enough to stop the Force from guiding her, letting her find that connection.

She herself made an effort to lower her strong willpower that would usually keep such at bay, and instead allowed Zeno to find that connection too that the Force had between everything. In a room of people, Kat was like a leaf floating upon a still pond, at peace in the Force and undisturbed by turmoil or waves.

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D5 EE Fluff Sense roll with Zeno (unopposed): 2eF 2 Light Side, 1 Dark Side

Zeno reached out with his mind and touched Katarzyna's. He sensed the calm but also any feelings she had towards the close contact with him and his mind.

His mind was likely surprisingly calm, but also an inky darkness that hungered for sustenance. A monster wanting to be fed, but kept on a leash. Though emotionally there was nothing there buta sense of enjoyment and a pulsing that matched the music.

When he moved into dancing position, his hands were in proper position, but shifted as necessary to cause least discomfort.

""One, two, three, and..." he was off, leading the dance and moving with practiced precision.

----

D5 EE, Sense Katarzyna: 3eF 3 Dark Side

A sense of unease over the unfamiliar was there, though it was one that was diminishing gradually as she was getting more used to using the Force in this manner to dance. Though there was also a sense of wariness, of that darkness, that leashed monster. The same way one might pet a tamed nexu, but still be wary of its massive fangs and that it was an animal with its own instincts.

"Do you do this often?" she asked as they moved across the dancefloor to the music. "Dance with the Force to guide you in this way, that is."

"I do most things with the force to guide me," he says, moving with ease. "Most Sith use it like a tool and I was trained much the same way. But I've come to accept it as more of an ally. And I wouldn't deny the help of such a friend."

"But this particular method of interaction is a personal favorite of mine. It lets you really understand another person in a way others cannot. The mind directly reacting to the mind," he explains.

"Also, if you ever find yourself... reenacting one of Jerri Organa's books... I highly recommend this as part of the experience."

There is no bashfulness even if he had searched for more appropriate words in present company.
And despite such suggestive talk his mind does not seem to go to that place, still focused on the movement and music.

"Jerri Organa is a writer?" she seemed surprised by this, as it had completely escaped her attention before. Through their connection, he could sense that her surprise was genuine.

"I've only met him briefly in passing. What... errr... do I even want to know what he writes?"

"I don't know if he has a more pretentious term for it, but I just call it Jedi erotica. Steamy romance novels centered around Jedi," he says with a smirk. His entertainment at the Organa's writings was obvious in his mind and on his face. And none of it distracted from the dance.