Divinations: Blood of My Blood

[Teagan Staedtler]

She was moving on instinct, remembering the last time her father had decided to solve one of Neco and Oa's questions with credit chits. In the privacy of their own homes it was one thing, but on the way to the Republic Day parade? Surely he knew better!!

"Um, Daddy," she interjected swiftly with a hand to his shoulder.

"... I don't think that's a good idea right now."

[Neco Staedtler]

Whatever excitement his grandfather's solution had inspired was just as swiftly snuffed out as Dama intervened. Neco's face fell - he thought it was an excellent idea.

"But Dama," the boy pressed his features into as pleading a glance as he could muster. "How else are we going to find out?"

[W. Staedtler]

"Dama's right, son," Wyl cut in easily, smiling. It was no small miracle that the children had remained presentable for this long; the inevitable competition that would result as they scrabbled for credchits would undo the entire operation. He glanced apologetically at his father-in-law, eyebrows lifting in query. "Perhaps after the ceremonies, Get'ia?"

[Chancellor Thrule]

Sometimes true genius involved doing, or attempting to do, a job in such an absurd fashion that everybody else tried to prevent you from doing a job you didn't even want in the first place.

Dan looked suitably disappointed, shrugged his shoulders, and winked at the grandchildren.

"Guess we'll have to wait till later to answer that one."

[Master s'Ilancy]

Still holding Oa, s'Il inwardly smirked at the avenue her husband had taken to deflect the all important question Neco had asked of him. It was a tactic that she remembered him using many times on Markos, and now with another set of young ones to entice (and ever-concerned parents to worry over his methods), she was glad at least that he was torturing Wyl and Teagan rather than herself.

Setting Oa down to the ground, she looped her arm through Dan's.

"It would be best," she soothed Neco.

"Besides. Once we're done at the parade, we'll have more than enough time to spend together, and you can ask Get'ia all the questions you want."

Her free hand went out then, as an offer for the boy to take it.

"Does that agree with you?"

[Neco Staedtler]

For a young one with a never ending supply of questions, it was a suitably spectacular alternative. He pretended to consider for a brief moment before giving up the ruse and nodding enthusiastically.

"But I have a lot of questions," Neco told Gemma with a sly look as he took her hand and leaned into the comforting spot at her side. He had learned that children with enough questions were very often offered sweets in an attempt to distract their mouths.

[Markos]

Never was his patience so tested when he was in the presence of his older sister's children. At least, in times like these. Now was, in his mind, a time for order and protocol; seriousness and solemnity. In the public's eye at least. Though, even when alone with his mother and father Markos was hard-pressed to act as he had when he was younger. There were moments, but they weren't often, and mostly his lighter side was expressed while in the company of Mother.

He'd stopped calling her Dama long ago.

Truthfully he did not mind his niece and nephew, but for today's occasion his mind was set. As well, he had much to think on regarding his father's gift.

Dour-faced, Markos made the first move to duck into the limousine.

[Teagan Staedtler]

Teagan, having taken Oa's eager hand, let her climb up into the speeder after Markos, helping to make sure that the girl's dress did not catch on anything. It'd happened before, and ever attentive, Teagan was sure to keep a watchful eye on both of her children today. With Wyl though, she knew that at least he would bear half the responsibilities.

And she wouldn't have had it any other way, with any one else.

With Oa inside, Tak was the next in, pulling Wyl with her.

[W. Staedtler]

As he ducked into the vehicle, Neco's declaration of I'm going to sit by Get'ia chasing him, Wyl shared a knowing look with his wife. The boy's loyalties operated on a very obvious hierarchy and it was no secret who had secured the top spot on that list.

He tugged his trouser legs up a bit as he sat, shifting until his leg bumped up against Teagan's.

"You look well, Markos," Wyl remarked. In fact, his brother-in-law looked as though he'd just eaten a sour rasuball - but then, that wasn't unusual. As fond as he was of Tak's baby brother, as much as he thought of him as his own kid sibling, he also found the young man entirely impossible to fathom.

"It's a grand day - are you looking forward to the festivities?"

[Markos]

Markos was eyeing Oa, who had happily chosen a seat next to him and was fussing with something at the hem of her dress. He knew that it wasn't uncommon for disaster to follow his sister's children, and not for the first time did he silently worry for his clothing and its' continued clean state. She was cute though, and from the holos he'd seen of Teagan when she was very young, Oa could've been the same child. It was uncanny, and even he'd admitted it aloud once.

His eyes went up to meet Wyl's gaze. His brother-in-law had been around ever since he could remember, and from what he'd been told by his mother and father, Wyl had essentially been a part of their family since the day Mother brought him home from Cloud City (so the story went). He liked Wyl; always had. The man had treated him like a younger brother and for that Markos was always grateful.

"I am," was the almost casual reply.

"Though I'm looking forward to the Alliance Bowl more."

It had always been a sort of tradition, that after the morning parades and official duties of his father were concluded, they all retreated to their quiet country home in the northern hemisphere to watch the yearly Republic Day blastball game on the holo. The Alliance Bowl it'd come to be called. It was one of the few times that Markos truly enjoyed, and held many memories for him. It was when his father had let him have his first sip of wine, and Wyl had let him have his first taste of beer. Markos had preferred the beer.

[Chancellor Thrule]

"Of course."

Dan cracked a smile at that, looking at his son.

"Mandalore's first team entry into the final, I think. I think Corellia has their number though."

He wondered if the mention of Corellia would spur Markos onward to speak of his little bit of good news. As the limo slowly trundled along to pick up speed, the open canopy vantage of the parade was, predictably, very beautiful.

[Markos]

Markos knew this game his father was playing at, and purposefully refused to take the offered bait. A strange look was given to the elder Thrule, but no word left his lips about his newly-received apprenticeship. He would speak of it when he was ready, and not before.

Deliberately ignoring the nudge his father had given him, Marko addressed Wyl.

"What do you think?"

[W. Staedtler]

Wyl shrugged in a calculated, casual manner.

"Oh, I don't know," he remarked mildly. Wyl slung an arm around Teagan's shoulders and leaned back against the limo seat, a picture of calm composure. "Thrace has been playing well this season; near-perfect, one might say. Mandalore could surprise us all.

"In fact," Wyl grinned at Markos, a mad roguish glint to his expression. "I'd bet credits on it."

[Neco Staedtler]

"Dad says with Thrace and Ovechowski, Corellia better watch their six," Neco said, his young face given to serious consideration at the current conversation. "We even put a whole hundred credits on..."

With a widening of eyes, the boy trailed off. The trip he and Dad had taken to the lower levels was supposed to be a secret just between the two of them. He'd promised not to say anything, especially about learning the ins and outs of placing a bet from the old bookie at the little pub that they definitely hadn't gone to.

Glancing nervously at Dama, Neco let his faux pas linger unfinished before steamrolling on. "But Corellia's got Uan Starnoble and he's nuts."

[Teagan Staedtler]

Though her mother had most of her attentions with talk of the normal goings on of each day, Teagan made sure to pay at least a small amount to the conversation between her husband and brother. Neco's accidental slip was heard, registered, and filed away for future reference. Her mother, ever adept at reading any and every trace of expression, only gave a brief, if not rueful grin.

For her part, Teagan only gave a pat to Wyl's leg. It was such a little gesture that carried an enormous amount of meaning, and it was also one that she had given to him many times before whenever he'd done something like what Neco had just confessed to.

She gave her husband a sidelong, sweet smile. It was a smile that said 'We're going to have a Comin' to the Maker Meeting when we get home.'

[W. Staedtler]

Wyl shared a great kinship with the parents of the natural world; he too was often overwhelmed by the urge to devour his young.

Like a well-rehearsed dancer, the Jedi returned his wife's smile and patted the hand that she'd placed on his knee in a placating manner. He knew that look. It never meant good things. Not for him, at any rate.

Banking on the fact that they shared a universe of experience and hoping that Tak was feeling merciful, he let a little sheepishness leak into his face and cast a rueful, beguiling grin her way. It said you caught me and I don't know what I was thinking and most of all but then, you knew I would do it and really how else is the boy going to learn about these things, it's not as though we knocked back a few shots and put his college fund on the line, now is it?

Of course, he had no doubt that she herself already had designs on who would win the game. It wouldn't be surprising if she'd made her own bets. She was completely amazing like that.

"Will we have a little friendly competition, then? Let's lay out our sides and whoever's team loses gets stuck with cleanup duty after the meal."

[Master s'Ilancy]

Sitting beside Dan, s'Il leaned back in the comfort provided by her seat. It was not lost on her, the looks that her daughter and son-in-law shared, and the elder Lupine let the corners of her mouth tick upward.

Everything that happened around her she was aware of - Markos' dodging of the nudge his father had tried to give him, Neco and Oa's chattering, the comfortable proto-scolding that was taking place between Wyl and Teagan, and above it all that ever-present blanket of self-assuredness that her husband and master exuded at all times. It was something she knew that only she could detect, and that knowledge gave her her own calm, ever-solid demeanor. Who was there to challenge her? To take her from her place at Dan's side?

There were none.

One hand came to rest over the top of Dan's, her fingers weaving into his own.

She had given to him all that he wanted and then allowed him even more. And he'd taken freely. Her master was the most powerful man in the galaxy, and she had been the one to raise him up to the position he'd so coveted.

And as the limousine wove its' way through avenues and thoroughfares on its' passage to the Grand Podium where the Chancellor would give his yearly speech, s'Il breathed in all that was around her, picking each scent apart with particular joy before allowing each tendril of aftershave, cologne, perfume, freshly washed and starched fabrics, and shampoos coalesce once more into an olfactory symphony that delighted her to no end.

[Chancellor Thrule]

Dan took Markos's standoffish deference in stride. He knew the boy was conflicted by the honor given to him, and what responsibilities lay underneath it. He'd eventually have to face the issue, and when he did, Dan would be there.

The procession wound its way down the Hero's Via, and at last approached the Triumph Promenade. Here, the cheering mob threatened to spill over the artificial canyons, and hundreds of repulsor platforms held millions of spectators to the event. Though the sun was out, the sheer mass of the mob kept much of the area in a pleasant shade.

The Chancellor's limousine softly touched down, already flanked by Senate Commandos waiting for the Leader to arrive. Doors were opened, and attendees escorted out the Chancellor's family to a distant, but all-permeating applause from beyond.

[Oa Staedtler]

Oa gravitated from Gemma to Get'ia, but it wasn't long before her mother took her hand to reign her back, whispering that both grandparents would need to 'work', and that Get'ia would be making his speech soon so Oa would need to stand away and stay quiet.

She pouted of course, but it wasn't a few seconds later that she was all smiles once again. It was always exciting on days like this. All of the people all around, the cheering, the yelling, everything. Her smile was from ear to ear as she looked all around, her eyes wide.

The moment Dama's attention was elsewhere however, the girl pulled free, skipping over to her father and taking his hand.

"I bet there's zillions of people here today," she whispered to Neco, knowing that her brother wouldn't be able to resist the urge to answer.

[Neco Staedtler]

Neco grinned lopsidedly at his sister, eyes alight with wonder as he twisted his head to gaze all around them. The boy lifted a hand and waved at the crowds; this was what smashball players felt like, probably, just before a playoff match.

"Zillions of zillions," he countered her, unable to give up the chance to up the ante. He whistled lowly through his teeth like he'd heard Get'ia do; it was a skill he was doggedly trying to master for his own arsenal of impressive noises. "There's more this year than last. Imagine if they riot, Oa! It'd be a massacre!"

Neco looked particularly intrigued by that idea and he waggled his eyebrows at Oa; but as delightful as trying to get a rise out of his sister was, the boy himself was suddenly a lot more pleased by the ring of security that surrounded the podium and extending area.