Log:Living Art

Living Art

OOC Date: May 14, 2018
Location: Emeraldine Auction Hall
Participants: Usha, Hex, Kasia Ashkuri, Barquo Dentoo, Zak Kaljan, Darius Wildes, Ryo Odessa, Evie Leven, Qadira Suuryet

The Emeraldine Auction Hall is accustomed to holding ships, speeders, weaponry and other inelegant and rather brutish machinery, but tonight is a bit different. You can tell by the way the guests are finely dressed, and the fact that there are refreshments being served, that this particular auction event is of a different nature. Rather than a showroom, the hall is instead tranformed into something of an art gallery, with glass cases and enclosures setup all around. Inside each is something like a diorama, with life-like statues standing perfectly still inside a particular scenery - wilderness, city, parlour. Guests wander about the open room, stopping to look at each diorama, whispering words to each other like "Spectacular", "Impressive."

While not openly advertised, those who did hear of this event may have been attracted by the swankiness of the affair in general. Lots of very rich people gathered in one place? Who could resist? Usha couldn't. A party like this is her jam. She's dressed in her own ritzy dress, holding a glass of champagne while observing a the diorama of a little human girl statue, playing happily in a river. Frozen in mid-splash.

Did someone say inelegant and brutish?? So of course Hex is here. He is dressed up, though, and 'dressed up' for him means Twi'lek attire rather than the more usual floral duster and spacer-clothing. It's a lot of color and surprisingly expensive-looking fabric draped in ways you probably have to be Twi'lek to understand. He's also wearing the Good Arm, a green synth-flesh right arm instead of his usual metal and plasteel one. Fancy. He's still abusing the hospitality of the refreshments though; it's still Hex, here. He's regarding the human girl statue and frowning. "This is creepy," he announces to his wife. "If there wasn't free food I'd peace out. Ryma'at."

A lithe figure walks through the doors of the auction hall. Just like the usual dirty auction hall turning into a swanky event the normally dirty looking Barquo is dressed in much finer atire than he normally is. He must have finally splurged and replaced some of the clothes that he moved to Nar Shaddaa with. A white button up shirt with a mandarin collar is partially covered with an uneven cut vest which is longer on the left side. The reason becomes apparent when one can see the large DL-44 still strapped to his right hip. There is a small over the shoulder bag that holds a larger datapad at the small of his back.

The lithe slicer strides through the event raising a brow and finally he shakes his head and heads over to the refreshmen table. He reaches out and grabs a small little bite to eat. He pops it into his mouth and says under his breath "I wonder how much rutting money was dumped into this thing." he looks up at the waiter manning the table and says with a bit of surprise "That is Delicious!" Kasia Ashkuri

Kasia is here, all dressed up and looking fancy in a way that far more human than twi'lek, though the colors do go nicely with what Hex is wearing. It wouldn't do to clash. She's got a glass of something in her hand, though she's not drinking from it, or at least she hasn't yet. "How do you suppose they get the eyes to look like that?" she asks, frowning up at the statue her spouse has dubbed creepy. "I'd ask why anyone would want to, but I suspect the answer would just be something about how it's art, and everyone else around would nod like they understand." She hears the words from Barquo, glancing in his direction with an amused look. "The answer is you probably don't want to know."

That's right Hex. It is creepy. I mean look at that statue of a stately Pantoran man propped up on a pedestal, overlooking all the guests like a guard. "The answer might also be 'more money than we've ever seen'," Usha adds on to Kasia's guess and with a magenta finger taps on a part of the glass that displays the price of little river girl - easily the cost of two freight ships. "My word, I feel like I'm in a dream. Its about time they brought /real/ culture to Nar Shaddaa. I mean just look at all of us this evening! We were nothing more than a grody bunch of hooligans before. And now we look like we're part of the upper crust." Can you tell that Usha is reveling in this moment?

Weaving through the crowd is a lovely Bothan woman. The hair atop her head is bound in a very complicated coif, and the fancy bobbles hanging off updo and clothes make a bit of a jingle while she walks. "Good evening ladies, gentlmen," a warm, dignified smile greets the group. I'm Rubia Banab. I'd be happy to assist you with any purchases you are interested in making this evening. And would like to let you know there will be an auction shortly for a very special piece of work."

"Oh I could probably find out how much this rediculous affair costs to put up but I'm not sure my heart would take it" He takes a glass of some fancy bubbly drink from the table and turns around to look at Usha "I kind of like being a grungy hooligan." he grins and takes a sip of his drink as he looks at the price tag that Usha has revealed. The drink nearly comes out of his nose as he is surprised by the price. He reaches back and grabs a napkin managing to swallow and then coughing into it.

Bark shakes his head and looks at the Bothan as she addresses the crowd. His brow furrows after the announcment and then asks to the three near him "What kind of silly piece do you think she's about to show this crowd?"

Hex's lekku shift like uneasy snakes as he looks over the show, and none of the commentary from Kasia, Barquo, or Usha seems to have made him happier. "Don't worry, this will find a way to be garbage eventually," he assures the Zeltron, then turns to the Bothan, one brow lifted. "I want to touch one," he states, and then holds up a forefinger to limit possible objection. "I want to touch one, and I have more money than god, so if you want to kick up a fuss the answer isn't 'no sir you can't' it's 'that's expensive,' ok ka?"

"Yes, I often look like a hooligan," Kasia agrees with Usha, nodding solemnly, though it's all a big fat lie, she rarely looks that way. It's just that she's often seen with Hex, so it's understandable why one might think that. Her attention shifts to the Bothan, listening first, and then remarking when she's near enough to hear. "This is such a... unique exhibit. Wherever did you find the artist?" She slants a look in Hex's direction, sliding an arm around his in an effort to possibly remind him not to break anything very expensive, though she doesn't try to stop him from touching things.

"I think one of the most important ways to understand an artist intention is how a piece feels in your hands ya know?" A young-ish human male says stepping up from the crowd next to Hex and the others around him. Looking towards the Bothan, Darius gives a little smirk and then gestures. "Personally, I can't say I have ever purchased any piece I hadn't touched first. " He glances to the Twi'lek. "Or at least tossed around a bit. How else can you understand its true value and expression?"

Usha raises a brow and looks Barquo up and down, and with some thinly veiled sarcasm, she responds to the lithe gentleman, "Yes. Yes I get the sense that you do enjoy being that way." Her assumption is confirmed when Barquo almost spits up his drink. Very classy. "I suggest you not look at the price tag for the Varactyl one in the back." But the Zeltron's eyes practically light up at the baubles on Rubia the Bothan's dress. She can't help but sliiiiiipppp her hand to one gem dangling from the back and pluck it right off the creature like a expensive juicy apple. "Why does everyone wanna touch these creepy things?" she asks the group after slipping the precious stone into her pocket.

The Bothan laughs at Hex's joke of course. Because he made a joke. We all know this. Good one Hex. "I'm sorry, sirs," she smiles at both Hex and Darius. "I'm afraid that you can't since direct contact will certainly lower the value of each of the pieces you see here today." Pretty everything he hoped Rubia wouldn't say. "What patron's choose to do with the sculptures after purchase is up to them, but we do hope they will keep these beautiful scenes in place." To answer Kasia's question, "It's a community effort actually. Scientists around the galaxy wanted to preserve some of the ecology and biology from across the galaxy and - Oh! Please excuse me." And lovely lovely Rubia is summoned over to answer the questions of a very rich patron in an obnoxious turban.

The brown eyebrows furrow over Barqs eyes as the Bothan speaks and then the dark brown eyes slide over to Usha giving her a knowing little smile. At that moment it seems that something at the back of one of the displays catches Barks attention. "Yeah yeah.." he says to Usha "I'm a bad bad man." he looks up at the waiter and says as he shoves a bunch of snacks that have very few left into his mouth. "Could you go get me some more of these little things?" he asks with his mouth full

As the waiter wanders off Bark grabs a napkin and spits the food out into the napkin before glancing at Hex "Can you do me a favor and make sure that our wonderful host doesn't wander over in the next few moments?" he pulls out his datapad and his fingers start dancing over the keypad "Lets see if they were silly enough to leave any of their network unprotected."

"Kriff the police, I'll show you some direct contact, ok ka," Hex mutters at the retreating Bothan, in a tone that suggest this wouldn't be the first or last fancy party he's been removed from by security. He's shaking out his cybernetic hand and eyeing the glass protecting the art real, real speculatively. Kasia's seen that look before and she should absolutely find it worrying. Happily, Barquo distracts him, and Hex blinks. "I mean... yeah, I can, but if she comes back I'm just gonna deck her so that everybody starts screaming." And Usha can pluck more jewels off her dress! He decides, instead, to delegate, this time to Darius. Whom he hasn't met yet, but that doesn't seem to bother him. "Ay, if the host comes back, distract her. I don't think these are sculptures, I think they're people. Or were. I feel some misbehavior coming on."

Kasia definitely is worried about something, Hex is part of it, but something else has caught her attention as well. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that you're right. Do you see that?" She doesn't outright point at anything, but she tries to direct Hex's attention to something at the back of the nearest display. It's a panel with vitals on it, you know, like in a clinic. Except this definitely isn't one of those. "Either this is some intentionally disturbing art, or we've stumbled onto a glorified slave auction," she murmurs to Hex, and possibly the others if they're near enough. "Which means we need to be careful, they're probably taking security seriously." She has a small bag with her, but it's not really large enough to carry anything remotely blaster sized.

"It could enhance it, pending on who touched it." Darius says softly as the Bothan walks away and then tilts his head toward Hex. "You got it. Hopefully hopefully she finds me charmingly distracting, I know I do. " Darius says and starts to position himself in a way to intercept the host if she were to come back, while staying close to the group. Whether Darius believes there is something sly going on here or not, seemingly people being used as art, matters less to him than the fun that is about to begin.

"You're not a bad man. Just one that needs to try harder. Your tag is sticking out," Usha points at Barquo's mandarin collar. She's queen of that technique. "Slave auction, real pe-" Usha simply begins laughing as if its the most ridiculous thing she's ever heard. "I mean, its not the sickest thing I ever heard, but honestly. There are a million other places to buy slaves who will stand still indefinitely for you at a much cheaper price. Honestly, everyone needs to just calm down and enjoy themselves." Usha will stand here sitting pretty with Darius while everyone runs around in senseless panic.

An announcement is made over a speaker system in Rubia's voice. "If you will please join us at the far end of the hall, we will be holding an auction for the main piece of this event." Turning to Darius, Usha gestures to where the crowd is moving and says, "Come on, now. We might as well attend this thing."

The lithe slicer chews on the inside of his cheek as he works his brown eyes take in information at a lightning pace. After a moment or two of reading the man shakes his head and says "This is just sick." he slides the datapad back into its pouch and says quietly to the rest of the group as they walk "These are absolutely real living beings. The real weird part is that all of them have signed contracts agreeing to be set up as these pieces of art." he points to the Varactyl "Though I'm sure they don't have a contract for the beastie... it's here because people just do what they want to critters." he absent mindedly tucks in his tag of his collar "All of the doors to the exhibits are controlled by some central computer around here."

With his eyes focused on the host, Darius doesn't pick up most of what the others are doing, or at least doesn't seem concerned with any behind the scene intentions. He was asked to keep an eye on one thing and that is what he is doing. "Sure." Darius says to Usha as he flashes a smile. "I've always been good at being arm candy." Though before he starts moving in that direction he does glance back to Hex and the others gathering where they are heading off to.

Zak Kaljan slips in through the mesh doors. He's a little better dressed than he was when Kasia saw him recently -- whatever passes for 'fancy' on Nar Shaddaa is at least gestured towards, if halfheartedly at best. He stops short upon seeing the dioramas, drawing a breath upon sight of them. He doesn't belong with either group, and it seems he's a little reluctant at first to move closer to the auction displays, taking stock of what's going on before entirely committing.

A sumptuous red, velvet cloth is dropped to reveal a rather large glass case that contains one single Twi'lek woman. She is loosely wrapped in lovely gold cloth that gives her a grand, almost god-like presence. Her form is levitated in the direct middle of the case, where clouds are simulated in the vacuous space and float past her delecately, while she remains frozen. Her hand extends out toward the crowd and her face is determine, as if she were reaching for heaven. Patrons stand and stare at this lovely work of art, gasping and covering their mouths in awe. "We will begin the bidding at 200,000 credits," Rubia the Bothan calmly announces from the podium.

Arm candy he will be, Usha holds her arm out expectantly for Darius to take as they make their way through the crowd. "Exquisite," is all Usha can breath out, when the piece is revealed.

Bark stays near Kaisa raising a brow at Hex as he wanders off and he leans over a little as he says quietly "From what I can tell they've all agreed to be sold as art. I can dig a bit more but it's gonna take some doing and I'm not sure that I have the time without our hostess noticing what I'm doing." he crosses his arms over his chest a scowl covering his face as he watches the bidding begin.

Who even let Hex go off unsupervised? Why would anyone allow that? He needs an adult. Up at the little opera room mirror-windowed booth thing, the big green alien has encountered a locked door. He spends a moment regarding the keypad; he should probably summon Vraag's tame slicer or even Kasia, but then, down there below... a Twi'lek. Of course. Always gotta be a Twi'lek. He even had a comlink out to use Good Judgement and call someone stealthy, but good judgment just flies right on out the window as he says "Awwww naw," and kicks the damn door in while drawing a pistol that looks bigger than some carbines. Inside the opera room is a security guard, 2 nerds, and a lot of tech/computer looking equipment with blinky lights Hex will never understand. A central computer. "Kah'lehalle so fendoon, you godless spitlickers," he greets, though that Ryl greeting sounds pretty sarcastic. "Shut your throats and start waking up the art, or die ugly. Nice show, though. Good appetizers."

It's a Twi'lek, of course it's a Twi'lek. Kasia doesn't hide the grimace, because she's really not going to need to now. "Dig if you can, or grab what you can so you can dig through it later," she advises the slicer beside her. "In fact, grab fast, because I think this is going to get ugly." Because though she can't SEE Hex, she knows him well enough to know how well the current piece of art up for bid will be recieved by him. "Also if you have a weapon, be ready to get it out." She steps away and heads in the direction she saw Hex go in, toward that kicked in door and those possibly already dead nerds.

Darius takes Usha's arm, and moves with her. Then when the Twi'lek woman is revealed, Darius bites his bottom lip a tad and tsks. "Disgustingly so." He says in a lower voice to the Zeltron's comment. Everyone is allowed to have fun and games, but as Darius really takes in the situation his expression fade and his fingers gently unhook the strap to the holster on his right hip. That is when he notices Hex moving up to the balcony, a loud bang, and then his yelling. "Your friend seems to be justifiably angry." Darius slowly slides his pistol out of the holster. "He may need someone to watch his back." Darius Wildes slides his Modified DL-30 - 11407 out of its holster, bringing the weapon to bear.

"It's the Moff's daughter!" Zak's all in then, strolling towards Kasia and Barquo, having been lingering nearest that pair. From the sound of his voice, that first statement must have been a joke. He glances between the rich woman and the slicer, all smiles on the outside, even if the expression doesn't reach his eyes. "Need help?" His gaze cuts towards Usha and Darius, and he adds easily, while Kasia drifts away, "I mean, if you're doing what I think you're doing." Has he read the situation correctly? There's a flicker of uncertainty at those last words, the smile ebbing a bit, but at least there haven't been any blaster rounds fired. Yet. Just banging and yelling, which always bodes well.

"I see 200. Do I hear 210? I see 210, do I hear 220?" Rubia leads the auction along. However, she pauses a split second after the BANG that comes from the mirrored opera box. Its loud enough to be heard, but not loud enough to be too suspicious. And being a professional, Rubia smooths it over like butter so that most of the crowd doesn't pay any more mind to it. "Do I hear 230?"

In the auction crowd, Usha keeps her arm candy Darius close and scolds both he and Zak in a whisper, "Put that thing away. Stop overreacting you two." Bad advice from the Zeltron, because a nearby security guard receives a message through his earpiece and is headed in their direction. Placing a hand on Usha's shoulder, the guard firmly tries to usher them out of the crowd. "Sirs, Ma'am, please come with me."

Bark takes a deep breath and shakes his head as he follows Kaisa at least far enough so he isn't in the middle of the crowd before he takes out his datapad again and starts sifting through data. He looks up to see Usha being contacted by security. "Oh this is going to get rediculous pretty quick thats for sure." His blaster hasn't left it's holster but he knows his limitations with the weapon and isn't worried about drawing his protection just yet. He's primarily focused on getting any and all infromation he can.

Hex should have expected he'd get shot, because he walked in the room with a DL-54 shaped name tag that says Hello My Name is Security Threat. Nonetheless, it seems to surprise him when the security guard within the mirrored control room actually does shoot him; he's nailed solidly in the left shoulder. "Really? REALLY?" he demands of the guard, raises the hand cannon, and there's a second shot. Rubia the Bothan auctioneer is going to have a little more smoothing over to do. That guard is most likely a mess now, RIP, and Hex turns to the nerds, impatient. "You know how hard it is to get blood out of silk? My wife is gonna be so mad. Ryma'at. Now are you gonna WAKE up the ART," he says again, "Or am I gonna have to repeat myself?"

If Kasia were less practiced at this she might be yelling for Hex now, but they've been through this a lot in their past, so after the shots, she just listens and exhales with relief as she hears Hex and his outrage. "Ka're, are you badly hurt?" she asks, trying to climb the stairs or whatever it is that will get her into the security booth, glancing back to see if Barquo is still with her. "Whatever he's told you to do," this is to the nerds. "I suggest that you all do it right now, because if you don't, it won't end well for any of you." Then, more quietly, "I'm going to put out a call and have some speeders brought over in case we need to transport anyone." Like expensive works of art.

"It's in the nature of a scoundrel to overreact darling." Darius says with a wide grin and levels his blaster at the security guard's face. "Sorry, looks like there is about to be some trouble and I know what side of It I wanna fall on. Plus, I'm also suppose to cause a distraction." Darius remarks to Usha and then raises his voice to the crowd. "Sorry! Big time art critic here, and these pieces? They just clash too much with my sense of morality. Looks like it is time to clear it out folks and if you hear an angry green Twi'lek yelling, do as he says!"

Zak Kaljan looks over at the security guard blankly, spreading his hands in a gesture of innocence. As you do. At the same time, he's scanning the hall for any checkpoints, any mercenaries beyond the one he's got a bead on, any points where this might turn ugly -- uglier. "Nothing to worry about, folks. Just a little civic disturbance. Listen to 'em," he assures the crowd calmly, trying to smooth out progress for the others. It's a blatant, bantha-pudu lie, but confidently told, and it might very well slow the response of the guard in the crowd if the blaster doesn't do the job, or keep him from picking up on the others' actions quite so quickly.

An auction is a great place to steal from people. Whether it's rifling through their bags, picking their pockets, or going for the long con of banging an old lady; Ryo is /here/ /for/ /it/. The caramel-skinned man was innocently digging through a distracted lady's purse (Kasia's) when people started getting shot. "Oh noooo," he feigns sympathy, doing his best to keep up with the woman. Thing is, he gets run into by a panicked crowd-member and gets shoved straight into Lady Ashkuri, hand still in her bag.

These poor nerds. Just doing their nerd jobs and nerding out. They look at each other nerd frightfully with their arms up in the air when they find themselves under the threat of Hex and Kasia. Despite shivering in their boots, Nerd 1 commands Nerd 2, "Don't. Don't you dare. What they do to you will be FAR WORSE than what these bozos will do to us." So they stand there before Kasia, Hex, and Barquo defiantly refusing to do as they are told.

In the crowd, Rubia the Bothan stops short when what sounds like a blaster shot comes from the Opera booth, followed immediately by Darius' loud mouth. "E-excuse me?" she asks from the podium. The glittery rich folks in the crowd grow a bit restless. The security guard looks unamused at Darius and is about to ready his blaster right back when Zak chimes in. Look at this guy. He's so unimpressive. Let's all listen to him. And that's the story of how Zak descalated the situation.

It's a shame that he did so well, because Usha escalates it right back up again. Even she knows when a situation has gone far too sour. Pull out her gun, she points it right at the guard. To Zak and Darius she says, "I hope you two know how to run." Pop! The trigger is pulled.

Bark blinks at the shenanigans happening in the crowd and says "Well this went sideways in all the possible ways I can think of." he has been scanning information as it has been quickly downloading onto his datapad. He runs up the stairs and says "So despite the way this situation is going I have a bigger problem to present to you. If we free these people their families are going to suffer. We're going to have to do some quick thinking to keep retaliation from coming down on their families heads." He looks at the Nerds who are standing up and says "Oh get out of the way." he sits down at a computer and starts working his magic. "We're going to need to run out of here as quickly as we can after I'm done here."

Nerd 1 surprises a laugh out of Hex. "Really? You sure about that? Real sure? Don't mistake me for a good person," he warns. "I just hate art." The DL-54 raises up again, this time brought to bear on Nerd 1 while Hex turns his attention to Nerd 2. "He know how to do anything you don't know how to do?" he asks conversationally, though the clear implication is I ONLY NEED ONE NERD OK KA. Then there's Barquo running up the stairs with Complications and Actual Facts, both of which Hex hates. He twitches his lekku in agitation, weapon still on the nerds. "Seriously? How many families? ...What level of suffering exactly?" Hex redeems himself from clearly contemplating a certain amount of suffering being worth this by adding, "There's a kid down there!" and then, "Kriff it. We're waking them up. We'll get the families out of wherever afterwards. I've done stupider things." Much belatedly, he spots a familiar face creepin around his wife, and blinks. "Ryo?" Blink. "Are you here to watch us kill people? That's weird, but whatever you're into, man."

Sorry Ryo, there isn't a lot in that purse. There's a small datapad type device, some lipstick, a little mirror, a little tin of candy, and some fungus flavored lozenges. You're welcome to take those, but you'll have to deal with Hex. Kasia didn't notice the hand in her bag, things had gotten hectic, and she got careless, thankfully all the valuable things like credits are safely stored in her bra. That doesn't stop her from making a sound of protest as a surprise figure runs right into her, half turning to look at the man, then down at the hand, then back up at the Ryo again. Her own hand lifts to try and smack him right in the face. "Stop it, what are you doing? We're a litttle busy here-- you know, trying to do something good!" Just ignore that whole nerd shooting part, ok.

There was a moment of pause, Darius eyes watching the itch of the security guard but then noticing the atmosphere start to deescalate he frowns. Another pause and then he watches a blaster bolt fly wide of the guard as Usha takes a shot and then starts to move. That settled it for him. Firing off two blasts at the guard, Darius then starts to head towards the balcony but then slams into one of the service staff sending a plate of food flying into the air. "Damn, hate to waste good grub." He cups his mouth calling to Hex and the group. "Whatever you guys are doing up there, you better do it fast!"

"Your funeral," Zak drawls to Usha as she raises the blaster at the security guard. She doesn't need to say the word to clear out -- he's out, milling through the crowd. But he doesn't leave yet. He's back near the entrance where he lingered before, watching the crowd and the mirrored booth, trying to do his best to provide what sort of escape route he can, and keeping an eye out for any incoming security guards from the outside of the auction hall as well. And he attracts no notice. So there's that! However many people and art installations will be trying to make their way out, they've got a watcher at the door to assure them as safe an exit as they actually want.

Situation NOT completely under control: Hex, Kasia, and Barquo (player idle) in the mirrored control box, with two nerd computer guys and a dead guard. Usha and Darius firing on a second security guard in the crowd. The crowd was under control, but that control is no doubt breaking with, you know, blaster fire and such. There's a rich people's auction for 'living art' installations, creepy dioramas of all sorts of people and creatures frozen under glass.

Kadi is oblivious to any such auction or any such trouble. There is however a sudden but not entirely unexpected thunderstorm outside, so Kadi ducks into the auction hall as a usually safe spot to wait out the rain. It is right? Was that a blaster - shot? It's safe. Right? Uhm - wait. That WAS a blaster bolt! "This may have been a mistake," Kadi says. Lily blurpbleeps an agreement, and then Kadi ducks behind the nice security droid, still at least out of the rain, and hopefully nowhere near the blaster bolts being fired in there.

Nerd 2 is definitely break MUCH easier than Nerd 1 and stutters out. "I-I know how to...I-I know it." And immediately hunches over to wake up the live models in their cases. In utter desperation, Nerd 1 screams "NOOOO!" And attempts to wrestle him to the ground. But luckily Nerd 1 manages to push the big red "disable" button just before he gets ripped away from the computer. The live models in their cases awaken. The little human girl bursts into tears. The Pantoran man snaps out of it and begins to panic. The Varactyl is awake and ANGRY. And the Twi'lek who was the main event? She no longer hovers in her case, but falls down, a pile of gold cloth.

Usha on the other hand is giving Darius some cover to run. She puts a clean shot through the Security Guard's head, and her eyes immediately widen as she looks at her blaster. "Well damn...," The Zelt gives it a swift peck and starts escaping through the way that Zak has paved for the crowd, which is in chaos due to the shooting.

There's certain things you expect to hear on Nar Shaddaa. People arguing? Sure. People trying to sell you something? Of course. What sounded very suspiciously like blaster fire coming from inside an auction house and possibly people flooding out into the street? Well... that's not really par for the course in Evie's book. Especially when it's multiple shots. Probably different weapons, if she had to guess. Which means a live demonstration of wares being sold? Probably out of the question. Maybe a couple of moments behind Kadi and her army of droids, the pilot-who's-not-dressed-like-one spins her way into the fray with her first priority being to try and find some cover so she can figure out just what's going on here. A desk, a pillar, a handy wall, anything will do.

...of course, said pregnant woman -- and one Evie recognizes at that -- gets an odd look. "I think you picked the wrong door. Safey McSafehouse is probably two doors down."

Hex could have, you know, NOT shot the argumentative nerd. But he's not that way. "Why you gotta be like that?" he asks as the Nerd tries to keep the other Nerd from assisting, and then shoots! "Let them go. Let them all out of the glass," he instructs the nerd he didn't shoot, "And then come with us if you're scared, we're gonna make a mess and get gone. Let them all out!" A pause, then, "Actually wait, leave the Varactyl where it is ok ka. But the rest of them!" Once it looks like that's underway, he steps out and yells at their accomplices, "Grab them and let's go, we're getting out of here! We got speeders on the way!" He turns to Kasia the speeder-summoner, and smiles, "You know what, I owe you an apology. I was wrong. Going to the fancy art sale was actually a great time." He tries to pat her ass left handed, but his arm's messed up from the wound, so it's just kind of a sad "Heh heh aaaah OUCH," and then Hex beats feet down the stairs to go help with getting those "art pieces" out of the hall.

Kasia could have asked Hex to not shoot the nerd, but really, if you don't support their spouse and their strange hobbies, your relationship could get rocky. So murder it is. "This really isn't how I thought it would go," she admits to Hex, giving one last look to the not-shot nerd. "Do as he says, and if you need help after, I'm sure you'll know where you can find us." With that she turns to head out of the booth as well with the intent of assisting the pieces of art out of their display cases, if they're opened, and out to speeders that should be waiting outside. Ryo will get an enbow out of the way if he's still there, the filthy purse fondler.

Darius has a bit of sympathy for the security guard that gets a bolt through his head, but just a bit. This is Hutt Space, the Outer Rim, you work the wrong job there is an understanding you can get shot. As the chaos continues to unfold, Darius sees these art pieces be 'freed' and before he knows it he is kneeling near the crying child. "I can't take away your tears, but I can get you out of here. How about that?" His voice is soft and he gently moves to scoop up the kid. He heard Hex talk about speeders and figured in for a penny in for a pound. "Look we are gonna go for a real fun ride on a speeder and get away from all these nerds." After which he quickly tries to make his way out of the auction hall and to a get away speeder with these new found 'friends'.

Zak Kaljan is doing his best to provide an exit to whoever's making their way out. But then there are people making their way /in/, and he grimaces. "Get the frag out of the way!" he tells them sharply, making a 'move' motion as the rescuers and previous installations start to make their way outward. And, if Evie and Qadira don't actually take his word for it, they might well regret it in the rush.

Kadi has to laugh as she hears Evie, even with whatever this mess is. "You got that right," she admits. "I would turn and leave - " whoosh, was that Hex runnign by? "-But I am afraid of stray blaster bolts and getting shot in the back." She stares though, as more people come pelting out, a few she even recognizes. "Good grief, it seems this is definitely not the place to be, doesn't it? At least not today!" And then "Kasia?!" That is not said so loud as to be heard everywhere, though possibly Kasia can hear her on her way by. Maybe Evie too. "No, I must be mistaken," Kadi follows up with, sure that wonderful lady wouldn't be caught up in this mess.

There's a look given by Evie over towards Zak, who's clearly trying to keep the situation under control... though to what end is debatable. "I can handle myself, chum. Worry about the ones who need help!" she insists to the man -- it's the same thing she's going to do at the moment. Sure, there's guards being shot at... but what if those are criminals /dressed/ as guards? It's enough of a wonder to make that blaster stay in her holster, rather than her hand. Kadi gets another look -- and a sympathetic one. "If you want to make a run for it, I'll cover your escape, promise." the Kuati offers, nodding once to the blaster at her hip. If nothing else, she can shoot at anyone who shoots her /first./

Bark has been focused on pulling information out of the central computer watching with consternation as the two nerds fight each other. As the last of the information is downloaded he says "Lets get the frak outta here." he unplugs his datapad and follows Kasia and Hex with all due haste.

Emeraldine Auction Hall is a mess. Rich people are pouring out of the doors while various people are helping the models out to into escape speeders. Some guards have teamed up to find a way to tame the angry Varactyl before it kills everyone around it. And as for the organizers? A speeder up top is the first to take off at max speed into the distance.