milliways_bar | (no subject)

A man in a gray suit approaches. "Master Dooku." He nods to the young man he's never quite met (though they've come close). "You must be Bonzo Madrid."

Bonzo glances at Dooku, who tips his head slightly. "I am." Pause, with an extended handshake. "I don't believe I've met you..."

The man takes the offered hand. "I'm Michael Donighal. I'm a friend of Master Kenobi's, and an acquaintance of Master Dooku. They empowered me to negotiate with Achilles Flandres on their behalf."

Bonzo looks slightly surprised, but...two and two now equal four, shall we say.

Dooku chimes in now. "How did those negotiations go, may I ask?"

"I was wondering that myself," says Obi-Wan as he makes his way over. "Good evening, Dr Donighal." He bows to the Jedi and the um-Jedi. "Master Dooku. Bohn-So."

"It went," Michael says a little crisply. "We didn't actually come to blows."

"No progress then, I take it?" Dooku is...well, he's not pleased, but knowing Achilles, it's not Donighal's fault. "Did you make any progress with him?"

Bonzo sighs, and a quick glance from Dooku gets him breathing slowly, eyes closed, so he doesn't get agitated.

"Not of a useful sort. I didn't even find out whether Miss Arkanian be dead or alive. I informed him that if he doesn't bring her back here, in one state or the other, to let young Señor Madrid say a proper farewell, things will get ugly. 'Then things will get ugly,' he said, and we left it at that. For now."

About halfway through the proceedings, Obi-Wan went into a meditative state. Dooku may, if he "listens" carefully, overhear his thoughts: ...no emotion; there is peace. There is no ignorance...

Dooku catches that Obi-Wan is meditating on the Jedi Code as he "listens" to each of the three present.

Calm...calm...there is no emotion; there is peace... Bonzo has also slipped into meditating mode, which is pretty much all he can do not to jump up and want to go after Achilles. ...and why can't Achilles ever make anything easy for us? Needless to say, he needs a lot more practice at remaining focused on one topic.

Michael's thoughts are somewhat staticky to the Force-sensitives, but they involve large amounts of blood and fire. Also image-morphs of Achilles growing up into Palpatine.

Obi-Wan picks up on these, and on Bonzo's tensions, and his meditation is going south in a hurry. There is no chaos. There is kriffing harmony.

And this would be about the moment that Dooku decides that it's time to chime in...since nobody's meditation is going well. "Bonzo, what would you do about this situation?" Test time!

Bonzo snaps from the meditation when he realizes he's being addressed. "Uh..." Well, I'd like to...uh... And quickly, he forces a few choice preferences aside, working to come up with an answer.

Michael opens his mouth to offer suggestions*, but Obi-Wan puts a hand on his sleeve and sends the thought If he'd meant you to answer, he would have asked you.

* Mostly involving tests of Achilles' threshold of pain vs. his willingness to offer information on Petra's whereaabouts and vital status.

Dooku quietly awaits an answer from Bonzo.

Bonzo fumbles for a moment while coming up with his response. "If we can't talk to him reasonably..." A sigh. "Do we have any option but to negotiate more aggressively if we're not going to give up? I don't think a mind trick will work here." The feeling is resigned at that. "Is there any way to force open his door without having to injure him? The only reason I...killed him when I went in with Petra was because there was no way to apprehend him." Pause. "And I'm certain he's broken at least one of the Bar's rules."

The boy is definitely fumbling through this, but he's at least bringing some ideas onto the table. Dooku does look satisfied that Bonzo is working arounf the general idea of 'shoot the bastard'.

After a brief Permission to speak? look at Obi-Wan, Michael nods. "He certainly seems to have greatly misunderstood the rule against outside business. When I called him on having broken it by bringing his war here, his idea of a clever reply was to say that, since he'd taken Miss Arkanian out of the bar to kill her, it didn't count." A sigh. "There's no 'if' about it, Bonzo m'lad; we can't talk reasonably to anyone at that much of an angle to reality."

"We still have only his word for it that she's already dead," Obi-Wan points out, "although I must confess, I don't trust him to resist his urges for any great length of time. But if we can't make Ah-Sheel see reason, perhaps we can do a deal with Boba Fett?"

Bonzo takes a deep breath. "Fett is just waiting for the chance to haul me in for a bounty...somewhere."

Dooku nods in agreement. "Bonzo mentioned this to me when he first came from being released. Fett...is rather troublesome. He has a history with me that I cannot fully appreciate, having not lived it." Pause. "Bonzo is far more vulnerable to Fett than I am, for...obvious reasons. I've been shadowing him when we weren't together for this reason...among others."

That last comment gets a sigh from Bonzo. He knew about it, but it didn't make it too much less frustrating.

"He's not Bound any more, then?" Obi-Wan asks. "Or does he mean to do as he did last time, and hold you captive until his door returns? That could be awkward, considering whence it opened."

"Carkoon?" Michael asks. When Obi-Wan nods in reply, the red-haired man sighs. "Yes, 'awkward' is a good word for it. Possible even more awkward than Tyrannus' history with him, I'd imagine."

"Tyrannus?" Bonzo says that with a momentary look of confusion, not immediately recognizing the name, and then facepalms when he finally does. "Sorry." Pause. "If Fett was unbound, I think he'd have just taken me then. He's probably waiting to come unbound before...uh...calling me in as he leaves."

Dooku shoots a little look at Michael. "I am not now, have never been, nor do I ever intend to become a Sith Lord by that or any other name." Let's say that he does a pretty decent job of disguising his frustration at that title cropping up again. "And the fact that Fett hasn't moved tells me that he is unbound. There's no reason that he would wait to bring Bonzo in if he had the choice unless he wanted to bait me." Pause. "And his past experience in here with the Jedi should make him wary of that."

Dooku may hide his frustration at the mention of his averted future self, but Michael looks suitably abashed nonetheless. "I know he's not you, Master Dooku; that's why I spoke of him in the third person. Sorry for not being clearer about that; my brain works much more efficiently than others', and sometimes I forget to unpack my thoughts before I articulate them."

Obi-Wan barely acknowledges this. "Perhaps whoever speaks to Fett can mention that past experience, along with the fact that he's currently aiding and abetting a violation of the rule against outside business."

"If it's going to be me," Michael points out, "I'll need to know what his past experience was."

"Among other things, he challenged Mace Windu to a duel, obviously fought outside. Mace won, and even managed to refrain from harming Fett too badly."

Michael whistles. "Yes, that should induce caution indeed."

"It's alright, Michael." The comment is both reserved and understanding; he's just uncomfortable at unpleasant reminders.

Bonzo looks up. "Uh...I think Mace killed his father."

Dooku sighs. "That would do it, if I know anything about the Mandalorians." Pause. "And they all have a tendency to dislike the Jedi." There's a bit of a 'sorry-for-getting-you-into-this-little-fight' look tossed to Bonzo.

Bonzo takes a deep breath. "I'm...willing to take on Achilles if someone can back me up." Translation: Somebody keep a lightsaber handy if he tries have me killed.

"He did indeed," Obi-Wan confirms re: the death of Jango Fett. "Though, as you point out, Mandos don't exactly get on with Jedi anyway." He turns to Bonzo. "I can back you up, but I'm still debating whether I ought."

"If you won't, I will," Michael volunteers. "In fact, I think I will even if you will. Something tells me Achilles won't respond to any force that's not clearly overwhelming."

Dooku glances between Obi-Wan and Michael. "Master Kenobi..." Pause. "...I understand your concerns, but I do not believe you to be nearly as brash now as you once were. Michael, your help would be welcome...and I tend to agree with your analysis of what Achilles will and will not respond to."

Bonzo looks slightly nervous again at Obi-Wan mentioning his concerns. "Michael..." Pause. "This may sound crazy, but..." Deep breath. "...would you feel comfortable stopping me if I lose my temper in there?"

To be fair, the kid is just scared stiff about coming close to that point again, and everybody should be sensing his apprehension to some degree or another...it's probably audible in his voice.

"I appreciate your words, Master," says Obi-Wan. "I'll keep them in mind if it comes to a confrontation; that should make it easier for me to be worthy of them."

"And I thank you for the invitation," Michael adds, "and accept it with pleasure." He turns to Bonzo. "And I accept your invitation as well. Having recovered the ability to be scared of myself, I'm happy to help those who share it."

Bonzo looks between the two older men and Michael. "Thank you...Master Kenobi, Michael." And he takes a deep breath. "I'll approach Achilles with you backing me up, then?" Pause. "How do I contact you wh...if I need help?"

Dooku glances over at the Bar. "I can obtain a communicator for you to signal us with from the Bar." He takes his off his belt and shows it to Bonzo. "You can talk into it, but activating it will be an easy enough signal if things go south..." Pause. "...or if Fett shows up."

"Assuming there's a difference between those two results," Michael remarks dryly.

"Be nice," Obi-Wan mutters.

Dooku rolls his eyes. "I suspect they can go sour without Fett coming into the equation. Achilles did...well enough once before without his help." And that will not be happening again. Understood?

Bonzo nods as that message is put into his mind...rather firmly. Consider it the mental equivalent of a lecture. Understood. Bonzo figures if Dooku can jam it in like Corran did before, he can pick up a few thoughts as well. He also looks down at the floor...Achilles previous 'accomplishments' are a source of very deep embarassment (if not outright shame) for him.

Obi-Wan overhears the mental byplay between Dooku and Bohn-So, but opts to stay out of it. He only nods sadly to the verbal component. "Let's all keep an eye out for him, shall we?"

"Agreed," Michael nods back.

"Then it sounds like we are agreed." At least from what he can tell, they are.

He steps quickly over to the Bar and obtains the communicator (at a not insignificant cost, but nothing too bad). He's back in a moment, and Bonzo accepts the communicator from him... "Thank you, Master."

"I'd say we are. Kenobi?"

Obi-Wan nods. "It seems that way to me."

"Then I guess we should go our several ways for now," Michael allows as. "If I don't see you around, I hope to see you asquare." He gets up and waves to them all.