It's time to go. Finally. The promised renovations and restorations are done - he'd just gotten a missive from Julie - the pretty blonde - at his room in the Red Dragon Inn, along with four folders. He'd have his own legal advisor look it over, of course, but each seemed straightforward enough to him.

He grins as he looks over each in detail - which prove to be identical and, as he had noted with the first, straightforward enough - noting that Julie had been nice enough to attach to each the names he had requested to each estate, as well as a description of each location.

Dropping off the key to the pretty blonde behind the bar had been a treat, and he had answered her question honestly. Of course he's going to throw a party - it's traditional, after all, and with a house this grand, how can he not show it off"

And besides, he has a reputation to uphold.

Leaving the Inn behind, he starts a mental list of things needed for a good party. Unlike so many of the social elite back on the other side of the veil, he likes to plan his own parties...and he does his best to make sure they're not boring affairs.

And for a proper housewarming and first party, he has to make damned sure it's one to remember.

As he walks towards his new estate, he pulls out a small electronic tablet and starts typing on it, speaking at the same time.

"All right, we got d'go 'head fer de houses. Get de mess'ge off t'de movin' people an' le's get ourselves sit'ated. Did ya manage t'find a good place t'set de gate up?"

The voice that comes back to him - from the tablet, apparently - is youthful, yet sultry and seductive. "Yes, sir. I believe the most expedient place will be the building at the following coordinates, as it is the closest to being central to all your properties."

The numbers scroll across his screen, and after a moment he nods. "Dat works jus' fine fer me. Le's go get dat set up, den, get dis show on de road."

Batten Manor - lower level

It's been four days, and already it feels like home.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that he'd had this sublevel built in to match his original labs at his house back on Earth. The rest of the house isn't nearly as identical, but - just like on Earth - he's not planning on spending a whole lot of time up there anyway.

This level is access controlled, of course, and has better security even than his office labs. The work he does there will eventually see the light of day, and while the security there is still top-notch, if someone does manage to break it the consequences won't be disastrous.

But here, he keeps his private work. Projects that have seen the light of day, yes, but nothing he will ever distribute to the public.

The elevator drops him down to the lower level and he steps out of it into the cool room. Lights flicker on and holographic displays leap into being, wire frameworks in front of, next to and around numerous alcoves and work spaces. Despite having only moved in a few days ago, the room looks like it contains as many incomplete projects as it does finished products.

Walking over to his main workstation - a desk whose appearance for the time being is slightly cluttered but still somewhat neat - he drops into his seat. At the corner of his desk, another hologram flares to life, but rather than the wireframe schematics that seem to litter the room elsewhere, this one is a diminutive golden construct in the shape of a petite, curvy girl with brilliant cerulean eyes, speaking in the same youthful feminine voice that had issued from his tablet days prior.

"Good afternoon, sir."

He doesn't look in her direction as he starts looking through a couple memos that are showing on the monitor built into the desk. "Aft'rnoon, Di. How we lookin'?"

The hologram blinks once before responding. "Very well, sir. The last of the fiberop has been laid and we are networked to the offices, the condominiums and the haven. Security monitoring is available at all locations within your specifications."

He nods, deleting the memos. "Got any ideas fer de housewarmin' party?"

Her response is immediate. "Yes, sir. I've taken the liberty of putting the details into a message I am sending you now."

The monitor shows the message at the exact same moment,which he opens. Reading through it, a smile spreads across his face. "Dis is genius, Di. But ya got any idea who Ah'd talk to 'bout settin' dis...ah." The question falls short as he gets to the bottom of the message, and he grins wider and nods. "All right, den. Ah'm thinkin' Ah'll have dat set up by de end o' de week."

The holographic construct nods. "Very good, sir. And what are we working on today?"

Standing and stretching, he grins as he starts over for a nearby workbench. "We're gonna be puttin' de finishin' touches an' installin' de E.A.R.S. software into de Mark 9 t'day, Ah'm thinkin'."

With a flicker of light, the contruct disappears from the desk and pops up at the work space. "Excellent, sir. I am uploaded and ready to begin."

With a nod, he picks up his tools and approaches. "Let's get started."

She oohs, her expression covetous, and he can't help but grin, an eyebrow arching slightly. Not everyone likes fancy toys and gadgets, but those people that do he finds he can relate with, and to find a pretty girl like this one that likes toys makes it even better. Of course, what makes it really cool is that a lot of his toys he makes himself...including the tablet. "Jus' one o' mah many li'l toys. Did ya have fun wit' de adolescentes?"

She grins sheepishly back at him, an expression that takes her from pretty to nearly gorgeous. "Yeah, that wasn't my finest hour. Kinda embarrassing, actually."

He chuckles, waving it away amidst the background noise of two teenage girls having a shouting match over one getting soaked down with cider. "Ah think it could happ'n t'de best o' us, <I>chere</I>. I's easy t'say dat yer s'posed t'be de mature one an' walk 'way...act'ally doin' it ain't nearly 's'easy in practice."

She nodded, sipping her beer thoughtfully. "You're Cajun, right' Or Creole" I get them confused."

He nods, grinning as he gives her a little slaute with his own bottle . "Cajun it is, darlin'. Creoless're a bit harder t'understand, or so Ah've been told." Motioning to a seat, he gives her a wink. "Take a load off, if yer of a mind. My name's Ed Batten."

She sat, gave him a smile full of dazzlingly white teeth and confirming his suspicion that a full smile from her could get just about any man's attention, and says, "Lelah Rivka. It's nice to meet you." She pronounced it 'Lee-lah'. Then she nodded at the plethora of children at the bar. "What do you make of this?"

He glances at the bar, arching an eyebrow a little as he grins. "Well, Ah'll tell ya, Ah've seen some strange things, but dis is a li'l wild, ev'n fer me." Chuckling, he turns back to Leelah. "O'course, from what Ah've gath'red strange things're pretty comm'n 'round here."

Only to find that she's no longer there. Seems he was talking to himself for that minute. What was that he was just saying about strange things" Shrugging to himself, he drains his beer and sets the empty on the table. Standing and stretching a moment, he heads back for the bar, eyeing the dark-haired girl on it with a grin as he slips behind the counter. "Yer Gaelic is pretty good, li'l lady."

A dazzling smile appeared on her face in response. "M'better at it than English," she shrugged, trying to appear dismissive and failing miserably. Her hand shot out, offered to Edward for a shake. "M'Niamh, nice tae meet'cha."

He's about to begin his own search - for a drink rather than for cigarettes - and is distracted by that dazzling smile and an outstretched hand. The reaction is automatic, of course - reaching out, he takes that hand and bows over it a bit, a gesture that for all its casual presentation is pure Southern charm at work before he lets it go. "Ed Batten, Niamh. Pleased t'meet yer acquaintance." Catching the wink from over her shoulder by the redhead, he grins that direction. That wink is returned in perfect rogue's fashion to Lilli with a matching grin. "And yer fire-haired friend here is Lilliana, if Ah'm not much mistak'n."

At this point someone clearly feels the need to point out the obvious as he ambles up to the par, looking pointedly at him and the pair of girls on the bar. "Fifteen gets you twenty, dude."

And then throw in Niamh's contribution, which he manages to avoid blushing at by a mighty effort. "Aye, that she is. Yer sex on legs, yanno that?" Brazen girls, he likes. But no matter how emotionally mature, too young is too young.

Glancing the man's way, he just chuckles. "Ah'm not de cradle-robbin' type, mon ami. But t'anks fer de word o'caution." Niamh gets another wink and a grin as he glances at the bottles, picking out one of rum.

"Just sayin', friend." The man settles onto the barstool, his beer held between his hands. He quirked a half grin at Niamh. The look he gave Edward was a whole lot less charming or friendly.

It's the rare event that gets him to bristle, inside or out, but the look and its implication are enough to do it. Where he's from, making that kind of accusation more or less unfounded was enough to get you shot. Still, he manages to keep his tone civil. "Ya know, dat look c'n get ya in trouble. 'Specially from a man dat was raised wit' de b'lief dat a person dat takes unfair advantage of a girl is right down dere wit' whale sh*t."

"My thoughts, exactly, friend." The man takes another deep pull from the cigarette and the smoke lazily curled about his head as he exhaled. "Men that take advantage of little girls are worse than whale sh*t. And I'm sure you're so much better than whale sh*t." He smirked at both Niamh and Edward, then took another hit.

Ed grins at that, cracking the seal on his rum and pouring a glass. "Dat, mon ami, is a matter fer public opin'on t'decide. I do mah best t'maintain a level o' character dat stays over sea level." Following this is a long drink from the glass.

"Let's keep it that way, friend." From the man as he takes another drink of his beer.

Well, whatever. He can let that pass - some people just don't expect any better than a certain level and take a lot of convincing before they'll - most times grudgingly - change their opinion. And besides, what others believe about him matters about as much to him as the weather matters to a rock.

So, rather than push for a pissing match, he heads back for his table. Settling into his chair once again, he sets the bottle of rum on the table and props his boots up on the other chair once again. Stormy blue-grey eyes begin wandering the room again, his expression calm and thoughtful as he watches the others for a bit.

For a while, he's content to sit at his table and listen, and watch. It's some time later that a soft, pleasant musical chiming sounds from the flat tablet, and he touches the screen with a finger. Instantly the screen flashes to life and information begins scrolling over it, lighting up his features for a moment.

As he looks over the scrolling display, Di's voice sounds again from the tablet. "Sir, the line is configured and the assembly process is standing by. Would you like to make any modifications?" He doesn'st say anything for the moment, just starts tapping and sliding his fingers over its surface, sometimes seeming to type, others almost like he's drawing with his fingertips. The motions are fluid and sure, moving swiftly as he works. The semi-autonomous AI does precise work, but unfortunately some subtleties tend to escape her.

It's a fair length of time he's working at the tablet, but finally he straightens and nods. "Jus' like dat." He sees the AI's features pop up in the corner of the screen, looking as if she's about to interject. "No, no...jus' do it like dat and den send it over t' Performance an' Testin' and we'll do de rest in de mornin'. Ah'll be gettin' dere in a li'l bit."

Tapping the edge of the tablet to turn it off, he takes another long swallow of his rum. With a sigh and a tilt of his head, he drains his glass, then gets to his feet and heads for the door. A moment later and he's out into the night.

((Thanks to Lelah, CherubicMagic, Niamh O'Donovan, Dirk Stevens, Lucky Clover and everyone else for the play!))