Theta's Most Expensive Dinner Party

A) More girls than you'd probably expect show up. If Theta actually does a hard count, it's 728 precisely, including all those girls at the palace. You pull some long-ass shifts to treat them all, but at last you manage it. And in better news, it seems they're more than willing to go and look for the other girls that didn't get the memo. This means you'll need a fair bit of housing but Mikoto doesn't seem too worried. It's mostly food and water she's concerned about. Given the nature of the emergency, she and the Rooks pitch in to help provide the place with plenty of food and basic amenities.

B) Ayane is more than complacent - Millie is actively agitating and seems to be getting upset with her former boss. Millies' guard seem to just be baffled by everything but they behave.

C) So many damn student applications, you don't even KNOW.

GUEST LIST

All of the heroes that are still around definitely show up. Zidane and Garnet pop in, not in regal attire but still fairly formal out of respect for the event, and Steiner and General Beatrix trail behind. Amarant looks absolutely goofy in a suit and Lani is with him in a dress. They've got their two kids with them as well, unable to find a baby-sitter but with a few glares from mom and pop, they seem to be startlingly well-behaved. Quina shows up solo, cheerful as always and not in a damn bit of formal attire. Freya and Sir Fratley arrive with Puck and a Burmecian official, Senator Aeneas. Aeneas arrives with a dragon knight serving as his bodyguard - a familiar Ricard Highwind. Freya keeps meeting your gaze at times - it seems she'd like to discuss things after all of this is over. Eiko is in her little regent heiress gown, arriving with Cid, Madeen (who has kept her moogle form), Fenrir (He's the size of a cute doggy) and Natalie. A blonde, robed man arrives, carrying with himself an aquamarine that appears to have Leviathan's visage in it. The man himself seems somewhat world-weary, and if pressed, introduces himself as Bahamut.

You get a rather large reception of minor nobles as well, from the lesser known Gammon family, Dom Ino, and lady Sho Gi. Queen Stella shows up as well, helped by her assistant. Mikoto arrives in formal attire as well, with Natalie and Marco Rook. Finally, Lord Knight does indeed show up, with his second wife, Lady Jennifer Knight. http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/300/d/d/lysandre_by_detectiveanonymous-d6s1ux6.jpg

Zephyr shows up with a practical herd of elves - many of which are shamans, though others not. It seems clear that he wants to use this opportunity to show the elves' support in your endeavors and become relevant in the political world rather quickly. He's wearing sparkling emerald robes that surprisingly don't show off his rock-hard abs, as well as a thin circlet.

Vivi's kids also show as well, each happy to see you! In their company is Father David, the high priest of the dwarves. At the last minute, before you kick things off, Renegade quietly slips in by himself, his sudden interest in these affairs unclear.

There is indeed quite a buzz among the guests who aren't in the know about the situation as everyone gets in and gets seated. The tables look somewhat like this:

Table 1: Zidane, Garnet, Steiner, Beatrix, Eiko, Nat, Madeen, Fenrir, Quina (and possibly Ammy too)
Table 2: Amarant, Lani (and kids), Freya, Fratley, Puck, Aeneas, Ricard, T-69, T-33
Table 3: Zephyr, Katriene, Medly, Sorbet, assorted other elves, Renegade, Forafa, Cid
Table 4: Bebe, Lulu, Lolo, Quan, Veve, Xixi, Father David, Bahamut, Elizabeth
Table 5: Mikoto, Adenine, Tina, Queen Stella, the Rooks, more elves, Walt
Table 6: the Gammons (party of 4), Mr. Ino, Lady Gi, Lord and Lady Knight

Most of these affiliations are probably expected enough - though the two girls at Amarant's table seem to be chatting up a storm with the rest. Cid and Zephyr seem to get along incredibly - the two sharing stories and laughing rather loudly at each other's exploits. Katriene seems to be flirting with Renegade for some reason, leaving him utterly baffled, and Forafa is just hanging out near her boss, quietly talking with Lani. Bahamut seems engaged in conversation with the black mages, Liz is catching up with Bebe, and Mikoto seems to be seated at a table with friends and elves only because there wasn't enough room at Table 4. She's leaning over her chair in a bit of a non-noble fashion, talking to people at other tables. Queen Stella seems delighted by all of the proceedings, if a bit oblivious to what's actually going on - and seems friendly enough with Adenine, Luna, Savannah, and Vivian (the latter three are volunteering). The table where all the nobles are piled up are just quietly talking amongst themselves, not entirely sure what to make of everything. Knight is staring at his daughter, which she's pointedly ignoring.

That said, things do quieten down soon enough - the weirdness and significance of seeing all the girls on their tour not lost on anyone. Everyone quietens up when you begin to speak and go through your speech. There is some confusion to when you announce 'Elekin' but some nodding from Mikoto's table. There's a bit of murmuring between each other over at Knight's table. You get Eden introduced and she gives a little bit of a speech in before you introduce Ambrosia as well. Ambrosia, who was also volunteering, forgot to change out of her waitress outfit before addressing everyone, but she doesn't seem to care. She speaks at length on the Manikins, explaining it all in terms the audience present would understand, that they too were artificial beings from another world - though many of her people have been asleep for a long time, separated by Bahamut until now. The robed man is quiet, just listening to her speak. You find Ambrosia is a lot more eloquent than she's really shown lately - she speaks about how soon, her own people will integrate into Gaia as well. She talks about the Garden of Eden, and how Theta has founded it and what it represents - growth, prosperity, new beginnings. She says that all of this will be both a new beginning for Treno, for her people, and for Theta's, and that she's grateful for what he's done. She looks forward to the blooms that will flower out of the Garden.

THIRDLY, the impromptu court. Millie seems outraged when you bring up the claims, but Ayane is quiet, even with the eyes of the entire room on her. Essentially everyone who wasn't in the know is shocked when you bring up exactly what the girls are and the circumstances of their creation. Before you ask Cid's opinion however, it's Knight that speaks up first.

"On the count of attacking Regent Cid of Lindblum alone, this woman should be put to death. Offering any other sort of sentencing would be foolhardy. You would be setting yourself, your entire race, and the greater world at large up to be burned again by her machinations if you settled for anything less. You cannot seriously consider the idea that she would reform?" The Burmecian senator seems to echo Knight's concerns. "This was massively irresponsible. If things had just ended up a slightly bit different we may have had a second Mage War on our hands. Out of respect of Lord Puck's wishes, as well as the efforts of Madam King and yourself there will likely be no outrage over the sudden creation of these girls as long as peaceful interactions are maintained, but allowing this woman leniency seems absurd."

Zidane speaks up next. "Hold on, everyone. Theta's right. ...I did think Kuja deserved a chance at redemption in the end, though I know a lot of people present here today would disagree. Redemption for crimes like this is an incredibly rare thing, not meant for everyone - but if she really wishes to make up for her mistakes then I agree she should be given the chance. Kuja spent his last days working to undo his mistakes, even if he didn't succeed in the end. What's important is that he tried."

Mikoto seems ready to speak up as well, but Cid raises a hand. "A moment. I have been in contact with Theta and his friends for quite some time regarding the matters of Ayane and her misconduct. If the time has come for sentencing, then the law is clear - She must be either imprisoned in a Lindblum-owned institution, executed, or given to her nation of origin. It is also to my attention that Black Mage Village, while an unaffiliated city, is not a nation unto itself. The population and significance hasn't allowed for it." he muses. "But the current events have changed that a bit, haven't they? In light of that, Lindblum wishes to recognize the Elekin and Manikin together as a new sovereign nation."

Mikoto blinks. "That.. well that's a little unexpected, but that'd certainly give us a little more political clout..." she has somewhat mixed feelings - it doesn't appear this was something she was considering just yet. It's clear Cid is suggesting this to pass off Ayane to you all without outright having to rewrite some laws in Lindblum, but this is a pretty big step!

Garnet speaks up as well. "Alexandria will recognize this nation as well, members willing."

The senator furrows his brow, clearly confused at all of this. "The Burmecian senate will congregate to discuss this matter, but not oppose."

Cid nods and looks at Theta. "In that case, I sentence Ayane and her conspirators to be dealt with by her people in whatever manner they see fit." There's a bit of murmuring all around - mixed feelings all about the room. Mikoto leans over her chair and whispers to Cid, "We're going to have to talk about this later - I don't know if we're ready for this kind of thing yet." Cid just nods and seems to reassure her about something.

----

Assuming you don't have much to say on that little bit yourself, you explain your plans for Ayane, and Millie almost blows a gasket. Ayane actually... smiles? When you bring up what she'll be doing. Millie turns a deep shade of red when you talk about her punishment too. You reiterate what Eden is, both a weapon and an institution of learning, and that the town and everywhere else is safe as long as she's on the case. You give your word Ayane and Millie won't leave the King Estate. There's several bits of murmuring, but in the end even Lord Knight doesn't object.

After that whole bit, it's time for Mikoto to talk about the race's survival bit... hoo boy. She works up her nerves, breathing in and out and gritting her teeth before standing up and addressing everyone.

"In light of what you've all learned here tonight, I have something I would like to speak on. My name is Mikoto King, as many of you know, and some of you probably do not. My brother is Zidane, king of Alexandria, and I'm current acting mayor of Black Mage Village. The issue I'm speaking to you all today of, happens to be the longevity of the Elekin. Ten years ago, Zidane rescued our people from Terra, but with scarce a hundred to our name, the act of rebuilding ourselves was a problem always on our mind. Today, however, we have... an odd solution of sorts, now that our numbers have exploded. It's not a perfect one, thanks to how reckless Ayane was, but it will have to do.

Essentially, we have a ratio of one man to every twenty ladies. We're already dealing with our share of problems just adapting to the sudden creation of a thousand new lives, and so bringing in a thousand more males just as suddenly would neither be ethically, or politcally conscionable. Therefore it has been decided that our society will allow and in fact encourage polyamory. Polygyny to more specific, but I wouldn't care to be too discriminatory. Unless we can figure out a way to have children with the other races of Gaia, this is going to have to be the way our people survive. I encourage you all to keep an open mind when it comes to this."

Mikoto seems to be turning more and more red. "So, as it stands, virile young men are our people's most precious resource at the moment. This is likely to have a large impact on our cultural and social development as a people. And given our ties to Alexandria, it stands to reason we may eventually adopt older Alexandrian customs, such as having a standing force of only females, until our population is stably growing. No one will be -forced- to take part in any of this, mind you, but any young Elekin man should heavily consider starting families with at least two to three women, and possibly up to ten-to-fifteen."

Garnet is giving Zidane a LOOK right now that could melt ice. Zidane seems to be going 'whoawhoawhoa don't look at me' about this whole thing, not really having any sort of clue on it. Most of the mage girls, aside from Adenine, seem fine with it, and Addy looks more contemplative than really pissed. Knight is just giving Elizabeth a bewildered look, and she is still ignoring his gaze. There's a number of murmuring in the audience, and the general consensus seems to be along the lines of "Well that's weird but I guess that makes sense, and they're free to conduct themselves how they like". Not even the Burmecians make a fuss about it. Zephyr and other elves who understand English are mostly baffled this is even an issue.

Mikoto waits until everyone is done talking with each other, and says, "Thank you for your understanding. I think that's all I have to say on the subject for now, so I'll give Theta the floor back." She hurries back to her seat, trying not to look anyone in the eye.