Adapt and Improve

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

He nodded to her.

That was the only response that she received, a nod of his head. The smug smile on his face had drifted away from him, his expression growing somewhat solemn and more serious. There was concern on the lines of his face, though not for Danger.

They were friends, good friends. They had known one another for years now, long enough to know that the other could handle this sort of business without a problem, long enough to know that Danger had not needed that warning, and long enough for Danger to know that something was seriously wrong with Alric. Or at the very least, off.

He wasn't acting like himself.

Sure he had been just a few moment ago. The confident cocky grin, the smile on his face, the attitude and biting retorts to Danger to get a rise out of her, something that he could achieve quite easily now. Yet his face had changed, and his demeanor had something laying beneath it, something that Danger would undoubtedly notice. His bright blue eyes cast towards her for a moment, as if he was trying to see if she could read his thoughts.

It was those thoughts that consumed him, emotions and feelings that he had no words for, ones that confused and confounded him.

His head swiveled away from her and the smile suddenly crossed his face again, though it didn't touch his eyes. “One last warning Miss Arceneau. Remember above all else, Sith like getting their way.”

Perhaps that was more for him, than her.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

The soft click of the platinum cigarillo case closing shut resonated in the wake of his warning. But that wasn't for her. No.

That was for something else.

The devil was in his smirk but it wasn't in his eyes. He couldn't even hold her gaze. Something was wrong.

"That they do." she would voice quietly. Her mind would race, green eyes narrowing to peruse every virile inch of his profile, from his glossy black hair curling down over his collar, to the way his swarthy jaw would tense.

Something had happened judging from that fleeting expression, and she could tell. Where normally he would have a blatant expression of amusement and devilry in his eyes, there was a subtle confounded confusion. An expression she had not seen since he was in the throes of Aspha hallucinations, asking her if the hallucinations of Fiona and Violet were real.

The tightening in her heart grew.

A feint smile went slipping upon her lips, "Mistah Serin, I realize time is of the essence. So in order to ensure that everything flows seamlessly, I beg a favor for your escort planetside." it was a request yes, but she really didn't need him to come with her.

This was to get him and her alone.

"We can pour over the minutia of the plan for Corellia's rebuilding in the comfort of my ship."

She knew at the very least, that her vessel was secure and not to mention, seeing an Arceneau Trade ship enter atmosphere would be a bit more well received than a Titan one for now.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

He let out a sigh. “Danger.”

The tone of his voice was a more serious one that before, less bracing, but also less confrontational/ He sounded more like he was simply talking rather than playing a game to agitate and annoy her.

“I'm not leaving this ship.” Not until I see her. He thought only a second after speaking. “I doubt those people down there would enjoy seeing me, even if its alongside your pretty face.”

The backhanded complement would likely do very little to soothe Danger, or to stop her from asking questions. Alric was already well aware that she could tell something was wrong, the way she positioned and the sound of her voice had denoted that much. They knew each other far too well to hide much of anything. A bi-product of time spent together and high intelligence. “If you have something to ask, you can do it here. This ship is about as secure as my apartment, part of the Titan Industries Corporate fleet.”

He waved a hand, as if that were to denote the fact that the ship was completely safe.

Alric had been told [member="Silara"] would be arriving, told that she would come. That made the unshakable urge to stay put grow inside of him in a near instant, neither the force, or Danger Arceneau, could change that.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

He was right; it did very little to soothe her. Instead, it would irk her.

That temper of hers. He always had a way of being able to get a rise out of her since they first met years ago. A knack few ever had the luxury of being successful with.

With the knowledge that no other eyes or ears were around, Danger's body language completely changed. Her hip went cocking to the right, and the rush of frustration and annoyance would wash over her face. Gone was the Trade Queen; in her place was Dangeruese. Yet riding the coattails of her irritation, true worry and concern for the arrogant ass of a man she considered a close confidant and friend glittered in the depths of her green eyes.

"You can be a real ass, at times Alric." his name would drop from her mouth with a thicker drawl; emotion was showing through. Her fingers would shove the cigarillo in between her lips. Despite his backhanded compliment, Danger noticed a new expression on his face. Oh yes -- she noticed.

"What's going on?" she would ask bluntly. "You're lookin' like the Wound done got jerked from under you and are freefallin to your death."

A search for a lighter would come next. Feth she needed a smoke.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

He stopped for a moment. He stopped everything. Thinking. Breathing, any conscious process that he could halt suddenly came to a complete stop. His head swiveled towards her, slowly turning until his eyes were locked onto her own. There was no pain in his gaze, no hurt or depression, instead what she would find was deep confusion.

“I...” Alric stopped before he even started.

His head shook from side to side.

How was he supposed to go about this? How did anyone actually go about this?

Alric wasn't entirely sure what he was going to say, what he really wanted to say. “There's...There's a woman.”

She would know that part already, he had told her that much already.

“She is...different.” He looked her in the eyes. She had to know that he was neither ashamed, nor trying to hurt her, simply speaking his mind and looking to his friend for council. “When I'm with her...I'm satisfied. I'm happy. I don't think about the game.”

She would know what the game was as well. “I'm simply content.”

There was more, so much more than that, but Alric was a guarded person. It was almost like he was now testing the waters with her, ensuring that he didn't sound ridiculous or pathetic. It was a rare vulnerable moment for the Titan, a rare look into what lay beneath.

Of course, he had chosen a moment that wasn't all that practical. Thousands were suffering on the planet below and there was real work to be done now, but it seemed he didn't actually care all that much at the moment. Perhaps Corellia would have to wait.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

The flare of her lighter would come to a halt a hairsbreadth from the tip of her vice.

Danger froze.

Her stomach sank. Silence descended. Slow, cold, heavy as snow. Pregnant -- was a word one would use. Expectant, full, with something living and turning, gestating, in that dark smoky womb.

It was a bitter taste of the past.

Flame would kiss tobacco and her cheeks would sink in as she took a slow deep drag, the tip flaring a bright cherry red amidst the glow of the lighter. Spicy white smoke would flow into her mouth, down her throat and into her lungs. There, the narcotic would pump into her veins, steeling her nerves and giving her a measure of intestinal fortitude she had an inkling she would need that night and many more to come.

The snap of the platinum lighter would cast her face in shadows anew. She held her breath, letting the smoke linger, simply watching Alric as he would stare at her with those lost little boy eyes. Eyes that would silently beg for council, for clarity, for a measure of guidance.

Gone was that familiar image of cocksure assurance.

He had her undivided attention now, his last words sinking in. Danger was a woman of experience; of love gained and love lost. Of bitter betrayals and infatuated woes.

The hairs in the back of her neck would rise in a dawning awareness and sinking foreshadowing.

You got some hell of a timing, Kuhn, she'd muse to herself.

A practice made perfect in her years as the Trade Queen would set a relaxed expression over her own face. There were some aspects of a woman one would never dare reveal; this was a moment where every bit of her skill would come into play - the best Sabbac face she could fix for a man seeking her counsel for one specific role.

A friend.

After a moment, a stream of blue white smoke would come flowing from her mouth, two fingers jerking the narcotic from her lips.

A second later, Danger would drape herself upon the couch again, this time across from him, half on her side. Her probing gaze would critically survey Alric's face, his body language, his manner. If there anything Danger knew, it was to read a man. In this instance, it was Alric Kuhn -- a man whose body she could blindly map out like the back of her hand.

Finally she spoke.

"Tell me about her." she would ask in conversation, her tone seemingly neutral but curious, gesturing for him to continue. It was as much of a test of theory as it was a method of observing behavior.

The Guildhouse for the Companions taught methods to read and determine the true wants and desires of their clients, much akin to what Lorrdian Kinetic Communication would do. Danger was no stranger to such training, ensuring that the Companions would be in every manner a counselor as they would be an escort, lover, and intellectual peer.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

He paused for a moment.

Perhaps if he had not been so caught up in his own little world, in his own little thoughts, he would have noticed Danger switch gears. He frowned for a second, trying to find the right words. His eyes followed her, but it was easy to see that he wasn't actually looking at her, more that he was seeing past her, to something else. His frown placed lines on his face, lines of stress that peeled across his forehead and his cheeks. Perhaps had he been a better friend, he would have noticed her reaction.

How did people do this?

It had been hard enough to write his thoughts on a note, to deliberately hand it to Silara and see her reaction. Yet that had been different, that had been...easier. It hadn't been this. It hadn't been him not understanding. Alric already knew he was infatuated with Silara, he knew he cared for her, but this? This was entirely different.

“She's...” How to describe her? “She is a Sabacc card.”

The analogy would sound confusing for a few moments, but he would shake his head and clarify. “She has two sides. One...i suppose she shows to the world. It reveals nothing save for a single iconic image. An image that can be seen and shown to anyone and everyone, one that everyone accepts and comes to terms with.”

He paused again for a few moments, realizing that this may not be the best analogy.

“Then there is the side she shows to me.” His hands began to fidget with one another, something that Danger had only seen once before all those years ago. “The face. The revealing side. The one that shows every line, every detail, every value.”

Alric looked away from Danger for a few moments, turning his head towards the viewport and then back to her. “She showed me, Danger.”

“She showed me everything...” Blue eyes were hidden as he closed his head. “...And I didn't even ask.”

She would know. She would know what that meant to him.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

Danger did.

She knew that too well. As much as she knew Alric. She knew his scent. She knew the sound of his breath. She knew the way the air felt when she was near him. She knew his flaws and she saw his shortcomings. She's seen him at his worst and she's seen him at his best. The handsome bastard. The Devil playing the game.

The one who would never cross the line. No commitments. No strings attached. No words of love.

Her hand rose back to her lips, bringing the narcotic to take another deep draw. The pink tip of her tongue would dart out to sweep across the fullness of her lower lip, smoke curling in a slow swirl towards the ceiling. A slow lonely rise that would fade into nothingness.

How apt.

A picture was starting to form; the pieces of the puzzle slowly coming together. It was there, painted across his expression, in the struggle of his words, in the manner by which he would fidget his hands as if lost. Unsure.

But it was in his eyes.

It was there in his eyes. They betrayed him. Spoke of a truth. One he had not yet come to his own terms with. It was then that she understood. The comprehension, and then the subtle tightening of her lips he would not pick up.

After all, she'd been here before, walked down that same path. Understood all too clearly what he meant. She almost couldn't help but bit back a small laugh at the irony. Tried and true. Saffron would play on the mention of Sabaac, the use of the deck for her cartomancy likely producing an apt card for the current situation.

Question being, was this woman a Commander of Staves? The Satellite? Or the Wheel?

For there in Alric's eyes, love and fear collided in a gut twisting phenomenon she never in a million years would have believed could have afflicted Alric Kuhn for a woman.

Her attention would fall to her cigarillo, watching the embers curl back into ash. She gave off a seemingly neutral appearance of contemplation, mulling over his words. She would be there for him.

I have to be.

Finally, she took a breath, having collected her thoughts. "Does she incite an addiction and want in you? " This time measuring the words carefully, shielding the pang of self consciousness and for a moment, fearing the response he would give."Do you know her strengths, flaws, shortcomings and cherish how she is pieced together to make her exactly who she is?"

"Does she feel like your future? As if you've known her forever, but yet you haven't?" There was a reasoning to her questions. A purpose. As much of a bitter familiarity as it was a necessity.

"That she gives you everything you need, but yet you still come back again, and again?"

She looked up at him then, even though she knew it would be almost unbearable to face the blue of his eyes. The answers that lay therein. She knew what she would not see there.

And she didn’t.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

There wasn't a sound.

Not a grunt.

Not a cough.

Not even a whisper.

For the longest Alric tried to find the words to answer her, for the longest time he tried to search his own head, and then heart, for the answer. They were all there, the answer to every single question that she had asked. Yet part of him didn't want to find them, part of him knew what it would mean, part of him recoiled and snaked away from it, not wanting anything to do with that sort of thing.

He stalled.

His eyes moved away from hers, dashing around the room, searching for something in the silence. For a brief moment they locked on Corellia, then they shifted to the Shipyards, then they shifted to the doors. Quick flicks of his pupils, moving from place to place, to anywhere but Dangers eyes.

He knew that if he met them, he would have to answer.

Alric tried to look for an excuse to suddenly leave.

Perhaps Darth Arcanix would call back, or Lord Reverance would step in the door. Maybe Rebecca would call and tell him Astraeus was being seized by the Republic Government for cooperation with the Sith. He would have greatly enjoyed all of these excuses, for they would have meant an end to this line of questioning, and an end to the self reflection that was currently going on in his head.

For a brief moment he considered simply getting up and leaving the room.

But in the end, he knew he had to tell her.

He knew the answers.

When he thought of her face. When he thought of her touch upon his cheek, her lips against his own, the pressing of her body against his, the siren song that she sang to him. All of the answers came to him, and they could be summed up in a single word.

“Yes.”

He finally breathed.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

Danger felt hot.

The barest of whispers; practically uttered with almost no inflection whatsoever.

She saw how his expression had changed, the emotions that would war within; fear and panic, confusion and awareness, fright and then acceptance.

It changed -- just enough and with just enough acceptance that she knew he knew what the answer really was. Danger saw the exact moment he realized it. The moment.. the moment that could quite possibly ruin him occurred that split second later, when Danger saw his eyes glaze away in remembrance a split second later, after the rush of panic and the struggle to get away and avoid was overcome.

Like she knew before, it was his eyes. It had always been his eyes. Alric was just too stupid to realize it.

Just like that, the corner of her mouth would seemingly perk in mild amusement. Her lashes fell and she brought the cigarillo back to take another long draw. What minor tremble hidden in years of keeping her bearing in check.

"Then it is quite simple really, Alric." she would inform him, her husky voice pouring over him with a measure of seemingly amused comfort. A conversation held in confidence with a dear friend. As if the answer was quite simple; and it was.

Painfully so.

"You're in love with her."

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

He immediately jumped up from the couch.

“Hey!” He called. “Wowowowowowow. Stop. No. Nope.”

He rushed over towards the door, as if he was trying to leave and run away from the word 'love'. He stopped himself of course, realizing that that instinct was rather silly, and turned back to regard Danger for a moment. He opened his mouth, raised his index finger, then closed his mouth and let his hand drop.

He looked perturbed for a few seconds, gaze shifting towards Corellia.

“Who said anything about love?” There was a slight hint to his voice that told he already knew it was true, that he had known all along, but that he still refused to admit it. She had said it to him before. She had told him, but he had never told her. The truth was, he had likely loved her since the first time she had given herself to him.

Since that first day.

It took him this long to realize it, it took Danger Arceneau throwing it in his face to make him know it. His gaze shifted, his eyes falling to his feet, almost as if he were ashamed of his own actions, of the fact that he had not seen it before.

“Did I?” He was like a small boy, asking after an obvious fact.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

There came the roll of her eyes, followed by an expression that would relay he was being overly dramatic. This she could handle better, this she could work with.

Certainly better than the nagging voice in the rear of her mind that would bitterly remind her of what a familiar path this was. A cheeky smirk would be cast over at his direction.

"Don't be an idiot, Alric. You are better than that." she told him bluntly, perhaps one of the few in the galaxy who would be able to get away with talking to him like that.

She knew he knew. She saw how his body coiled and his breath ceased altogether prior to jumping to his feet. How then his fingers tightened, and his eyes—they widened even more.

Feth, I need a drink.

"Yes. You did. Not aloud, but if you're acting like a twitterpated fool, " she cast him a seemingly humorous perk of her brows.

"--You're in love." she would drift her gaze back to her cigarillo. Her stomach churned and she felt sick. With a half chuckle, she would come to her feet, fingers flicking the end of her vice to scatter ashes away from the couch.

"And you're in deep." came a soft shrug of her shoulder, starting a slow swaying canter away from Alric towards the viewport, Corellia and her salvaged shipyards in the distance.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

What was he to say?

She was right. Whats more he knew that she was right. It had been down in the deepest pits of his stomach since the beginning, contained within a well and hidden away because of his own childishness, because he hadn't been man enough to admit his own feelings to the woman he loved.

Alric looked towards where Danger was standing, then slowly followed after her, stepping in front of the viewport and looking out at Corellia

For a brief moment he banged his head against the view port, exasperation falling from him with a deep breath.

“You're right.” He said in that same still tone, his eyes casting down from Corellia onto his shoes. “Feth.”

The curse passed his lips. “But you're right.”

What was he going to do now?

The answer to that was simple. He was going to find Silara, grab her, kiss her, and then say those three little words that she had likely been aching to hear from him. Would it solve everything? Would it make the galaxy spin around and give Silara back perfect health?

No.

But it would make her happy, and it would make him happy.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

Danger's profile would be presented to Alric; the seemingly proud, confident, and powerful business woman that Alric Kuhn had so abruptly and maddingly somehow managed to tame into a friend.

The curl of smoke would continue to rise from her cigarillo, some of it catching in her eyes. Her excuse for why they stung. Had to be.

With the faintest of smiles, her expression would soften, turning slightly to watch Alric slam his head against the glassteel.

Fool. What a bloody fool.

Ah but was that towards him or herself? No, she would push that to the back of her mind. There was no reason to go there. Not now.

Slowly, she drew closer to the man, and in a whisper akin to the way a child would murmur a secret to another, Danger would tell him this.

"This is the part where you rush to tell her, Alric." she told him with a soft and affectionate warmth in her voice.

"Leave Corellia to me." she gestured to the planet and the shipyards. "I can handle negotiations, the minutia of the details with the Corellians, and the One Sith alone for a day."

She pressed a soft kiss on his cheek then, pulling back a second later to gently wipe the smear of red left on his skin until any trace of her was no longer there.

Fitting, no?

"Go." she commanded.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

He stared at her for a few moments, just looked at her.

What was he going to say? No? That was unlikely. That was impossible. She was right again. She had told him exactly what to do, and he knew that she was right. He smiled at her, the first genuine smile that had come to his face since before Corellia. All of the stress, all of the worry, all of the emotion that had been clotted within his throat came loose.

“Thank you.” He whispered, slipping an arm around her and giving her a light squeeze.

Before she could hold him, before she could answer, Alric turned and ran.

Like an excited child, like a little boy who had a mission, Alric began to spring through his ship.

He knocked aside officers, ensigns, Sons of Titan, and even a few droids, his heavy footsteps clattering against the metallic floor, his suit jacket flying against the wind, and his tie throwing over his shoulder. He got about halfway to the hangar when he realized that he was aboard his own ship and that he could have just ordered it to go to Silara, but that didn't really matter.

He was going to find [member="Silara"], and finally tell her what he should have long ago.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

He left like a bat out of the Void.

"Good luck," Danger would murmur, but her words would fall on deaf ears. He was gone.

Quietly, the Trade Queen would watch the doors of the Observation room hiss shut, leaving her alone with her thoughts and a half of a cigarillo for company.

Her vision began to blur. Why did it always happen like this? Every single time?

The pang in her heart grew, that sick twisted turmoil boiling in the pit of her belly. Here, with none the wiser, with Alric gone and her free and able to drop the facade of amused cordiality, Danger was able to express what she had hidden from view.

Her head would swivel back towards the viewport, catching her muted reflection against the glass. She saw a woman, one who had men at her beck and call, by all means one that the 'verse would consider to be beautiful, rich, and have all that she could ever desire.

All but one thing.

The woman there stared back at her with eyes that were well aware where she stood. Where she would always be.

Ever since [member="Noxu Za'tire"] stepped into her life and brought it crashing down around her.

A flick of her thumb sent more ashes scattering, the knot in her throat making it difficult to swallow. Trembling fingers would bring the vice back to her lips. She took a deep drag, but found no comfort in the narcotic.

It didn't matter. Never did.

In the end, the choice was never for her.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

It was a few minutes later, while Danger was still observing Corellia through the viewport that the door to the observation deck opened once again. The quiet hissing sound of the metal falling away and into the walls.

Beyond the doors stood a figure that some might have considered terrifying.

It was a man, but he wore thick armor that accented muscles and overlapped his back and chest in thick plates. His head was covered with a helmet, the face mask displaying the image of a blue, extremely life like, skull. He carried no visible weapons save for a single WESTAR-34 that was strapped in a long holster to his thigh. On his lower back was a small blade.

All in all the man looked like what he was, a soldier.

The odd skull like mask shifted as he saw Danger, the skull changing slightly, expressing what some would call curiosity.

The man began to walk towards Danger slowly, deliberate heavy boot steps that carried him towards the Trade Queen, the skull upon his face looking towards her. His voice rang out, sounding only robotic from behind the mask. “Miss Arceneau.”

His tone was respectful, and as he came to a halt before her he gave a short bow.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

The sound of heavy footsteps would be her warning. A reminder that she wasn't at home nor in a place where she could be left well enough alone. It wasn't Alric, certainly wasn't that assistant of his.

This was someone new.

A stream of white smoke would billow from the corner of her mouth, her vision clearer now than it was before. A last glance at her reflection upon the glasteel viewport would remind her that she had a distinct role to play. A parting ironic smirk would twist her lips, reminding herself that there was plenty of work that still had to be done.

Business that she could lose herself in.

Here came the Trade Queen, her shoulders would roll back and her body sank into this nonchalant pose. The mask was in place anew. At the call of her name, Danger would swivel her head, fingers holding the roach of a cigarillo close to her mouth -- only to pause in mild subtle shock.

What in the bloody blazes was that?

The blue holographic image over the visor was an all too realistic skull. It perturbed her. Her brows drew together in mild distaste at the eerie visual. This had to be a new Titan Design. Certainly not the typical Yuuzhan Vong tech, but definitely the most eerie.

Alric, you do have an eerie sense of design Kuhn, she'd muse.

At the very least, it was enough to allow her to focus beyond the heartbreak she felt. Her mouth would close over the vice, and she took one last drag, an eyebrow arching up at the solider.

"Aye?" she would ask, smoke flowing from her mouth with her honeyed drawl. "How might I be of service?"

The way she painted the question would make anyone wonder what she exactly meant by that. A play in words, but really more of an act to remind herself where her center should be.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

As she turned to him and fully observed him Danger would notice a strange sense of calm about him, a delightful air of stillness that seemed like everything would be alright.

“My name Is Kiran Vess, Commander of the Sons of Titan.” The man spoke, knowing full well that Danger likely had no idea who the Sons were or what they did, though from his demeanor, armor, and general attitude it was easy to see that they were some sort of military outfit, and from their name it was rather simple to tell who they worked for.

She was a rather intelligent woman after all.

“Mr. Kuhn has graciously allowed me to ask if I may shadow you for the rest of the day.” The skull changed slightly, its face shifting. “I have great interest in the world of businesses, and knowing your expertise in it he felt it fitting that I might ask you. Perhaps he also thought you could use the company.”

That was about as blatant a lie as physically possible.

Kiran had obviously been sent by Alric to watch over Danger and protect her in case she went planetside.

The feeling of calm would radiate from the man, and behind the skull like mask his lips turned up into a smile.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

There was this bit of fuzzy feeling she'd feel. It was familiar as it was strange; yet she certainly began to feel a bit more held together. She couldn't quiet peg it, but it was his blatant lie that made her push past that initial sense of disturbance.

The eyebrow would arch higher, the corner of her mouth twisting into a wider smirk. She gave a slow shake of her head.

"Commander Vess," she spoke his name slowly, as if tasting the rank and surname on her tongue. Measuring its worth. Sons of Titan, was it? Her attention would drift from the top of his visor, over the heavy armored plates, to the top of his boots. Once she was done with her appraisal, she brought her gaze back up to meet the holographic sockets of his eyes.

Slowly she would turn to face him completely, taking slow measured steps as she made her way towards him.

"You're a terrible liar." Danger told him flatly, amusement flashing over her face that did not reach her eyes. She was an intelligent woman, she knew what this was. Oh, the Commander of the Sons of Titan could very well shadow her, but it wasn't to keep her company or due to any interest in her trade.

"I can take care of myself, Commander." she'd tell him, sauntering on past him in a soft glide of high heels.