A Little Night Music | Closed

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Natasi Fortan"]

Carach listened, brows furrow in thought, before they rose a fraction of the space.

Not enough to suggest puzzlement or surprise, but just the right height to line intrigue. It had been instinct telling him to go here tonight and nothing else, but now that the Sith Lord was here he started to question himself and this route. Was this really what he wanted after all this time?

Was it enough? Was she enough?

As he turned, saw her look to the side as she shifted her legs just so, the Sith coughed to himself.

Yes, yes she was.

He moved with her, then, walking over and standing with her. Not too close, not too far away, just the right angle to cock his head slightly and shrugging those shoulders.

"Such as?" His large hand was already resting next to her leg, leaning slightly on the table.

 

[Natasi Fortan]

She shifted slightly away from [member="Carach"], uncomfortable with the proximity, and picked up her cigarette case from the edge of her dressing table. She flipped it open and withdrew one of the slender cylinders and popped it between her lips before tucking he cigarette case away in a pocket of her dressing gown. She lifted the lighter, sparked a light, and took a slow drag, causing the tip to burn bright in the dim light. As she exhaled, the words mingled with the silvery smoke that escaped her lips in swirling tendrils.

"As a start," Natasi said coolly. "Your unyielding disdain for the nation that will be my life's work and my legacy. True, you have deigned to work with us on a commercial level, but your lack of enthusiasm -- bordering on disapproval -- had always been a concern. The nature of my position is such that I cannot afford to have questions about my associates swirling around. You've heard the phrase, the King's wife must be above reproach?" She took another drag, then waved her hand as she exhaled the smoke. "I'm the King. Everyone in my social circle is my wife -- you, more than anyone, once word got out that we were seeing each other." She looked over at him briefly, then looked down and took another drag.

"I suppose on a more personal note," she added softly, turning her body and face away now, on the pretense of fiddling with the mirrored tray of makeup and perfumes that sat next to her, on the opposite side from Carach. "It was obvious to me that a domestic life together didn't fill you with the same thrill as it did me. I got the idea that marriage -- family -- the normal things, the petty bourgeois details of petty bourgeois lives -- were somehow beneath your notice." Natasi took another drag, then pushed off the table, landing gracefully on her feet and crossing to the coffee table to pick up a crystal ashtray, in which she stubbed out the cigarette.

"You don't seem the type to walk a step behind anyone, particularly a woman of no particular ability." The Grand Moff stopped for a few moments, her dark eyes looking blankly at the ashes before she shook her head mildly. "I don't know, Darell. I just really don't know."

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Natasi Fortan"]

There was little to say to the first accusation.

It was simply true.

Carach did not have an overly high opinion of the First Order and in truth he doubted that would ever change. He could presumably create some kind of positive air around him, whenever he was in a public setting, but he would never salute like a slave to the whims of some Siegfried Ren. He had served the Dark Lord a decade ago and that had been simply because the Voss had been one of the most powerful Sith Lords of their time.

His very word shook your resolve and made your ears bleed... yet, Carach only served him, because it had benefited him in equal measures.

What benefit was there to kneel and scrap at the heels of some upstart Ren?

"The First Order has been quite successful." He responded diplomatically, before he shrugged softly. "Perhaps I can reevaluate my opinion, at least my public one, in this light."

Her second issue.... was far more difficult to handle.

Carach was power.

A single gesture of his hand and reality itself shifted to his whim. He had controlled one-fifth of the Galaxy at the height of his might and still held influence within one of the greatest shipwrights of the Galaxy. Throughout civilization he was respected, he was listened to and his opinion mattered.

Could he step aside? Could he take a step back and allow someone - even if it was Natasi - to take the reins and become the centerfold of attention in his stead?

Difficult.

"I was planning to step aside from Iron Crown in pursuit of that domestic dream." The Sith Lord reminded her gently, before frowning and looking back towards the window. He had taken that step now, Iron Crown would work with the First Order, but it wouldn't be his arm guiding it anymore.

Not publicly anyway.

"But you are right, I have become used to holding power wherever I go, so what compromise can there be?"

He was willing to listen.

That was the first step, right?

 

[Natasi Fortan]

Natasi half-turned, her eyes narrowing as she looked over her shoulder at [member="Carach"], her eyebrows furrowing quizzically for a few moments. "Rather jumping the gun, aren't you?" said the Grand Moff, her dark eyes narrowing a little. She had been speaking in the hypothetical sense; she wasn't expecting him to start talking solutions.

"I don't know what kind of compromise you might be suggesting," Natasi said quietly, turning to perch on the arm of the sofa facing the window. "I will not compromise my work or my loyalty to the First Order. It is, in a very real sense, as much my job as my child, my self. It is the most significant thing I will ever do. It is what I will be remembered for. I can't -- I won't -- put myself in a position where I am unable to do my utmost. As long as the Supreme Leader trusts my judgment and deserves my loyalty, he will have it."

She hesitated a moment and then fiddled with her lighter, flipping the lid open and lighting the flame before flipping the lid shut again. She repeated the process as she spoke. "I'm aware of your past -- your past positions and the power you are used to wielding. But Natasi Fortan is the First Order. For better or worse, I am the most public face of it -- the mother of the nation, if you can believe it. I'm not hugely fond of the attention; I'm uncomfortable with being a figurehead, but they need someone. Someone they can see, someone slightly more accessible than the Supreme Leader himself." She paused for a few long moments, considering -- not for the first time -- whether she could delegate that. She pulled another cigarette and lit it up. "I can't compromise on that, either -- it would make me less effective as a leader, and make the First Order less effective." She sparked a flame, watched it dance and flicker.

"No one can do what I can -- I can't trust them to treat this government like it must be treated. And the First Order is the only thing standing between the galaxy and the tyranny of the Galactic Alliance. We cannot be defeated. It would be future that is -- in a word -- unimaginable,"

From anyone else it might have seemed immodest. From Natasi Fortan, it was a recounting of fact -- perhaps even tinged with regret.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Natasi Fortan"]

It took a lot out of him not to snort.

Instead Carach turned and wandered back over to the window.

To say that the Alliance was a tyranny was silly - he understood it in the sense of PR, manipulate the common populace into believing the fight they were fighting was righteous. It was disturbing that Natasi seemed to genuinely think she was on the right side of history, she was not, of course. The atrocities committed by the First Order were many and that was the truth. It was not a truth that bothered Carach, because he never had considered himself a good man.

Not after causing directly and indirectly the deaths of thousands upon thousands.

But it was strange how she seemed to ignore all that the Order had done. Not that it truly mattered, after all... the nation wouldn't last, they never did.

The Alliance would fall, the Silvers would and eventually the First Order would too.

Again.

As it had in the past.

"You are not making this easy." He pointed out patiently without looking back. What was it that she expected of him? To simply bend the knee, become the little satisfied domesticated husband who was pleased enough to service her in the confines of their shared home, after she was done conquering another world?

Was that the role she saw for him? A trophy to show around and then put back into the closet once his job was done?

What compromise could there be?

Could he find himself happy with such a role? Could he survive it? Carach frowned at the mirrored look the glass gave him.

 

[Natasi Fortan]

Natasi smirked and glance to one side, her eyes half-closing. "Easy?" she echoed quietly. "I don't know about you, but no one ever told me life was going to be easy. Besides," she said, brushing her hair behind one ear and looking over at [member="Carach"]. "For one thing, I'm phenomenal. I'm beautiful and talented. I'm an extremely loyal friend, I'm very powerful, and my legs go all the way down to the floor. This is all a roundabout way of saying that a little effort -- no, a lot of effort -- is to be expected. To be required."

She paused for a moment.

"Also," she went on. "You broke into my house and assaulted my friend with your -- whatever -- magical powers, so I'm not sure I feel particularly inclined to make things easy for you at this particular moment." She took a drag from her cigarette and blew the smoke out in silvery billows. "If we're going to discuss this -- if we're going to seriously discuss it -- I'm not going to be harassed into it by you breaking into my house and surprising me in my bedroom of all places." She glanced at her wristwatch and sighed.

"Take me to breakfast in the morning. We can discuss it in the daylight -- if discuss it we will." She raised an eyebrow. "Yes? Now -- help me get Henry settled in the guest room." She gestured towards the 'fresher door.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Natasi Fortan"]

Lips curled up in a smirk.

They were fair points... on all accounts, but Carach wondered if it was enough for him.

Was there anything in the world that could move him towards relinquishing power and giving it to someone else? Maybe, possibly, but perhaps he didn't have to release all power. She wouldn't even have to know about the little webs he wove in his spare time, so he at least had something to do in the meantime.

Maybe.

"Your friend managed to get away with more than most would have in his situation." Carach pointed out gently, studying his blackened hand for a moment before shrugging. "But yes, I promised I would assist you and so that is what I will do." She would presumably bring up that the fool thought he was going to harm her, but really, if the Sith Lord had wanted to render harm upon either of them?

It would already have happened.

Especially when it only took a flick of the wrist to immobilize him completely.

"I will need a few minutes alone with him and then I will take him out to the guest room."

 

[Natasi Fortan]

Natasi narrowed her eyes at [member="Carach"]'s assessment. "You, too, managed to get away with more than most would have in this situation," Natasi replied pointedly. "My guards would have been well within their rights to arrest or shoot you on sight of you in my room," she said, putting one hand on her hip as the other went up to place the cigarette between her lips again. She took a drag, the tip glowed amber in the dim light. "But regardless, I suppose you do play by other rules."

She waved her hand towards the 'fresher door.

"Go ahead," she told him. "Just be gentle. There's no need to slam him against the ground." She paused. "Or anything else. "

She turned towards her dressing room and looked for some more suitable clothing to put on, emerging a few minutes later in slacks and a sweater, sitting on the arm of the sofa to wait for [member="Hector Finn-Camden"]'s recovery.