A... Woman Chooses, a Slave Obeys

[Arage Bao]

Life ain’t all roses and sunshine, or however the hell that particular analogy goes. Truth to be told, life ain’t fair, it ain’t even pretty most of the times. It’s usually messy, dirty and the whole road is paved by the little, sad regrets that make up our miserable lives. But… once in awhile you get an opportunity, you are able to rig the whole damn game into your own advantage, get a new chance, get a shot at cash, fame and above all power. Happened to me, I was just a little thug in the mean streets of the Coruscanti Underworld, until Jacobs picked me up.

Almost ten years later and look at me now. Political leader of one of the most powerful nations in the Galaxy, CEO of one of the most powerful Companies and I think the crowning achievement is Master of the Force. Though… Mastery is really a subjective affair, because one was never truly done learning. Especially when you are trying to impart knowledge upon your pupils, Matsu was an… eager student. Loved to learn everything I had her to teach and while doing that I found out new things about the Force myself.

So in many ways we were both learning at the same time, enough about that though. There was a point on the agenda today, a meeting of sorts. It turned out Matsu had found someone… an old friend of hers, turned slave and now turned free again by the hands of my own Apprentice. Details were pretty vague about what happened, I would have to sent in some of my own guys. Make sure there were no big problems coming up to bite me or mine in the ass.

In the meanwhile, I would have to figure out what to do with this girl. See if she had any potential, possibly turn her into some kind of asset, before she got mixed up in the wrong crew and tried to cut her hand off with a sword. That seemed to happen these days, silly kids. What ever happened to just getting wasted and wake up in a trash can? I shook my head at myself, while buzzing her in, the Secretary outside of my Office would welcome her and point her into the right direction.

[member="Kesare Salazar"]

 

[Kesare]

"Try and play nice, Ke."

The words dance around in her thoughts as she sat impatiently in some gaudy chair that definitely had to be overcompensating for something. Her leg jiggles and nails run along the seam of her pant leg, an extremely generous purchase that Matsu had insisted on purchasing her despite several protests of it being ‘too much.’ Too much, too much, it was all too much she thought while delicately lifting herself from the chair, heels echoing in the quiet room as she went to stand by the window. Hoping to clear her head she observed the constant flow of activity from stories above where everyone looked like tiny ants waiting to be crushed.

The pang was sharp and sudden, overwhelmed she took a step away from the window and glanced around the over-sized room (overcompensation was becoming a running theme) she felt an intense longing to slip away and pretend along with the rest of them, pretend like she was normal even though she no longer remembered what being normal was. Everything was still; the only sound resonating in the room came from the far corner where a young woman sat behind a desk busy in her own world. Agitated and anxious she paced along the stretch of window, her agitation quickly swallowing her anxiety the longer she was forced to wait. Who did he think he was? With eyes narrowed she had the sudden urge to storm past the woman and dramatically burst through the doors like they sometimes did in movies and demand that this man speak to her now or she was gone. She had been treated with enough disrespect to last a lifetime and she sure as hell wasn't about to let that continue now that she had her own choices to make.

“Miss. Salazar?”

It takes her a moment to realize she is being spoken to, not yet used to her new last name that she coined herself while she was with Matsu. She glances at the woman, her gaze suspicious and saying nothing as she lets an uncomfortable silence lull between them (good, let her squirm for once in her life) the woman looking mildly flustered as she clears her throat.

“Erm, yes. Mr. Ovmar will see you now.”

With her chin held just so she cuts across the room with long, purposeful strides before halting just before the door. Expectantly she looks at the woman, who looks back at her until she realizes what Kesare is silently hinting at, with a huff she pushes the door open and Kesare without even so much as a thank you she strolls in like she owns the place. “The infamous Ovmar.” She speaks in a low, sultry voice, while committing his face to memory – she supposed he could be handsome but there was an arrogant air to him that already wasn't agreeing with her.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Her tone implies that there is no pleasure at all in this little meeting, in fact to her it feels like a joke already. The office is as she expected and it takes all of her self-control to keep from rolling her eyes at the sheer size of the room let alone the excessive décor. She sits herself in a chair facing him without being offered, a razor sharp smile twisting on her lips, her voice a purr. “I’ve heard so much about you.” Lies, hardly knew anything about him, nor did she care to know anything other than what was essential, but she had promised Matsu she’d at the very least try and behave herself and for Matsu she would do anything. Still as she looked at this man she immediately knew his type and knew that she was more than suspicious of him, but for Matsu she would sit here for as long as she possibly could to hear what this man had to say before walking straight back out that door without a second thought.


[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Kesare Salazar"]

Judgement. The frown in her brows and the faint scowl decorating the corners of her mouth told me everything I had to know about the girl, behind her my secretary gave her back a showering glower which made me sigh just a tad bit. I spoke up then. “Barbara, thank you for showing Kesare in, I appreciate it a lot.” which was met with an even fainter blush, a quick nod and her leaving closing the door behind her.

In the meanwhile Kesare had decided it was time to take ownership over the room by sitting down in the chair in front of me. Honestly, it would save us both trouble by making it clear that this room wasn’t actually mine, my own room at the top of the tower was being renovated, so I lend this one from one of my partners who was on vacation. Wasn’t in the mood for explaining myself to her though, instead I settled my eyes on her and just… watched for a while.

Seconds flew by and turned into minutes, yet my gaze didn’t waver until I eventually spoke again.

“If you miss the common decency to be civil to me, then you will at least have the decency to show my staff the courtesy they deserve. They work hours upon hours, because they enjoy the work, not because they want to be disrespected by a little, uptight schutta who thinks she is owed leeway for her past. The next words out of your mouth are going to be an apology to Barbara, or I will show you why Matsu calls me her Master.”

As I spoke cold blue eyes changed color, orbs of amber with specks of crimson replaced it.

 

[Kesare]

Survival had always been essential; there was a time where she would have done anything to live. The anything danced around her thoughts like a daydream as memories flashed by of all the terrible, terrible things she’d done to make it this far. Too bad she was bone tired from pretending, exhausted from wearing a face that was not hers. Her façade was slipping and it was slipping fast, the anger within her was beginning to fester and ooze out from being bottled up for so long, it was like a poison coursing through her veins, killing every other emotion that crossed its path.

Her expression was a mask, expressing nothing as he spoke even though she could feel the hot claws digging through her flesh and threatening to scratch its way to the surface. Instead she offered him a hint of a smile, a small curl of her lips as she tilts her head and studies him for a long silent moment. An uptight schutta, now that was a first - she’d at least give him points for creativity. “I’m not apologizing to anyone, if you want me to play nice I’ll play nice Mr. Ovmar but you’ll have to force an apology out of me to receive one and then it isn’t a real apology at all.”

Her voice is crisp and unwavering as she stares at him with a cold indifference though she does not outwardly express her hostility otherwise as she finds her fingers sliding along the seam again. Did he honestly think that she would come here and subject herself to the humiliation of being ordered around by another man whose ego was already far too vast to keep in check? She’d rather be dead than grovel for another man and if he wanted to torture it out of her so be it because that was the only option she was laying down on the table for him.

“I am certain that you are powerful and you are more than capable of making me bend to your will since I was not lying when I say I’ve heard about you, but the truth is that I simply have no more room left to care.”


[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Kesare Salazar"]

Her face might have been a mask, but her emotions were clear as day to a Mentalist as myself. Boy oh boy, this girl was a bomb just waiting to explode, in a previous life I might have thought to try and reach out to her, perhaps save her in some way. Sadly for the both of us, I ain’t that guy anymore, I don’t go running around saving little wayward childs and bring them back to the warm, cozy nest that is the safety of my herd. Doesn’t mean I am some kind of Monster who enjoys suffering, just means that I… don’t really care all that much about every hurting bird on the side of the road.

Amber intensified as she spoke, it was clear as day that she was delusional. Pretending that to be civil towards your common man or woman was the same as subjecting yourself to some imagined, arbitrary punishment to keep up the status quo. Yet again I found the desire in me to explain things to her, and yet again I found that I just didn’t care enough to do so. Instead, I satisfied my urge by touching the surface of the problem, without going into the meat of things.

“You would apologize not to me, but to the woman you slighted for no other reason than childish, petty revenge, which originates from your unwillingness to simply talk to the man who teaches your friend.”

And there I went, explaining things anyway. Sometimes… I hated myself so much, the amber and obsidian in my eyes receded back into ice blue pitches, as I went on with my little talk.

“Mmmhm… you do remind me so much of myself when I was younger. So eager to prove to people that my past ain’t important and that what matters is… who I am now, yet in contrast to you I was smart enough to shut the feth up the moment a bigger fish started making waves.”

I waggled my hand a little, waving away my previous words as I finally finished.

“All irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. You don’t want to be here, and I ain’t gonna waste my time with you. You are free to go, goodbye.”

Which was followed by me starting to shift through my papers, continuing some work pertaining budgets for the next year for the Confederation. Very… interesting stuff to say the least.

 

[Kesare]

It was a wonder how many men there were out there willing to stand in line and offer her the promise of salvation, take my hand and then you can be free. Except she’d never ask for their help and never would, not when she had herself to watch her own back and knowing that freedom almost always came with a price. She didn’t need to be a Mentalist to see it in the way he looked at her, countless others had looked at her the same way in the past and she was fairly certain he wouldn’t be the last. Except she wasn’t some broken toy that needed to be put together and she sure as hell didn’t need whatever he thought he could offer her.

It takes whatever self-control she has left not to cut him off as he speaks, biting down on her tongue she is forced to remain quiet and forced to listen to whatever nonsense flows from his mouth and onto deaf ears. Didn’t he understand how little it mattered to her about this woman when she was fairly certain had already moved on from said ‘incident’ because she had more important things to worry about and by this time tomorrow wouldn’t even remember her face let alone the fact she had to lift a single hand to open a single door for her? Poor thing, what a difficult job indeed.

She nearly rolled her eyes. Nearly.

Her fingers tap against her leg impatiently, waiting for him to wrap up his little lecture and then there it is, out in the air for her to taste, how much she reminds him of himself. Her body goes stiff, any motions ceasing as she only arches a brow and lips twist into a scowl. It’s laughable to her, an offense to hear him try and compare himself to her in any way when he’s standing there all high and mighty thinking he was some hot poodoo by ordering her around with barely formed threats. “You and I are nothing alike.” She does not say it maliciously, only as fact as she tilts her head and allows her features to smooth out. Slipping out of the chair with delicate grace she wonders if Matsu will be proud that she had made it out unscathed or disappointed that she barely made it a full ten minutes. “I’m sure whether you like it or not Mr. Ovmar, we’ll be seeing each other around. Have a superb day.”

​

[member="Jared Ovmar"]​