Adapt and Improve

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

When she got closer to him that feeling of calm would become stronger, almost overpowering. The expression on the skull remained neutral, even as Danger called his bluff. Beneath the mask he smiled, mostly because he had known that his lie wouldn't work, had known that Danger would call him on it.

He had never been a very good liar.

“I'm sure you can Miss Arceneau.” Kiran turned on his heel, walking after Danger with the sound of loud bootsteps ringing out.

That sense of calm would remain around him, and as he fell in behind Danger it would slowly come over her. A sensation that would hopefully put her at ease. Where it came from, and whether it was a conscious decision was yet to be seen.

“But wouldn't you like some company anyway?” His voice was steady, a hint of amusement. “I assure you I'm quite the personality. Very entertaining to have around.”

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

It was a yo-yo effect.

Here came the calm, then it went; like the shallow crash of the sea against a shore. A nagging voice would murmur in the distant recesses of her mind. A slight frown came to her.

However, his determination and claim towards being an entertaining companion drew her from those musing thoughts. He would keep a steady stride behind her at a well practiced distance that spoke of years of training.

Her chin rose slightly, and while the calm would quell the heartache, her focus certainly stayed put. "Commander Vess..." the slide of those kohl lined eyes would drift to glance at him over her shoulder. A seemingly coquettish expression would follow, her lips quirking in a smirk.

"Just what exactly are you propositioning?" she'd coo out with what one could imagine provocative tantalization. And while the smile would linger as Danger would pan her head back forward. While the gentle sway and roll of her hips would provide a certain amount of interesting view, to those who could read her well would know that she meant nothing by it.

It was just a distraction.

But for him or for her?

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

The skull changed again, its blue pixels shifted ever so slightly to display what could be called amusement. The sockets of the eye altered slightly, and its toothy grin shifted upward. The mask was oddly expressive in that way.

“Well certainly not a night on the town.” Kiran said abashed, as if she had insulted him somehow. “Mr. Kuhn would never forgive me for distracting you from your work.”

His hand touched his head, as if such a thing hurt his heart.

“Though then again...if you want to try, I'm sure i could be convinced to take you away.” The skull kept that look of amusement, his heavy boot steps rolling behind her, pounding against the heavy metal. It was clear that even as they walked in such a relaxed manner, bantering back and forth, Kiran was ready to kill and fight at any moment.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

"Ah, are you one of those Commander? All work and no play?" Danger would continue, making conversation. She was good at that, came on as second nature. Not to mention she was able to maintain it while multitasking. Work was work, and there was much that she had to do.

Far to many responsibilities to take care of now.

"...You know how the saying goes." she'd drawl out, her heels clipping a second faster to the heavy footfalls of the Son of Titan. Of course, he mentioned Alric. Her mind would wander. He was already on his way. How far would he have to go?

Ah, the mind was a woman's worst enemy. It had the ability to churn out what ifs and paint imagined situations where demons would wreck havoc and tear like writhing maggots into the mind.

A half amused muffled "Hmph," would come from her. "Take me away, Commander?"

"And go Ay-whal? My, you do know how to charm a girl."

Her stride was purposeful despite her feint dabble of flirtation; it was all a farce really, but come that came far too naturally over the years to simply let it go.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

“So they tell me.” The man responded with more amusement in this robotic monotone than he had any right to.

He followed her step by step, keeping that same respectful distance, but pacing behind her fast enough that she never moved any farther away from him. It showed just how good Kiran actually was, that he could move so fluidly and quickly behind a woman that was by all rights a thousand and a half times more graceful than me.

The air of calm still floated around him, and as they walked through the narrow corridors of the Wyyrlok Danger would feel it effect her more and more.

He kept speaking, knowing well that he was serving as a distraction.

“So what do you say?” That robotic bite still came to his tone. “Borleias? Naboo? Zeltros?”

The last was said with a slight inflection, almost unnoticeable. "I'm sure a woman as beautiful as you would fit in on any one of them."

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

She should have been aggravated by his audacity. She should have cut him to the quick. But she didn't. He was distracting her; amusing her. The more the distance grew between here and the Observation room, the more she felt as if she was getting her old self back.

She felt calmer and a bit more mellow. The sensation was rather troubling, considering how she'd felt earlier not a few moments before. Again a voice in the back of her mind nagged at her. It was there, just at the tip of her tongue. What was it?

"I'm sure a woman as beautiful as you would fit in on any one of them."

That caught her attention.

I doubt those people down there would enjoy seeing me, even if its alongside your pretty face.

Right. Pretty face.

"Borleias is too cliche. Naboo is too quintessential. And Zeltros..." Danger would answer him, half paying attention as they went down through the narrow corridors towards a turbolift. From there she could make her way towards the hangar and to her own ship.

"Well, what happens in Zeltros stays in Zeltros," she would quip, "And likely whatever companionship one takes there to begin with."

Yeah, that was a play in the typical atmosphere that Zeltros would send its visitors into. A love drunk heady cocktail where anything went and all that mattered was simply having a good time.

No, not her cup of tea. She ran the Guildhouse for a reason -- she left her blurry orgy Zeltron nights well behind her.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

“Not a Zeltros' kind of gal' eh?” He began to sound far too familiar, yet the confidence and the calm that came from him would make him sound endearing, playful, fun. “Can't really blame you. Place has really turned shit lately.”

He sounded like he spoke from experience. “Alright. How about something more exotic, something unique...”

Kiran began to think for a few moments, the expressive skull on his face mask shifting slightly as he tapped the bottom of his chin with the armored gauntlet. Had the safety been off he would have worried about shooting himself in the head with the armors built in wrist-slughtrower, luckily he was at least somewhat intelligent so that wasn't a concern.

Suddenly Kiran snapped his fingers.

“Got it.” Amusement played in his voice. “Hoth.”

For a moment Danger looked back at him, but before she could say anything Kiran spoke over her. “It's easy. We get ourselves to an outpost, get you a nice book, cuddle up by the fireplace, drink some nice Corellian whiskey and enjoy ourselves while the snow drifts on by.”

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

They would arrive at the Turbolift, prompting a slowing halt from the woman.

"Commander Vess, would you happen to have the heart of a romantic?" she would muse aloud with a throaty rasp, sparing him a glance with those vibrant green eyes that would seemingly appear a bit more calmer and a shade warmer than before.

It was working. Whatever he was doing, it was working at keeping her distracted and focusing her attention elsewhere.

The corner of her mouth would perk as the faint hiss of the lift doors opening would allow them entrance into the smaller contained area. She cast him an arch of her brow before stepping into the lift, making her way towards the center before turning on the pad of her heel to face the entrance. She wasn't expecting him to follow her at all.

However, if Alric put him to it -- odds were he would.

"We are already on Corellia, Commander. There is no need to go to Hoth to appreciate Whyren's finest."

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

“Well of course not.” Kiran said as he stepped into the turbolift. “We go to Hoth to appreciate each other.”

There was no hint of amusement in his tone, no sound of a joke or anything of the sort. He simply turned to her, his skull mask staring at her deadpan.

Of course that was easy to do when wearing a mask, but had he not been wearing it she would have seen an even and smooth face anyway, one that had been taught to be unreadable, to give away no lie or truth. Training would do that, and ones own racial inheritance would only extend that little gift.

“As for my heart, I'm afraid I have none my lady. Lost it somewhere on Coruscant. One really has to watch those back alleyways.” Again, deadpan.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

"Pity, Commander."

Danger would stare into that electric blue holographic image. So his heart was lost on Coruscant? She lost hers ten years ago in a grimy prison cell on Nar Shaddaa.

Or so I thought.

"Reckon there is this funny thing about lost hearts, y'know. They end up coming back when you least expect it."

The hiss of the turbolift came shut as he would step inside. That's when she felt it. The almost smothering sensation of a calm sea.

It clicked.

A thought of irritation would flare in her mind. She had a theory, but it couldn't be the use of that hoodoo they call the Force. She had set items from Miz Merrill and mental training aplenty to ensure her mind would remain her own.

This was different.

She should be irritated, but at the same time she wasn't. If her momma taught her anything was that it doesn't matter how one feels, it only matters how one looks. To keep it together even when she'd fall apart.

To cross her legs and dot her I's and never ever let anyone see her cry.

"You don't have to bother anymore." she told him frankly. He would know why. Anyone listening would likely gather it was about shadowing her.

No, her reference was distinctly made at his manipulation of her emotions. She had no inkling how he was doing it, but she was now aware of it. If anything she'd peg him down to a Falleen were it not for the lack of the thin build and height. With his humanoid physique, there were few other species she'd come in contact with that would be able to roll her emotionally so.

The GuildHouse kept close ties to the Cafarel Houses on Zeltros, so it was no great leap to that theory. Had she'd started out in a better emotional mindset, she'd have caught it faster.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

He paused for a few moments.

Of course she would eventually notice. Kiran had kind of guessed that. Danger was an intelligent woman, and she likely knew about pheromones and Zeltrons, what with her background running the companions. He had done his homework. Yet he didn't really care that she had noticed, mostly because it didn't matter.

Sure one could notice the pheromones, but that didn't make them any less effective.

It means that they would fight, but eventually natural chemical reactions would take place and Danger wouldn't really have much a choice in what happened. Such was the beauty of organic chemistry. That was especially true for their current predicament, trapped in a tight space together where Kiran had full and complete advantage.

“Don't I?” He mused out loud, that robotic voice still calling. “You humans are always so strange.”

Kiran shifted towards her slightly, the odd skull mask closing in on her face. “Never willing to accept help when it is offered, never willing to just flow, never allowing yourselves to take what is freely given.”

His head cocked to the side slightly as he inspected her.

Despite his words, Danger would begin to feel the creeping feeling of normality coming over her.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

It did.

However, normality that was pressed by force was entirely different from normality gained by free choice.

“Freely given for who's sake?” Danger would ask, annoyance curbed by that blanket of calm that would dampen her temper. She was suggesting that he was doing it for his own emotional stability, well aware how Zeltrons took to negative emotions. She may feel increasingly placated, but that didn’t mean that Vess was able to shut off her reasoning and awareness that the calm she felt was not her own -- nor of her own choosing.

His word choice confirmed his non-human origins while the subtle nuances of the soothing of her ire would tag more evidence on narrowing his species. Going with the flow, was certainly a very Zeltron like philosophy of hedonistic self serving desires and laissez faire attitudes.

The turbo lift would give a slight shift as it began its descent. Every level would bring a slight increase of the glow in the overhead lights only to dim.

That electric blue skull mask would probe at her in the same manner a scientist would study a bug. It unnerved her as much as annoyed her. She didn’t need this right now. More so because as soon as that flare of annoyance rose it was snuffed back.

It didn’t help matters that his words had struck a nerve in her already chinked armor. Normally, she wouldn’t have responded. Normally, she’d have played along and simply gone about with the usual lighthearted banter.

Normally.

Because it wasn’t a human tendency he spoke about; it was uncannily one that revolved around her.

Never willing to accept help when it is offered.

Never willing to just flow.

Never willing to allow herself to take what is freely given.

It is me. My inability to trust. To put forth faith. Always with that jaded and cynical view under the glamour of southern hospitality and throaty rasp of a whispered smile.

Words came to mind. A hard reminder.

Then there is the side she shows to me. ​

The face. The revealing side. ​

The one that shows every line, every detail, every value. ​

She showed me, Danger. ​

She showed me everything ​

and I didn't have to ask. ​

Alric’s confession rose to the fore, and while that calm would press insistently, it did not stop the sudden drift of sobering melancholy that shone briefly in her eyes.

Maybe if I did, things might have --

Her gaze fell, head swiveling to the right to stare beyond at the curved holographic panel that gave a testament to the design influences of the Killiks that made the Wyyrlok appear far more smooth.

“Is there such a thing as freely given?” she would ask quietly, the blanket of calm manipulated by the Zeltron increasing into an unnatural donning of skin.

“Doesn't everythin' come with a price?”

One she paid in full and with interest over the years well enough.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

He looked at her for a few moments.

That ever expressive skull mask, its strange sockets and its jarring teeth, the odd bone lines of its face seemed to shift slightly. Some would have said the expression was annoyance, others would have said anger, and even still others would simply have called it indifference. It was a strange thing to read, especially with it right in your face.

“You see. That. That right there.” The backed off from her, finishing his analysis. “That cynicism. That's what your problem is.”

“I'm not trying to fuck you. I'm not trying to hurt you, harm you, or get anything out of you. I felt that you were distressed, that you were upset for whatever reason. I didn't ask why, because its none of my business. Instead I gave you a way to relax, to calm yourself and try to return to normal. Yet you throw it in my face just because you can't accept that you might need help.” Kiran shrugged as though he were used to it.

Without another word he turned away from Danger and back towards the doors.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

Danger would thin her lips. It was the closest thing to recoiling from his words she would show.

... yet you throw it in my face just because you can't accept that you might need help.

A hollow smile came to her then. Hit the nail on the head. What could she say in retort then? Nothing.

Her momma told Danger before she passed that a woman is like whiskey. That she evaporates a little over time, distilled by disappointments and grief. One can never predict if the galaxy will take the best of her or the worst. Only time will tell if the woman that remains will be bitter, dispirited, or aged to perfection.

Guess she finally had her answer.

Bitter.

The turbolift would continue to descend, almost at their destination. Her lids would lift, and she would settle her attention upon Commander Vess' back.

"You're right." she found herself surprisingly admitting. That she couldn't simply just accept it. That it was difficult to.

"I can't." came her own confession, the faintest hitch in her voice. That she would reveal so much was a shock in it of itself.

But perhaps just the events of the day, were in fact, making her realize all too well her flaws. Her shoulders rose as she took a deep breath, holding it in for a moment. Then came her soft exhale.

And her apology.

"I'm sorry -- And thank you."

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

Kiran didn't respond for the longest time. He wasn't giving her the silent treatment, that would have been childish, but he didn't exactly feel like saying 'you're welcome' either. Mostly because he didn't feel any need for it.

There was no need to thank him either, he was just doing what came naturally to him.

Of course there was a certain desire within Kiran to ensure that Danger remained happy. Alric had said the woman was important to him, and Kiran knew that keeping Danger please would likely make this whole day much easier, besides, he liked the woman. She was quick of wit and not bad to look at, though that hardly mattered much.

“Perhaps in the future you'll be more receptive.” His voice was not chiding, simply a neutral tone.

From his demeanor it was easy to see that her offense, if it ever really was one to him, had already been forgotten. As the turbo-lift settled into place and the doors slid open Kiran looked at the woman expectantly.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

Neutral tone or not, it prompted a reaction from Danger.

A spare glance was given, one that said she was caught between mild amusement and disbelief. Well, if anything, he was right. He was managing on keeping her distracted from darker thoughts.

So while Vess waited expectantly, Danger went strolling on by to meet him. Her hair would bob, lips bloodred, eyes smudged in charcoal liner.

He was right.

Perhaps in the future she would be. Either way... she knew this.

"Well... they say that the decisions a woman makes make the woman." To a degree, that could partially explain why when a man looked at Danger with eyes half drawn like bedroom shades and an attitude as cool as glistaweb sheets, his thoughts immediately turned to an unmade bed.

"Only time will tell."

There it was, a lift of her chin. The woman was back. A draw back of her shoulders and that confident stride. A ghost of a smile and then a turn of her head as she would continue down the corridor. From here, it was just down to the hangar where she could go back to her ship.

The next step required a series of comm calls and various favors pulled. This wasn't going to be easy. An entire planet had merged with Corellia.

And right now, she'll be the one guiding the reins.