How Could I Know You Better?

[Ariadne Van'Shelaq]

The girl's accusation brought a momentary pause to Ariadne's thought process, the sheer gall the princess had to even consider yelping out wild proclamations stirring the woman's muted frustration even further. She could hear her captive's heartbeat, the feeble rise and fall of that fluttery little organ pumping as much royal blood into her skinny veins as she swelled up whatever po-faced courage she had left. It would have been amusing if the princess wasn't such an overt nuisance to begin with, perhaps even endearing if the context allowed it. But for now, Xasuri's missing royal was little more than a stone in the heel of Ariadne's boot, an annoyance that would be remedied if the right pressure was applied.

Alas, being the oh-so gracious captor that she was, Ariadne allowed the blonde pup of a woman to throw up any and all arguments to save her case. The animated cavalcade of emotions that blossomed across her recently acquired prisoner's face was quite the thrilling spectacle, in that it reminded the young woman of a republic cruiser crashing and burning. First there was the embers of rage and panic, then the paranoia settled in to fuel the bubbling angst before it all sparked into a wild concoction of babbling bargaining and pitiful platitudes.

Ariadne missed none of it, blankly observing the princess' rambling attempts at appealing to her good nature. Such a naive thing she was. The fleeting look of panic directed at the holomentary was the cream on top of the petty tantrum, the little clue that raised a finely shaped eyebrow.

So this really was Xasuri's princess, Elleryn Lameniel. It took a great deal of humility to inwardly admit that it was the the documentary that confirmed the Baroness' suspicions. So the special guest of tonight's episode was this thing?

What a farce.

Leaning inwards, Ariadne remained silent for a moment, inhaling slowly before a slender manicured nail deftly struck the garish blotch on the princess' ankle. The wound was still swollen and even the slightest pinprick would surely be enough to distress her royal highness.

"No." She uttered flatly, the twitch of a lip betraying the satisfied smile that pleaded to dance across her satisfied mouth. It almost felt good to put such a brat in her place, but then again anything remotely enjoyable would feel good after such a failure of a business venture that was her dealing with Dalen. That fool really did hope to burden her with this mouthy creature, if Elleryn didn't pose the prospect of wealth then those trembling pink lips would have surely been sealed before she woke up.

With her hand still firmly placed on the girl's ankle, Ariadne spared the princess several seconds of burning silence before plucking the dainty chin upwards and leering into her bog blue eyes.

"Absolute torture, oh I agree." The woman sniffed, not even bothered to veil her sarcasm. "Listen, because I will only say this once. You are a transaction, a thing, you don't have rights anymore and the moment that old fool tossed you into my lap he stripped away any last chance of you going back to your big and shiny castle to play with your little friends and their ugly drawings." There was a brief pause, the dark haired female ensuring she'd locked gazes with her prey. "You should thank your gods that it was me you were given to." Ariadne uttered, the threatening sliver of truth chilling the air around them before she finally relinquished the barely clothed girl's chin.

Hopefully that would be enough to shut her up.

[member="Elleryn"]

 

[Elleryn]

The woman touched her ankle.

It still hurt.

She winced at the pain and her first thought immediately went to that egg-faced droid who, she assumed, was in charge of making sure her body was better. The stitches near her shoulder was proof of that, however, the awful pain in her swelling ankle was proof that the robot wasn’t very competent. Perhaps he should be fired, discarded, reprogrammed. Whatever it was that people did to droids.

She resisted the urge to cross her arms over her chest as the woman picked her porcelain face up with her awful badly manicured fingers. Why, she doubted this woman was ever exposed to the wonderful treatments Elleryn had. She narrowed her eyes, as though to say “I’m not scared of you.” Which was obviously a front.

Elleryn was very much scared.

For the fiery woman was unlike any other person that she had laid eyes on before. Yet if there was something Elleryn did understand about her, it was that she did things for money. It was credits that were keeping her alive despite everything that escaped her mouth today. It was the reason this woman allowed her substandard droid to heal her. Why, if she weren’t worth a fortune, she’d probably be dead.

There was something that comforted her about that fact. Elleryn always knew she was worth plenty more than the spice Dalen had traded her off for.

However, it felt like all this woman knew was the one-syllable word: “No.” It irritated her greatly. The brunette had a scowl that was permanently plastered on her face. Her lips twitched; as though she was restraining any other sense of enjoyment. However, that gleam in her eyes told Elleryn that she was enjoying this.

By denying Elleryn her rights and poking at her swelling ankle, Elleryn knew that this woman took pleasure in her abuse.

“Absolute torture, oh I agree.”

It was as though she was reading her mind. Elleryn flinched at the woman’s words; bothered by the fact that she had officially branded her as an object. Why, she wanted to wipe the tears in her eyes and refused to blink, scared that they’d betray her and fall. The woman in front of her was cruel and evil. Truly a person who deserved to be sent far far away.

She released Elleryn from her cold grasp. Elleryn knuckles were white, she was clinging onto the cot too tightly and her nails were probably chipped. She looked down, the tears falling involuntarily.

“Their drawings are not ugly.”

| [member="Ariadne Van'Shelaq"] |

 

[Ariadne Van'Shelaq]

Ariadne knew how to slowly chip away at someone's mental blockades before shattering their egos and crushing the soft malleable goop that existed underneath. It was all a part of her job, the act of manipulation and domination.Whilst asserting her authority over the barely clothed princess wasn't particularly hard, in fact it was a lot more simple than she initially envisioned, the young Baroness found it painfully inefficient and bothersome. It was only until Elleryn started to sob did Ariadne's annoyance turn into distaste, the corners of her crimson lips curling back in barely veiled disgust as she watched the messy display.

How utterly pitiful was this creature? Of all the things that irked Ariadne the act of crying remained high on her hit list of pet peeves.

Clicking her tongue, Ariadne watched the trembling wench, the blank gaze flickering from the shimmering globules of salty tears to the quivering lower lip and then to the wounded shoulder. The princess was still a girl. Clenching her jaw, the young woman pushed herself off the seat before slinking her way over to the several glowing monitors. Messages about the spice runs in Nar Shadda flooded her feed, encrypted codes making mention of the Hutt cartel and its movements catching her eyes as she blotted out the grating sound of the royal's waterworks. Tapping a sharpened nail against the rim of one of the monitors, Ariadne stood motionless for a second, eyes trained on anything but the tear stained female several feet away from her.

In another life, things might have gone differently. Such a thought was quickly dashed from her mind though.

"Crying isn't going to help." She whispered, just loud enough for her captive to hear. The statement betrayed nothing, spoken as if it were a passing comment and yet the dark haired female found herself gritting her teeth at the simple fact she'd uttered it. Crying helped no one, ever. Turning to face her trembling prisoner, Ariadne wrinkled her nose before clicking a finger for the egg shaped droid to return to its work.

"Sedate her." Was all she said, auburn eyes gazing into the blue hues of Xasuri's princess. She could hear the fluttering heartbeat and for a moment Ariadne paused, mulling over it's panicked tempo. It was so fragile. Soon enough it would be gone though, far from the Baroness and anything associated with her.

[member="Elleryn"]

 

[Elleryn]

“Crying isn't going to help.” Had she been crying? She didn’t even realize the tears forming in the corners of her eyes. It was strange; to feel such an overload of emotion that your physical self actually began to show it. When was the last time she had even shared a tear?


Her thoughts spun to Nabreh and his gorgeous tan skin.

It had been so long ago.

An pang ran through her her heart. These salty drops of liquid were only reserved for special occasions; ones that were usually associated with pain or loss. She was rarely happy after all, there was really nothing to be happy about. There was always art, the fact that she was engaged, and well the cute little Voorpak her brother had given her.

Yet stil, everything felt so superficial to Elleryn. And now that she was sitting here, alone with Zen, the auburn eyed woman with the scowl that rivalled witches she had seen in paintings, she realized how alone she had really been all this time. Perhaps her dear planet really was no place for her. What was she missing anyways?

Oh that’s right, comfort.

And so, the tears continued to fall. Each drop was a symbol of the life she had left behind and the luxuries that had gone with it. Long gone were the days of milk baths and oil based perfumes with so many notes she smelled symphonies. She’d be looking forward to clipping the nails off of slimy hutt fingers and cheap looking faux leather.

She shuddered at the fact, and if she could ask for one; she’d want a nice handkerchief with golden threads embroidered at the edges. She’d use it to wipe the corners of her eyes, gently dabbing her porcelain skin to make sure her makeup didn’t smudge too much.

Ah, but this wasn’t a place where such gifts were freely given to her. She’d probably have to do some awful medial task: such as doing the dishes or making her bed. She sobbed a little at the thought of that.

“Sedate her.” Zen’s awful voice rang in her ears once again. Injured, stripped, sedated? Why, they might as well just kill her! This was humiliating and painful for her to endure. The woman was cruel, the woman was absolutely awful. Elleryn couldn’t repeat those words enough.

“Fine, do it.” She submitted, giving up on her freedom for now. “At least I wouldn’t have to endure your awful words and hideous decorating.”

| [member="Ariadne Van'Shelaq"] |

 

[Ariadne Van'Shelaq]

​Whatever solace Ariadne would have offered the sniveling princess in any other situation would have surely fallen flat of what many would consider effective or appropriate. Emotions was often a means to an end and witnessing the blubbering excuse of a royal stain herself with salty tears was enough to leave the pale skinned pirate looking like a slightly disgusted visitor at a zoo. The last girl the dark haired woman turned into a quivering wreck was one of the Underlord's escorts and yet that was completely consensual and actually endearing...this was not, this was petty. Weren't Xasurians famed for their emotional discipline? Clearly their marketing was much better than the real thing and after several seconds of quietly leering at the young woman before her, Ariadne crouched till she was eye level with the dainty thing.

"Get used to it." Ariadne snarled, nonchalantly brushing a strand of golden hair behind the shell of the princess' ear before motioning with her hand for the droid to begin the sedation.

Bright blue eyes, stained with tears, were lulled into a forced slumber, the stubborn flickering of the princess' eyelashes telling her ruby lipped captor that she still hoped to combat whatever trial she was put through. It was an odd thing to watch, witnessing Xasuri's infamous golden child descend into her most vulnerable state. Gone was her patronizing glare and that mind numbing voice, the once panicked heartbeat slowing down till it was little more than a steady beat in the silence.

ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump

Elleryn's little organ pumped, stealing away a second of Ariadne's concentration as she sat motionless, staring at the pale creature before her. Any modicum of guilt or regret was nowhere to be seen on her porcelain visage, this was simply business and the young woman was nothing more than a transaction, an asset in gold finery. Alas, Ariadne teased out the options in her mind as she observed her prey, biting her tongue as she mentally blocked out the men and monsters that did not deserve such a fragile gift.

"Take us back home." She uttered into her commlink before combing her fingers through the tangled mess of dark hair. There would be time to find Elleryn a suitable buyer, that much Ariadne was sure.

FIN

[member="Elleryn"]