Imperfection

[Evoros]

In hindsight she saw everything go wrong, but Yvonne Evoros couldn't find the mistake she'd made to let it all fall apart. She'd looked back, traced her path choice by choice trying to pinpoint the thing she'd done wrong (because if there wasn't a right path she just hadn't taken, she'd never been in control and that was a thousand times worse) and found a blank space. It shouldn't have been like this. On paper, the Arai mission was an open and shut success and for anyone else, that was all it was. She was the only one with consequences left to suffer.

Details left out of a report, details that wouldn't come back to haunt her but left a potential where there had been none.

A new lie to sustain, a crawling sense of guilt that she didn't like still being able to feel.

A mask that looked dangerously like her own face.

In five years of disguise, secrecy, of lies and lies and lies, she'd never feared they might unravel and she wasn't there yet. There was opportunity for fallout that shouldn't exist, that should've never been allowed to grow, but nothing to bring that potential from between each moment into here and now. And it was going to fething stay that way.

"He's still got the case. Should be stopping soon."

He was a Mr. Sol carrying 'sensitive' information that the Collective didn't want getting out, supposedly about to sell it to an unknown third person. The Board had been very clear on the mission; get rid of both parties and the intel, but avoid looking at it. None of that was an issue as far as Evoros was concerned. Far be it from her to pry into the Collective's secrets. No, the issue was that she'd been sent to work the case with Mara.

She couldn't have delayed it. The Board was going to keep on assigning missions as usual, and objecting would've been a suspicion she couldn't afford to cause. But the smile that'd spread across her features seeing the mission assignment terrified her. Outwardly, this had to go perfectly- but it was going to be messy.

Evoros frowned as Sol came to a halt outside a restaurant, greeting a Twi'lek in business attire at the entrance.

"Pretty public place for a handoff," she muttered into a comm. "Might just be dinner first. We should follow him in, I guess?"

"Roger that."

__________​

"Table for two, please."

She'd let her hair down and rolled up the sleeves of her jacket in preparation for her cover, and the agent standing next to her had done similarly. Under different circumstances, she'd be laughing at the irony.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, we're all booked up."

Evoros did not feel like laughing right now.

| [member="Mara Kellarov"] |​

 

[Mara Kellarov]

Mara liked to think she could read people well, but knew it was extremely tricky trying to read someone who was trained to do the same thing. Knowing how to hide particular signs, keep oneself as a blank slate to give nothing away.

Over the time they had spent together, Mara had thought she had begun to unravel Evoros. At first it had gone unnoticed, only getting caught presumably when they were apart. But more recently Mara had more recently seen the hesitation and second guessing first hand.

Then the walls started coming back, only for them to seemingly crumble with each interaction Mara had with her. It was like hitting a brick wall repeatedly. One brick taken out, only for another two to replace it.

It was almost like a game, an unintentional one though.

Mara knew the attraction was there, the emotion that went beyond simple desires. Something had developed, Mara knew that. It started with the pure and simple attraction shortly after they had first met, but the times after that had built something up.

And yet she felt as though Evoros was now pushing back.

She said nothing as she matched her partner’s actions. Letting her hair down and brushing it to a side, one Mara knew Evoros liked. Although it was entirely unintentional in this instance.

“Oh, are you sure? Could you double check please?”

The hostess didn’t answer immediately, fixing Mara a look until she sighed and looked back at her console screen. In that moment, Mara glanced over at Evoros giving her a silent signal to use the Force.

[member="Evoros"]​

 

[Evoros]

She didn't miss a beat, ignoring how easily they exchanged looks and an unspoken message. Her mind reached for the hostess's, infusing warmth and malleability with her command; you have a table for us.

"I think I can find a table for such a lovely couple as yourselves," the woman smiled after a few quiet moments.

Evoros returned the smile at once and tried her utmost hardest not to think further about the words. It shouldn't jade her as much as it did- months ago she wouldn't have thought twice about the sentiment. Months ago, when it had been easy to laugh and joke and flirt because that was the mask she wore and nothing ever ran deeper than the surface.

She wasn't sure where she'd karked that up either. It was too easy to let Mara in- too easy, and extraordinarily dangerous. She'd built walls to last through an avalanche, and damned if she'd let them crumble. But she wasn't sure they hadn't already.

"Here you are!" A few moments later, they'd been led to a table at one end of the restaurant by the cheerful hostess. Evoros sat, tuning out the rest of her formalities as she hid her gaze in the menu. Sol was only a few tables away and evidently none-the-wiser. She supposed that was something.

"Thank you," she said finally as the third woman moved away. Gaze flickered to their target again, then she eased back into her usual smirk. "This place ain't half bad. We might as well pick something fancy."

| [member="Mara Kellarov"] |​

 

[Mara Kellarov]

As someone without a connection to the Force, Mara admired how well Evoros was able to use it. Years ago she had been partially surrounded by it, her time as an SIS Agent had ensured she had seen just how it was used on different spectrums. There was the Jedi, and there was the Sith. So it was admittedly strange to see someone use the Force without any of the philosophies shadowing behind them.

It was a useful tool, especially that little mind trick. The success brought a smile to Mara's face, easily passed off as a reaction to the hostess' correction.

Although Mara's smile almost faltered as she glanced over at Evoros. The smile betrayed nothing of the woman's thoughts, but the flicker of a look in her eyes said more. Mara kept her happy demeanour from cracking, thanking the hostess as they were guided towards their table.

Mara used the time to glance around, acting as nothing more than curious customer as she took in the scene around her. The restaurant was abuzz with activity, lots of chatter that could easily drown out the quietest of voices. A perfect venue for a transaction to go down. Fortunately though, it also allowed for Mara to get an eye on their target who was sat a few tables away.

Once they were seated, Mara looked over at Evoros who had almost immediately picked up a menu. She knew it was to be more subtle in her eavesdropping, but Mara couldn't shake the thought that Evoros was also doing it to hide from her.

"Mhm, why not make use of the time and actually eat something fancy for a change." Mara had picked up a menu, browsing through it for anything interesting. "Plus, it doesn't look like our guy is going to be leaving anytime soon."

[member="Evoros"]​

 

[Evoros]

She knew Mara would notice. To any onlooker--to just about anyone else looking closely--Evoros could be anyone. A woman on a date and enjoying herself without a care in the world. But her movements, her posture, her expressions were all so practiced. It took a certain intuition to see the artifice of her laid-back happiness. An intuition she was sure by now that Mara had.

And she was also sure that the other agent would have an inkling as to why Evoros couldn't relax. But they both knew this wasn't the time for talking about it, and if Evoros could help it that time wouldn't be any day soon. Or ever.

"Mm, I'll take the bantha steak dish," she decided a few moments later as a waiter came to take their order. "No, nothing to drink, thank you." Usually she'd at least pretend to be drinking, but this time the agent thought she could forgo it. It was unnecessary in this moment, and it was harder to lie knowing she'd be seen through.

There were a few more seconds that passed in silence after Mara ordered her meal.

For once, Evoros was lost for words.

Could she pretend? Treat this as anything other than a mission without crossing the line she so painstakingly tread?

"Well, we've got time to kill. What do you do for fun?"

She looked at Mara, wondering if she hadn't already.

| [member="Mara Kellarov"] |​

 

[Mara Kellarov]

Mara hummed to herself as she looked over the menu, deciding on what to have. Years spent on the frontlines had drilled into her head the importance of finding enough sustenance from the smallest things. It was only when she had been involved in the more covert operations, that she was able to indulge.

But even then, everything just felt gluttonous to her.

For this situation, Mara couldn't pick anything too small either. They were suppose to be here enjoying a meal, not an appetizer.

"I'll have this." She leaned in to Evoros, feigning innocence as she tried to get help pronouncing the dish she had selected. "Oh, and some water too please."

As much as both of them probably wanted to, alcohol wasn't really an option for this mission.

Time gradually wore on as the two idly chattered. Mara had little issue with it, the not-facade was easy to play upon given she had missed Evoros recently. The other woman in question was more rigid though. Answer and asking with ease, but Mara could see the underlying tension.

Eventually their food arrived, and they dug into their respective dishes. At the same time, their target was in a similar situation. Until another gentlemen arrived and the two conversed. Although the newcomer seemed a lot more on edge, his gaze shifting around too much to not give away his nervousness. That was when the two agents focused, splitting their attention between eating and eavesdropping. Evoros had been the first to finish, pushing the plate a side so she could focus more on the mission at hand. Mara took a bit longer, but was soon joining her partner, hiding her prying eyes behind sipping at her water.

That was when she caught the other man's eye, and almost froze. Everything seemed to slow down as Mara internally panicked, wondering if the man's nerves would make him bolt. Her eyes shifted over to a young teenager, walking around with a holocamera in hand. She glanced over at Evoros, and made a quick; probably rash, decision.

She kissed her.

[member="Evoros"]​

 

[Evoros]

A heartbeat--hers, and pounding too quickly.

She knew, a heartbeat before she couldn't have stopped it, how Mara planned to keep their cover from being blown. And she knew that she had to stop it.

It drew more attention than they wanted on a stealth mission. That was the excuse. That was what she'd tell Mara when she asked what Evoros was playing at. That was what she'd tell herself. Even now, heartbeats away, she wasn't done with denying. Nobody could ever accuse Yvonne Evoros of giving up easily.

She reached a hand to other woman's cheek, but her lips missed Mara's and brushed next to her ear.

"Don't think you're avoiding attention like that, love." Low, smirking, without a trace of the panic racing through her mind. Yvonne was much better at lying to others.

One more moment, a few more heartbeats--thud-thud-thud-there's nothing wrong--and she pulled away, eyes flickering imperceptibly from Mara to their target to Mara.

"He's getting ready to leave," she murmured. The man hadn't gotten up yet. He wasn't gathering his things, apologising to the Twi'lek. She didn't explain why she was sure, instead betting on the latter agent's trust in her. Trust that she shouldn't have--that neither of them should have. Too fething late now.

"I'll leave out the back," Evoros continued, not waiting for an interjection of what the hell was that about? "Wait until he leaves, then find another exit. He'll be meeting his dealer now. If he makes a run for it--well, so do we." She didn't wait for a confirmation that Mara was on board with the plan. In an instant, she was up and making a beeline for the back of the restaurant.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could spot the apologetic gestures of Sol attempting to explain to his date why he was leaving midway through dinner. Even amidst her stress, she smirked with satisfaction--and then she hightailed it out of the building.

| [member="Mara Kellarov"] |​