Knock Knock

[Evoros]

Circuit, Nar Shaddaa​

[member="Elizabeth Castille"]​

Lines of smoke trailed through the air as ochre eyes studied the scene in front of her. The club was neonlit, right in the center of the glittering Promenade district. It hadn't been hard to find - but then, she hadn't expected finding her way to be the difficult part of this mission. Ideally it would all go smoothly. But for all her arrogance, she was a realist; better to plan for the worst.

Behind the glowing cigarra, Yvonne Evoros smiled.

Security wanted her weapons. She handed a blaster over without complaint. Without something to shoot with she was little use when it came down to a fight, but she was all too happy to keep things from reaching that stage. Yvonne was not a fighter or a soldier or a warrior. A killer without a doubt. But it was so much simpler when they weren't trying to kill you back. That was messy. That was wasteful. Bloodshed was inevitable - most unpleasant things were - but it was better controlled, measured carefully.

So a few moments of exchange and she went into the nightclub weaponless.
Yvonne was still smiling.

Circuit's owner knew she was coming. Little else, though. Evoros was a big believer in secrecy.

But before she started to worry about how to play her cards, how to keep her secrets - she was in a nightclub. One hand brushed a sleek mane of brown hair over her shoulder as heels clicked their way over to the alchemy bar. A drink was poured, and then she sat down. Drinks first, set the scene. Then business.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Evoros"]

Elizabeth sat quietly on the upper balcony of Circuit, her eyes slowly surveying the group of people steadily streaming in through the entrance and into the club below. There was a small smile on her face, eyes hidden by her glasses as her finger gently rimmed the glass resting on the arm of her chair.

Circuit had grown quite quickly, finding its place within the Nar Shaddaa Underworld almost immediately.

Places such as these were rather rare here. Most Cantinas and clubs were owned and ran by one organization or another, beholden to either Hutt or Vigo. They were bastions, small fortresses controlled by different gangs for the same purposes. Wandering into any random bar on Nar Shaddaa was as dangerous was wandering through the forests of Dxun. Circuit was different however, It was independent, modern, and most importantly safe. Elizabeth had found her niche here, and it was one that fit quite nicely.

She didn't seek to be the most dangerous or cutthroat, no. She sought to be the most reasonable.

Crime pays, but not when no one is willing to meet up.

The Underlord smiled slightly at her horde of patrons, her eyes wandering over them and then quickly flicking to a large figure that was approaching to her left. One of the guards leaned in and whispered quietly, Elizabeth's smile fading for just a moment before she nodded her head. "Bring her here, compensate her drink."

It would be a good start to whatever these...talks would be.

 

[Evoros]

And to his credit, the guard was incredibly courteous in escorting Yvonne to his employer. Contrary to the latter woman, she appeared completely cheerful, entirely satisfied with this state of affairs - and for once this wasn't a mask she had to reach far to fit over her face.

After all, she was in a lovely nightclub with equally lovely service, working one of those rare jobs that came at slim personal risk and plenty personal reward. Missions like these were a rare luxury.

Of course, she was hardly averse to the jobs that offered stakes as high as their rewards (and fortunately, too, since those made up the vast majority of her employment). But this was, all things considered, a perfectly nice change of pace. So she was still smiling when both she and the guard leading her stopped. Not her hallmark self-assured smirk - the pleased politeness of one who was happy to be there. Of simply looking forward to this introduction.

Evoros broke the silence first.

"Yvonne," she offered the other woman. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

| [member="Elizabeth Castille"] |​

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Evoros"]

"I'm sure it is." Elizbaeth said plainly as she took a small sip of her drink.

The expression that Elizabeth wore wasn't exactly welcoming, though not cold either. She was a busy woman, and this little get together was something on her schedule. It showed that she was eager to get on with whatever Evoros was here to talk about, mostly because she had other things to attend to.

Circuit was busy, it was growing, and if she was going to take her next steps she would need some time. Still, supposedly this woman had some clout with some sort of organization here on Nar Shaddaa and that at least meant she was worth listening to. The Underlord leaned back in her chair, watching the woman for just a few more seconds before she finally put her glass down on the small table besides her and allowed the woman to speak her mind.

"Now." She began. "Why are you here?"

She wasn't being rude, just wanted to get to the meat of the conversation.

Small talk was always so droll.

 

[Evoros]

No small talk.
She supposed she should be offended, but really it was a relief.

Of course, wasting time on the politenesses that came before doing business was a monumental affront to her way of doing things. Yvonne was a pragmatist in the purest sense; she was opposed, on every level, to uselessness. Small talk was a useless thing as far as she was concerned but somehow it made people feel at ease and that could be very useful indeed, but abandoning it altogether was so much more efficient.

That was one reason. The other was that she deeply despised small talk.

"I'm here to make an offer."

Her smile was polite, and entirely rehearsed. Evoros was used to these conversations. Business meetings, negotiation, recruitment. Words could be finetuned and tailored and spun and shaped to fit anyone at all.

"You want Circuit to expand. The people I work for want allies with connections. Footholds. I'd like to see if we can help each other."

| [member="Elizabeth Castille"] |​

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Evoros"]

She frowned, perking an eyebrow.

It wasn't like Elizabeth hadn't heard those exact words before. The moment she'd built Circuit half a dozen different organizations had approached her about joining their Cartel or Gang. The Black Sun, The Hutt's, even some independents who wanted to start something new. They all wanted a piece of her, not because she was anything special, but because she was competition. Elizabeth didn't blame any of them, she was and did do the exact same things.

"I see." Elizabeth said as she took a small sip of her drink.

There was little hope with certain people, they either lacked for imagination or they never quite carried things the way they were supposed to. She wasn't sure if this woman was among those unlucky few, but most of the men that had approached her as of late certainly were.

"And who." She said as she put her glass down on the table besides her. "Do you work for exactly?"

 

[Evoros]

She paused a moment to collect her words, then she answered.

"I work for a shadow organization, naturally. One that wants to advance - itself, Shaddaa, you get the idea. And we have very creative methods on how we do it."

Of course, Yvonne Evoros would not deny being selfish. If the choice (and she had been very careful to ensure that she would always be working for the Collective by choice and nothing else) was between employers with a nice vision for the galaxy and employers that paid handsomely - well, it was easy enough to anticipate where she'd end up.

But being at the top of her list of priorities did not mean she had forgotten about the rest of the world altogether. And out of all the groups that had come and gone throughout the length of her career, the Collective had the plan she liked best for what they'd do with the power they gained.

When she decided that plan wasn't so good or that they couldn't achieve it, she would be gone.
Until then:

"We're called the Collective."

| [member="Elizabeth Castille"] |​

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Evoros"]

No surprise showed on Elizabeth's face.

She was new to Nar Shaddaa, but she wasn't stupid. The first move she'd made on this world was finding out who the players were and what they wanted. For a moment she stayed silent however, almost as if taking in the information. Her fingers gently wrapped around the top of her glass, bringing it to her lips before she finally spoke.

"Methods?" Her voice was mixed with amusement and curiosity.

Nar Shaddaa was a criminals wet dream, but she had no idea if The Collective could actively define themselves as criminals. Though she knew of them, it was a scant amount of information. Had she been more tapped in it might have been a different story, but unfortunately she was still rather new here on the Smugglers room.

"Tell me more." Elizabeth said as she put down her glass. "If you please."

No need to be rude.