Royal Bickering

[Varik Ice]

Varik Ice​

Equipment: Lightsaber ​

Location: Barabian Systems HQ​

​

Jacen sat quietly, sighing as he stared over the desk towards Mr Ice, who was simply staring back at him. Why did it always have to come to this? The scary stare? They'd been waiting for ten minutes now, because the representative from Tanassi Security was supposed to be here by then. It felt like hours. Jacen cleared his throat, adjusting his glasses and tie as he leaned forward towards the newly-crowned High Sovereign. "I still call you Varik, right? I don't have to say Your Majesty, do I?" He'd known the man since he took over this company, and he had been hired to help run the place, so he had to be able to tell the man in charge when he was doing something wrong. "You don't, no."

That was a relief. The last thing Jacen wanted to do was go from a first-name basis to figuring out whether or not he'd have to kiss his ring on every meeting. He patted on his legs, looking down at the piece of paper and motioning to it almost dejectedly. "Well?" Varik gave him a bit of a look. "Well, what?" Jacen's eyebrows raised as he now sat more forward, spinning the contract around to face him. "You aren't going to sign it? The contract? Barabian Systems and armour for the Sovereignty? That one you're in charge of?"

As Varik's eyes darted from the paper back to his colleague, Jacen knew that look. He'd done it when he heard Jacen's reaction to being asked to run a business while Ice went off to run an inter-planetary nation. "I'll take it to the Archon and he'll sign it afterwards. That's his area of authority."

 

[Varik Ice]

Varik Ice​

Equipment: Lightsaber ​

Location: Barabian Systems HQ​

​

Jacen's fingers went up and pinched the bridge of his nose, rubbing up and down it, forcing his glasses up and down as he tried to consider what he just said. Eventually, he looked up at the Sovereign again. "Dramath? You want me to sit down in a meeting with Dramath? That guy looks like he'll eat my eyes if they look at him from the wrong side, are you kidding?" Jacen had watched the coronation, even caught a view of the televised Senate meetings. Dramath looked straight out of a horror movie, as far as he was concerned. The last thing he needed was to be murdered in a Sith ritual for bad contract handwriting.

Varik looked at him with an exasperated expression, one of the few people ever saw on his face. "Look, please? Just this time. I can delegate someone else to deal with that guy when we work out contracts later. Right now, you're still in charge." Varik seemed to consider the offer, looking aside before he spoke briefly. "Fine." Jacen let out a deep breath, a feeling of relief and that he was spared a possible future maiming thanks to this. "Thank you, by the stars I mean that." He watched as Varik finished the last of his signature on the pen. He was always a little irritated about how a man from some village had such neat handwriting. What was up with that?

Jacen glanced behind him as he heard the knocking of shoes on the floor. He turned back, staring up at the Rodian who was informing them. "The uh...representative from Tanassi is here." The voice that came out was nasally in basic, a language Rodians always had an issue with, unfortunately. "Send her up here." Varik spoke flatly some more, Javen giving him a bit of a look before he quickly spoke after the Rodian who headed back down. "Thank you, Feepo!"

 

[Varik Ice]

Varik Ice​

Equipment: Lightsaber ​

Location: Barabian Systems HQ​

​

Jacen swivelled back in his chair, facing towards the desk and large chair Varik sat in again as he shook his head slightly. "You could be a bit nicer, you know." Varik glanced over dismissively. "I'm quitting, I don't have to." Jacen scoffed. That was what worried him. He was about to be put in charge of a company that produced weapons, starships, armour...so much, and now it was getting involved with an up-and-coming kingdom. He supposed if he was a bit more cutthroat, he'd relish the challenge. As it was, it took everything he had not to pass out from the stress of it all.

His ears suddenly perked as he heard more footsteps, and instinctively stood up to meet whoever it was. He put out his hand to the woman walking towards him. She was a Twi'lek, a nice green colour, and she had nice eyes. Pretty smile, too. "I'm Lira. you must be...Jacen?" He smiled at that, especially when she shook his hand in response. "That's me! I'm going to be handling our dealings from the-" He could /feel/ how cut off he got in that moment. "Sit." Jacen tried not to look irritated as he went to his chair again. Not even a please? Could Varik not be a normal human for one second.

"I understand you wanted extra SMW-5s as part of our arrangement." Lira glanced over at him, then her eyes went back to Ice, clearly finding him a bit intimidating. The fact that he had quickly become a Monarch of a militaristic state didn't really help much. It wasn't even that long ago. "Yes. We saw your new model, and we were very impressed. We're prepared to pay appropriately for the addition-" There was another cutoff. Why was there another cut off? "I've seen your numbers." He knew what that meant. He wasn't happy with them. Jacen wanted to bury his head in his hands. This was going to be a long one.

 

[Varik Ice]

Varik Ice​

Equipment: Lightsaber ​

Location: Barabian Systems HQ​

​

Jacen was positive that they were there for hours this time. He sat through so much of it, he felt like he never wanted to hear the phrase 'negotiation' and 'marketplace' ever again. He ran his nails down his neck as he watched Lira sweat a bit as Varik stared at her, having made what seemed like a final offer. He'd been budging so little despite how much time has passed, and he had to give credit to the Twi'lek. She didn't break immediately under the pressure, but he knew it was all going to end the same way like it usually did.

With a sigh, he saw her admit defeat. "That will be sufficient." He saw her fingers take the pen and sign off on the contract quite quickly and firmly, clearly being all but done with it. "Is there anything else, Mr. Ice?" The irony of the name wasn't lost on her now, Jacen thought. He saw Varik shake his head and Lira quickly spring from her chair, power walking to the back of the room and down the stairs. Jacen watched her leave the whole way, glancing down before he looked to Varik again, who was now signing off the contract himself and arranging the paperwork.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a, uh...real A type personality, Varik?" He cleared his throat, and watched his boss continue to file the work until it was away, at which point the cold blue eyes stared back into his. He hated when Varik stared at him. And damn it, he did it so much. "No." Jacen supposed that was as much as he was getting. He'd hardly expected a soliloquy. "Nevermind, then. Well, if that's all, I'm gonna go home now. It's late. I'll come in tomorrow, pick things up at your desk, and uh...figure out what we're doing."

As he stood up, Varik gave him a nod. That was some sort of approval, he supposed. He seemed like the only guy who could get some of that from him. Jacen decided to get the hell out before he was asked to do something else, and followed Lira's way, power walking his way down as quickly as he could. Before he knew it, he was down the stairs. Freedom.