Study Day

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

Jacen’s face was just inches from the gran’s face. It stood deathly still as he closely inspected the long scar that ran all the way down from one eyestalk to the base of its chin. It split both lips cleanly leaving a twisted snarl at all times.

“Not bad at all,” Jacen mumbled to himself. He stood straight again and then looked down the line of characters. Each droid was surrounding by a holographic projection of one of the known Syndicate members they would be dealing with. Unfortunately personality information was sparse, but they had some good video feeds of body language.

“Aaand into character?” Jacen asked. The droids suddenly started moving, assuming the typical postures of the individuals they represented. He’d cleared out a whole bar for the day just for the pair of them to go over some of the syndicate members and for Aela to present her best impression of Ms. Castille. Jacen couldn’t act for shit, but he did have a good eye. He could at least point out where Aela was going wrong, even if he couldn’t help with the how. Fortunately she had an acting coach tearing out his hair for that. He checked his chrono, she should have been here already.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

Aela wasn't wearing the outfit, that wasn't what this was about, instead it was more about the attitude that she had to present during this, her acting.

Her normally stoic face twitched slightly as she tried to compose herself, her eyes closed and her lips thinned. There were glasses on her face, the same over-sized ones that Miss Castille wore. Aela had deduced that they were rather important to how the woman functioned, or rather, her mother had told her so after watching a small clip of the woman. The glasses were as much as accessory as they were a tool to communication, with them on Miss Castille was able to ignore and place herself above others.

It was a gimmick, but an effective one.

"Alright." She said in a sudden stern voice. "Ready."

She let out a heavy breath, then opened her eyes to wait for the droids to engage her.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

Jacen cast an appraising eye over Aela's mask. Someone had clearly been working with her on her pose. The facial expression was remarkably similar to the one Ms. Castille so often wore. Fortunately perhaps that she mostly stuck to just the one.

"Keep your head turned away, watch them out of the corner of your eyes. Helps you look more disinterested," Jacen added quietly.

Two figures approached. "Bahg Doe and Flint Mitchell," Jacen added, nodding to the Gran he had been inspecting before and a tall, broad human. "Elizabeth will see Bahg as a thug beneath her station, but he's going to be pushy on getting a good price on her product. Don't even acknowledge him until I introduce him. I'm afraid Elizabeth quite likes Flint, so ignore him even more. But smile when he talks."

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

Aela nodded.

"Alright." This was something entirely new to her, acting like she wasn't herself, pretending.

Even when she had been a kid Aela had never played like this, in fact she had hardly ever played at all. She figured that had been fine then, but now...well a tinge of regret ran through her as she realized it likely would have helped. Her stance shifted, moving from tall and proud warrior to slightly slouching crime lord. It was a subtle detail, one that she wouldn't have thought of if her mother hadn't mentioned it before she left Borleias.

Her head turned half from the droids, as if she were observing something in the distance.

It was that act, that thought of being disinterested while simultaneously listening, that was most difficult for Aela. She had been taught manners from a young age, had always been attentive. It was difficult to act against your nature, what you had been taught all your life. She still tried though.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

The Gran approached first. Jacen made no pretense about watching him carefully. He even went as far as placing his drink back down to free up his gun hand. Whilst he was no expert at this his job was far easier. No one really paid much attention to the mannerisms of the security detail. Up until the point that they looked threatening of course.

"Elizabeth?" Bahg asked in a voice that suggested he was simultaneously gargling rocks.

Keeping his sharp eyes on the Gran, Jacen titled his head towards Aela.

"Ms. Castille, Bahg would like a word I believe," he said through the corner of his mouth.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

Aela made a face of disgust, mock of course, probably a bit too much.

"Of course he does." She very carefully addressed Jacen, not the Gran. Her head tilting slightly so that her gaze fell on the alien for half a second before regarding the other man behind him, Flint. He was the one that Aela...Miss Castille was supposed to like. Her attention was caught for half a moment, though she tried to play it like she had done it on purpose. Eventually her gaze went falling towards Jacen but half at the Gran, her lips still holding that same expression.

"Well?" She tried to make herself impatient. "What do you want?"

Was that too rude? Not rude enough?

This was harder than she had thought. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she became consciously aware of how anxious she was even now. Not good.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

"Pause," Jacen said and the droids did. "Little less on the aggression, little more on the indifference. Get a drink or two down you if you need, you've gone stiff again," he said. Then realising he'd just rattled of a string of negatives he decided to say more. "You've got the look down, you're using the glasses just as I saw in the footage I've gone through. Just ease off the snappy tone," he said with an encouraging smile.

"Resume."

"Heard you wanted to shift some practical to District thirteen thirteen?" the gran asked. The cut across his lips meant he hissed on his 's' sounds.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

She was tense, incredibly so. Aela desperately wanted to get this right, it was important. She took Jacen's advice, her eyes slowly folding down to catch the drinks on the table. She leaned forward, ignoring the Gran for a moment to take the drink into her hand.

Alcohol wasn't her thing, really wasn't her thing.

The first time she had ever had it was during a life-day party that her parents had been hosting. She believed that it had been some sort of wine, though all she remembered was the bitter taste that had grasped onto her tongue. Since then she'd been rather disgusted by the drinks, though a few times she had managed to indulge in celebration. Now, as she stared at the strong liquor mixed with some sort of juice she found herself dreading the next few weeks.

She let the drink touch her lips, the liquid flowing down her throat and causing a slight burn. "I've pondered it."

Aela allowed herself to look listless, but annoyed at the same time, as though the Gran had foiled something.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]
It took Jacen a moment to realise that he'd broken character himself already. He'd nodded his head, pursing his lips appreciatively at her act. The Gran gave him a look of confusion with all three eyes.

He left an appropriate pause before prompting. “I'm sure you have something to propose,” Jacen said with an obviously false smile.

Bahg looked slightly ruffled before he continued. “I know the right people on the ground to get it shifted. Demand is high and I'd you can get it to a spaceport…” he tried to pass a note to Aela, but Jacen promptly intercepted it. He unfolded, read it himself and them held it before Aela’s eyes.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

She gave the Gran a look of distaste, as if scolding him for what he had done.

Aela thought that it was something that Miss Castille would do, if not something more harsh. The woman had a manner about her that made her intimidate men who could have snapped her neck in half a second. Perhaps it was just her demeanor, or perhaps she had control over things that others did not. A part of Aela admired the woman, though it was a very very small part. Her gaze shifted to the note, her glasses still pointed elsewhere as though she weren't really interested.

"Oh." She cooed out the words, though it was still a small slip. Elizabeth would never have said something like this.

Before Jacen could stop however Aela barreled forward. "I suppose you'd want a cut?"

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

In reaction Jacen took a half step forwards. He out himself just behind Aela, looking attentive, but not overly aggressive. The hands he kept free spoke enough on their own.

The Gran's eyestalks retracted a few inches in an expression of shock, but he recovered.

"We sell for the best prices, so you get paid the best prices. Cut or no cut. We'd pay fifteen credits per gram and take the risk ourselves. Payment upfront. Tell me you can do much better going direct. You've got supply, I've got demand ready to go."

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

Aela attempted to look like she was musing for a second, as if the idea needed pondering. In reality, the entire prospect made her think about the fact that she really needed to study criminal doings more. She had the character of Elizabeth so firmly wrapped in her mind that she had forgotten what Castille actually did, crime. That was an area of expertise that the young Marshall would need to study up on, something that she would need to learn more about.

"What do you think, Flint?" Her lips pressed into a slight smile.

She was trying to press the Gand, make him feel smaller.

It was something she felt Elizabeth Sabene Castille would do. That was part of who she was, she made people feel smaller, she made them feel like they were less then they actually were. It was brilliant really, but also despicable.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

There was an unsubtle flash of teeth as the Gran turned to give Flint a look. In turn the human, who mostly had operations in trafficking slaves, flashed him a smile. Yet his eyes stayed on Aela. Jacen made a mental note to tell Aela not to overplay this card. She did it surprisingly well, but they couldn't afford to start a ruckus. He mused that perhaps making men feel insignificant was just an intrinsic skill for all women.

"Hmm...fifteen..." Flint said in a distant tone, clearly not wanting to commit himself in a business arrangement between two others. He did, however, attempt to flash something of a disarming smile towards Ms. Castille.

Jacen decided to play off this. He was only security and he'd usually leave Adder as the mouthpiece, but Elizabeth liked to let her lackeys talk for her and look disinterested.

"I think Ms. Castille would be more amenable to sixteen," Jacen said.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

She had to remember to do that.

Elizabeth Castille liked to have others speak for her, liked to communicate only her displeasure. It was another power play, something else that her mother had pointed it. Some might have thought it silly, but if things changed it would be a tell. If Miss Castille began to talk a lot more...well the Underbosses would very likely begin to notice that something was different, and that would make them closer. So she sealed her lips, letting her gaze linger on Flint.

When Jacen made his offer, she simply tilted her head, as though she were thinking, pondering the offer.

Sixteen was good...maybe, she didn't actually know, but she trusted Jacen's opinion and gave a slow nod.

She really would have to study Miss Castilles criminal operations more, where she made her money, what she did, and exactly how she was so valuable to the Shadow Syndicate. It was a dangeorus gap in her knowledge, one that had formed due to her own ignorance.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"]

The Gran's jaw moved around in circles for a moment, like a cow chewing cud. There was a subtle shrug before he needed his head. "Sixteen we can probably deal with. I'll get Ysaili to come and sort the details with your people," he said.

With a respectful nod he was gone, back into the holographic collective.

"Well that was tense!" Flint said, pointedly ignoring Jacen.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

Okay.

So that part was done, now what? Why was the simulation still run-oh.

She quickly grasped the thick of what was going on. Jacen wanted to test her to, to make sure that she would know what to do in this type of situation. Inwardly she wanted to scream, but she realized that it was important. Flirting wasn't exactly he strong suit, in fact it was probably her weakest area of communication in general. Aela had never been much for romantics, and flirting...well it was entirely out of that wheelhouse in it of itself, flirting wasn't romantic so much as it was a path to...other things.

Her eyes cast over towards Jacen for a moment, searching for a hint of what she could say, then she looked back up at Flint. "It certainly was."

Aela tried to talk a bit slower, drawl out her words in the same Chroma Zed accent that Miss Castille spoke with.