Take Off The Mask

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

Things were moving along, although Alric's kick of the back of Rose's shoe would draw a light frown from Danger. What was he doing? she'd wonder, only to take in his rather laid back expression and the humor in his eyes to realize he was just simply being himself. The joy of being with Rose and Lily was apparent on his face, in his manner. He had spent almost a year worrying about them, letting them have their space.

After what he'd done by simply disappearing from their lives, it was reasonable to understand that he found even this awkward meeting precious. A mental sigh, and Danger would pan her attention back to Lily. She had first met the young woman during the investors conference for G.U.I.D.E. She was young, very young. And perhaps too idealistic with her desire to lend aid to others without truly considering the risk involved.

Then again, Lily was raised under the platinum spoon of Alric and Silara -- who had been the Empress of Teta. Different philosophies. Different ideas on how to manage a business. Danger had grown up knowing that every penny would count, that every connection and network could either make or break Arceneau Trade.

That Lily had been eager to provide free ships with a small company of her own without any tangible proof on what GUIDE had produced so far was... well, idealistic, but reckless.

The four would slip pass the threshold, walking into a more humid environment that would mimic Felusia. Danger knew that her hair would likely start curling the longer they stayed here. Always did.

"I took over the books when I was seventeen. But my daddy had me and Remi workin' the warehouses at eight. Captained my own ship to do my own runs at sixteen. Nineteen when I first managed to win the Hutt Cartel over to be their sole distributor." Danger finally answered Lily, taking the steps that would lead them towards a small trial within the vast Botanical garden.

"Twenty-one officially when my daddy died." by then, she had already been doing the bulk of the work and managing. Colette's lessons had latched onto Danger, and she'd finally filled out. That's when hospitality became a trademark of Arceneau Trade, and Danger became fixated at making it a household name across the 'verse. She'd been fueled by scorn and by a bitter sense of betrayal.

Guess that made for a heck of a powersource to take over Fen'Za'ti.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

Alric was almost immediately hit with a blast of hot, humid air. His eyes popped open, his hand tightened on Danger's waist, and he suddenly recalled that he hated the heat. A frown pulled at his lips, and it seemed like his skin wasn't entirely sure if it had just become part of the air around it. He shifted slightly, uncomfortable in the clothes hew as now wearing.

Felucia was a jungle world, the planet teeming with dangerous wildlife, both plants and animals. It was hot, humid, and something was always trying to kill you. The botanical gardens that they had wandered into really quite reflected that aspect of the planet. There were plants everywhere, vines hanging down and over the path that lead through the gardens. There were small holo-displays everywhere, each displaying a bit of information about the plant in front of them. Alric came to the quick realization that his coat would become a massive nuisance if the other gardens were like this, although when they entered the Hoth one he would be having the last laugh.

"Oh."

Lily said as though she were pondering something. There was a stark contrast in how the Arceneau's and the Kuhns had lived, Alric and Danger too. Kuhn's, quite honestly, had most things handed to them. Money, power, influence, it was all right there. Danger had had to work for it, push for it. Lily came to that realization when Danger said she had begun to work right around the time Lily had just started paying attention in school.

"Did you ever think ATC would get as big as it is?"

ATC was after all the biggest corporation in the galaxy. It pulled the most weight, made the most money, and certainly had the most influence.

Rose fell behind slightly, reading every holo-screen she could.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

Danger felt the press of Alric's hand at her waist, and for a moment she thought he was trying to make a point of something. There was a faint grimace to his chiseled features, a slight clench of his jaw. His blue eyes were drawn towards the botanical garden, where curious florescent fungai and ferns were the first they would come across. The info holoscreens a burst of color for any who would enjoy reading more about each one.

It was an expression she was more familiar with. One that managed to cut through her tension and provoke a twitch of her lips.

Oh how he hated the heat.

That small bit of amusement would manage to lighten the tension for the Queen of Trade, and as they came across a large magenta flower with cobalt stamens, Danger would answer with a warmer tone, but with conviction. "I had no other choice but to make it so."

That was a testimony to her willpower, determination, and her focus. She had the drive and ambition to make it into what it was today. There was no other route she could've take. However many times she may have failed, she'd simply dust herself up and get up again.

There was no other option.

"I swore that I would hit it big. Bigger than Tatooine." her green eyes would flick over towards the eldest twin. "Bigger than Montgomery Arceneau ever dreamed."

Montgomery Arceneau being the patriarch who had truly expanded Arceneau Trade on Tatooine as the company of choice.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

He felt like his skin was melting off.

What kind of a person actually enjoyed this heat? What kind of a person actively sought out living in a place like this? He frowned slightly, reminding himself that Felucia actually didn't have anyone living on it at all. He supposed that was a small saving grace, though by the looks of the plants surrounding them there wasn't much to save at all. The old man suddenly found himself to be rather grumpy, the humidity getting to him rather quickly.

Lily however did not notice the heat, despite the small amount of frizz in her hair. Instead she was being fascinated by Danger's words, her eyes following the redhead and her ears perking up as she spoke. This was something that genuinely interested her, but as she began to speak, preparing to ask another question a voice from behind them interjected.

"You captained your own ship?"

Rose asked as she wandered away from the latest holo-screen in front of a very large flowery looking plant.

The younger twin of course would be rather interested in that, having spent the last year in the outer rim. The two of them had technically already met, though that meeting had been filled with it's own amount of awkwardness. Alric looked at Rose, and then to Lily who was staring at her sister with a slight amount of indignation.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

The humidity would get to them all, most notably the smooth flow of Danger's hair already beginning to show a tighter curl. A bit of frizz. Slowly the illusion of a classy matron would start to fade. Perfection in her cordial manner and form revealing little bits of the woman underneath.

Danger's eyes would flick from Alric over to Lily, aware that it had been the first time since their last meeting that the younger twin directly acknowledged her.

"That I did." she replied, a bit more slowly. Left foot would amble over the right, then left again across the weaving garden trail. "For about five years, then passed it on when my daddy got sick. Had to spend more time negotiating the dealin's than running blockades."

That was likely the reason why Danger's employees under the Arceneau conglomerate had some of the best benefits and work plans along similiar companies. Danger knew well what it meant to be risking life and limb for a cargo, more so when it was a time just when the planets were barely starting to reconnect after the 400 years of darkness. It had been a rather dangerous time, and for that Danger was willing to shell out that extra bit of cash and perks for those who were working for her.

It was a well known fact that Danger Arceneau took to protecting those who were under her care. The Oirian Companion Guildhouse and her activism for the Corellian Sector in the wake of the Netherworld uprising was a testimony to that.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

"What kind of ship was it?"

Apparently both girls had now found and interest, which was a good thing. If the three of them could find someone to talk about then all the better. Alric instead began to focus more on the gardens around them. He wasn't particularly thrilled about Felucia, but he knew that there were several more, well, thirteen to be exact, greenhouses that they would still go to. He also knew that they were all interconnected, and what garden you went to next depended entirely on where you chose to go in the first one.

With that in mind, Alric slowly began steering them towards where he wanted to go.

He wasn't overt about it, instead he was subtle. He would gently press Danger to the right or the left on the path, act like he was reading one of the holo-placards, then move on. Slowly, he moved them towards where he wanted to go, Lily and Rose following along to either side of them, the youngest twin now standing next to Danger so she could better hold conversation with her, Lily listening as well.

No one paid attention to what Alric was doing.

"What did you...run?"

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

"A modified Why-Tee Thirteen Hundred." Danger would reply, a bit surprised that Rose was asking her more questions. Over head, a holographic placard would indicate they were nearing the botanical garden for the world of Sylvia IV. This was the homeworld of the botanical, humanoid species called the Sylphes. Their skin was green, and had long flowers growing on top of their heads. Their metabolism required high quantities of water, and in an extended exposition to an arid climate could be lethal.

At the very least it wouldn't be as humid as Felucia, but they were still dealing with 70% humidity. Which was a boon for the old Tetan, but not as much as he'd like it to be.

"Ran all sorts of runs down the Southern Systems. The cartel had quite the hold down round Ryloth and further on to Roon." she would continue explaining. "Arceneau Trade began as an armstech and armormech company. The bulk of the creditflow came in dealing out weapons." might make Danger sound like a Lady of War, but at that time, folk needed some way to protect themselves. It was a do to die type of 'verse, and one had to arm themselves up to protect what was theirs and what they held dear.

"That was when the first Sith Empire came about..." her brows furrowed in memory. Feth, that was a long while ago. "Slipped in and out of there territory, past a few of their blockades during their first expansion."

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

At least it wasn't as bad as Felucia. The humidity was sitll there, well above what he was used to, but at the very least there was now a semblance of, well, not normality but comfort. Alric relaxed a little bit, his skin no longer feeling like it was melting off. The plants here were also slightly more...normal. They were less alien, more standard. Alric found himself inspect the first few bits of Fauna with a rather large amount of interest, though that quickly faded away.

"The First Sith Empire?"

The girls both looked at one another, then at their father.

He frowned. "Oh no, don't look at me. If you two had paid attention in school you'd know exactly what she was talking about."

Lily looked at her sister, then with some trepidation she cleared it up for herself.

"The First Sith Empire, founded by Moridin?"

Close enough. Alric knew that it hadn't been founded by him, but it had been turned into an official Empire by him. The old Man nodded, and Rose and Lily continued their questioning of Danger. That really only made him smile more, knowing that the more they talked, the more at east they would be.

"But wasn't that dangerous? What if the Sith had caught you?"

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

Danger should likely be paying more attention to the botanical flora they were walking past. Since PharmaTech was moving towards bringing back extinct botanical plants and reviving the endangered ones, this trip would be a good way to gather and collect ideas on how the Tetans were maintaining their gardens.

However, Rose and Lily were both now asking questions. More and more of Danger's tension would wane as with each query, it became easier to simply answer. It was as if the twins were rather facinated by the tale and elaboration. Perhaps it is because none would believe that Danger Arceneau had lived such a life. It did have a bit of a holo-book Outer Rim Spacer Tale to it.

Not to mention, who would presently connect a blockade runner Captain with the Queen of Trade herself?

"Comes with the territory." Danger would reply, panning to Lily from Alric after catching his gaze. This was a new shift. "Wouldn't have the first time I'd have to deal with being caught." It wasn't. There were some dark times in her past. One of those that ended up with her getting toss into the rancid pit of a cell at Jrora's Palace after Noxu disappeared. That's when she first met the very Noghri that had come to protect Lily and Rose. She came out of that losing her baby, but stronger. With the Nine Hells to pay.

Almond shaped green orbs would slip past Lily and Rose's head over to Alric. A faint upward arch of her brows would subtly relay her surprise at their questions. Maybe even a bit of relief?

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

Lily bit her lip.

His eldest daughter wasn't really used to the idea of such things, didn't really like the thought of capture or anything of the sort. For Rose it was more...common, she had after all be traveling throughout all of the outer rim, the idea of smuggling and such was not new to her. Still, there was a tad bit of nerve in the way she looked. Clearly Rose didn't like the thought too much either.

"Did you ever want to go back to it? Captaining a ship, I mean?"

That question came form Lily.

The old man found that odd, Lily had never really been interested in the flying of starships, had never really been interested in anything else but doing what he did. Maybe the thought of Danger having a more...broad spectrum had brought thoughts to the forefront of her mind, thoughts of what she herself could do. He turned to Danger and saw the look that she gave him. In response he could only offer her a small smile and a shrug.

This was good though, he liked it.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

That query surprised her. So much that the subtle perplexity would ripple across her face. Her step slowed to a pause. Was Lily really that interested? It took a few seconds, time that likely would make it seem as if Danger was considering Lily's question and how to answer it. In reality, Danger brought to the fore of her mind a tidbit Alric had once shared with her.

That first night at the apartment, when they both lay upon the very couch she had pilfered to get him out of his office. It was there where Alric had told her of how the girls enjoyed listening to his stories. The tales of his past. How he had survived the Tuskens. How he had managed to get free. About the girl who had saved his life.

In this instant, something clicked. It made sense.

"Not in the same manner, no." she would finally answer them. "However I do enjoy disappearin' every now and then and flying into the black."

She felt the encouraging press of Alric's fingers against her waist, the subtle presence that said she was doing just fine.

"Takes a bit to make sure I don't cause a stir." that was putting it lightly. But this was one of those reasons she had an alias and why she'd often simply fade into the desert like a typical Bedouin. As it was, she was highly recognizable. Lily would be able to understand that at least.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

Lily nodded slightly. She did in fact understand that notion, all of them did. They were all famous to a degree, though Danger was likely the most famous of them all. Either way, they all had a certain amount of fuss about them, though Lily more so than Rose. The twins had experienced that for most of their lives, the spotlight. Alric had tried to bring them up away from it as much as he could, though inevitably it had always struck them at some point.

The idea of disappearing? Well, it had struck Rose as favorable of course, she had done it after her stint in the hospital and her loss of the force. Her disappearance had been very common news of Empress Teta, and had even spread a bit around the galaxy, Lily herself had been much the talk of the tabloids, though much less so now. Both of the twins looked at each other for a moment, then kept walking through the gardens. Rose went back to observing the plants more, genuinely interested.

Lily still put her attention on Danger, though she steered away from the topic of 'disappearing'.

"Do you enjoy it? The business? Running all of it and doing what you do?"

That question made Alric wonder himself. He'd never asked Danger that, he'd always just assumed that she did. His eyes slowly wandered to her, curious.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

The path would wind, revealing large vines that would crawl up the walls and among the jungle trees. Their blooms were a vibrant pink, blue, and white. There was a small man made brook, with an arching bridge that they could walk over.

Lily's question would be a bit more difficult to answer. More than the younger woman would realize. Nothing was black and white anymore. Nothing simply at face value. She caught the blue of Alric's eyes, the same that hue that would match Lily and Rose. They came upon the bridge, the wood creaking for a bit as their weight would settle on top of it.

"It's all I'd ever known." it is how she could sum it up. Did she enjoy it? There were parts of her that did. Parts of her that drove and fed her ambition, her desire to overcome and come out on top. A successful business sale, negotiating a contract. Knowing that what she did, how she did it, would impact so many.

It brought her fame. It brought her money. It brought her just about everything she could ever want.

But at what sacrifice?

A look would pass between Alric and she, one more poignant from Danger herself.

"My daddy taught me to do it well." she had to. With the death of Remi, joining her mother a few years after they put her into the ground, Danger was all that was left. All that there was to the Arceneau legacy.

"As did his daddy before him, and so on." This was moving into an area where she was revealing far more information to the girls than she had ever done with others, much the less on the same day. Interviews with her had political answers given. With Lily and Rose, Danger was being a bit more honest.

And every statement told gave an indication that there was more than met the eye.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

Lily gave a small nod, and Alric gave her a small, but knowing smile.

For Danger it wasn't about like and dislike, it was about duty, about carrying on her family name. That meant a lot to her. For Alric it was different. He didn't mind if his daughters married and took someone else's name, he didn't mind if they never called themselves Kuhn's. For him it wasn't about the name, it wasn't even about his legacy or his families legacy, it was about his girls being happy. As far as he was concerned that was all that mattered.

"Oh."

Lily said, understanding and biting her lip slightly. Alric could see in her that she was thinking about herself, how she thought and approached the company that her mother had given to her. Rose saw it too, her eyes fixing on Lily for a moment before shifting to her father. Lily was technically the Empress of Teta, a lofty title, though one she perhaps did not want. Rose looked at her sister, then directed her attention to Danger, taking the subject away.

That was what they did for each other.

"Did you fly the ship? Or just give the orders?"

Rose returned to Danger's captaining days.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

"Piloted it myself." and did everything else besides that and more. The fixing, the navigating, the meetings to check off the manifest. Droids and some off and on contractors would do the lifting, but everything else was on her own.

"As did everything else." the one time she had someone on a more permanent basis was with Narevni. And even then, while she still gave the orders, it was her dredging through the swamps of Taris for salvage material and to deliver goods. Those five years were some of the most free she ever felt. On her own, away from her pa. Away from the Arceneau name hovering over her shoulder.

She'd just been Danger. Simple as that.

"My daddy would say one 'can't run a shippin' company without gettin' ones hands covered in engine grease.' I had to learn from the ground up. He said 'folk tend to listen out of respect earned.'" here was more about their differences. "Not nepotism."

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

Lily nodded, Rose did too.

That made sense to both of them really.

It was something that Alric had tried to instill in his daughters, the sense that they had to treat others with respect and show their own capabilities before demanding something of someone else. They both understood that fact of life, and they both respected the people that were below them in rank and position. Lily treated the employees of Koros well, and Rose treated those who she had met on her trip well. That was one thing that both of the girls had always stuck with.

For a moment, silence hung in the air, the four of them just remaining quiet.

Then Lily asked her next question, Alric being entirely sure that it wouldn't be the last.

"Did you ever teach my dad any of that stuff?"

Alric let out a snort.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

That snort would prompt a dig of her elbow in Alric's rib.

Granted, it was about the same reaction she'd of had herself had he not beat her to it. Instead, she shook her head, and a wave of amusement swept over her face.

"No... your daddy is an extra kind of special when it comes to that." that was putting it lightly. Tatooine proved that bit quickly. Alric Kuhn was a nobleman thorough and thorough. He wasn't raised to captain his own ship. To fix an engine. To do general maintenance. No, what he did was pay others to do so because he believed them to be competent enough to do it.

It was only on rare occasions he had been aspired to take matters into his own hands. His time in underground fight clubs and that time he chased her down personally were the rare few examples.

... But she wasn't going to elaborate on that.

"However," a pause then a sly glance over towards Alric. "Reckon there are a few things that stuck."

A pause.

"Researching worlds prior to visitation I reckon is one of 'em."

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

Both of the girls giggled at that. They knew the story well enough, he had told it to them once or twice and had made his own foolish mistakes part of the story itself. That was what a good story teller did, he didn't make things up...at least not entirely, there was always a hint of truth. His own out of placeness on Tatooine had become a part of the story, though he had eventually told that adaption had come with time...even if that wasn't entirely true.

"We can't all be perfect." Alric commented flatly, staring at all three of them. "Why don't we talk about Hoth?"

Alric looked at Danger, and both the girls looked rather confused.

Neither of them knew about Danger's hatred of cold of course. Alric knew, and he would use that very weapon against her now to stave off his own embarrassment.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

Danger gave a sweet, sugary smile.

"Well, if we go into that, you can't leave out the Cathedral of Winds." reminding him of how he reacted to the strong gusts on Vortex -- and his choice words on the matter. It was evident by their banter that there was an easy discourse between the two adults, a certain spark that would ignite with a deftness to swerve the gravball back to the other.

At this point, Danger would glance back at the girls, giving a deliberate mysterious wag of her brows. "And we can't leave out Byblos."

Yes, that was in direct reference to his couch and her pilfering of it. In fact, one couldn't wipe the smug grin on her face as she slipped from Alric's grasp and moved a few steps ahead of him.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

He smiled.

Oh he remembered well how that all had gone, though he still counted Byblos as a win for him since in the end...well this whole arrangement had come of it. That was an entire story that he didn't have time to recount or argue about right now, but he still did count it as a win for him, after all, he was now able to faceplant into Dangers amble breasts whenever he wanted and well..that was a grand indicator of victory. He grinned slightly at the thought, though obviously didn't say it out loud.

Instead he simply steered them towards the left of the path, a subtle grin split across his face.

Then Alric shrugged, and then simply pointed up. The sign that his finger pointed towards read 'Hoth'

Lily and Rose burst out into giggle fits.