The Little Things

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Aeri Vyn"]

Alric only raised an eyebrow.

The Tetan had never liked it when strangers made their way into his homes or offices. Strangely it seemed to happen quite a bit more than one would expect, quite often actually. Luckily Aeri was hardly a stranger. She was Kiran's cousin, both of them born on Zeltros and both of them being raised in the same manner. There had been a time one when he had trusted the woman almost as much as her cousin, now however it was different. Aeri would never hurt him of course, but now she was her own agent.

It was the same way with Kiran. He still saw the man was a friend, perhaps even a brother, but the same amount of trust wasn't there. Before both Aeri and Kiran had been tied to him, had been part of his will, now they were independent. Alric didn't mind it, he just knew that now some secrets had to be kept.

"I really need that new security system." Alric mused to himself as he wandered passed Aeri and towards one of the shelves.

 

[Cira]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

Age had not lessened Aeri's hearing, or empathic abilities.

Her lips drew into an amused smile. Turning on the ball of her foot, the statuesque Zeltron beamed that smile over to the former Titan.

"Mistah Kuhn, a pleasure to see you again," she made the cordial greeting, inclining her head. Glancing up from her data pad, her eyes held a certain amusement. Was it at his expense? It was hard to tell. There was no denying that the former Valkyrie respected the man, but it had been close to twenty years since he's also been in touch with her. Kiki would reference what Saeva did from time to time; that is what she could pry out of him during their vacations together. Although he had been particularly tight lipped about the Tetan. Danger had not been the only one to be surprised at his sudden arrival from death.

She had given Kiki some payback because of that. Warning her would have made it easier to deal with the fall out.

As it was, security was one of the points Aeri was reviewing. With Danger moving in, ensuring everything was cyber encrypted and at the highest standard was imperative. Not for fear of Alric Kuhn, but due to the mobility of the station.

"A new security system won't help if one has the key code," she added, humor in her voice but still matter of fact. Truth be told, she wasn't too sure about the choices Miz Arceneau was making. She had seen and felt the aftermath left in the wake of the Tetan prior. Normally she wouldn't care, being a Zeltron meant that one simply found love elsewhere, encouraged it so - even if it was just sex. But the woman was her friend as much as her boss- and she also had to deal with the emotional backwash. That gave her migraines.

"Will you be using Saeva for that?"

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Aeri Vyn"]

He eyed her for a moment.

"No." Alric retorted. "I think I'm just gonna do it myself."

The Tetan mused outloud, getting a rather humorous expression on his face as though he were beginning to plot something. A smile crossed his features, though it only remained for a few seconds before quickly slipping away into a more neutral visage. "Maybe set some booby traps. Get a trapdoor installed in the entryway, maybe a net in the lobby, you know that sort of thing."

Of course he was probably kidding, or at least there was a good chance he was.

In reality he didn't really need any security at all. There was already a healthy compliment of Saeva soldiers aboard the station, and as Vanir Technologies made a greater move onto the station that presence would only increase. It would have been foolish to strike at Alric here, and even more foolish to break into his apartment.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

"Reckon that would make hijacking your couch a bit troublesome," Danger's amused drawl came up from behind the Tetan and Aeri, a slight bemused shake of her head relayed that she was sure Alric was kidding.

"Why stop at the net? Make it an electrified stun net. Get them knocked out like a womprat trap." the chuckle would bubble from her throat, but it was a wonder if she was serious with that other suggestion. It would work.

A glance at Aeri and then a smile followed, "How we doing Aeri?" came her query, walking up in a slow amble to the duo. Earlier that day was spent in bringing in the luggage and unpacking her clothes. It was a good thing Alric had plenty of room. There was a reason why she had a large walk in closet in every apartment and estate she owned. One didn't look this good without a wardrobe that would emphasize what her momma gave her.

It was all part of business afterall.

"We are almost finished establishing a secure firewall and..." Aeri went on to explain the specifics of cyber security that would ensure a stable and secure area for her to conduct her business. Not that it hadn't been before, but if she was going to be doing the bulk of her work at the skyhook when she wasn't traveling, this was to become her main hub of information base.

Coming to a stop next to Alric, she came leaning forward, pressing a kiss to his cheek. Aeri ignored it, and continued on with her report. However, that didn't stop the slight perk of her eyebrow at the token of affection. Danger was known for keeping personal displays of affection under wraps, and while it was an ongoing theme to see them together, even this was a bit ... alarming.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

Alric smiled, though he kept digging through the bookshelf.

He had moved in here a few months ago at the behest of Danger, and most of the things that were in the apartment were his now, though a few things actually already belonged to Danger oddly enough. The books, however, were one thing that were well and truly his. More than a few of them had come from the library on Empress Teta, and more than a few were ancient beyond all belief. They were one of the few things that hadn't burnt up when the Mandalorians invaded his homeworld.

The Tetan shifted slightly, then finally pulled a volume off the shelves.

It was an old book, one with a leather cover that seemed to be stretched over a lighter material. He took it in one of his hands, letting the other loosely flow over the small of Danger's back as he walked on by her. He wasn't too concerned with the security measures, mostly because half of them were already in place, and the other half didn't really matter all that much to him. Vanir operated entirely on the Dark-Net, something that no slicer could break into without a great amount of effort and research on their part.

Danger didn't have the same luxury.

"What about a new door?" Alric said as he placed the book on the counter top. "Can we get one of those?"

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]


Curiosity would spark in Danger's eyes as her gaze would trail Alric's path, appraising the tome he set upon the counter top. Blinking, her focus drew up to his face, and the corner of her mouth perked, "Well, do you want a custom door?"

Her full hipped sway went towards the wooden bar. While the library was a place of rest and relaxation - and wake up calls - there was a small area of carved dark stained wood that would hold enough space for a few bottles of decanters. Something close by to wet the whistle.

Danger wasn't itching for a drink, instead her hand went to reach for the small vaporizer Alric had given her a few months back. It was really more of a quaint little thing, but being inside a skyhook didn't give her quite the full on experience of being able to enjoy a cigar. Health was an issue too, and while she still did not kick her indulgence in cigarillos, Alric had managed to surprise her by having Vanir Technologies craft the flavor she had jokingly requested.

As such, she amusingly used it from time to time.

"Full biometrics? Or perhaps a nice heavy wood? We can have whatever you like carved on it. Or perhaps we should just make it out of carbonite and place the last person who managed to break into your home as a relief across it?" a smirk, and then the press of a button would illuminate the led light. She took a deep drag and let the nicotine rush through her longs along with the vapor.

"Not to mention..." a stream of smoke flew from her smirking lips. "Have to make sure that the door can handle any manner of punishment." there was a gleam in her eyes.

"For posterity."

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

He chuckled. Of course he had been kidding about the door, making a joke about the changed that were occurring within his home. Truthfully he didn't really mind, and he had expected it. Danger needed to add her own little flair to his apartment, their apartment. He didn't care, but that didn't mean he couldn't make fun while he did it.

"Maybe something made of ice." Alric said with about as much enthusiasm as he could fake.

A wide grin spread on his face. "We can steal one from the hotel!"

It wasn't really stealing, or at least he thought so. After all Alric owned the ice hotel, so if he wanted one of their doors he should be able to take one without much thought or pause from anyone. As he looked at Danger with his wide grin Alric slowly opened the book that he laid out in front of himself.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

A snort came next.

"Well that might prove difficult once it starts melting," she'd toss in, shaking her head as Aeri caught her eye. With the details seen to, the Zeltron made to excuse herself.

"I'll go and check on the transport for the rest of the cargo." The silver and lavender maned woman would tell the redhead, giving one last tap of her datapad to send out the memo she had been typing up during Alric's and Danger's banter.

"Alisha wanted me to relay that Six and her are taking care of things, so consider this your mandatory month long vacation." that brought a sudden blink and arch of Danger's right eyebrow. Few could get away with such a claim, and it was clear by the sudden wash of amusement over Danger's visage that she considered it a rather comical statement.

Buuuuuuut, Aeri's expression said she was quite serious.

"I beg your pardon?" Danger asked, questioning. "My mandatory vacation?"

"Alisha said that if she see's your, and I quote, " arse 'round these parts, I'll hogtie her and send her right back!'" granted, the most amusing part of that was Aeri's straight face.

Figures that the Rutian would say that. She also said that Danger needs to get laid, but Aeri decided to leave that bit out.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

Alric chuckled. He had always liked that woman, though he hadn't met her more than a few times. For some reason she was one of the few that could actually talk back to Danger and not catch any flack for it. Maybe that was why Alric liked her, she was a silent companion in that regard, he also had that ability and he regularly used it, like just a few moments ago.

"Vaction?" He mused out loud. "Whatever will you do?"

The Tetan sounded smug enough for three people. "Actually, come to think of it...I do still have that maid outfit laying around here somewhere."

That last bit was said quietly, so quietly that Danger would strain to hear it, or hopefully she wouldn't hear it at all.

It was still a bit of a sore spot for her really, him taking Six and making her into a maid for a few days. Supposedly the HRD still carried more than a few tics from that programming, which quite truthfully still amused Alric to no end, though he had never seen one of those quirks himse;f

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]


Danger immediately shot a narrowed glare at the Tetan's direction. One would wonder if it was due to the former or the later of Alric's peanut gallery commentary. It was just his luck it was to the former, but by the way the former Titan had a rather smug expression painted over his face, she was sure it was something that she was likely to not find humor with.

In fact, as the devilry would glow in his bright blue eyes. She was sure of it. So she gave him a pointed look, one that said she was going to have him give his pound of flesh later. In what manner, well that was up in the air. As it was, her attention would draw back to Aeri.

However, the minx had so aptly and soundly stepped out of the library. "Aeri!" Danger's voice called out behind her, and she had every intention to go after the woman. The only answer was a ,"Alisha sends her love!"

Then the hissing shut of the door.

Oh, they were lucky they could get away with that! Alric, on the other hand, only found humor in the situation. The twitching of his lips only proved that. So when she went walking past the acceleration couch he sat at, she gave him a light smack on the shoulder.

"Hush you!" her lips would purse. Oh there was no doubt Alisha would follow through with her threat. Danger just had to think of a way to get the woman back. They would have a discussion about this so called vacation. Only thing that the Queen of Trade wouldn't know until later, is that Aeri had been instructed to ensure all calls would be forwarded to Six and Alisha. That was another reason why the Zeltron had personally come to the apartment. If she could fix it so that Danger couldn't get in contact with the company and her calendar was cleared, she had no other choice than to leave the skyhook for business.

And odds were that Alric Kuhn was not going to allow her to do that.

With an exhale, Danger would glance down at the vape in her hand then at the book Alric had swung open. With a hip coming to rest along the side of the couch, she gestured to the tome.

"The afternoon readin' I presume?"

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

Alric shook his head, an arm slowly sliding around Danger's hip as he pulled her onto the armrest of the couch itself, ensuring that she was half leaning against him.

"Genealogy." The Tetan said as his other hand half sprawled across the paper, his index finger pointing towards the title scripted in ancient Tetan. Danger couldn't read it of course, but she could infer that it was likely titled something relevant to the Kuhn Family. There were pages and pages of hand scrawled lettering, some of it rather ornate, others just quick notation. As a whole the book was quite large, large enough to suite several generation.

"Rose asked about it in her last message." Alric said quietly. "Ancient stuff. It should technically be in this book."

Alric's family had a long and stories past, something that Danger was aware of.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]


Curiosity would spark in Danger's eyes at that. Warmth would permeate where his arm looped round her hip, his hands playing an idle gentle trade over it it as he held her close. Her own arm went sliding over his shoulder, leaning against him as she peered down at the sigils and references of the Kuhn family tree.

Now she understood, and she gave a small nod. Her eyes would survey the parchment, glancing over the supplemented text with decorative initials, gold flaked borders, and miniature illustrations. It was highly decorated, and in that she recalled that Alric's linage was more than just that of a mere common man.

He was by all intents and purposes, nobility. As were Rose and Lily. A sudden thought came to her mind. Hadn't his wife been the Empress of Teta?

Well, that certainly made things interesting when considering the ramifications of that.

"What was she looking for in particular?" came her query, her fingers lightly running through the hair at the nape of his neck in the same idle massage as he did over her hip.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

"My ancestors were involved with some kind of cult way before the Galactic Republic was even a thing." Alric mused out loud to Danger as he began to flip through pages. "It was something my father was very prideful of, though I never really cared all that much. Apparently Rose ran across something that connects that to the outer rim, or maybe the reverse. She wasn't really keen on the specifics just needed to know what the name of our ancestor was who originally ran with the group."

He assumed it was something to do with the force, but he didn't really know.

Alric had never really understood the force, mostly because he never really cared to. His now deceased wife had explained a few things to him, and as Rose and Lily had grown up they had trained in the force extensively, but Alric had never been able to grasp the concept of it, at least as a whole. That sat well with him, there were some things that a man wasn't supposed to understand. "Here he is."

The Tetan flipped to nearly the last page, finding a portrait of a man who looked very much like Alric. His eyes were painted a deep yellow, his skin was flawless and his beard was trimmed almost in the exact fashion that the former Titan wore. Alric let out a small scoff.

"Handsome guy." Alric commented as he looked up at Danger with a smile. "Masrath Tomhil Kuhn."

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]


Another snort was his answer.

"Hmph, too pretty by half." she commented, raking her fingerpads through his hair. Danger's... not so keen judgement on Force Users was a very little known prejudice she had. Likely always will. It always seemed to her that all that honky religion and magical whathaveyou was just an excuse. A crutch. There were many who used it to advance themselves, and while yes, they had done well, Danger didn't see it as a true validation of their skillset, of their ability.

Mainly because it was used as an extra leg up. It is one thing to use persuasion skills of a silver tongue. Quite another when you can simply make anyone do what you wanted by a mere wave of your hand.

There was no fun in that.

"Masrath Tomhil Kuhn." Danger would repeat, her tongue rolling the name with her accent. Likely butchering it, but what could one do? While everything was in ancient Tetan, the more modern version of it she understood well. That was something she'd seen keen to learn back when Alric and she had their encounters. Something he didn't know about just yet. It wasn't perfect, but she could get along just fine with understanding the gist of it.

"Ain't no wonder, he's that look about him as if he's up to something alright." came her half joke, bringing the vaporizer back up to her lips to take another hit.

"How's Rose doing?"

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

From his coat pocket Alric pulled a small datapad, he held it in front of the page and scanned the image, a few seconds later a carbon copy of the page appearing on his screen. He looked at it for a moment, then placed it back into his coat pocket. He would compose a message for Rose tonight and place that within it, hopefully she'd be in a place where she could get it.

"Well enough." Alric mused as he sank back into the Sofa.

He was receiving more updated from her now, one or two every two weeks. Previously he had only received one a month. He knew Lily got a message once a week, but he wasn't jealous or mad about that. His daughters had a bond that he would be hard pressed to explain to anyone. "She's made it to wild space now, near Csilla."

Funnily enough Alric had been there some time ago, thought as he understood Rose was sticking to the more wild worlds.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]


"Erkard mentioned she seems happier now." she added quietly, her fore finger reaching over to lightly trace the shell of his ear. The reports from both of the Nogrhi companions that Danger had assigned to Lily and Rose came as regularly as they could. She knew that the Noghri were taking to the Kuhn twins almost as if an extension of family, as such was their culture when serving under a particular individual.

It was a quality that Danger respected and was thankful for, one of the many reasons she had tasked them to watch over the twins. To hear that Rose was doing better after all she had suffered was a comfort.

"If she's near Csilla, then I imagine she might venture out into the Unknown Regions." she added, mulling over that. A thought came to mind.

"I could ask one of my contractors who chart the lanes round that way for her maps. Miss Blake takes to explorin' round them parts, and she's as skilled as Merrill when it comes to that. Could send them over to Rose if she's so inclined."

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

He shrugged.

"I don't think she's interested in maps, Darling." Alric said quite truthfully. "From what i've gathered, she's just going wherever the wind takes her."

It was true enough. Whenever Alric asked where she was going next he promptly received a reply message that always detailed how she had no idea. Rose was traveling on the words of locals, on her own instinct, and at true random. It was a scary thought for a father but there was very little that he could do about it now. "I think it's best we just let her go her on way, only give her help when she asks."

His hand squeezed her hip gently, a sign that he more than appreciated the offer.

Alric of course wanted what was best for his daughter, and if he could have he would have forced Rose to use every map he could find, but that wasn't in the cards.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]


The endearment was new.

For once it wasn't said with sarcasm or bite. It caught her a bit bit surprise, but only the slight pause of her finger caressing his ear was even an indication of it. Even then, it probably would be so subtle that it wouldn't be much of a concern. She none the less would continue the caress, until she came to the full lobe of his ear. From there, the light rake of her fingers would lightly trace over his neck.

"Alright," came her agreement after. She meant it more that it would give Rose options to travel, something for her to consider. But perhaps Rose was just enjoying being able to head off into a direction and discover things herself.

She could respect that.

Taking a deep breath, Danger filled her lungs with air. "Reckon we'll just have to leave everything to her pace." she figured. A glance around would remind her that she still had some things to put away with the move. It was... rather odd. It still seemed a bit surreal for her.

A glance went down back at the Tetan, then a faint teasing smirk drew over her face.

"Not to late to take it back." she joked, her fingers coming up to lightly scratch at his jawline.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

A small smile pulled at his lips, though it quickly disappeared as he yanked Danger from the armrest to his lap.

He was, admittedly, getting up there in years, but constant fitness and exercise meant that he was still quite strong for his age. Plus, Danger was still a rather diminutive woman. So it wasn't too difficult to pull her into his lap. His arms almost immediately wrapped around her, his beard scratching against the skin on her neck as he planted a kiss there.

"True." He mused to himself. "But then who would organize all my stuff?"

Alric said it with a sly grin, kissing her before she could give him a full answer.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]


The soft shriek of laughter was quickly caught by Alric's lips. Smiling against them and now draped across his lap, Danger shut her eyes. In that moment, she simply let go. She let the current take her, the flow of the intimate moment surrounding them both. Kissing him back, laughing slightly against him, her arms would curl around him, drawing him closer, losing herself in the kiss.

What worries she had, uncertainties, fears -- all were cast to the side as the Queen of Trade simply became a woman in the embrace of the former Titan.

Maybe that month long vacation wasn't such a bad idea after all...