Why Do I Need an Office Anyway?

[Darth Caecus]

She'd spent almost a week under observation after Felucia. [member="Darth Saarai"] had been insistent, and then even more so in an enforced vacation. Insistent enough for threats of making it a direct order if she didn't go quietly. Kith had acquiesced, frankly too tired to argue further. The period of rest had been a boon, even she would admit that now. However, the changes instituted after it she was entirely certain were overkill.

An office, down the hall from Tai Fa's. She had not yet been 'cleared' for combat duty, whatever that meant. Arguing that she did not fall under military jurisdiction had earned further sternness. Who knew a meter tall peacock could be so firm?

"Give me something to do," she finally snapped. It was deeply uncharacteristic of the usually laconic Sith Lord and it had brought a thoughtfulness into his eyes as he stroked his beak.

"There are a couple of meetings I've had to push back time and again," he admitted finally. "I believe that should keep you busy until you are fully recovered."

She resisted the urge to argue that she was fully recovered. Instead her eyes had narrowed ever so slightly.

"What kind of meetings?"

*****

That was how Darth Caecus found herself waiting in an office she didn't want, for a meeting with a man who's name had been oddly left off of the appointment calendar. Someone from Jaeger Solutions, to discuss a new line of Tie Bombers.

Not her section in the slightest. Why he hadn't handed it over to someone in the Armada, she had no idea.

Dressed in her usual soft greys, Kith sat behind the desk. Mostly, she moved papers back and forth, pretending she wasn't moving papers back and forth. Waiting.

[member="The Slave"]

 

[Darth Empyrean]

The Slave walked through the halls, more explorative than business like. Some sort of juvenile sense of wonder had taken over, and as he walked through the high ceiling, pillared halls he found a faint ‘ooh’ and ‘awe’ escaping his lips every few moments. It was a beautiful place, and the fact he may have taken a stimulant or two before showing up to the meeting didn’t help but to make the colors all the more vivid. He wasn’t exactly known for his business attitude, but as he passed by one of the various named rooms in the hall some faint memories began to play back.

“Please, don’t screw this up.”, Cybele’s motherly tone implored.

Oh yeah, he was here for Jaeger. A sigh left his lips as he let the exotic fur coat he wore trail behind him, only to sway to a standstill when he moved to knock on the door. Jaeger was nothing more than a side project for him, though he didn’t mind the money that was coming in from the project. In truth, his goals were far more grand, far more interesting than the workings of some mundane corporate entity; but Cybele encouraged it, saying it’d be a great way to secure income or something.

He didn’t really listen. Still, it was a bit late for that now, as the door slid open and in he stepped in, offering an almost tired grin to this Darth Caecus.

“Hey there. I’m here about the uh…”, he glanced to some slightly faded writing on his hand before looking up to her with some confidence in his posture and tone;

“Pie Rompers.”

… That didn’t sound right.

[member="Darth Caecus"]

 

[Darth Caecus]

Kith blinked.

She wasn't sure what she had expected, but had prepared as well as possible, for any eventuality. Or, so she'd thought. But perhaps it was a flaw in her experiences that she had not, for a moment, considered twink on a kite in her list of possible scenarios for this meeting. Of course, she didn't actually have the words to explain that to someone else.

"Pie..... rompers?"

It wasn't until she echoed the words out loud herself that she realized what he was talking about.

"Tie bombers."

Nonplussed, she motioned for him to sit in the chair on the opposite side of the desk.

For a moment, she didn't have the foggiest idea of what to say.

Why wasn't this straight forward? If she'd been here to kill him this wouldn't be confusing. Mentally, Kith sighed, recognizing how deeply unhelpful that was, but not really knowing what else to do with it. Other than learn, and try to figure it out.

"I'm Kith," she offered, feeling so far out of her depth it wasn't even funny. She could be cool, calm, collected and ready for anything.

And then Tai Fa has stuck her in an office.

"And you are.....?"

[member="The Slave"]

 

[Darth Empyrean]

“Yeah, those.”, The Slave said with a muffled sigh.

Striding across the office, fur coat trailing him, he couldn’t help but look more like a crime lord than the supposed business representative they told her about. His eyes held dark circles beneath them, likely a sign of staying up too late, and his expression was more placid and tired than energetic and charismatic. Everything assumed of him, just didn’t exist, and there was nothing to truly pull her in any other sense of thinking.

Rubbing his head as he sat, he glanced over to her with a somewhat honest smile. After she introduced herself, he remained silent for a moment before simply shrugging and speaking in response;

“Don’t have one. Call me whatever you like.”

Glancing around the room allowed him a momentary break to appreciate the aesthetics of the office, but eventually his gaze came back to her as he fondled the necklace around his neck. It was what held in his force aura while wandering the grounds; likely to not disturb the various force sensitives that wandered the halls. He wasn’t exactly known for being subtle in presence, after all.

[member="Darth Caecus"]

 

[Darth Caecus]

Entirely nonplussed, Kith had no idea what to make of this young man. She hadn't known what to expect to begin with, so the fact that he was different from his usual self was lost on her.

There were things that Kith was good at. Excelled at even. This?

This was not one of them.

"Er."

She blinked.

And mentally cursed the peacock.

Perhaps also herself, just a little. She had, after all, asked for something to do. Something to keep her busy until she passed muster after Felucia. With war with the Alliance on the horizon, she expected that would not be long, whether Tai Fa were happy with it or not. But that didn't help her here and now, trying to figure out just how to respond to something entirely outside of her experience.

"Okay."

She didn't particularly care that he didn't have a name. It was just so far outside of the mental calculus of familiar experience that she didn't know what to do with it. Should she care? Should she care that she didn't? None of this would have even been a thing a month ago, so why was it now?

What had changed?

Everything.

She noticed his appraising look around the office and followed his eyes herself, looking at it critically for a moment.

"I didn't decorate it," she said, a little lamely, not entirely certain if that was the right thing to say.

[member="The Slave"]

 

[Darth Empyrean]

“A shame. I bet you could do it extremely well.”, he said idly before glancing back to her.

Studying her, he noticed her taut build, the tenseness in her movements. There was something about her that screamed warrior, not diplomat, and certainly not someone who was here to partake in business willingly. She practically yelled it in her face, screamed it in her every motion and microexpression; something he could pick up on with ease all things considered.

“So, I assume my assistant sent all the information beforehand, or…”, he paused, as if to ask the question of her himself.

The Slave simply stopped there. In all honesty, as well known for lust as he was, Caecus just didn’t do it for him. Perhaps it was the way she around the room with a lost annoyance to her, or the focused expression behind those stale facial movements. Whatever it was, he had no urge to offer some witty flirt nor mindless compliment.

Probably for the best.

[member="Darth Caecus"]

 

[Darth Caecus]

Fortunately, Kith couldn't read his mind. It made things less awkward. And they were already awkward enough, having two people with no right to be negotiating anything more complicated than a tea party, sitting across a desk from each other.

"Oh. Yes."

Kith frowned (the dominate expression when there was any expression at all), and pulled up the files on the desk console. The blueprints for the bomber, as well as the technical read outs floated with a blue glow above the flat surface in the air between them.

"It's a very impressive piece of machinery," she said politely, if a bit stiffly. Compliments did not come naturally to her and she hadn't really gotten the hang of the point of them. He already knew it was, or else they wouldn't be here. If he'd put forward trash, this meeting would never be taking place. So the meeting itself was the acknowledgement that the Empire wanted them to build this ship, and wasn't that enough? But she tried, because she had been informed by a slightly stern mouse that 'no, that was certainly not sufficient.'

She had never been side eyed so hard by a rodent before.

"The Empire would like to agree to a certain number for our fleets. Half payment up front, the other half upon delivery. Is this amenable to you?"

[member="The Slave"]

 

[Darth Empyrean]

The Slave rested his chin in his hand, cocking a brow as she apathetically went through everything in the documents. Impressive piece of machinery? Of course he knew that, that was besides the point. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, the ever present need to ditch this meeting for something a bit more interesting seemed to tease and draw his attention at every ‘dramatic’ and ‘enthralling’ turn their conversation was taking them.

A quietly bit his lip before offering a somewhat placcid response;

“That sounds fine to me. A large stockpile on Oricon has already been produced, so now it would simply depend on the exact quantity.”, he said with a shrug.

“Assuming this goes well; what think you of further relations between Jaeger Solutions and The Sith Empire? We do, afterall, have plenty of other designs we could offer to you for sale…”

The Slave readjusted in his seat, his gaze shifting slightly as he tried desperately to find something more interesting to do in this conversastion. Challenge her? It wouldn’t be the first time he challenged a Sith Lord to a game of mental fortitude, and in all honesty it wouldn’t be the first time he’d won either. Yet, something told him bothering an already agitated Sith within a Sith govermental building surrounded by only more Sith wouldn’t likely play over well for him. With a sigh, he let the the thoughts pass to the wayside with a faint dissapointment.

Not today, young Slave. Not today.

[member="Darth Caecus"]