Wearing:
X
Tags:
Scherezade deWinter
The Bridesmaid
Syrenno Maraan
Oeana Janin
The waiter came and went with their order. Inanna adjusted the sleeves of her gown, baring more of her shoulders in the process. Her eyes were on Hal, though—he returned her stare with a suspicious smirk.
“You didn’t just invite me here for dinner, did you?”
“At a restaurant at the other end of the galaxy? Of course not,” she replied. Finally satisfied, she lowered her hands and leaned forward across the table.
“You know what I like about the Scintilla? No one here gives a damn. Sure, the Agents may be terrorists by nature, but you know none of them will sell out to any other faction. They’re loyal to themselves and nobody else—they all have that one virtue, at least. Anyway…” She produced a compact mirror and pretended to fix her hair.
“I want to talk to you about Ord Tiddell.”
“Ah, the least interesting thing we could possibly talk about,” he muttered, sipping his ice water. No alcohol for Mr. Yomin. After catching a whiff of the gaggle of pink-skinned dames stumbling drunkenly into the dining room amid a cloud of pheromones, Inanna couldn’t blame him for not wanting to drink.
Phew.
“I know, I know—typing up contracts for the Sith so they could dupe some investors into financing a doomed colony, riveting stuff.” She waved her hand dismissively.
“I want you to know that I hate my job too, and the role I played in tricking those people. But I'm not just in it for the money, I have plenty of that saved up. In fact, I only took up a position with them so that I could get inside their organization…”
For once, she caught him off guard. Wide-eyed, he leaned back slowly, silverware clattering as his hand accidentally brushed it. “You gotta be kidding me. You're a
spy?”
"No." She hesitated.
"Well, not exactly. It's not as if I'm working for someone else to try and take the Empire down from within. No, I'm in there of my own free will, for a very specific purpose, looking for someone in particular—"
Inanna spotted a woman waving to her out of the corner of her eye. Brunette, full-figured, wearing a short white dress. She seemed vaguely familiar, though Inanna couldn’t quite place her.
Hal followed her line of sight. “Who’s she?”
“I dunno,” Inanna replied with a nervous smile.
“Want to find out?”
He grimaced. “I mean, I’d rather not get involved in spy stuff right now, especially not on an empty stomach.”
“No spy stuff. I really have no clue who she is.” Hopefully, the stranger's waving right at the moment she was trying to reveal her secret to Hal was purely coincidental and didn't involve the brunette having a hidden ability to read other peoples' lips.
“Then why’s she waving you over like she knows you?”
Inanna’s eyebrows rose.
“Just being friendly, I guess. There are some nice, decent people left in the galaxy, you know. And as long as we’re waiting on the food, why not socialize? It'll help to kill time.”
He looked doubtful. But before he could protest and demand that she finish discussing her espionage within the Sith Empire, she stood up from their booth. The Zeltron sighed in begrudging acceptance as she pulled him along by his sleeve, approaching the table where the brunette and two other women were already seated.
“Hello,” Inanna greeted them with a smile.
“I take it you’re looking for extra company. I’m Inanna, aspiring novelist. This is Hal—”
“I’m her male secretary,” he deadpanned.
“...How are you all doing tonight?”