Exit through the gift shop

[Dom Volaju]

Koblai Art Gallery - Manarai Heights, Coruscant

The small crowd of invited guests, art critics, collectors, curators and others gracefully moved around the brightly lit room of the Koblai art gallery, located in one of the poshest districts in the ecumenopolis. On exhibition was a collection from the late, great surrealist painter Pic Lasso. Although famous in his own right near the end of his life, his death ten years ago brought about a new enthusiasm for his work from the public. This newly kindled popularity meant that many of the pieces in the gallery were valued into the many millions, some much higher still.

"Don't you love how he managed to convey his sense of personal isolation while still illuminating the canvas with color?" a diminutive man in a designer green raincoat quipped to Dom, the both of who were standing at the edge of the gallery.
"Ah yes, it's quite wonderful..."
Dom was in the art business. That isn't to say he was an artist. He certainly wasn't. Nor did he appreciate art like the rest of the connoisseurs gathered in the gallery today. He was into the business aspect of art, which really meant he was into the kinds of people who were in this room. He normally found their type rather 'stuffy' and dull, but they had deep pockets so he put on a mask and played their game. While the people often bored him, the lifestyle didn't, from the the lavish parties and balls to the women so beautiful most unlucky fools would waste a lifetime stuck dreaming of them. Dom was an impostor, and he loved it.

Most important, however, is that these people had contacts. Hell, they were contacts. One may be surprised at how much the world of art and the world of crime overlap. Not that Dom was a criminal, or that any of these 'fine' people were. But Dom was making his transition into the 'goods and services procurement industry', as he called it, and the line between what's legal and what isn't is often blurry. This experience was crucial to building a professional rapport among those that may eventually require his services.

[member="Jen"]

 

[Jen]

Koblai Art Gallery - Manarai Heights, Coruscant

It wasn’t so much that Jen needed the part-time work to sustain her lifestyle, but using your afternoon in nice surroundings to lighten your spending had never hurt anyone when you got credits for simply being present. Well, that was a lie, the being present part. Her job today was a bit more complicated than that, which was also why she had been contacted to carry out this job.

She had been in the near vicinity of Manarai Heights and Hills since her arrival at Coruscant a couple of weeks ago, and had only just recently been contacted to travel to the Koblai Art Gallery to scope out the electronic security systems. She was paid handsomely for the simple task, as the client supposedly trusted her expertise on the matter. One of the great thing about having to scope out an art gallery was that you were allowed to stare. Nothing unusual in that since everyone was standing and eyeballing the paintings or sculptures in the hopes of having an illuminating truth revealed to them if they stared hard and long enough. This made it quite easy to look for cameras and other detectors, which was what Jen was currently doing.

"Don't you love how he managed to convey his sense of personal isolation while still illuminating the canvas with color?" A green raincoat blabbered as Jen passed behind a group of people who were taking one of Pic Lasso’s original paintings into view.

She stood out from the general population of people in here, where most were wearing high Coruscantian fashion, but even though her entire look was quite punk she in this environment seemed more like a hipster daughter of some rich family, her clothes coming from well-known designers and expensive brands. Not many were paying attention to her as she after having passed the group seemed to write the location of an object in the ceiling down on her datapad, making it almost look as if she was simply sending a text on it. She spun somewhat on her feet as she had thoroughly made notes for the object, her amber eyes seeming to search for something as she to cover her glance raised the glass of wine in her left hand to take a long sip.

After a few seconds of glancing around she found her next thing to draw onto the complicated map she was making of the art galleries security systems and slowly started to approach it, letting people take their time as they moved about. Not trying raise to suspicion by being in a hurry. She was in none. The music was alright and, the wine excellent.


[member="Dom Volaju"]

 

[Dom Volaju]

Dom stepped listlessly around the gallery, eyeing the paintings and analyzing the crowd. It was true that seeing works of art in person brought them into a new perspective, one incapable of being appreciated by simply viewing them over the holonet. To be honest, though, he wasn't interested in the art. He was interested in the people, if not for business interests then at least for romance. He scanned the visitors, who were usually too involved in the art and/or themselves to notice prying eyes.

He spotted a young girl with her face buried in her datapad. She was cute, though probably not Dom's type. Her punk look seemed out of place, though there were plenty of alt-scene kooks and free spirits dressed in all manner of attire here. He approached her from behind and stopped unassumingly next to her. Still facing ahead, towards a rather large mural of a cow which appeared to be eating its young, he began to speak. "I heard the artist had an affair with his 14 year old niece while he was still married and 40 years old." He turned his face towards the girl and continued, "the question is: do these people here not know he was a deceitful and incestuous degenerate, do they simply not care, or do they find the whole thing romantic?"

[member="Jen"]

 

[Jen]

After a couple of aristocratic looking people had moved out of the way, Jennifer finally passed yet another group so she got proper view of the sensors that seemed to be embedded in the wall just by another large canvas that seemed to gather the attention of yet another small group of art critics and fancy people alike. Slowly she started to draw out the exact location of the sensors and the type of those that was placed within the wall, her train of thought interrupted as she suddenly heard a voice surprisingly close to her.

"I heard the artist had an affair with his 14 year old niece while he was still married and 40 years old." She turned towards the person while he was talking, the voice seeming to belong to a tall man that appeared to be just a tad younger than most of the, oh so fine people in here. “Huh?” Was all Jen managed to express in her momentary confusion as he likewise turned his face towards hers, continuing his somewhat amusing and weird inquiry: “the question is: do these people here not know he was a deceitful and incestuous degenerate, do they simply not care, or do they find the whole thing romantic?"

She raised a brow, as she took the moment to realize if she knew this person or not, finding his striking blue eyes and stern, yet handsome features to be on par with so many of these art critics looks. He certainly blended into the gathering well. She turned somewhat to actually look at the large canvas they were standing by, not having really looked at the thing until now. Suddenly being met by the rather grotesque and highly absurd paintings motive. A sound of disgust and mild amusement was heard from her as she practically leaned away from the painting momentarily. “I think they don't really care?" She stated while still looking at the painting: "As long there’s a story behind this poodoo they will act like starved beasts. Eager to the own latest conversation starter, yea?"



[member="Dom Volaju"]

 

[Dom Volaju]

Dom's question had gotten a reaction out of the girl. Her response amused him, and he continued: "Me, I think they don't give a damn. Why should they? We've all got skeletons in our closet." He leaned in slightly closer to the girl, lowering his voice. "Of course, there are some who do find it romantic. It's not the idea of love and lust that turns them on though-- they crave danger." He turned his mouth towards the girls ear, lowering his voice to a whisper, and said "I know it's not the art that brings you here, it's the danger..."

He assumed a normal posture and took a sip from his beer. He then looked around the room, taking notice of the high corners and avoiding the paintings. "Have you heard how much these paintings are worth? It's a lot." He pointed to the sensors on the walls. "Those sensors are a gimmick. The real security is invisible to the uninitiated." He looked back at the girl, hoping to gauge her response. Dom didn't doubt her skill, but her subterfuge certainly left something to be desired. It was quite obvious as to why she was here, and it wasn't to enjoy the expressive brush strokes of Pic Lasso.

[member="Jen"]

 

[Jen]

Shivers felt down ones spine was always an unnerving feeling when provoked so suddenly and unexpectedly. Usually the sensation of having someone’s quiet whisper right by your ear and his or hers breath softly felt upon your skin assisted such a reaction quite heavily. This man knew that and was well aware of what he was doing.

Stretching her back somewhat and turning her face away from him allowed her a small moment to regain her cool, both suddenly mildly irritated by the response he had provoked from her, but also intrigued by how on Terra he had managed to figure out what she had been up to. Perhaps she wasn’t as careful as she thought. “Well that is good to know, in case such facts would become relevant to me.” She said slowly in a thoughtful manner, her eyes glancing to the places he had pointed out. “Just out of curiosity. Would you know where the gallery host is?” She paused once more in a thoughtful silence, taking a sip from her glass of wine: “It would never hurt to become... Initiated, as you put it.”



[member="Dom Volaju"]

 

[Dom Volaju]

It was quite clear that Dom's previous comments had struck a chord with the girl. Physiological indicators often betrayed even the most competent in the art of deception when caught off guard. A rush of blood to the face, avoidance of eye contact, touching of the throat or chest, or the trembling of the voice. “Well that is good to know, in case such facts would become relevant to me” she said slowly in a thoughtful manner, her eyes glancing to the places he had pointed out. Dom grinned at the bluff. The girl then asked him if he knew where the gallery host was.

"There are ways to steal such a painting from such a place, you know," He said, dodging her inquiry. Once again, he turned to her: "You just have to pay the right people." Surely she knew the jig was up by now. The ball was in his court. "Now, darling, I don't mean to torture you. Unfortunately, we play by my rules now. First things first:" He extended his hand out gently with a smile. "The name's Dom, and that's all you need to know for now."

[member="Jen"]

 

[Jen]

Jennifer ignored the hand, putting those of her own into the pockets of her baggy, yet slim legged trousers instead. A huff was heard from her as she blew a strand of blue hair away from her face, her amber eyes receding from his once again as she searched the room for any activity out of the ordinary. Surely he would have an accomplish of some sort. She found no signs of an extra eye watching them and with a tense jaw she decided to reply, her voice dripping of sarcasm as she talked: “What a pleasure meeting you, Dom. You can call me… Cyan.”


She really did dislike having control taken out of her hands. Especially by a character such as this Dom. Nevertheless, she knew she currently couldn’t do anything about it here. Certainly, they would trust someone at the likes of him more than her if he started to yell out about theft. If she simply attempted to wander off now, he could put the guards of this gallery on her ass. Which was not exactly what she wanted. For now, she would play by his rules, but one thing was certain. Somehow, she would hit back. Not that he knew when. But approaching someone like he had done and stealing their job, was not something Jennifer was fond of. Not the slightest bit. "So what do you suggest now, smarty pants?"



[member="Dom Volaju"]

 

[Dom Volaju]

Dom knew he had ruffled some feathers when the girl ignored his hand and instead shoved her hands in her pockets and pouted. "Cyan? Ah, like the hair" he said, mockingly running his hand over his hair. He could feel her confidence sag , as if he was growing taller and she was shrinking. Dom enjoyed the sadism.

"If you listen to me, you'll agree that I'm quite generous. I haven't turned you in yet, have I? Now, as somebody who works in the 'industry', I can't stand by as criminals attempt to steal a priceless work of art. That is, unless I get a cut of it." He took a long sip of beer, and continued: "So here's what's going to happen. You'll continue with your work and report back to your boss-- I assume you have a boss? Then when the day comes, we steal it and frame him for the crime." He looked at the girl and smiled. It was a gamble, that was for sure.

[member="Jen"]

 

[Jen]

“Yea, like the hair.” She said, her irritation growing at every single moment they simply stood nailed to the ground in front of that bizarre painting. Perhaps her irritation came mostly due to the constantly rising chance that someone or something listened in on their conversation. However, she for now kept somewhat calm, her right foot constantly tapping the ground as her eyes scanned the crowd around them from time to time.

She however did listen to what he was saying, partly because she was actually intrigued by the idea, not that she would admit it, but also because it was the wisest thing to do at the given moment. She lowered her voice considerably as she replied, her sound a hiss as she leaned somewhat towards him to make sure no unwanted guests overheard was she was about to say. “I’ve a reputation to keep clean you idiot.” She said quite harshly, “Yea, yea. Fine. I’ll continue, report back. Easy. How will you know I’m not off-planet?” She asked, talking very quickly at the end of her sentence as if merely agreeing to end the conversation.


[member="Dom Volaju"]

 

[Dom Volaju]

Dom saw the frustration on the girl's face grow. Her body language became restless. She had agreed to follow Dom's plan, it seemed, though she certainly did not seem enthused. "How will you know I’m not off-planet?”, she sarcastically asked. She made a good point. Dom smiled, and pulled out his mobile device. "You bring up a good point, I'm afraid," he said as he punched a few buttons on the touch screen. You see, it is already known why Dom attends these events. It was for the people that come to these types of things. Those people have all kinds of objects on themselves that identify them to others. Credit cards, mobiles, datapads, you name it. All of these things give off an electromagnetic data field. In order to gather as much information as possible so as to grow his information cache, Dom had downloaded a black market application which could scan for these data fields and, in mere seconds come back with results.

His screen lit up. It was some personal use card for an off-world bank but it contained her real identity. "But you really must trust me, Jennifer Phoenix, and eventually I may trust you." He hoped she understood that he had her in a corner. Her identity was blown, and even if she didn't uphold her end of the bargain, Dom would simply sabotage the heist.

"Now fly, and soon we'll both be rich."

[member="Jen"]

 

[Jen]

If looks could kill the glare that Jennifer had given Dom, after she had given his data-pad a quick glance, would at the very least incapacitate him. Her eyes narrowed as she adjusted her posture once more, standing as if judging Dom once again with her head slightly tilted to the right and backwards, her chin becoming a more predominant feature of her face as she look “down” on him.

“Huh…” She scoffed in an attempt to seem nonchalant, as if simply pushing his indirect treats aside. “I don’t think you’ve done your background check closely enough, Dom. You don't know who're dealing with.” She continued in the same aggressive, yet hushed tone. She stood there, staring at the man for a second or two before deciding that their meeting was over. She turned upon her feet to walk past the sensors and towards the next thing of note, making sure to walk as directly in his line of sight until the eventual wall would separate the view.

Later she would find the nearest control panel and somehow, through either deception or stealth plant a bug onto it so she could wirelessly slice it and gain access or at the very least knowledge about the present security mechanisms that could be activated through the panel. After that she would have to send the information to her contact, return to her hotel room and get a good sip of whiskey or any alcoholic beverage really, while she thought about what her next move would be. She didn’t truly need the millions that a heist such as this one could gather… But... It still was millions.