Le Lendemain Matin

[Sitara Qin]

“Aren’t you quite the gentleman?” Sitara grinned and then hopped into the backseat of the cab. Yup, it was definitely nice getting to do whatever you wanted. Why, she’d do that even without the cash for it. It was easy finding someone who’d allow her to mess around with him. She had fun with that, well, she usually always did. There were times where it had gotten her into trouble. But then again, trouble was usually way more exciting.

As for Marek and heels, well, men usually knew exactly what they wanted to see on a woman. After all, it was a man who ended up inventing the brassiere. And what a great invention they were. Why, they made her look great; in and outside the bedroom. And although she didn’t know he was planning it, perhaps he should get into that business anyways. After all, more money for him right? And hey, if he needed a girl in his campaigns, she certainly didn’t mind modelling for him.

“Where to?” Her thoughts were broken by the cab-drivers raspy voice and the scent of cigarettes. Well, this was certainly luxurious.

“Uhh, that palace over there.”

| [member="Marek Starchaser"] |

 

[Corey's OOC]

Gentleman, whatever. Somewhere along the line, men realized that the best way to get the full 360 view of their date was to hold doors and let them walk past. Sure, Marek might be all for the frontal view, but there was just something about the lower half of a woman. Unf. A bit more sly, and less likely to get slapped. But nights where you got slapped and had drinks thrown at you? Those were just as fun as the other kind. Sometimes. Every so often they made for a good story. “I do what I can.”

And nailing a model, that would be good. Right, nailing a model down. Hiring, for his clothing company. Maybe he really should get into that. Be worth it, really. But then he’d have to show no favorites between his models and that meant he’d be sore and worn out by the end of the day. And that would probably only be day one of some very thorough tryouts for models. Looking up from his reverie at the cabbie, he nodded.

“A bit snappy, too.” Right, he could speak to hired help sometimes.

[member="Sitara Qin"]

 

[Sitara Qin]

“Aight.” The cabby’s reply was short and sweet. And from where she was sitting, she could see him roll his eyes and slightly shake his head. She chuckled, her arm resting on the car door. The cabby pulled the shaft and the engine started to purr. Soon enough the cab started to levitate from where it was parked and moved along.

She turned back to Marek, her side pressed against his. Welp, he did smell nice. Maybe they could celebrate after finding his precious little datapad. Her fingers drew little shapes on the fabric covering his shoulders. She rest her head against him slightly, the humming from the alcohol still bothering her a little bit.


“Huh. Bastion’s pretty hum and drum.” And well, it was. It wasn’t a very bright planet. Most of it was just well…grey, some sickly shade of yellow, and lotsa black. She could see herself staying here for a bit. But man, won’t it get depressing? Kinda couldn’t wait to get back to Coruscant.

| [member="Marek Starchaser"] |

 

[Corey's OOC]

At least he understood that they weren’t here for him. Marek nodded. That was good. He didn’t need the cab driver getting involved in their life, unless his name was Ranjit and Marek was fairly certain that wasn’t the case here. Whatever, they were hired for a reason, and he would just be able to ignore him. Part of being well off, that’s what happened. Leaning into the seat, he smiled as he looked [member="Sitara Qin"] over.

Was it time for a mini play session? The cab didn’t smell that bad. He slid his arm around her waist as she leaned against him and looked out on the planet. “Yeah, its not got much going for it. Reminds me of Hypori a bit. So many other worlds have a lot more to offer, but this does have the power. Its got the Primeval here and a strong Imperial history.

“What are your plans following this little venture of ours?” He wanted to get his datapad, but well, small talk to get to the Palace, or they could press B to skip the cut scene.

 

[Sitara Qin]

He slipped his arm around her waist and she rest her head on his head. Alcohol, cereal, skillet, and a tinge of Bastion air. Or was that just the cab? Either way, she was getting used to this scent. After finding his datapad they should really celebrate. Sitara liked celebrations. They had sugar, drinks, and tons of fun. Didn’t that sound like a happy time to you?

“And everyone loves power.” It came out as a soft whisper. And of course, who didn’t? This world was run by money and power; the latter usually achieved through the former. And well, once you had both, everything pretty much fell into place.

Her arm wrapped around his neck and her other hand played with his collar. She was always amazed by men who wore suits. They made the guy beneath them look ten times hotter than they did. Of course, being naked took care of that too. But yes, suits were very attractive.

“Well, I was thinking of taking a nice long bath with strawberries and champagne.” Her fingers moved into his hair. “Maybe you could join me and maybe we could—“

And somebody hit B.

| [member="Marek Starchaser"] |

 

[Corey's OOC]

Marek was one of those that would always be looming for something new and different that felt old and familiar. It wasn't that he cycled women... except he totally did. Trying to make sure he kept it nice with them when he moved on for a bit, always making it so they would take him back...mostly.

He grinned as she settled against him and spoke. She was right, obviously. It's why he worried on using the Force so often. It mattered. It gave him power over others and places and things. Listening to her, he grinned add he ran a hand through her hair.

And the cut scene skip left them outside the palace, can heading away. He looked at the palace and then back at her. "Some place, huh?"

[member="Sitara Qin"]

 

[Sitara Qin]

Ah the palace.

It was like Cinderalla scouring the kingdom for her lost shoe; except now it was herself and [member="Marek Starchaser"] searching for the datapad he had drunkenly misplaced. Sitara was convinced that that princess was probably high on something. Seeing convertible mice and poodoo. That chick was totally high. And Marek and her were totally previously drunk.

Marek on his own was some twisted prince. Totally a gentleman though lacked the values you’d expect prince charming to have. He was sweet and sour as compared to just sweet, and Sitara considered herself pretty spicy. She looked around, trying to see if there was any place they could sneak in.

Amidst the structures, nothing really seemed open. Leave it to the Primeval to keep this place well guarded. You could never be too careful after all, and Sitara didn’t really want to come in through the main doors. She stroked her chin as her eyes searched the venue.

Did they have a time limit to do everything they had? Heck yeah.

“So, should we sneak in through the back? I don’t see anywhere we can slip into from this angle. Unless, you just wanna knock on the main doors.”

The chariot had to turn back at some point.

 

[Corey's OOC]

Marek really had no time for fairy tales. Never did. He was a Zeison Sha Adept schooled in the Force by not one but two Sith, and running a galactic company and collective of capitalism. Nope, he was a realist, aside from liking to pray to lady luck sometimes. Or y’know, the selector at the club he was at. That was just how he handled things. The Hedonist Triumvirate, Music, Luck and Booze. That made a lot better of a pantheon than most people had, though he really didn’t care enough to speak ill of others.

Losing the datapad meant he probably paid too much attention to the first and last the previous evening. With his horizontal partner being who it was, he figured number two helped him out a lot. Thanks, Luck. Still, he needed to find his property, and that was the biggest issue here.

“We can just knock.” He grinned and gave the female Sith a grab around the waist and slammed her back into the door before giving her a kiss, well, kiss was putting it lightly. But this would surely play up the inebriation and members of the party. How did they leave the palace?

Did they call Uber?

[member="Sitara Qin"]

 

[Sitara Qin]

It almost shocked her when her back slammed against the door and his lips brushed hers. She smiled beneath the kiss and giggled once their lips parted. Of course, she would’ve preferred to keep kissing him back, but then they’d never find his datapad that way. Heck, they wouldn’t even have gotten past the door.

“Great knocking.” She said, her back still pressed against the door. It creaked open slightly, causing her to almost stumble. She took a step away from the door, her eyes widening by surprise as a tiny little robot opened it. it seemed to beep instead of actually saying anything. Definitely didn't expect that little thing to open the door. She would've thought something more intimidating was going to come for them. She knew not to let her guard down, however.

“Um.” She tilted her head to the side.

| [member="Marek Starchaser"] |

 

[Corey's OOC]

He could have shocked her, but really, Marek was holding back on the use of the Force here, at least at this time. He really wasn’t one to make a grand public display of the Force unless he was armored up and no one could tell who he was. Voice modulated and his signature blazing with the dark side, something he didn’t do often, sometimes on the weekends. Recreational dark side usage, if he could help it. But sometimes he got pushed into the defense of his own worlds.

And that was a worthy cause.

But so was using the Force with [member="Sitara Qin"] to make things so much more interesting. Scrunching up his face at the droid, he looked from Sitara back to it. Really? This was the guard? Couldn’t be. “Uh…” Right, Foreman of the Techno Union didn’t really care for droids. Well, unless they were the Hydra War Droids. Those were fun.

“Any chance we can get inside? Looking for a datapad…” Real slick.

 

[Sitara Qin]

She raised her eyebrow at the tiny droid who barely came up to her waist. Her eyes then moved to Marek who began to talk. She definitely didn’t remember talking to one of these the first time she was here. Anyways, where were all the servants? Wasn’t there someone like a butler who was in charge of getting the door?

The robot started blinking, a red light on its head going on and off. Sitara bit her lip as a projection of light hummed over them. Perhaps it was scanning them? It honestly looked more like a cleaning droid than anything else. She stiffened up, getting ready to move in case it attacked them.

A high pitched squeal rang through the air and the robot moved away, shutting the door for a moment. “…Okay?” She was just as confused as anybody. A few seconds later, the droid returned and opened the door for them.

“Uh.”

“Mr. Starchaser, Ms. Qin from the guest list.” The droid began to speak? What? His voice was stern, and Sitara could identify a tinge of sarcasm. She nodded as she stepped inside. She gave Marek a cautionary and confused look. What was going on?

| [member="Marek Starchaser"] |

 

[Corey's OOC]

Droids were… tricky. It all was depending on who owned them, and most he really didn’t care for. The Hydra War Droids were an exception, and the Hegemonic units aboard his liners. The ones who sang shanties, they were entertaining. Droids were more useful than organics, especially for the lower tier jobs. It just was cheaper, and you didn’t have to run the risk of giving someone a job they despised and having them anger your guests. That was why Marek paid good money for his bartenders and cocktail waitresses.

He didn’t feel threatened, and could tell that [member="Sitara Qin"] was on edge. That was fine, let her figure it out on his own. Then the droid was gone. “I hate droids.” This was a typical reaction from Marek when it came to units, just not around his co-workers. Vong and droids, he’d prefer the second any day of the week. The former, while they had the Embrace of Pain which was a fascinating toy, in Marek’s mind, they were crazy.

Self-expression was not self-mutilation.

“Yeah, can we get inside?” He looked at the droid. No way was he going to trick it, or even affect it with the Force. “Left somethin’ inside.”

 

[Sitara Qin]

Sitara wasn’t too fond of droids. They could turn against you with some crafty reprogramming. And plus. even cute little pipsqueaks like this could do so much more than they looked. She had a bad encounter with droids once before. She wasn’t really too glad to have em on board. It was easier dealing with..well…sentient beings. It beeped once more before speaking.

“Certainly.” The door opened wider and Sitara stepped inside. There were servants in the palace so it wasn’t totally empty, but for some reason it felt colder now. Was anyone else going to come greet them? The door shut behind them once they were both inside.

“To the ballroom, right?” Sitara questioned, her eyes glancing over to meet Marek’s. Yeah. How did they even leave this place? Somehow they had managed to go a few blocks towards some shady blue-themed hotel and rented a room without remembering anything. Probably meant the party was a big success.

| [member="Marek Starchaser"] |

 

[Corey's OOC]

He made sure that the programming in his own droids, the ones created rarely by Haor Chall, were pretty solid. But he left the majority of the game to the professionals. That meant Hegemonic Automaton. And sometimes he would take in an HRD from Archangel, so long as they were neutered and didn’t have some sort of assassination protocol if he said the wrong word. What? It was fun. Marek enjoyed a bit of change, and he figured [member="Sitara Qin"] would not be offended should she see him waltzing around with someone else.

But then again, it was Marek, he’d probably do his best to work out some sort of… added bonus there.

He watched as Sitara stepped inside, his eyes tracing her figure. Damn, girl was getting under his skin, huh? The place was a bit deserted. How and why did they leave? What did they miss? When the door shut, he stepped up to her, placing a hand on her hip and nodded. “Yeah, lets see if theyre still cleaning, and if not, we’ll check a lost and found.” Or get lost in the palace and find a fun time.

That was possible, right?

 

[Sitara Qin]

“Sounds good.” She felt his hand on her hip and she scanned the place searching for the ballroom. The tiny droid earlier sped up in front of them, as though trying to assist them with their search. Perhaps it over heard them. Sitara shrugged and decided to follow it, hoping it wasn’t a stupid droid that would lead them to places she’d rather not be in.

The ballroom was just as they had left it—minus all the people in their amazing outfits. She looked around, the place was pretty bare and clumps of decor lingered in the empty corners. It looked like the staff hadn’t finished cleaning it up yet. Sitara ventured inside, moving around the table cloths that remained.

“Can’t you scan the place for anything?” She asked the droid. Surely he could be helpful, right? Her dark eyes gazed into Marek’s. They might have to go to the lost and found and maybe lose themselves once more.

| [member="Marek Starchaser"] |

 

[Corey's OOC]

He stayed with Sitara and the droid. The unit knew the palace better and when they showed up here, they had been escorted about to the ballroom. Not wanting to start an incident with any of the Primeval brass, unless it was a fun incident, he figured to keep with the droid. They’d get to the ball room, especially if it fething asked what they were doing.

Great, an empty room. That was not a plus. Looking over at the droid, Marek shook his head. “Anyone turn in a datapad last night?” Now it was getting to be an issue. He had his own public relations team that could hack whatever server uploaded the… sensitive information, but he just didn’t want to have to go through the hassel.

The droid looked to the pair and chirped for a second. “No datapad was turned in to this unit. No electronics have been left in the room.” Well, that was great. Marek sighed as he looked at Sitara. “Lost an’ found, I suppose.” Was it really that easy? He could only hope.

[member="Sitara Qin"]

 

[Sitara Qin]

“Awe, looks like your nudes are going up on the holonet after all.” She teased as the droid confirmed that nothing was turned in the other day. What kind of weird droid was this anyways? It beeped, it spoke in some weird voice, and it followed them around. There was probably a nuclear bomb hiding in that thing. These days, the possibilities were endless.

And hey, she’d totally love to see whatever nudies Marek had. There was a lot you could tell about a man judging by the…adult media he looked at. She wasn’t anyone to judge, she just liked to know. She was nosy that way, and it was one form of genuine entertainment. She grinned as the droid moved, probably telling them to follow him to the lost and found.

“It’s okay, I won’t judge you.” She told him, as the droid allowed them access to the lost and found. It was a bright room, with…containers of stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. Hey, at least they had dates on them.

“Access requested to containers labeled:”—Sitara couldn’t understand the series of beeps that preceded that string of text—“Access granted.” A bunch of containers were brought to them and Sitara opened one up. It was some kind of lacy underwear… Probably three sizes too big for her. She held it up and presented it to Marek, careful to hold through a…safe area.

“This yours?”

| [member="Marek Starchaser"] |

 

[Corey's OOC]

He never said anything… was he that obvious? Well, he did just sleep with someone he met the night before. Not that it was a problem, to him casual relations were just what you did. Getting involved? That gave someone the power to hurt you. Fear? Maybe. But he was playing it smart. He was his own legacy and that was exactly how he wanted to live. And he didn’t need to worry about anyone tying him down, unless he approved it, of course.

Even then, the Force was so much better at restraining someone than rope. And the lightning, that added a unique flare most only got with low power stun batons. And the hitting… Right, moving on. Judge him? “Hun, I’ve been inside you. You can’t judge me.” Because, well, she could’ve and probably would’ve ended up in his list of snapshots should he have found the damned thing.

Looking over at her, he shook his head and laughed. “Nah, not those. Few sizes too big for anything I’d go near.” Was that rude? Did he care? The answer to the latter was no, he had no cares. Still, he was looking through the box. Reaching out to the Force, he knew something familiar was here. That was enough for him.

[member="Sitara Qin"]

 

[Sitara Qin]

She flung the underwear away from them, though she could’ve always thrown it at Marek. She was…hesitant though. Who would leave something like that at a ball for crying out loud? Then again, this was a palace and there were many walls and chambers people could’ve stumbled into. Why didn’t they just do it here anyways? There should be a room convenient enough for them to hide in. She rolled her eyes at the thought. Considering the marks on her body that had yet to fade, it was probably better that they did things behind closed spaces.

She moved through a couple more things. An empty wallet, an earring that missed its pair, what looked to be a rubber band collection… Who knew sith and high profile guests had such weird stuff anyways? Marek was probably looking at some of the other containers. It was best to divide and sort, they save a lot of time like that. She moved through some of the things that were actually pretty cool. Hey, if no one was gonna claim them she had dibs on some of this cool stuff. Like those cat eye sunnies that were just so vintage.

She took a feather boa—god knows why anybody had that— and flung it over her neck. “Oh look at me, dah-ling, I’m like so fabulous.” She giggled. Was she being silly? Yeah. If she was going to end up as another nude photo in Marek’s datapad, she might as well be one with a little bit of flare. Props were great, they brought pictures to life.

| [member="Marek Starchaser"] |

 

[Corey's OOC]

Yeah, he was eternally thankful that Sitara kept someone else’s underwear away from him. He was pretty decent at detoxifying his body with the Force, but those people could’ve been furries, or Rebels, and that you just couldn’t cleanse from your body. While Marek was all for a variety of kinks, he preferred to match with people who had similar ones to him, and a lot of times that meant only at special venues or in the privacy of a room he was renting. And that was why he and Qin didn’t do anything here, or at least, it was his reason. No need for a fox person to show up.

Or worse, some cat girl.

He turned his attention to a container that just had a bit more weight and heft to it. Hopefully the result would be what he was after. Fiddling through the first one, he turned to Sitara when she called out and shook his head, laughing. “Y’know, I still haven’t gotten a proper woman to do what you’ve done.” He winked as he turned back to the next container.

Datapad… Datapad… Datapad?

He found the motherlode, the trick was finding the… Yep, Saiba Group datapad. Black with Dark blue… and the password worked… “bingo.” He whispered as he looked at the charge and tried to check to see when the last bit of data was modified… Did anyone touch it? Didn’t seem so…

[member="Sitara Qin"]