The Colour of Money

[Cassandra Paige]

Her office was becoming an alarmingly popular place.

She was working on several forms to finalized the next roll out of new GenPals when her assistant buzzed in that her one o'clock was here. This one was a bit different from the others- not a specific special order that required setting up. But something the woman had claimed would be mutually beneficial, dear.

Cass had almost not returned the call. She had no energy for people who would waste her time by not even setting up a specific need. A need was something she could fulfill and make a bundle of credits off of. 'Mutually beneficial'? Could be a scam. A time waster. Someone trying to sell her a time share on Velusia or something.

And then the ID check had come through.

Cass had never made an appointment so quick.

[member="Cerbera"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Cassandra Paige"]

"Ma'am, ma'am, you need to wait in the-"

But then the doors slid open and paved entry for amber eyes and green skin. Cerbera was at the top of her fashion game, which wasn't hard, admittedly. Oh, the designers cooed and awed, but at the end of the day it was just a simple matter of science. The perfect ratios of asymmetry, contrast and color all coming together in a tasteful, but not entirely outspoken expression of dignity. Raspberry red hues complimenting the natural emerald of her own skin.

"I do apologize, darling." Her finger flicked in the air and the door was shut behind her, almost in the face of the assistant. Almost. Cerbera was not rude, after all. "Time is... money as they say." Who the they were in this situation was anyone's guess.

She smoothly settled herself down in the chair opposite of Cassandra. One leg draping over the other. Every movement precise, cold, to the point, much like she was. Mantis. Even the look she was giving Paige would make it difficult to see if she was dissecting her or shake her hand. "I'd offer my hand for a shake, but..." Long, graceful fingers, manicured, nails sharp, waggled in the air for a bit. "I surmise you would not be quite at ease with that."

It was no secret that Cerbera was an alchemist.

At the head of Akure Executive Interstellar there were only a few other ways to rise up.

Equally it was not a stretch that it usually took only a single touch to kill, when you were dealing with an alchemist. "Cerita Sarova, but you may refer to me as Cerbera." Head tilted, smile bright and showing way too many teeth. Hungry. "Do you have any tea?"

The quality of one's tea was usually enough to determine worth of character.

Had it not been [member="Darth Ophidia"]'s tea that made Cerbera interested in the first place all those years ago? Cerbera doubted it would go the same path here- oh, her eyes were beautiful and the alchemist could recognize herself in it. Much the same as Cass would find herself. You could hide yourself from the Galaxy, from those that know you best, but you can't hide from yourself... or from those that were so like you. They had made a measure of each other.

In silence.

They understood each other perfectly.

 

[Cassandra Paige]

Cass was many things.

Rich. Spoiled. Dismissive. She lied in every aspect of her life, because the lie was the only thing between her and something she could never allow herself to be. She would steal if ever given a reason, worked tirelessly but only in order to benefit herself. She was snide, down right mean when she thought she could get away with it. Cruel on the rare moments something real shone through. Frankly, Cassandra Paige was more than a little psychopathic.

But she was not an idiot.

And only an idiot would antagonize this women.

Out of her usual script, she had not offered her hand to shake, and when it was brought up, she simply inclined her head with a small smile.

"I respect your capabilities too much to ask for such social frivolities," she said, her tone careful but warm.

If she were honest, the very image of the woman before her offended everything she held dear. From the hair to her eyes, to the violent clashing of emerald and raspberry, in any other circumstance, with any other person, Cass would have been scathing.

She kept it to herself, however. Because there was no gain and only everything to lose.

Without saying anything else, Cass pressed a button on her desk.

"Yes Miss Paige?"

"A cup of tea," she said briskly, needing no other instructions. The cup would be brought shortly- the china fine. The tea itself? Good quality but nothing of particular note. Purchased by the price rather than because the buyer had any particular knowledge of it. Merely had been instructed to be certain of the quality.

Cass settled back behind her desk. The office itself was minimalist. Sleek lines, real materials and copious negative space. A mark, easily, of what someone from Coruscant, a planet where space came at a premium, would find valuable.

"Cerbera it shall be then," she said easily. "Cassandra Paige, at your service. Your message was.... forgive me but short on details. Perhaps now that we are in person I could find out just what you hope my company can do for you, Cerbera?"

[member="Cerbera"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Cassandra Paige"]

The cup of tea was within her hands in only a few minutes.

A spoon calmly stirred the contents of the cup, while those eyes studied the woman in front of her. She was... pretty, Cerbera presumed. The shapes and curves were all pleasantly symmetrical. But her chest was... exceedingly large. It wasn't really efficient and the alchemist wondered if she had any back problems. Perhaps she should offer her one of those alchemical supportive bracers?

Maybe that would be too forward.

Hmm.

She took a sip and let the silence continue. It was a pleasant silence- no meaningless prattle from the redhead. "Mm. Earl Green? How quaint." The de facto brand every wealthy individual went for with allusions of sophistication.

Drôle.

"My proposal is simple- GenPals makes pets, yes? I assume you receive custom orders every once in a while." The kind of orders that she wouldn't be putting on the regular papers. The exotic ones, the dangerous ones, the ones that had no good marketing campaign. Oh, the company itself was amusing, but it wasn't really anything to write home about.

Those custom orders though? Now they peaked her interest. "I have an arrangement. I pay you a substantial fee. You set aside a duplicate of any custom orders you receive."

 

[Cassandra Paige]

The smile froze for a heartbeat on Cass's face. She blinked.

She didn't think anything she'd done had been called 'quaint' by anyone other than her mother- when she was five.

Her smile widened slightly.

"Well, it seems the safest choice. I have such a wide variety of people through my office. It hardly seems appropriate to waste something better on most of them, yes?" She tilted her head, eyes crinkling. "There's no accounting for taste after all. So many have none."

The use of 'them' made it clear that on the surface of course she meant all of the other rabble.

Of course, some of the verbal sparring became far less interesting when the garish woman proposed her actually reason for being here. Cass tilted her head, grey eyes sharpening slightly.

"You understand of course, that many of our clients value their.... anonymity," she said slowly. "However, GenPals retains the patent on all of the animals we create. While those they have ordered belong of course to them, we retain the capacity and legal rights to the design and to create more."

She paused, letting the unspoken speak louder. What the deal could absolutely not be, stated from the beginning.

"It is an expensive process, creating only one or two of a creature. Far moreso than the mass produced-" there something faltered and there was the barest wrinkle of her nose- "cotton candy GenPals available on the market. Would you be interested in a preview of each, before wasting potential resources?"

Potential resources. Creating life for profit.

[member="Cerbera"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Cassandra Paige"]

"Yes."

More often than not Cerbera was wholly prepared to verbally spar with their equals. It was amusing, gave some exercise for the brain and overall kept her sharp when she needed to be. But the smile she showed Cass would show just how little of consequence the Sith Lord considered her. It wasn't necessary to spar with her, she wasn't on a level where that be satisfactory.

"Putting that aside for the moment, I am interested in ordering some specific creatures as well. Who can... assist me in certain things." Head tilted, as one leg crossed across the other and those eyes of amber scrutinized.

"They need to be intelligent. Independent. Creative."

Mm.

"Able to use the Force too." All of that combined added up to sentience and that was exactly what the Sith was asking for... without actually saying it out loud. She did not really care about the restrictions some governments put up, but Cerbera understood that GenPals had to restrict itself in ways that the Lords of the Sith most definitely did not.

 

[Cassandra Paige]

Cass saw it.

And this was a rare occasion where she accepted it.

Cassandra Paige was many things, but stupid was not one of them. She knew a higher order predator when she saw one (usually) and while she wasn't going to roll over and show her belly, she had no intention of challenging here and now. It in no way diminished her own sense of self and worth to see the lack of that reflected in Cerbera's eyes. And she did not allow her pride to run rampant enough to make it an issue, here and now.

Besides, she was accustomed to people being wrong about her.

"That is possible, though you understand that Force sensitivity is.... difficult to control in a laboratory environment. The results are unstable, frequently. Easier to hard code in specific traits and capacities, than a blanket sensitivity, and it allows for more stability in the final product. GenPals would be able to guarantee the capacities of the later, but not the former."

[member="Cerbera"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Cassandra Paige"]

"Oh, I have done some tests of my own." A shadow of a smile at the corner of her mouth. It was so much more than simple testing and Cerbera supposed that both of them would be well-aware of this fact.

But it would be gauche to be so straightforward about it.

The human was already being remarkably brave, relaxed and casual in the face of what was sitting across her desk. At the very least that would earn her a modicum of dignity as far as Cerbera was concerned. "I would like to request to lean in during the creation. I may have some... input that your scientists would find helpful." In truth there were other reasons why she was requesting GenPals to do this rather than do it herself.

None of it had to do with a lack of know-how.

"If that isn't too much of a problem, of course." This smile was at the forefront of her expression now.

 

[Cassandra Paige]

Part of Cass wanted to decline flat out. Step out of the whole situation. It was the part of her that recognized something in Cerbera. The part of her that knew better. Cassandra was a predator of a particular sort, and part of that was knowing when a different predator across the table was bigger, meaner and had sharper teeth.

Cass was not an idiot.

Which was also why she did not decline.

This was a moment where keeping the bigger fish happy was safer and smarter than turning her back and finding out it was actually a shark. The hard way.

"I would have to check with my scientists, of course," she said inclining her head. "One of the reasons GenPals has been so far successful is that I do not, as you put it, 'lean in' on them in matters I am unfamiliar with."

The statement existed in multiple planes. On the one hand, Cass did not have the type of ego where admitting to things she was unable to do was in any way a risk to it. She had her strengths and that did not include genetic engineering and she didn't pretend that it did. She was as comfortable admitting not knowing something as she was in accepting praise for something she did excel at- her pride was (largely) untied to other people's expectations.

Of course, one could also read an implication in the statement. But in this rare instance it was not a deliberately backhand comment.

Cassandra was not implying certain things.

Which was uncommon for her.

"It would be at their convenience, you understand."

She had no intention of letting this woman dictate when she could come into their labs. In small part because they were hers, yes. But also because despite everything, Cassandra did take care of her employees. And having Cerbera able to come and go at will and unnerve them (as she suspected the woman would) was simply not good for anyone.

[member="Cerbera"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Cassandra Paige"]

Why would there be a backhand comment here?

Cerbera probably had far more experience at the kind of shaping that she wanted here than all these so-called scientists put together. There was a second reason why the alchemist wanted to see them work up-close and give advice. The reason was as followed- "Of course, if this turns out to be a pleasant experience for all parties participating..." What a Sith Lord like Cerbera might find pleasant was anyone's guess. "...it could be in Akure Executive Interstellar's interest to sign a longer term agreement with GenPals."

She floated that casually.

As if the woman hadn't just lightly offered the possibility of a deal that could potentially mean millions of additional revenue for GenPals. Of course, it could be a smaller deal than that it suggested, but that fire in her eyes... suggested that Cerbera didn't really do small.

"Akure is always interested in new sources for some of its material."

As plain as could be.

 

[Cassandra Paige]

That caught her attention.

While Cass over all remained casual, her body language still relaxed. But something sharped slightly in those grey eyes- a certain calculation. She had known from the start that being polite to this woman had the potential to be lucrative, but just how lucrative hadn't been clear until that moment.

She could put her scientists in some amount of discomfort for that sort of business.

She'd make it up to them with hefty bonuses if she had to.

"I am sure we will find the laboratory staff to be.... obliging," she allowed carefully. She had no intention of showing Cerbera just how much she wanted that tie for the sake of GenPals.

Realistically, for her own sake.

Every connection like that was one more snub in her mother's direction.

"I can see when they would most appreciate a visit from you perhaps? And of course if you have conflicts we can accommodate?"

[member="Cerbera"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Cassandra Paige"]

The demeanor might not have shifted noticably for the regular joe.

But Cerbera was not a Joe, neither was she regular.

Those eyes (so familiar to a Mantis, always studying, observing with the clinical sense that suggested she'd just as easily drink tea with you as well as dissect you alive, just to see what would happen) noticed the little things. Cass' eyes above all, the sense in the Force next, it was delicious. She enjoyed seeing people shift just by dangling the right thing in front of them.

Everyone had a price.

Some had more than one. "Of course, darling, that sounds positively splendid." Cerbera replied with a radiant smile, before slowly rising and letting the tea cup settle itself on Cass' desk.

Every move was fluid- not as that of a noblewoman, no, more like the snapping of scythes through the air. "We can have our assistants figure it out, I am sure we can find a moment that is suitable for both parties." Oh, she was very sure. "Now, I will get out of your hair, I think we have discussed everything worth discussing here." A little smile at the end of that.

"This was certainly an experience. I am sure we will meet again soon."

Then she'd move to leave, unless there was more.

 

[Cassandra Paige]

Cass's smile was warm (if a little fix at the 'darling') in return.

"Yes of course," she said, in response to the comment about the details. These two would not be making appointments directly. That was what you had people for, after all. Otherwise what was the point of paying them.

"I will have Miss Sanders be in touch."

Cass stood up and came around from behind the desk. She did not offer a hand to shake, nor did she 'escort' Cerbera to the door. That seemed hardly necessary here, between these two.

Friends? Heavens no. Simply that Cass had no interest in being overly solicitous either, and the only other reason to do any such thing was out of a particularly paternalistic bent- not a particular flaw of hers.

"Yes, quite." It had been.....very interesting indeed. "Until next time, Cerbera."

GenPals was settled to become a good deal richer in a short time.

Cass considered pleasantly the idea of sending her mother flowers (which she hated) or a basket of local fruit she would never consider touching.

Her smile widened.