Private The Gauntlet

[Makai Dashiell]

TIRTHA COVE, JOIOL

Wearing | Gear : X | X | X | X | X | L3-37 | Interacting With : Kiran Arlos

Coastal breeze swept through the bright and airy office, the not-so-distant sound of waves crashing ashore background music. The office was well appointed, lined with shelves containing not only books but family holos and an impressive collection of various minerals and gemstones. In the dead center was a massive desk, a visitors chair directly in front. Directly across from the desk a large holoprojector silently played financial news, a ticker moving across the bottom as the anchor spoke.

"I don't get many outside visitors in this office. Not outside the family or my inner circle, so to speak. Here, you look old enough for this..."

Makai had been pouring a fine whisky from the Tingel Arm for both of them. Lowball glass placed in front of the teenage boy, the half-Galan took his seat in the fine nerf chair across from his visitor. A small sip of the whisky and a frown - too used to wine at this point, it had been some time since he had a harder spirit. Glass sat down, he regarded the kid across from him.

It brought back memories of his own talks with Alric Kuhn. Time spent in the office together discussing the finer points of grilling nerf meat had turned into a literal grilling once he had starting dating Ellie. An abrupt change but one that had been necessary. Looking back, he would be concerned if there had been no questioning. It would have meant he wasn't a serious candidate.

Not that Makai expected the same from this boy. These were teenagers. Yet given the status of their family, this was more about weeding the ones out trying to make a name for themselves.

"So, Kiran...welcome. I am a little surprised to see you here, I am impressed by your willingness to throw yourself into the fire, so to speak."

 

[Kiran Arlos]

Kiran sat stiffly in the visitor's chair, the glass of whisky untouched before him. The coastal breeze did little to cool the weight of the room, family holos on the shelf seemed to watch him just as intently as the man across the desk. He swallowed once, dry, his hand twitching like he wanted to reach for the drink but thought better of it. Perhaps it was a test and he wasn't trying to look bad or set a horrible example for himself.

"So, Kiran...welcome. I am a little surprised to see you here, I am impressed by your willingness to throw yourself into the fire, so to speak."

"Thank you, sir," he said, his voice a touch rougher than usual, stripped of its easy grin. This wasn't the kind of moment that called for bravado. "I figured if I was going to… well, if I was going to spend time with Persephone outside of the usual, then I should do this the right way. Or at least do my very best to make things right."

His eyes flicked around the room once more before they came settled back on Makai "I don't come from much. No wealth, no family name that means anything here. What I do have, what I can assure you is that I don't take her for granted. Not her time, not her trust."

He hesitated, glancing toward the holoprojector, then back to Makai. The memories of his own family, fractured and scattered, whispered at the edges of his resolve. "You've probably seen plenty of kids come through who want something from her. I'm not here to use her. Truth is…" He exhaled slowly, as if admitting it cost him something. "She's the one person who makes me feel like I'm not just drifting, she's blunt and she makes me feel grounded to reality, my closest, only friend. Like maybe I'm worth something more than what I've been dealt."

"I don't know what the right answer is in a talk like this. But I'll say this, I won't run when things get hard. Not from her, and not from this conversation."

Makai Dashiell

 

[Makai Dashiell]

Wearing | Gear : X | X | X | X | X | L3-37 | Interacting With : Kiran Arlos

"Relax before you pass out on me and I have to explain why some kid is unconscious on my floor."

Raising an eyebrow, Makai listened without interruption to the entire spiel the boy just gave. He wasn't quite sure where it came from given his opening and not asking any probing questions yet. The half-Galan was now left trying to decide if this kid was overeager, trying to impress him, or just plain odd. This was his first real test at ensuring Persephone was hanging around the right people - sure he and his wife had all but handpicked her friends, but this was a little different.

"First off...we're not Chandralian so this isn't a interrogation for some arranged teenage marriage. This is more myself ensuring Persephone is hanging with the right people. This doesn't mean wealth or status, contrary to what you've mentioned. You've already shown character by speaking to me so you're a step ahead in my book."

Toying with his lowball glass, Makai went straight for the heart of it then since Kiran had opened himself up all too quickly.

"From Persephone I was under the impression this is more...hmm...a first date, so to speak. Yet you're out here talking about not running when things get hard. I would caution you against running headlong into this with such thoughts and feelings. Quite intense for a night of dinner between two kids...Why did you feel the need to explain that to me? Are you looking to impress? To sway me?"

 

[Kiran Arlos]

"Relax before you pass out on me and I have to explain why some kid is unconscious on my floor."

"Yes sir."

Kiran felt the words land heavier than expected. He had poured everything out too quickly, hadn't he? His instinct was to cover it with humor, to shrug it off like he always did, but Makai's eyes told him that wouldn't fly here.

He shifted in his chair, forcing his shoulders back, and met Makai's gaze. "I… wasn't trying to talk circles around you, sir," he admitted, voice lower, steadier. "I've never had a conversation like this before. Nobody's ever cared enough to ask."


His fingers drummed lightly as they rested on his knees. "I'm not here to sway you, or impress you with big speeches. I just—" He paused, catching himself, then let out a breath. "I wanted you to know I don't take Persephone lightly. She doesn't let people close easy from what I gather, and she sure as stars doesn't owe me her time. But she's giving it anyway. That means something to me."


Kiran leaned back a little, finally daring a wry half-smile. "If I sounded too intense, maybe that's because I don't really know how to half-measure this kind of thing. Where I grew up, you either meant it, or you didn't."

He nodded toward Makai, respectful but firm. "So no—I'm not trying to win you over with words. I just figured you deserved the truth, even if I'm rough around the edges about it."

Makai Dashiell

 

[Makai Dashiell]

Wearing | Gear : X | X | X | X | X | L3-37 | Interacting With : Kiran Arlos

"No one has cared enough to ask - so you've dated a lot of girls then? Given what you've said I'm sure their families didn't bother with this step. Which...not quite unusual. Circumstances are different. Because of what my family has become and who I chose to marry - there are now different expectations. Those now fall on Persephone whether she likes it or not. Circumstances that dictate a certain....protocol of behavior, especially now that she is older."

Taking another sip of his whisky, Makai nodded at being rough around the edges. Teenage boys weren't the most eloquent. Those that were definitely set off alarm bells that they could be potential trouble. Thinking their smooth talking would sail past the heads of the adults.

"So you're an all or nothing type of guy. Admirable." Most likely youth bravado. Been there. "This is less an interrogation - at this point - unless things progress."

Given Persephone's track record, Makai didn't expect it to, but he wasn't going to rain on anyone's parade. Especially since the boy had the guts to come and speak to him.

"I'm sure you have questions for me too."

 

[Kiran Arlos]

Kiran blinked at that last part, the weight of Makai's words circling in his head. He hadn't expected the question to come back his way. Most of his life, adults told him what to do. Being asked what he wanted to know felt… foreign.

He shifted a little in the chair, then looked up at Makai with a tentative steadiness.

"I guess…" he started, running a hand over the back of his neck, "…what does protocol of behavior mean for Persephone? For someone like me? I get that your family's important."

His voice grew more serious, less guarded. "I don't want to get in her way. Or make things harder for her because of me."

There was a pause, and then, with the barest trace of teenage bravado slipping back in, he added: "And… since I do want to see her again. What would you expect of me?"

He leaned forward slightly, not challenging, but curious. Sincere. Kiran wanted the rules laid out clearly.

Makai Dashiell

 

[Makai Dashiell]

Wearing | Gear : X | X | X | X | X | L3-37 | Interacting With : Kiran Arlos

"Again, you're running a marathon and you haven't even left the crib yet."

Makai shook his head. Was he so eager? Perhaps but reality had hit him cold just before his university years and wised him up quickly. He couldn't quite compare his experience to Kiran's either. Mister Kuhn had been a fixture in his life from a young age and navigating the conservation was different. Kiran had only met him once.

"How are you sure Persephone wants to see you again? You're friends, sure, that's one thing. There's a different element to a date that involves some level of pressure. Might be too much at this moment, after all Persephone has plans. You're both young."

He wasn't trying to dissuade the boy but given how he knew Persephone felt Makai was trying to set him up for success in navigating the minefield that was teenage relationships. Although telling someone to have low expectations when it came to such a thing was difficult without coming off as a complete ass.

"Persephone is in the trenches of getting into a university program. I don't expect that to be deviated from by marriage proposals, emotional blackmail, or teenage pregnancy."

Makai looked pointedly at the boy for the last part, as if daring him to say he never thought about the activities that led to such news.

"She is to finish university, no exceptions. To continue to represent the family in various social settings. To behave in a manner that won't have her splashed all over The Society section of the news and gossip columns. No getting drunk. No criminal activity. No attending the wrong kind of events. I may not be the scary type but my wife is, I advise you to stay on the straight and narrow."