Private Window Shopping

[Wrenarias]

Many years had passed since Wrenarias last set foot on Coruscant and it'd been under very different circumstances -- namely that she was there of her own free will this time around. Not much had changed in her absence. The towering buildings still dominated the horizon, no matter the direction you looked. The rush of speeders and star ships still filled the sky, zipping to and fro, oblivious to the millions of denizens mulling about below them. Given the nature of her first time to the planet, one might have expected Wrenarias to hold the entire world in contempt; but in fact, she felt nothing but excitement for a chance to explore and the promise of new beginning.

Her gloved hands were pressed lightly against the glass of the elevator, watching the city growing closer and closer as the lift carried her to the lower levels. As was usual for her, Wren was wearing a fitted jacket, long trousers, and of course, the gloves. She went out of her way to avoid accidentally touching others; which meant that, compared to many other twi'lek, she was dressed rather modestly. Another one of her conscious decisions to leave a part of her life behind where it belonged: in the past.

Nevertheless, that didn't stop Wrenarias from practically pressing her nose to the glass in barely constrained wonder. The city was a marvel of engineering, and the myriad of speeders and ships only added to her excitement. There was just so much to see here. Her beaming smile and lavender eyes reflected back at her in the glass. She was alone for the time being, no one else on the lift as she plummeted downwards.

After a few moments of controlled free fall, the elevator plunged into the lower levels and the skyline vanished in a blink of an eye. A soft sigh slipped from Wren's lips and she stepped back from the glass, running her hands over both her lekku -- cybernetic and organic alike. Nervous anticipation fluttered in her stomach as she watched the levels tick by on the indicator. How long had it been since she'd done something for herself? Not with the intention of trying to track down Kelina, or training, or finding some ancient relic; but to simply enjoy herself? Months?

With no real goal or destination in mind, Wrenarias stepped off the lift once it came to a stop. A cacophony of sensory input rushed to meet her as the doors hissed shut behind her. Crowds of people shuffled through the corridors, the faded beat of club music thrummed through the air, the general buzz of blended conversations joined the bass line. Another smile spread over her lips as she made her way through the crowds, careful to not to bump into anyone.

It was as if she'd found the heart of the city.

She decided to walk in the opposite direction of the club when she caught sight of the flashing holographic sign. Perhaps another time she'd dare to venture inside, but for tonight she felt pulled elsewhere. No doubt she'd be able to find a hidden storefront somewhere in the labyrinth of the undercity.

For hours she wandered, meandering further and further from the crowds. Eventually, she happened across a store that caught her eye. Jaeger was emblazoned on the sign above the storefront. She noticed several droid and cybernetic parts that she could put to good use, along with a soldering tool kit that she sorely needed.

Feeling somewhat hopeful, the twi'lek woman stepped through the door to take a look inside.


[member="Darth Maliphant"]

 

[Darth Empyrean]

Blue eyes, black hair tied behind his head in an intricate braid - Maliphant enjoyed the times he could walk the city without anyone noticing him. It was a persona of course, that of Dorian Harper - rising InterGalactic Banking Clan Chairmen with a large stake in Jaeger; yet even with all the claim to fame and riches that it provided, he wasn’t often recognized. The Outer Rim was another story, as a life long past had seen him as a cultist, a terrorist, a wanted man through half the galaxy - yet now he was free to wander as he pleased.

It was… refreshing. As much as the Sith Lord fell to his habit of violence and control, it was these moments between the harsh reality of his teachings that he found the most peace - as little peace as a Sith saught. He thought of it as a break, a refresher to his power mongering and schemes - putting up this front of anger and passion that saw him conquer and destroy, lay waste to any ideology different from his own…

It was a cruel life he lived, but one he simply lived with. What was a man without a destiny? He took his with grace, with pleasure even. With a soldering iron in his hand, he worked carefully on a droid brain he was customizing for his own use - yet the quiet chime of the door interrupted his musings.

‘Dorian’ glanced up to the guest, a well rounded Twi’lek with a cybernetic lekku; and a site to behold in the underworld of Coruscant. Maliphant offered her a gentle, inviting smile as he lifted the blackened goggles from his head and motioned her forward -

“Welcome!”, he said jubilantly. It felt odd to express joy, Sith often took it for weakness.

“You came at the right time, the clerk stepped out - but I can help. I’m Dorian, what’re you looking for?”, the youthful man said as he leaned over the counter.

[member="Wrenarias"]

 

[Wrenarias]

Having been so absorbed in looking around the store when she walked in, Wrenarias didn't even notice 'Dorian' at first. The mechanism to attach a little slicing droid to a piece of armor had drawn in her attention. Seeing how others worked around a presented problem and what solutions they built always fascinated Wren. Many times she found a concept that she hadn't thought of herself, or found ways to improve existing systems. When he spoke up to greet her, she quickly turned away from the droid that she'd been inspecting and offered a sheepish smile in return.

"Oh!" She laughed quietly, clasping her hands together behind her back as she rocked forward onto the balls of her feet, then back down. "Sorry, I didn't see you."

There was a beat of an awkward pause and then she took a cautious step towards the man behind the counter. "I guess you could say a bit of everything, browsing. Mainly looking for an upgrade to the old integrated-processor in this." She lightly ran her fingers over the silver metal of the cybernetic prosthetic. Had the man been a twi'lek, she likely would have turned around and gone to find another store. It always made her uncomfortable to talk about the prosthetic in general, but the repulsed expressions her own kind often wore when they saw her made most interactions with them unbearable.

Her eyes lingered on the soldering iron and droid brain that he'd been working on, clearly intrigued by what he was doing. The cybernetic lek slipped over the front of her should as her head canted slightly to the side. "Re-calibrating?" She asked, gesturing towards the droid brain.


[member="Darth Maliphant"]

 

[Darth Empyrean]

“Sort of.”, he said with an idle glance back to the droid brain.

“A bit of of a personal project - but its not that important.”, he laughed as he walked from behind the counter to a far wall - lined with a holoscreen offering various examples of Jaeger products in use, and more cinematic corporate propaganda.

Motioning with his hand in the empty air, the screen moved about and came to the picture of a processor in many higher end droids - the Z63. Dorian pointed to it as he spoke, looking to her with an interest of something he was particularly invested in -

“Double gabonna crystal processing cores, heuristic processing, state of the art neural networks - its the processor we’ve used in all of our current droids.”, he chuckled - even motioning to the distant droid brain he was working on himself.

“Its whats in that, I just tuned it up a bit.”

“Should work wonders for whatever you’re lekku can do.”, Dorian offered with a genuine smile.


[member="Wrenarias"]

 

[Wrenarias]

Her eyes widened slightly at the processor on the display, then she stepped closer to take a closer look at the specs. "Ohhhh."

An almost melancholy expression passed over her features and a reticent sigh escaped her as she muttered, "There's no way I could afford something that top of the line."

While Wrenarias wasn't destitute, she didn't have much in terms of savings. For the past several years, she'd been working odd jobs just to pay for the shuttles to jump from one world to the next. Cedric offering to train her was the first real stability that she'd had in her life in years. Problem was, she'd yet to find a job since arriving on Coruscant.

"Not yet, at least. Only been on Coruscant for a few days." She explained, turning to face Dorian with a slightly embarrassed, yet warm, smile.

"Wouldn't happen to know a place looking to hire a cyberneticist, would you?" She asked as she chuckled quietly in the back of her throat.

[member="Darth Maliphant"]

 

[Darth Empyrean]

A poor Twi’lek comes into his shop, and requests a job.

Maliphant exhaled slowly, but Dorian smiled and laughed -

“Of course, Jaeger is always hiring; Cyberneticists are in hot demand around here.”, he said as he motioned her back. The counter moved aside as he moved to the back before calling out to the ceiling -

“Cybele, watch the storefront.”, and a sweet female voice hummed in acknowledge over the intercom. A robot came out of the door nearby, and found its way to the front of the store. Dorian however, passed by and continued to the back - where an elevator opened at his beck and presence.

“How far does your experience go in cybernetics?”, Dorian asked as he leaned against the opposite wall of the elevator.

The elevator dinged as each floor began to pass, and a small text appeared on the side wall - a holoscreen offering a glimpse into what each floor contained; yet as they passed, she’d find every floor was owned by Jaeger, and every floor was for a different section of the business. They however, were going to the top.

[member="Wrenarias"]

 

[Wrenarias]

When she'd asked if he knew anyone that was hiring, she thought he'd either tell her to get lost or point her in the direction of a scrap yard, maybe a secondhand garage. What she least expected was for the man to announce that Jaeger was hiring, let alone start interviewing her on the spot. After a few seconds to collect herself, a bright smile spread across Wren's features and she hurried after Dorian.

She watched the floor levels tick by, intrigued by what was presented on the minuscule display.

"Mmm..." She mused thoughtfully, tapping her index finger against her lips while her mouth was quirked ever so slightly to the side. "I specialize in custom prosthesis mostly, though I like to dabble with droid construction and tuning speeders." The hand that had been tapping against her lips gestured idly to the prosthetic lek that was draped over her left shoulder. "For obvious reasons, really."

"I'll be upfront, I am self-taught. But! I am a quick learner."

[member="Darth Maliphant"]

 

[Darth Empyrean]

Dorian scoffed, quickly interjecting -

“We’re all self taught, some just have more resources.”, he said with a beaming grin.

Maliphant couldn’t help but agree with the sentiment, but while it sounded considerable on a picture hanging in the office - it truly mattered what someone was able to commit themselves to. Many had wielded great power in their hands once upon a time, and yet there was nothing to show for it but the ashes of a paradise lost; so he only hoped that this ‘Wrenarias’ wasn’t dull, nor lying about her hobbies.

“We’ve a few prosthetics we’ve worked on over the years here at Jaeger, and we are beginning to work on droids.”, Dorian offered as he brushed a few strands from his face, tucking them behind his ear.

The elevator dinged softly, and ‘Cybele’s voice came over the speaker once more -

“582nd Level - Cybernetics. Enjoy your stay.”, the voice offered, and Maliphant took the first steps out. Almost like a whisper, the voice chimed after Wrenarias -

“Good luck.”, she seemed to have said; but the voice was too soft to be heard.

Dorian motioned to a plasteel window as his steps took him close, stopping and motioning with what lay beyond; a mechanic twice the age of either of them, standing just short of average, worked with a plasma cutter on an arm prosthetic lined in red gold and black matte plates. His hair was a web of tangled dreads and matted pieces, while his right arm was entirely replaced by a magnificent piece of industrial construction prosthetic with more tools and hydraulics going than anyone had any given right to - yet he wore it with grace.

“This is Scuf. Scuf is our lead prosthetic worker, and tends to be our go to resource for such things. If he enjoys you, then you’re hired.”, he said with a smile.

“So, you want to meet him?”

[member="Wrenarias"]

 

[Wrenarias]

Wrenarias wasn't sure if the faint whisper of 'good luck' was meant to be encouraging or ominous, so she decided to hope for the best. The worst thing that could possibly happen was that she didn't get the job, one that she hadn't been expecting in the first place -- at the end of the day, she only stood to gain from this unplanned development.

She came up to the window next to Dorian, gasping with excitement when she saw what lay inside.

It was one of the nicest facilities she'd come across. There were no half-broken tools scattered about, no cluttered work space, or parts made from literal scrap welded together. Not that she took issue with any of those. So long as she had a work bench and components, she was happy. The Jaeger cybernetics floor, however, was still a pleasant surprise.

A few moments passed as she watched man named Scuf work, paying rapt attention to the mechanisms on his own prosthetic.

"Can I?" She asked, beaming brightly. The job offer was all but forgotten, she seemed more interested in taking a closer look at the craftsmanship. "I'd love to, but I'd rather not be a bother if he's caught up with work."

[member="Darth Maliphant"]

 

[Darth Empyrean]

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Scuf was a notorious gruff man, but despite it all, he always seemed to have a heart of gold - a surprisingly jubilant dwarf of a man well intentioned at all times; though mixed with his harsh deeper accent, it tended to be hard to tell when he was being nice, or when he had something rude to say about any given subject. Dorian tapped on the glass, and the man’s beady black goggles looked up and away from his custom project - and he offered a toothy grin as his automechanica reset itself to look as much like an arm as it ever had.

He waddled to the door, and it opened as he presence - Dorian motioning to his guest before the man could say anything outright;

“This is-”, and he paused. Realizing he hadn’t actually asked her name, he grimaced and glanced to her before finishing his sentence in as smooth a way as the Chairman of the IGBC could -

“- our new hire… New hire, please introduce yourself.”, he said with a solid, but hopefully subtle, nudge into her ribs.

Scuf, the man that he was, glanced up to her with a cock of his brow and his still mortal hand running through his beard locks; twined with gold accents, many with Jaeger’s brand. His bushy brow cocked at her name -

He chuckled from his gut, “Wren-AR-ee-ass.”

“Ye’ must b’ from R’loth.”, he said as he brought up his hand to smack her, but seemingly catching himself, he stopped before he did and wiped his shirt- as though it were not obvious.

“Eeeee, ‘ahm Scuf. Scuf Ross; p’eased t’ meetcha.”, Scuf offered her in a rough tongue.

“Know much ‘bout robo-mechanics do ya?”

[member="Wrenarias"]

 

[Wrenarias]

As Dorian's elbow nudged the twi'lek's side, he'd feel a brief but distinct sensation -- a warm flutter blossomed at the point of contact, an excitedly nervous energy, that faded away as quickly as it manifested.

Wren shot a subtle glance to Dorian out of the corner of her eye, but that was the only reaction she gave that anything happened.

Internally, she was immediately on edge. She hadn't expected the man to touch her, and as such, she hadn't been consciously restraining herself. Butterflies danced in her stomach as her gut twisted into worried knots. Having been so excited by the premise of being hired on, she'd been distracted and her concentration slipped as a result. She hoped Dorian would brush it off as a figment of his imagination.

Another one of her bright smiles spread across her features, nodding to Scuf.

"I'm not sure about all that. Cybernetic engineering is something of a passion of mine, and I still have quite a bit to learn. Always new designs and concepts to come across, right?" She paused, realizing that the answer made her seem like an babbling novice and she quickly add. "But, I've done extensive modifications to various prosthetics, not just mine. Rebuilt a few busted battle droids, retrofitted speeders and swoop bikes... Really, I just love machines."

She bit her bottom lip, bouncing ever so slightly on the balls of her feet next to Dorian. Job interviews weren't exactly something she was accustomed to.

[member="Darth Maliphant"]

 

[Darth Empyrean]

“Yours, aye?”, Scuf said as he motioned her forward. He was a very short man, suffering obviously from nanism - and he could barely do anything but motion her to bring her cybernetic lekku towards him without involuntarily touching the girl.

“Didja’ build i’ ya’self?”, he would say, looking over its quality with the more robotic pieces of his equipment, or the macrobinoculars on his goggles would she stop him from getting the closer look he had hoped for.

Maliphant however had lost some interest in the conversation; as he mindlessly rubbed the elbow he had nudged her with. Empathy had stricken his skin, ran hot through his blood and left him feeling a wash of emotion that was far from his own - an invasive threat, his body seemed to think, and one that made his spine stiffen with anxiety. He hadn’t bothered noticing, but she was certainly force sensitive - yet there was the mystery of what she had done.

Worried more, was what she had seen. Dorian, with black hair twisted in a messy bun, watched Scuf talk - but the words were lost on him. The man inside was worried about other things…

Wrenarias on the other hand, would see something different than Maliphant - but perhaps all the more worrisome. On the moment of contact, where sparks flew from ones skin to the others heart - she’d feel, nigh see, a beast sleeping. It was toned, splayed in a fog of ambiguity; and when her senses brought it close, golden eyes opened to watch her.

It was momentary, and as Dorian pulled away he’d offer her nothing more than a smile - far from the emotions she had taken from him. A neutral, sleeping beast stirred in the man; one that was otherwise gentle and charitable, caring and jubilant.

What had she seen?

[member="Wrenarias"]

 

[Wrenarias]

What the kriff was that?

Catching a glimpse into someone else's emotions when they touched her was rare enough as it was, but what Dorian had inadvertently shown her was something else entirely. She got the sense that she'd seen a part of Dorian that he kept hidden away, any other explanation for the golden-eyed beast eluded her.

Under normal circumstances, when she accidentally bumped into someone they'd feel little more than a passing warmth through the brief contact. Some people brushed it off, some didn't. There had been more than one occasion where it'd caused her trouble. For her it felt as if her connection to the Force was amplified, drawing on her energy. It wasn't an unpleasant or uncomfortable sensation, but she never could quite find the words to describe it properly.

Something akin to an embrace, perhaps.

She was so distracted from the encounter that it took her a moment to recognize that Scuf was still talking to her. With an apologetic smile, she leaned a little closer to him and pulled the cybernetic appendage over her shoulder. The prosthetic's surface was made from intricately woven scales of silver that allowed for flexibility and a relatively wide range of motion. She couldn't move the lek as dexterously as the organic twin, but only other twi'leks would really notice.

"I did. Started with modifying the prosthetic I received after the initial injury, but eventually set about to developing a prototype. There's still some improvements to be made... that's what brought me here in the first place." She answered, running a gloved hand along the metallic surface with a warm smile.

Even when she spoke, she couldn't drag her thoughts away from the slumbering beast.

Had he noticed?

[member="Darth Maliphant"]

 

[Darth Empyrean]

“Tis beautiful.”, Scuf said with a smile that matched her own.

He motioned his own arm forward; and it spun freely at the wrist before opening each finger and plate to show more tools and arcs of every sort - only to fold back in on itself like a regular prosthetic; it did all this silently, only offering noises to acknowledge it had ever opened or closed in the first place. It matched its heavily muscled twin, only with fibers and wires moving about it in a blackened casing.

Dorian watched, but he took a step back in the hopes Wrenarias wouldn’t notice his gaze shifting. Emotions ran deep, and for Maliphant they were more still water than a river; years of stagnant progress had left him vapid and hardened, yet anxious and aggressive - but a fear now came of what she had learned of him.

There was an obvious secret in him being a Sith Lord; and it wouldn’t do for the girl to spout to a would be friend of her experience, even worse a master of some sort. Yet, it wasn’t the greatest concern he had; what if she had taken from him too his memories? Maliphant had more than his fair share of things he’d never want another to see, and if the girl saw his younger years, even his childhood -

He coughed, almost violently; an involuntary response to the sudden stress that had hit him. Dorian waved his hand and took another step back, thinking of the consequences of what this could imply.

Scuf looked at him for a moment before turning back -

“M’ arm ah made. Custom, ‘one ah few years back ah’spose. Was mah hobby even ‘fore mah own accident.”, he chuckled as it wizzed and whurred.

“Nah’ta many enjoy eht.”, he said in his rough tongue, “Let ‘lone us who lived eht.”

Scuf chuckled as Dorian recovered;

“If yah tha’ new hire, ah’d love to train yah. Never minded passin’ on thee ol’ knowledge.”

[member="Wrenarias"]

 

[Wrenarias]

Scuf's compliment to her craftsmanship actually made Wrenarias blush, her freckled cheeks turning a darker shade of green. Another engineer commending her work normally would have made her giddy with excitement; but instead, she found herself still trying to puzzle out what Dorian was thinking. There was little doubt now that he had, in fact, noticed something happened.

There was more to him than just what he showed, and it wasn't just the beast she glimpsed. She could have sworn she felt a faint tug on the Force during that brief contact, like someone pulling on a string.

Was he sensitive to the Force too? She couldn't say for sure.

As Scuf displayed the intricacy of his prosthetic, Wren's attention was brought back to the conversation at hand. The craftsmanship and skill needed to make such a device was truly remarkable.

She beamed at the man, wishing she could hug him, but years of avoiding physical contact kept her from reaching out. "I'd be more than happy to study under you. Whatever you can teach me, I'll help however I can."

The usual pang of loneliness lurched in her chest. A normal life was never in the cards for someone like Wrenarias, no matter how much she might have yearned for one. When she was younger, that need to fit in had been so bone-achingly desperate it left her a hollow shell for several years. Over time she accepted who she was and adapted to her circumstances, found a way to live a life of her own. The desperate need gradually faded into little more than an idle daydream, slipping away as she matured. Little moments like this, however, always brought the heartache back for a short time.

Nervously, she glanced back to Dorian as he stepped back. Their eyes met for a moment, mutual uncertainty reflected back at one another. "Only if Mister Dorian agrees, of course... I still have to get the job." She said quietly to Scuf.


[member="Darth Maliphant"]

 

[Darth Empyrean]

Scuf glanced to Dorian, who seemed more distracted than present. He made a momentary, ‘Huh?’ before apologizing, replacing his rude disposition with a cheery smile and a nod -

“Of course, think nothing of it. If Scuf believes you’d be a good addition -”

She was a danger to his secrecy. Somehow, he had to ensure she either didn’t see anything, or forgot what she saw.

“- than who am I to disagree?”

He needed her alone.

“Scuf, I’ll need her for just a moment - have to fill out paperwork and what not.”, Dorian offered with a motion to the elevator once more. Scuf smiled behind his hefty knotted beard, and offered her a gentle, endearing farewell before walking back into his room of curiosities and sculpture.

The elevator rang with its arrival, and dinged again when it set off to the upper levels of the building - the small symbol designating what each level was slowly turning more luxurious, more golden speckled and eccentric with each passing floor before finally ceasing on a single gilded sigil -

That of a wolf, the symbol of Jaeger.

“Come, just a few contractual details to sign.”, he said with a well intentioned moxi.

As he stepped from the elevator, she’d witnessed a room of exceptional luxury. A large, open area with balconies overlooking a clean and aesthetic quarters of black marble and golden ridges around each pillar - a large kitchen, personal bar, and living room all within view of the entrance; while further back, hallways stretched to a number of rooms with hidden purpose. Art lined the walls, and a computer screen offered a glance at a woman digitized in immaculate detail -

She looked up from her computer visage and glanced to Wrenarias -

“It seemed my luck worked. Did you get the job?”, the AI asked.

Dorian simply answered for her -

“She did. Wrenarias, do you drink?”, he asked as he moved towards a desk nearby and shuffled papers aside.


[member="Wrenarias"]

 

[Wrenarias]

Wren was torn between the exciting prospect of the new job she'd just gotten, and the strange interaction with Dorian. She didn't know the man well enough to have a baseline for what to expect when it came to his behavior. Maybe he was always a little spaced out and distracted, but that seemed unlikely, given his position.

She glanced around the luxurious office space where she found herself, taking in as many details as she could at once. Jaeger was certainly a successful company, considering how many levels of this building the owned, if not the entire structure. The furnishings were extravagant, as was to be expected.

Wren had seen similar apartments and offices before, during her first time on Coruscant. Unpleasant memories drifted at the edge of her consciousness. She stifled a shudder before it could pass down her spine, though she couldn't stop the sensation of her skin crawling in reaction.

"Hm?" She asked, clearing her throat as she absently rubbed the back of her neck. "Oh! Uh.. yes. I do."

Why had he brought her all the way up here to sign paperwork?

Another quick look around the office told her that there weren't any other employees nearby. A slight frown touched her lips. She realized that a confrontation was likely about to occur.

It made her uneasy.

[member="Darth Maliphant"]

 

[Darth Empyrean]

Alone.

There was comfort in that.

Dorian glanced over his shoulder at her, and nodded before grabbing the papers he needed from the desk and finding his way to a few glasses and a decanter near a window. The floor they stopped at was obviously his penthouse, with an ever so slight lived in nature that spoke of either his maids attention to detail or Dorian’s own lack of presence here. Even the windows, basked in the light of the afternoon sun and the silhouettes of a thousand flying ships in traffic lanes, were nearly spotless in their immaculate glory.

The Sith Lord took care to pour two tumblers full of the mystery liquor, and took a small sip himself. It was smooth, peach flavoured and ever so gentle on the tongue - a particular hard to attain vintage from Naboo that he brought out whenever guests were present. Cost him a pretty amount of credits, but what was a small cost for endearment from his friends? A shame it was yet to be known if Wrenarias was truly a friend, or more a liability in wait.

He found a spot on the large, L shaped couch that spanned much of the living room; an ever massive holovision monitor sat across from them. Splaying out the papers, Dorian found himself pulling a pen from his collar and beginning to hum as he wrote down in a few places, eventually slowing and signing off with a heavy dot -

Motioning the paper to her, he pointed to a few blank places -

“Just sign here, here… And here.”, he said as he flipped through the pages.

When all was done, he leaned back in the chair with his drink and sipped it slow, enjoying it in the quietness. A stillness that was only to be broken when he finally did speak -

“You know-”, he began, “- down there something happened I wanted to ask you about.”

Dorian said as he took another drink before setting it down and leaning forward.

“Felt like a rush of excitement. In more rough jargon, I felt sparks.”, Dorian laughed at the facade of a half flirt.

“What was that? A glitch in your lekku?”, he said with a cock of his brow; waiting for her lie, or her answer.

[member="Wrenarias"]

 

[Wrenarias]

Wren was seated a few cushions away from Dorian and she was grateful for the distance between them. The last thing she wanted to do was have another accidental brush with the man. He was already suspicious enough of her, and she didn't want to make matters worse.

She took her time reading over the documents, making sure that she wasn't about to sign herself over into an indentured servitude contract. Such contracts were how many prominent public figures got around anti-slavery laws. Wren was all too familiar with them, unfortunately. While she was reading, she sipped from the sweet liquor, savoring the taste. It was far better than most of the drinks she could afford whenever she visited a cantina. Absently, she wondered just where it came from, likely somewhere elegant and refined, if the penthouse's decor was any indication.

Once she was satisfied that she wasn't about to sign away her freedoms, she finally scribbled her signature on the indicated lines and then handed the paperwork back to Dorian.

Leaning back and crossing one leg over the other, she took another sip from her drink. Her eyes followed a ship off in the distance that caught her attention for a few moments, not seeming to mind the silence that had settled over the room around them. She was content to gaze out the immaculate windows for as long as she could. It wasn't like she could get a view like this very often.

Then he spoke.

She took another small sip from the liquor, then leaned forward just enough to set the glass down on the table in front of her. The movements were done at a slow, deliberate pace to give herself the space to consider her answer carefully. He'd intentionally given her an open out to lie, likely a baited response.

Instead of settling into the back of the couch again, she remained leaning forward with her elbows now resting lightly on the tops of her knees. Her fingers loosely laced together and one of her thumbs idly tapped the back of the opposite hand. Her brow furrowed slightly and she shook her head a few times. Taking a deep breath, she settled on an answer.

"If the lek malfunctioned, it would have shocked me far worse than you." She replied simply, gazing down at her hands.

Eventually, she raised her eyes to meet his with a sardonic smirk. "That's the first time someone's described it as 'feeling sparks' though. Cute."

She sighed a moment later, running a hand along her organic lekku. Her gloved fingers delicately toyed with the last few inches of the appendage, weaving it through the digits and curling around her index finger; to Dorian, it might have seemed a similar gesture to a human playing with her hair.

"I didn't mean to startle you, it shouldn't have happened, I'm sorry for that." She murmured, shaking her head.

"If I'm not paying attention or concentrating when someone touches me... that can happen." She explained, being surprisingly honest with the man. There wasn't much point in trying to lie to him -- he obviously knew something happened.

What she didn't reveal, however, was what he'd inadvertently shown her in return.

That had been... new.

She wasn't sure what that meant.

[member="Darth Maliphant"]

 

[Darth Empyrean]

“That can happen?”

Dorian brushed some of the stray hairs from his face, looking towards the table as though he were trying to understand what she meant. Internally, he thought more metaphysical means; was it a form of psychometry? Simply a form of enhanced empathy? He didn’t like questions unanswered, and inevitably - despite all the knowledge of the Darkside and the Light he had, the man suffered a gracious ignorance to… this.

“What is ‘that’?”, he asked again, readjusted as he looked back to her idly manipulate the ends of her lek, “Are you uh…”

He paused, though intentional as though he wasn’t sure what the word he was looking for was -

“A Jedi?”, he finally seemed to settle on.

He didn’t touch his liquor despite the quality and refinement it held, choosing instead to wrap an arm around the back of the couch in her direction - as though to open himself up to their conversation. It was a friendly body language, contrary to the tension no doubt they both felt - he just had to ensure she was comfortable.

For now.

[member="Wrenarias"]