Aittera sulked in the back booth of another dimly lit cantina somewhere in one of the seedier neighborhoods of Nar Shaddaa, plowing her way through a bottle of whiskey as she played the previous night's visit over again in her mind.
It had been a week since the day Ragious had appeared to her, chiding her for thinking about him too loudly, claiming to be the closest thing she had to a best friend. He might be right, now. The only real friend she had on the moon was now lying in a coma, and even he had been too busy to really talk much beyond the afternoon they'd spent trying to salvage what friendship they could from the past they'd shared. She had thought about calling Selus, but there was so much that she needed to say to him, and once she began, she wasn't sure he'd be inclined to just sweep it all aside or forgive her.
Ragious had admitted that this time it had been his thoughts that had drawn their minds together, but it hadn't been the simple matter of his image appearing next to her or stalking toward her. He'd been in her dream, and that dream had followed her into consciousness. Unlike the two dreams she'd shared with Jheryth, there was no sense of clarity, and when she woke up, she wasn't even sure of more than a few details. It wasn't really until the Sith's image appeared in her room and told her that the dream had unintentionally been his doing that she'd even known that he'd been the man in it.
Now, though...
Now, she recalled every detail.
6/30/2014
6/27/2014
6/21/2014
The Dark Lord Returns
(( My heartfelt gratitude to the player of Darth Ragious, as ever. ))
Aittera stepped out of her as yet unfurnished flat to head toward the nearest taxi stand. It had been a couple of weeks since her meeting with Khor to discuss the terms of surrender the truce between herself and Darth Ragious.
She'd been establishing new contacts while looking at job possibilities locally with security firms and privately owned companies. Not that she'd take a job like that, of course, she told herself. Something about a security job felt too normal or safe to really consider seriously. But it made her feel busy enough to justify whittling away at her savings and kept her mind off of Selus during his increasingly prolonged absence. Look for a job, talk to someone, drink, sleep, repeat.
She was trying not to think of exactly these things when Ragious came to her thoughts, as if the image of his face leaning forward towards her had just been waiting for this moment to remind her that so much else in her life had gone awry since they first met.
As if summoned by her thoughts, his force image appeared beside her at the taxi stand, dressed in the same plain black tunic, pants and boots he'd worn during their last encounter. "You know, when you call out for me that loudly, it is very hard to ignore you."
Aittera nearly jumped at the sound of his voice and turned to look at the force image after a quick glance around to see if anyone was looking in her direction. She spoke quietly to keep from being overheard by potential passersby. "I didn't call. Go away!"
"I'm not the one that was thinking at me. And rather loudly. So instead of fighting, why don't we talk things through so that you can go back to ignoring that I exist."
She moved away from the taxi stand to a railing so she could talk to him without looking like a totally crazy person by putting her back to the very public space she'd been standing in. He moved with her, walking through a passing Nautilan who remained completely oblivious to the Sith's projected image. "I just...thought about you. I don't know why."
"Because with all the other upheaval in your life, I'm a constant."
"A constant annoyance?" she replied with a smirk, joking as much as not. "It's probably because you started it by blowing up the other constant in my life."
"Face it, I'm the closest thing you have to a best friend right now. And why haven't you just bought another ship? You could have done that instead of buying that flat."
"I'm renting the flat. I can't just buy any other ship. I want my ship. It's what it turned into that I can't seem to---Why am I trying to explain this to you?" She was more irritated with herself than anything else by the way she'd almost admitted to her worst enemy of all people. He wasn't her friend, and she just didn't open up like this to anyone, and yet, she found herself saying, "I can't even figure out how I'm going to explain this to him."
"Then why not buy another ship and make it into your ship. Or, you could ask nicely for me to give you one of the freighters I've confiscated for you to remake it your own."
"It's not the same. It's about what that ship represented." The internal debate she's had several times with herself over the subject returned, clouding her blue eyes with a storm of emotion as she looked out over the horizon of floating buildings above Nar Shaddaa.
"I didn't even name it right away. It was just a ship." She wasn't speaking to Darth Ragious anymore, and his voice almost startled her all over again when he spoke once more.
"What was the ship's name anyway? We never salvaged it." He seemed to be doing two things at once, but something in the way he was looking at her made it seem as though he was treating her as his priority.
"The Devious Hope."
"That seems like a fitting name for your ship."
A dark smirk on her lips. "I bought it to be a coffin."
"Is some part of you upset that you didn't die in the attack?"
Aittera scoffed, and a breath later, she was chuckling. "No. No, this...one has nothing to do with the other. I bought the Hope with my bereavement pay and wrongful death settlement payout."
"I was going to say. You must have realized by now that regardless of any threats I made, I was never going to kill you."
She looked over at his image with a short nod, drawing herself out of the past and back to the present. "Just turn me into another Renn'a?"
"You've been listening to the Alderaanian's lies again. I do not know why everyone uses her as some kind of insult. Renn'a is a beautiful, intelligent, cunning, sexy woman. She and I share something that is both special and meaningful and the way you all choose to denigrate her, it is...angering."
Aittera smirked at him. "Pisses me off every time you call Selus my Cathar like he's my pet."
Ragious gave her a deadpan stare. "Like he wouldn't put on a collar for you."
"What makes you think that's not what I was referring to when I mentioned her?"
His image shrugged. "So have you told him you moved out on him yet?"
Her good humor dissolved. "What makes you think the flat isn't for both of us?"
"You would have furnished it if it was."
"I could be waiting for him to help--" She sighed with an irritated scowl. "I just need my own space."
"There, was telling the truth so hard? I don't know why you always insist on fighting me. All I want is to be good to you."
"No, you want me to be one of your women, and I don't belong to anyone."
"If it was only about you being one of my women, I'd just take you again. You know I probably could after all."
"Then, what is it?" She found herself genuinely curious, though later, she'd ask herself what the hell she was thinking by asking.
"If I said what I suspected, you'd go back to fighting me. And I'd rather keep up the illusion of friendliness between us."
Suspicion clouded her features as she studied the image of his face. "I'm not even sure why I am talking to you." But she did know. Much as she hated him, she at least knew where she stood with him and how she felt about him. That was more than she knew when it came to anyone else these days - especially the too-long-absent Selus.
"I should go. I'm meeting a friend for lunch."
"You're such a liar. But I suppose I should get back to the attack I'm overseeing."
Aittera bristled, trying to push away thoughts of dying Republic soldiers. "I'll try to think quieter."
"You have only but to think of me and I'll be there for you, Aittera." His image gave her a bow and disappeared, leaving her alone with the thoughts she'd been working so hard to avoid.
Aittera stepped out of her as yet unfurnished flat to head toward the nearest taxi stand. It had been a couple of weeks since her meeting with Khor to discuss the terms of surrender the truce between herself and Darth Ragious.
She'd been establishing new contacts while looking at job possibilities locally with security firms and privately owned companies. Not that she'd take a job like that, of course, she told herself. Something about a security job felt too normal or safe to really consider seriously. But it made her feel busy enough to justify whittling away at her savings and kept her mind off of Selus during his increasingly prolonged absence. Look for a job, talk to someone, drink, sleep, repeat.
She was trying not to think of exactly these things when Ragious came to her thoughts, as if the image of his face leaning forward towards her had just been waiting for this moment to remind her that so much else in her life had gone awry since they first met.
As if summoned by her thoughts, his force image appeared beside her at the taxi stand, dressed in the same plain black tunic, pants and boots he'd worn during their last encounter. "You know, when you call out for me that loudly, it is very hard to ignore you."
Aittera nearly jumped at the sound of his voice and turned to look at the force image after a quick glance around to see if anyone was looking in her direction. She spoke quietly to keep from being overheard by potential passersby. "I didn't call. Go away!"
"I'm not the one that was thinking at me. And rather loudly. So instead of fighting, why don't we talk things through so that you can go back to ignoring that I exist."
She moved away from the taxi stand to a railing so she could talk to him without looking like a totally crazy person by putting her back to the very public space she'd been standing in. He moved with her, walking through a passing Nautilan who remained completely oblivious to the Sith's projected image. "I just...thought about you. I don't know why."
"Because with all the other upheaval in your life, I'm a constant."
"A constant annoyance?" she replied with a smirk, joking as much as not. "It's probably because you started it by blowing up the other constant in my life."
"Face it, I'm the closest thing you have to a best friend right now. And why haven't you just bought another ship? You could have done that instead of buying that flat."
"I'm renting the flat. I can't just buy any other ship. I want my ship. It's what it turned into that I can't seem to---Why am I trying to explain this to you?" She was more irritated with herself than anything else by the way she'd almost admitted to her worst enemy of all people. He wasn't her friend, and she just didn't open up like this to anyone, and yet, she found herself saying, "I can't even figure out how I'm going to explain this to him."
"Then why not buy another ship and make it into your ship. Or, you could ask nicely for me to give you one of the freighters I've confiscated for you to remake it your own."
"It's not the same. It's about what that ship represented." The internal debate she's had several times with herself over the subject returned, clouding her blue eyes with a storm of emotion as she looked out over the horizon of floating buildings above Nar Shaddaa.
"I didn't even name it right away. It was just a ship." She wasn't speaking to Darth Ragious anymore, and his voice almost startled her all over again when he spoke once more.
"What was the ship's name anyway? We never salvaged it." He seemed to be doing two things at once, but something in the way he was looking at her made it seem as though he was treating her as his priority.
"The Devious Hope."
"That seems like a fitting name for your ship."
A dark smirk on her lips. "I bought it to be a coffin."
"Is some part of you upset that you didn't die in the attack?"
Aittera scoffed, and a breath later, she was chuckling. "No. No, this...one has nothing to do with the other. I bought the Hope with my bereavement pay and wrongful death settlement payout."
"I was going to say. You must have realized by now that regardless of any threats I made, I was never going to kill you."
She looked over at his image with a short nod, drawing herself out of the past and back to the present. "Just turn me into another Renn'a?"
"You've been listening to the Alderaanian's lies again. I do not know why everyone uses her as some kind of insult. Renn'a is a beautiful, intelligent, cunning, sexy woman. She and I share something that is both special and meaningful and the way you all choose to denigrate her, it is...angering."
Aittera smirked at him. "Pisses me off every time you call Selus my Cathar like he's my pet."
Ragious gave her a deadpan stare. "Like he wouldn't put on a collar for you."
"What makes you think that's not what I was referring to when I mentioned her?"
His image shrugged. "So have you told him you moved out on him yet?"
Her good humor dissolved. "What makes you think the flat isn't for both of us?"
"You would have furnished it if it was."
"I could be waiting for him to help--" She sighed with an irritated scowl. "I just need my own space."
"There, was telling the truth so hard? I don't know why you always insist on fighting me. All I want is to be good to you."
"No, you want me to be one of your women, and I don't belong to anyone."
"If it was only about you being one of my women, I'd just take you again. You know I probably could after all."
"Then, what is it?" She found herself genuinely curious, though later, she'd ask herself what the hell she was thinking by asking.
"If I said what I suspected, you'd go back to fighting me. And I'd rather keep up the illusion of friendliness between us."
Suspicion clouded her features as she studied the image of his face. "I'm not even sure why I am talking to you." But she did know. Much as she hated him, she at least knew where she stood with him and how she felt about him. That was more than she knew when it came to anyone else these days - especially the too-long-absent Selus.
"I should go. I'm meeting a friend for lunch."
"You're such a liar. But I suppose I should get back to the attack I'm overseeing."
Aittera bristled, trying to push away thoughts of dying Republic soldiers. "I'll try to think quieter."
"You have only but to think of me and I'll be there for you, Aittera." His image gave her a bow and disappeared, leaving her alone with the thoughts she'd been working so hard to avoid.
6/20/2014
Resentment
Aittera sat curled up in a booth in the back of a cantina somewhere in the red light district, glaring at the bottle she'd been plowing her way through. The seedy little dive was relatively quiet in the dimly lit back corner where she'd taken refuge, and even without the aid of Force abilities, she'd managed to convey the message that she was not worth interrupting on her way in.
"So you do plan to fight me after all then?"
She had been tempted - oh so very tempted - by that little seductive whisper Khor had breathed into her ear. Hell, a year ago, she'd have tumbled right into the bastard's bed without a second thought. He was charming, damned attractive, and that confidence....
A year ago.
Before Selus chased her down and forced her to reinvest in her life.
Back in the days she ran from anyone who could make her feel like she wasn't a walking corpse with a dead husk of what was once a heart in her chest.
"I've been resenting the hell out of him lately, and sleeping with someone else - even if he never knows about it - would be some kind of....I don't know. Punishment?"
What she'd said echoed in her ears as she played out the rest of her meeting with Khor in her mind, and she began to wonder how she hadn't seen it before that moment. It wasn't just the way Selus had pushed for the truce, invoking what he knew about her past to know exactly how to make her give in, and the more she let her mind sift back through everything that had happened since the Devious Hope had been destroyed, the more she found to resent.
She loved him though. She would love him forever if he walked into the cantina right that second and stabbed her in the heart. She would move planets for him. So, she would have to find a way to make things right between them.
Somehow.
She loved him though. She would love him forever if he walked into the cantina right that second and stabbed her in the heart. She would move planets for him. So, she would have to find a way to make things right between them.
Somehow.
6/19/2014
Surrender
(( Huge, huge thanks to the player of Untruth for this awesome scene! You always make me look so good. ))
Aittera stepped up to the door of the penthouse suite and knocked. She hadn't called first or told anyone what she intended to do. Selus would have wanted her to wait until he returned from the business that had taken him away from the moon, but it was bad enough he'd made her agree to let her vendetta against Ragious go in the first place, so damned if she was going to do this with him holding her hand like some obedient little girlfriend. Her pride was already stretched far too thin.
Khor answered the door once more in his workout attire, his chest bared. His lightsabers hung from his belt, and he seemed to have been practicing at a high level, judging by the sweat that glistened on his skin. "Aittera, this is a surprise."
She quirked an eyebrow when she saw him, unable to help the suggestive smirk that came to play on her lips. In truth, red was never all that attractive in members of the opposite sex, but his chiseled chest and muscular arms were impressive, and she couldn't help the sultry note in her tone. "Is this a bad time?"
"Not at all, you merely caught me in the midst of a workout. Please come in." He stepped aside to allow her entrance, closing the door behind her. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"
"I'm here to take you up on your offer," she answered simply, slipping the trenchcoat from her shoulders to hand to him before sauntering toward the seating area, hips swaying. Alright, this was a little much, she knew, but the way he'd smiled at her when he'd first opened the door was inspiration to flirt if ever she'd seen it. Besides, she wasn't above a little feminine manipulation to smooth negotiations.
Khor moved to the closet near the door and hung her coat inside, his eyes tracking her movement, glad to be able to use his already somewhat heated state to hide the arousal he was beginning to feel. "I rather expected to meet with you and Selus. And to have Ali with me when we did. What changed?"
He sat in one of the chairs opposite her.
"I've had the chance to really think about what this will cost me, and I think you're right. No matter how this goes, the price I or Selus will have to pay is too much." You can take the liar out of SIS...or however that's supposed to go, she thought with a glance toward the liquor cabinet. "Do you have anything other than Chimbak?"
"Of course, I'm sure you can find something you would enjoy, please make yourself whatever you would like." He stayed seated, contemplating what she had said and wondering what could have changed her mind after the reluctance he'd sensed in her during their last meeting.
"Some host you are," she chided, getting up to stroll over to the liquor cabinet.
"To be honest, I wasn't sure you would agree to my offer. I sort of had you pegged as so set on revenge that regardless of what I said it wouldn't be enough."
"You were right. There was nothing you could've said. Selus was the one who said it." Aittera located the Whyren's and retrieved two glasses to bring back to the chair with her. After opening the bottle, she poured them each a drink and handed one of the glasses to him.
He gave her a grin as he took the offered drink then held the glass up to her. "Forgive me, I wanted an excuse to watch you walk again. You are quite enticing you know. I'm sure you have some terms you'd like to discuss?"
The compliment elicited a coy smile, and she tapped her glass against his before knocking back the contents in one go. "He doesn't go near Selus, and nothing Jheryth Chrystopher does comes back on me and mine. That bastard's been trying to get me to help him, and now that he knows I won't, I'm sure he'll concoct some hair-brained plan to frame me to keep Ragious from looking in his direction."
"Why not cut Jheryth off at the knees, then? Work with my family against him?" Khor seemed to be thinking aloud. "It would be the last thing he and my father expect, and you can be certain that my father would consider himself greatly in your debt."
Aittera gave a quick shake of her head that sent thick waves of red into motion as she refilled her glass. "I won't act against him either, and I don't work with Sith. You're on your own when it comes to Jheryth. Consider the news that your father isn't the only person he's after as a gift for helping me make this grudge war go away."
"That's unfortunate, I rather think you and I could have got on quite well." He gave her another grin before taking a long drink from the glass. "I can make what you ask happen. But I would like to know why Jheryth is once again plaguing my family."
"Oh come now, Khor'deth, I think we're getting on very well right now," she flirts before addressing Jheryth. "I really couldn't say. When we spoke, he went on and on about how your father broke Renn'a. Apparently, before he became obsessed with me, he was obsessed with her."
"Actually, I believe it was at the same time. And Renn'a is not broken. If he continues to speak such nonsense my father will be the least of his worries." Khor seemed genuinely upset at the characterization of his father's pet, and for the first time in her presence, his usual even temperament gave way to a tone that she could easily associate with a Sith's rage.
Aittera remained passive as she waited for him to take another drink to collect himself, keeping her thoughts focused on the task at hand and as far away from the subject of Jheryth's interests in Renn'a and her sister as possible.
When he continued, he returned to the friendly nature he'd begun the conversation with. "And I agree, we are getting on quite well, but I am ever the optimist for better relations."
"Maybe he just has a thing for redheads," she offered coyly as though the temporary loss of control didn't happen at all, and finished the second glassful of amber liquid.
"Yes, well, I hope that anyone that admires him will still be able to do so when he becomes about a foot shorter. Though I can't imagine that is any great number of people."
"I doubt anyone admires him nearly as much as he does."
"Well, I guess he wins after all if he persists on his current path, because his head will be in a much better position to admire the rest of his body."
Laughing, she leaned forward to pour herself another glassful of the whiskey. "Well, regardless, I've washed my hands of him." Once the glass was full, she looked up at him with a serious light in the depths of her cool blue eyes, leaving the subject of Jheryth behind. "I also want Skyka to be left alone. She's been through enough."
"As I previously mentioned, my father has found other places for his Twi'lek interests anyway. But I will be sure to mention her to him."
Aittera sat back to watch him over the rim of her glass. "Then, we have a deal?"
"We always did, Aittera."
"Are you in frequent contact with him?"
"My father? Not really. I mostly pass messages through his adjutant, but for this I will make the trek back to the homeworld in person."
"I would tell you to give him my best, but we both know that'd be a pile of bantha dung," she joked, taking a sip from her glass as her gaze remained fixed on his face.
"There is one small matter though. You will probably still feel some presence from my father, it works both ways if I understand it correctly, and isn't a conscious act. My father mentioned that it may even be a side effect of Skyka's well intentioned, but not so...effective...shielding attempt."
"Will he stop showing up in my damn bedroom or any room in which I'm not completely dressed? A girl tends to appreciate her privacy."
"I'm sure he will. That part is something he can control."
Aittera smirked - albeit more good-naturedly than cynically. "It'd be nice if he started excersizing that control."
"I will do all I can to impress upon him the importance of it." He returned the smirk.
She leaned forward to extend her hand toward him. "Then, I am finished trying to make him pay for what he's done to me."
Khor stood and moved to take the hand, holding it in less of a handshake and more as one would hold a ladies hand. He bowed, bringing it to his lips. "I am glad that we were able to find a way to achieve peace, Aittera. And I hope that this will not be the only thing we ever meet to discuss."
She stood when he did, regarding the gesture with an amused grin. "I appreciate that you're a gentleman, Khor, but I was hoping to shake hands on reaching agreeable terms," she chided playfully with a little glint in her eye. "Of course, if you're that eager to get rid of me, I can go, and you can put this all in writing and send it to me."
Laughing, he gave her the handshake she teased about before moving to sit again, this time in the chair next to her. "I was actually hoping you'd want to stay a while."
Aittera looked down at the half empty glass in her other hand, then back to him. "Oh? Why is that?"
"Why would a handsome man want a beautiful woman to continue to keep him company? I'm wondering if it wouldn't be quicker to list the number of reasons why he wouldn't."
Despite her better judgement, she sat back down, chuckling. "Well, keep flattering me, and I'll stay as long as you like."
Khor turned to look at her, his knee touching hers. "If you're not careful I'll attempt to flatter you into never leaving."
She turned in her chair so they could talk face to face, inadvertently sliding her knee against his, and studied his face for a moment with a curious smile. "It's uncanny."
He gave her a rather charming smile as he moved his hand along the back of the chair behind her, "What is?"
"You have your mother's eyes and your father's smile, but beyond the physical, you're nothing like either of them. How did that happen?" She finished the contents of her glass, aware of the shift in his interest - as well as the placement of his hand and the open body language - knowing that she should put an end to it before it could go any further.
Khor took a drink to finish his glass and leaned over to place it on the table in front of the chair. When he returned his gaze to her, she found his smile still there, mixed with some curiosity of his own. "They say we're products of how we were raised. I was brought up to value education, and I hope you won't find me arrogant when I say that I am quite a bit smarter than most. I can see the pitfalls of the traditional Sith attitudes and way of things. Don't get me wrong, I don't advocate any kind of peace with the Republic that requires any concession on our part. I know what happened in the last war, how we were hunted."
"I have decided to walk a path that let's me be Sith, without being like either of my parents, and I believe I am doing quite well for myself on it."
Aittera dropped her gaze to the glass in her hand thoughtfully, and the light, playful nature evaporated as she spoke a part of the thought his answer has evoked. "I hope for your sake that you don't lose that vision then."
"I hope it does not frighten you when I say that I can be every bit as ruthless as my father when it is required, and I am every bit as cunning as my mother. I simply have...a gift for seeing when I need to employ those particular tools."
Normally, she'd return with a quip about not being afraid of anything, but instead, she simply looked up at him again and nodded with a small smile. "Now, if you could just convince the rest of the Empire."
"The Empire is what it is for it's very survival. I'm afforded the ability to walk the path I do not in spite of the Empire's reputation, but because of it. I could show you histories Aittera, and not just Imperial, but histories of the Jedi Order that they've tried to cover up that shows just how big of hypocrites they are when it comes to what they would do to us if given a chance."
"Do you think that there would be no war if the Jedi weren't involved?"
"That depends on what you're asking. If the Jedi never existed, there never would have been Sith."
"I'm not sure what I'm asking at this point. To be honest, I think I'd like to go back to the decision I made in the first place to sit out the rest of the war. I signed a lease on a flat above the Promenade a few days ago."
Khor moved his hand from the back of the chair to brush along her upper back through the fabric of her top - something almost unconscious as his fingertips lightly rubbed against her shirt. "I think that is a good decision, I would hate for you and I to ever find ourselves on opposing sides of a battle."
The touch brought the coy smile back to her lips, banishing the serious contemplation and along with it, the shadow that had cast itself over her features. "Oh, I can put up one hell of a fight."
He laughed. "Of that I am quite certain, but I imagine sometimes there are much better ways to go about something than fighting."
"Heh. Yeah, but none that I'm good at."
Aittera stepped up to the door of the penthouse suite and knocked. She hadn't called first or told anyone what she intended to do. Selus would have wanted her to wait until he returned from the business that had taken him away from the moon, but it was bad enough he'd made her agree to let her vendetta against Ragious go in the first place, so damned if she was going to do this with him holding her hand like some obedient little girlfriend. Her pride was already stretched far too thin.
Khor answered the door once more in his workout attire, his chest bared. His lightsabers hung from his belt, and he seemed to have been practicing at a high level, judging by the sweat that glistened on his skin. "Aittera, this is a surprise."
She quirked an eyebrow when she saw him, unable to help the suggestive smirk that came to play on her lips. In truth, red was never all that attractive in members of the opposite sex, but his chiseled chest and muscular arms were impressive, and she couldn't help the sultry note in her tone. "Is this a bad time?"
"Not at all, you merely caught me in the midst of a workout. Please come in." He stepped aside to allow her entrance, closing the door behind her. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"
"I'm here to take you up on your offer," she answered simply, slipping the trenchcoat from her shoulders to hand to him before sauntering toward the seating area, hips swaying. Alright, this was a little much, she knew, but the way he'd smiled at her when he'd first opened the door was inspiration to flirt if ever she'd seen it. Besides, she wasn't above a little feminine manipulation to smooth negotiations.
Khor moved to the closet near the door and hung her coat inside, his eyes tracking her movement, glad to be able to use his already somewhat heated state to hide the arousal he was beginning to feel. "I rather expected to meet with you and Selus. And to have Ali with me when we did. What changed?"
He sat in one of the chairs opposite her.
"I've had the chance to really think about what this will cost me, and I think you're right. No matter how this goes, the price I or Selus will have to pay is too much." You can take the liar out of SIS...or however that's supposed to go, she thought with a glance toward the liquor cabinet. "Do you have anything other than Chimbak?"
"Of course, I'm sure you can find something you would enjoy, please make yourself whatever you would like." He stayed seated, contemplating what she had said and wondering what could have changed her mind after the reluctance he'd sensed in her during their last meeting.
"Some host you are," she chided, getting up to stroll over to the liquor cabinet.
"To be honest, I wasn't sure you would agree to my offer. I sort of had you pegged as so set on revenge that regardless of what I said it wouldn't be enough."
"You were right. There was nothing you could've said. Selus was the one who said it." Aittera located the Whyren's and retrieved two glasses to bring back to the chair with her. After opening the bottle, she poured them each a drink and handed one of the glasses to him.
He gave her a grin as he took the offered drink then held the glass up to her. "Forgive me, I wanted an excuse to watch you walk again. You are quite enticing you know. I'm sure you have some terms you'd like to discuss?"
The compliment elicited a coy smile, and she tapped her glass against his before knocking back the contents in one go. "He doesn't go near Selus, and nothing Jheryth Chrystopher does comes back on me and mine. That bastard's been trying to get me to help him, and now that he knows I won't, I'm sure he'll concoct some hair-brained plan to frame me to keep Ragious from looking in his direction."
"Why not cut Jheryth off at the knees, then? Work with my family against him?" Khor seemed to be thinking aloud. "It would be the last thing he and my father expect, and you can be certain that my father would consider himself greatly in your debt."
Aittera gave a quick shake of her head that sent thick waves of red into motion as she refilled her glass. "I won't act against him either, and I don't work with Sith. You're on your own when it comes to Jheryth. Consider the news that your father isn't the only person he's after as a gift for helping me make this grudge war go away."
"That's unfortunate, I rather think you and I could have got on quite well." He gave her another grin before taking a long drink from the glass. "I can make what you ask happen. But I would like to know why Jheryth is once again plaguing my family."
"Oh come now, Khor'deth, I think we're getting on very well right now," she flirts before addressing Jheryth. "I really couldn't say. When we spoke, he went on and on about how your father broke Renn'a. Apparently, before he became obsessed with me, he was obsessed with her."
"Actually, I believe it was at the same time. And Renn'a is not broken. If he continues to speak such nonsense my father will be the least of his worries." Khor seemed genuinely upset at the characterization of his father's pet, and for the first time in her presence, his usual even temperament gave way to a tone that she could easily associate with a Sith's rage.
Aittera remained passive as she waited for him to take another drink to collect himself, keeping her thoughts focused on the task at hand and as far away from the subject of Jheryth's interests in Renn'a and her sister as possible.
When he continued, he returned to the friendly nature he'd begun the conversation with. "And I agree, we are getting on quite well, but I am ever the optimist for better relations."
"Maybe he just has a thing for redheads," she offered coyly as though the temporary loss of control didn't happen at all, and finished the second glassful of amber liquid.
"Yes, well, I hope that anyone that admires him will still be able to do so when he becomes about a foot shorter. Though I can't imagine that is any great number of people."
"I doubt anyone admires him nearly as much as he does."
"Well, I guess he wins after all if he persists on his current path, because his head will be in a much better position to admire the rest of his body."
Laughing, she leaned forward to pour herself another glassful of the whiskey. "Well, regardless, I've washed my hands of him." Once the glass was full, she looked up at him with a serious light in the depths of her cool blue eyes, leaving the subject of Jheryth behind. "I also want Skyka to be left alone. She's been through enough."
"As I previously mentioned, my father has found other places for his Twi'lek interests anyway. But I will be sure to mention her to him."
Aittera sat back to watch him over the rim of her glass. "Then, we have a deal?"
"We always did, Aittera."
"Are you in frequent contact with him?"
"My father? Not really. I mostly pass messages through his adjutant, but for this I will make the trek back to the homeworld in person."
"I would tell you to give him my best, but we both know that'd be a pile of bantha dung," she joked, taking a sip from her glass as her gaze remained fixed on his face.
"There is one small matter though. You will probably still feel some presence from my father, it works both ways if I understand it correctly, and isn't a conscious act. My father mentioned that it may even be a side effect of Skyka's well intentioned, but not so...effective...shielding attempt."
"Will he stop showing up in my damn bedroom or any room in which I'm not completely dressed? A girl tends to appreciate her privacy."
"I'm sure he will. That part is something he can control."
Aittera smirked - albeit more good-naturedly than cynically. "It'd be nice if he started excersizing that control."
"I will do all I can to impress upon him the importance of it." He returned the smirk.
She leaned forward to extend her hand toward him. "Then, I am finished trying to make him pay for what he's done to me."
Khor stood and moved to take the hand, holding it in less of a handshake and more as one would hold a ladies hand. He bowed, bringing it to his lips. "I am glad that we were able to find a way to achieve peace, Aittera. And I hope that this will not be the only thing we ever meet to discuss."
She stood when he did, regarding the gesture with an amused grin. "I appreciate that you're a gentleman, Khor, but I was hoping to shake hands on reaching agreeable terms," she chided playfully with a little glint in her eye. "Of course, if you're that eager to get rid of me, I can go, and you can put this all in writing and send it to me."
Laughing, he gave her the handshake she teased about before moving to sit again, this time in the chair next to her. "I was actually hoping you'd want to stay a while."
Aittera looked down at the half empty glass in her other hand, then back to him. "Oh? Why is that?"
"Why would a handsome man want a beautiful woman to continue to keep him company? I'm wondering if it wouldn't be quicker to list the number of reasons why he wouldn't."
Despite her better judgement, she sat back down, chuckling. "Well, keep flattering me, and I'll stay as long as you like."
Khor turned to look at her, his knee touching hers. "If you're not careful I'll attempt to flatter you into never leaving."
She turned in her chair so they could talk face to face, inadvertently sliding her knee against his, and studied his face for a moment with a curious smile. "It's uncanny."
He gave her a rather charming smile as he moved his hand along the back of the chair behind her, "What is?"
"You have your mother's eyes and your father's smile, but beyond the physical, you're nothing like either of them. How did that happen?" She finished the contents of her glass, aware of the shift in his interest - as well as the placement of his hand and the open body language - knowing that she should put an end to it before it could go any further.
Khor took a drink to finish his glass and leaned over to place it on the table in front of the chair. When he returned his gaze to her, she found his smile still there, mixed with some curiosity of his own. "They say we're products of how we were raised. I was brought up to value education, and I hope you won't find me arrogant when I say that I am quite a bit smarter than most. I can see the pitfalls of the traditional Sith attitudes and way of things. Don't get me wrong, I don't advocate any kind of peace with the Republic that requires any concession on our part. I know what happened in the last war, how we were hunted."
"I have decided to walk a path that let's me be Sith, without being like either of my parents, and I believe I am doing quite well for myself on it."
Aittera dropped her gaze to the glass in her hand thoughtfully, and the light, playful nature evaporated as she spoke a part of the thought his answer has evoked. "I hope for your sake that you don't lose that vision then."
"I hope it does not frighten you when I say that I can be every bit as ruthless as my father when it is required, and I am every bit as cunning as my mother. I simply have...a gift for seeing when I need to employ those particular tools."
Normally, she'd return with a quip about not being afraid of anything, but instead, she simply looked up at him again and nodded with a small smile. "Now, if you could just convince the rest of the Empire."
"The Empire is what it is for it's very survival. I'm afforded the ability to walk the path I do not in spite of the Empire's reputation, but because of it. I could show you histories Aittera, and not just Imperial, but histories of the Jedi Order that they've tried to cover up that shows just how big of hypocrites they are when it comes to what they would do to us if given a chance."
"Do you think that there would be no war if the Jedi weren't involved?"
"That depends on what you're asking. If the Jedi never existed, there never would have been Sith."
"I'm not sure what I'm asking at this point. To be honest, I think I'd like to go back to the decision I made in the first place to sit out the rest of the war. I signed a lease on a flat above the Promenade a few days ago."
Khor moved his hand from the back of the chair to brush along her upper back through the fabric of her top - something almost unconscious as his fingertips lightly rubbed against her shirt. "I think that is a good decision, I would hate for you and I to ever find ourselves on opposing sides of a battle."
The touch brought the coy smile back to her lips, banishing the serious contemplation and along with it, the shadow that had cast itself over her features. "Oh, I can put up one hell of a fight."
He laughed. "Of that I am quite certain, but I imagine sometimes there are much better ways to go about something than fighting."
"Heh. Yeah, but none that I'm good at."
6/17/2014
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