Sloshy Summations

[Molly Black]

"I figured I dragged you along on the last tour.." Not exactly, she just hadn't wanted him to catch any of her little friends. She was protecting them from him, one of the biggest unknown factors in Molly's life.

"Alright." Molly agreed with only a slight hesitation. She wiggled her toes inside the boots she had worn, regretting it now. Without the extra inches that her usual heels afforded her, she always felt small.

Having the barricade of the bar between them had been her last line of defense, but she came around it all the same.. "This way then.."

Stepping from the Cloud 9 into Bliss was always like upgrading, Molly thought. Floors slippery with fry grease and spilled alcohol gave way to plush carpet. Neon lighting was replaced with softer, warmer schemes, the kind that relaxed you and made you want to stick around.

"So there's the gaming tables... Umm, there are a few meeting rooms, and there are even a couple suites in case any high rollers decide to make an evening of it. The surveillance was alright when it was put in...but I have a guy who's going to upgrade it for me.", Molly grinned. Of course she did.

[Sev'ilen'sabosen]

It was strange, to see a club during the hours it wasn’t in operation. Without shadows and pulsing music that would turn Bliss into a haven for indiscretions, the club looked well-furnished but felt somehow hollow. On the topic of surveillance, Vilen could spot only one camera. If there were others - and he didn’t doubt there were - they had been well concealed. Inwardly, he was impressed.

“I can see how this would be good for all sorts of business.”

[Molly Black]

"Yeah, I was pretty impressed my first time in here too." In fact, Molly had't even started her employment at the Cloud 9 with clearance to Bliss. That had come later.

Back then it had been Mu getting the place going. Molly had walked, a bit woebegone and without a credit to her name, through the doors of the Cloud 9, under the direction of someone else. Maybe she was repeating some loop? Then, as now, she had taken the job as a way to pay someone back for a favor. At first glance, Molly had been turned away by Mu. Instead of leaving, Molly had picked up a broom. Her stubbornness had won her the job, she suspected. Her perkiness had made her popular. Her ability to manage situations that could be described as 'bananas' had put her in charge.

"It is. So what would you do with it?", she wondered.

[Sev'ilen'sabosen]

“Run it into the ground, most likely.”

When she glanced at him, Vilen smiled. He paced further onto into the club, toward the gaming tables.

“I’m not well suited to running a place like this.”

[Molly Black]

"Hmm.. at least you're honest." That was all Molly said for a moment, walking in the same direction but bypassing the gaming tables toward a room full of billiard tables. She sat on one watching Vilen, as he checked out the club.

"So what exactly are you suited to?" That sort of information would make her life so much easier. If she just knew what he wanted, she was she could get it for him.

Molly's blue eyes went upward to the ceiling tiles, still pondering the to-be upgraded surveillance.

[Sev'ilen'sabosen]

An interesting question, Vilen thought, as he ran a hand over the fabric of a Sabacc table. It looked almost untouched, like the first hand of cards hadn’t even been dealt on it yet. Someday soon, someone would look at that table and see the potential to win big.

“What do you think?” he asked, turning his back to the table.

[Molly Black]

Perched on the billiard table still, Molly's denim clad legs dangled over the side, booted-ankles crossed and kicking slowly. Tilting her head, she gave Vilen a leisurely perusal, as if she had not done so each and every time she had encountered him. She could probably have a suit made for him with her qualifications. She squinted a bit, as though she were truly trying to piece together the riddle of Sev'ilen'sabosen and come up with an answer.

"Chandrila Beach swimwear model?"

[Sev'ilen'sabosen]

“Tried it,” Vilen countered, straight-faced. ”Apparently my… complexion wasn’t suitable.”

He braced both hands on the table behind him, leaning back against it.

“I used to be what we call in Cheunh an en'catehan'casi ch'an'itepert. An analyst of… secrets. An agent of the law,” he added, with a small smile.

[Molly Black]

Molly shook her head regrettably at Vilen's failed modelling career. "What do they know..?"

Trying to get the image of Vilen lounging about in a swim suit, pool side, on her soon-to-be rescued ship out of her head, Molly reached for one of the balls on the table. She rolled it back and forth across the surface, before sinking it in a pocket. She wished Cheunh was one of the languages she had better command over. The truth was, she had not met many Chiss, and it was a complicated language to take on.

"So.. what does that mean? You got to determine which secrets were assets and which were chaff?"

[Sev'ilen'sabosen]

“Something like that, yes.”

Stepping away from the sabacc table, Vilen pushed his hands into his pockets as he paced back towards the billiard table.

“I found the secrets. Extracted them. Then used them.”

He walked along the uppermost edge of the table, perpendicular to where Molly sat. He doubted that what he was about to tell her would come as any surprise.

“Mostly, it involved gathering… vuct'sucer ch'icaseiti, or compromat, as the Imperials call it. Blackmail material. Not the sort of work that generally puts you in good stead to play host."

[Molly Black]

Watching Vilen approach a little warily, Molly chewed her lip in indecision about her own intelligence where he was concerned. She had first hand knowledge of how good he was at that particular job, else they would not be here discussing it now. "Huh.. I cannot imagine why?", she responded sarcastically.

"Now, bet on it, I haven't been trained by any special forces or anything.. It's just my experience that people give up more when they are cozy like. Desperation makes people irrational, don't you think? Information can become.. hmm, inaccurate maybe?"

While she did not appreciate being blackmailed herself, Molly was not above using the tactic when it got the results required. She just went about it a different fashion, which brought her back to her own intelligence, or maybe a lack thereof..

"Hey Vilen.. Come here for a minute..." Molly tilted her face toward him, leaning back on the billiard table with a mischievous look.

[Sev'ilen'sabosen]

“It’s about what you can do with the intel, not… necessarily how accurate it is,” he said, as if that summed up his entire approach to intelligence gathering. “A half-truth can be much more powerful than the whole truth.”

When she called his name, Vilen looked up from examining the top of the billiard table. A quizzical eyebrow lifting for an instant, he turned on his heel and walked until he was standing in front of Molly.

“Yes?”

[Molly Black]

"I suppose so..", she allowed, knowing she'd made use of less than half of a truth in the past. A smidgen was often enough.

When Vilen was before her, Molly had her calculating smile back in place, wondering just how far she could get with her mysterious Chiss. "Let's have a demonstration!", she suggested.

Indicating the free spaces on the table to either side of her hips, she patted the spots. "Hands here, if you please..?"

[Sev'ilen'sabosen]

A demonstration? Vilen looked a touch incredulous, but obliged regardless, resting blue fingertips on the felt of the tabletop, right where Molly had suggested. His red eye shifted down, to narrow margin of space between them, then back up to her face. He was practically stood over her, pinning her in place.

“Yes, I can see how this might... encourage you to tell me a secret or two.”

[Molly Black]

"Probably, yes..", she admitted, unwisely. She was pretty sure Vilen was oblivious to the effect he had on her. If he had been, surely he'd have taken advantage of it by now.

Despite the fact that he was practically up against her already, Molly leaned up at a precise angle, it seemed like she was about to kiss him actually. For a moment, she even considered it..

"That'll do nicely, I think. Now we go see the office." She gestured back the way they had entered, back out into the restaurant.

"Unless.. there was something else here you wanted to see first?"

[Sev'ilen'sabosen]

Vilen’s hands remained exactly where they were. He even leaned forward a fraction, his red eyes fixed to her blue.

“Wasn't there.. something else here that you wanted to show me?”

[Molly Black]

"Oh, I think I definitely do." Molly confirmed with a slow nod.

She didn't take her eyes off Vilen, not with him so close. She felt, just a little, breathless. Sort of pressed in on all sides by him. It was not a bad thing really, but the only place to go was back against the felt of the table.

Not quite sure if she was supposed to be intimidated or turned on, she swallowed and then smiled. "It's in the office."

[Sev'ilen'sabosen]

Vilen tipped his head back for a moment, considering Molly as she smiled up at him.

“Not out here? Not… on this table?”

[Molly Black]

Oh, hot damn. It would seem Vilen knew exactly what he was doing.

With some effort Molly kept her smile from faltering, although her pulse did increase. She took her eyes from Vilen's red ones long enough to glance over her shoulder at the table top. Stretching out her arm, she ran her fingers back across the felt surface, flattening her hand experimentally. "Hmmm."

Molly would be lying if she said she had not considered this, and more with Vilen. More than once. It had been her intention to show him something clever. This was where cleverness got her.

She looked back at Vilen, shrugging a bare shoulder, not about to be out-bluffed in her own club. "I have felt cheated a honeymoon."

[Sev'ilen'sabosen]

Vilen slid a hand across the table until his fingers covered hers.

“Cheated?” He squeezed her hand. “I’d never be so dishonest.”