Silverwit

Tau & Titan (Sevinya & Silverwit)

Titan beckoned Tau to come with him. He didn't intend to allow her to leave his sight until they were out of the building. As she stood to follow him, he nodded to her and gave her a comforting smile before following Kaufmann. As they walked he ran his gaze over the room, finally allowing himself to blink and shutting his left eye tight to keep it from drying out anymore.

Things were very quiet, and he definitely felt some openly hostile glares on him. That was fine. As long as things didn't escalate any further, things would be good.

He made sure to listen very closely to the footsteps behind him, making sure Tau kept pace with him the whole way. It felt like an eternity passed while they crossed the bar.

Tau & Titan (Sevinya & Silverwit)

Titan allowed his smile to drop. He was beginning to lose patience. It was very clear to him what sort of man this was. One who took sadistic pleasure in tormenting those he perceived as beneath him. Titan allowed himself to be fueled by his self-righteous instinct, as he placed a hand very loosely on the man's right shoulder.

"I believe I already told you that your permission is not needed. You are not in a position to haggle, Mr. Kaufmann."

He retrieved the chipper from his pocket with his free hand, careful to keep his grip on it vice-like as he held it up to the man's face.

"Now then, do you have a retrieval dock or do I need to get you cash? The price is a nonissue, so we can get this sorted and then Ms. Tau and I will be on our way."

As he finished speaking, an audible hiss accompanied yet another trail of steam from under his eyelid, much more visible now. Still, he did not blink.

Tau & Titan (Sevinya & Silverwit)

Titan smiled again, still not moving his gaze from Kaufmann. He hadn't blinked since the beginning of the conversation.

"Ah, bit of a sticking point there. See, I'm not buying her. I'm buying her freedom."

Another small column of steam rose from his eyelid. He continued to refrain from blinking.

"You also seem to have misread the situation, my good man. I am giving her a chance to take this career path. I was giving you a chance to make a profit on it, as she so kindly suggested."

The smile remained on his face now, just as perfectly genial as it had ever been.

"I would be more than happy to do you a favor and buy you a ship if that's your price, as a favor to a friend of a colleague, but your permission is not needed."

Tau & Titan (Sevinya & Silverwit)

Titan gave the large man what could best be described as a robotic smile. He extended his arm and shook Kaufmann's hand genially.

"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Kaufmann. My name is Titan."

He didn't remove his gaze from Kaufmann's even for a moment.

"You seem like a man who values his time, so I'll cut right to the chase. I was just offering Tau here a bit of a career opportunity. She informed me very politely that she was spoken for, so I wanted to give you an opportunity to sell her freedom, if you'll excuse my dramatic wording."

Tau & Titan (Sevinya & Silverwit)

Titan looked at her, his face expressionless. He thought for a half minute or so, then looked around the room. His left eye shuddered, and made a small hissing noise. The iris expanded and contracted oddly, and it almost seemed to spin a little bit. Steam mixed with smoke curled out from under his eyelid.

He was trying to figure out who had weapons, and who might be willing to use them. He turned his gaze to the one she had referred to as 'Kaufmann'. As he took another glance at Tau, her hands on a pouch she had withdrawn from her jacket, he decided for sure that enough was enough. Whatever happened next, he absolutely had probable cause and no one reasonable would argue that.

Slowly and calmly, he stood up next to the booth's table. His voice was smooth and almost professional, but it carried very easily through the entire room.

"Mr. Kaufmann, may I speak with you over here a moment? It's regarding business."

Tau & Titan (Sevinya & Silverwit)

Titan sipped his drink and scowled a bit. No matter how long it was, he never got used to the awful metallic aftertaste that accompanied everything he ate or drank. He inhaled slowly, as he felt the icy liquid slide down his throat, and listened to Tau as she spoke. He saw her once again take a look at the cage, and finally put 2 and 2 together. This, more than anything else, served to make up his mind.

"All right, I'm not going to butter things up for you."

He took another sip of his drink, and gathered himself before speaking.

"I'd like to offer you a job." He raised a finger once again to quiet her before she could interrupt him, then continued, "Before you accept or decline, let me explain what you might expect to be doing, and what benefits you would get."

Another sip. He felt the ice cool his body, and it helped keep his mind at ease.

"It would start out as a short term contract, but assuming you didn't do anything seriously awful, it could pretty easily turn into a longer term arrangement."

They received more drinks, and Titan waited until the waitress removed herself from earshot again before continuing.

"It's a bit like contracted work. We get jobs from our d-" He cut himself off, narrowing his eyes a little before continuing. "Our boss. We can choose to accept them or not, no penalties if we say no."

He returned to his drink, giving her a chance to speak up.

Tau & Titan (Sevinya & Silverwit)

He smiled up at her, and simply said, "Something cold, please." He nonchalantly took the chipper from his wallet, setting it so that the corner was visible from under his hand. "Go ahead and keep the drinks flowing."

He stowed it back in the pocket facing the wall, then turned back to Tau. He looked at her for a moment, then asked very simply, "Do you know how to defend yourself?"

Tau & Titan (Sevinya & Silverwit)

Titan watched her and listened in silence as she explained. As she dropped her voice, he took another glance at the bar, then returned his gaze to her. As she fell silent, he thought for a few moments.

"I see. It sounds to me like you don't particularly care for your job."

He paused for a little while longer, taking stock once again.

"I apologize again, then. I definitely messed up your day."

The drug use was a problem, but it's not like she was to blame for it. From what he could see and what she'd told him, it was basically a necessity to get by around here. It also wasn't unsolvable. There were definitely options. But he was getting ahead of himself.

"I promise that this is not why I wanted to talk, but you seem pretty knowledgeable of this area, and it would be irresponsible of me not to ask. Tell me, have you heard anything about a guy named Tiger? He's big, bigger than me."

Tau & Titan (Sevinya & Silverwit)

He stopped, baffled by what she said for a moment. Then he raised his hands, panicked. His face was completely flushed.

"Oh, no! No no! I didn't x-ray you. I can't do that, I don't think anyone can honestly."

He pointed to his left eye, which was still a little red but getting better.

"All I did was check your vitals, since you looked like you were physically distressed. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

He looked straight down, hoping that would clear up any misunderstandings. Clearing his throat, he looked up again.

"I forget sometimes that it's a bit rude to do that without asking. I promise I won't 'scan' you again without asking first."

Tau & Titan (Sevinya & Silverwit)

Titan looked up at the building they'd stopped before. The "Lucky Salt Tavern", if the sign was to be believed. Tau turned around to speak to him, and he nodded at her in understanding. They stepped into the tavern, and Titan felt one of the bones in his left fingers tremble slightly. At least one person in here was armed.

Titan narrowed his eyes, but didn't react. He followed Tau, and nodded at the tavern-keep as their eyes met. He took note of the man at the counter especially. Titan didn't like the look of him. He followed Tau to a booth situated towards the back of the tavern, and sat in the seat facing the rest of the room, so he could keep an eye on the patrons.

Tau seemed to be rocking back and forth in her seat. Titan spoke up, "I want to be open and honest with you, because I know this tends to freak people out a bit. I'm a cyborg."

Okay, not the best way to start a conversation, but he didn't want her to feel like he'd been lying to her later.