The Talk

[Akhsar King]

As Grace finished up treating Kings minor wounds Sean and Octavia entered the med-bay. Or tried to. Six people made things more than a little cramped, so King and Charity left to make room. Amorru followed as well but headed off to the bridge, leaving Charity alone with King.

King stretched and twisted a little, making sure the bandages that Grace had applied wouldn't bind up to badly if he had to move, and glanced around the galley. "Well, this might be a good time to finish our talk from earlier, eh? Might as well get it out of the way." He said, watching Charity out of the corner of his eye. Even without knowing the details he had no trouble believing her claim that Boyers was a murderer, or at the very least he had no trouble believing that she believed it. If you were both rich AND connected there wasn't much you couldn't get away with... but King still needed some proof of a breach of contract so he could tell the entitled noble that their business was ended. And there was the part about Charity hiring him as personal security. That was probably something they should discuss in more detail as well.

[Charity]

Charity was more than a little apprehensive as she and King exited the infirmary, her lower lip trapped between her teeth and her hands clasped demurely in front of her lap as she thought things over, the handkerchief she'd found in the drawer draped between her index and middle finger. She turned her head a little to watch King move, releasing her lip and running her tongue over it idly to rid it of the mild pain that came from chewing upon it thoughtfully.

"Well, this might be a good time to finish our talk from earlier, eh? Might as well get it out of the way," he offered, sounding just as calm and in control of himself as ever.

The woman sighed a little and turned her body to face him completely, "Proof," she murmured, tilting her head to the side and raising her brows at him a little. "You need proof that my belongings are indeed mine?" she asked, lifting her hand to run her fingertips over the ornate pin holding some of her dark hair out of her porcelain face. "I don't have receipts...Oh!" With eyes widened by realization, she stepped a little closer to the man and pulled at a silver chain that vanished down the front of her dress. The silver locket was freed and Charity used a perfectly manicured nail to unclasp it, opening the silver disc and offering it to him to look at.

Inside were two traditional photos, one on either side. On the left, her father, a striking and stern looking man, all professionalism and high class. On the right, a gentle looking woman smiling at the camera, her mass of brown waves cascading freely around her like a nymph of Earth That Was lore. The woman in the photo wore a beautifully crafted necklace that shimmered with diamonds and emeralds and was an exact match of the photo Boyers had sent King in his information packet.

"It was my mothers," she began, raising her brows at the man and hoping that this would be sufficient evidence that at least one of the items did not belong to Boyers. It'd be ridiculous to assume he'd given his fiancé's mother such a gift, and judging from the age of the two in the locket, it was even less likely the item had been given to Charity's mother when Boyers was but a child.

[Akhsar King]

"Proof," Charity murmured, tilting her head to the side and raising her brows at him a little. "You need proof that my belongings are indeed mine?" King nodded. "I don't have receipts...Oh!" Her eyes widened and she stepped closer, pulling at a chain that disappeared down the front of her dress. The chain was attached to a silver locket, which she unclasped and showed to him.

He studied the two photographs inside. One was of her father, the other of her mother. The photographs were clearly from many years before. King had read their obituaries, and there had been several pictures of them as they had been just before their deaths. The familial resemblance was quite strong, especially so with her mother.

Around her mothers neck was a diamond and emerald encrusted necklace that was, from what he could tell, an exact match to the one in Boyers information packet. King made a contemplative hmm.

"It was my mothers," Charity said raising her brows at the him. "Well. A receipt certainly would have been better... But I can work with this. Shouldn't be hard to confirm the age of the photo, and I bet Boyer was still in diapers when it was taken. So that's probably one down." He paused for a moment, thinking. "What about the other items? The ring, the hairpin, and the dress?"

[Charity]

"What about the other items? The ring, the hairpin, and the dress?" he asked, just as Charity closed the locked and slid it back down the front of her dress, hiding it from view once more. Just like the necklace, she didn't exactly have receipts on hand for family heirlooms, but she understood his need to be thorough. And it was all miles better than being indirectly handed over to Boyers.

"They're all mine," she reaffirmed, letting out a breath and moving to step around him, her skirts sliding gently against the side of his legs. Charity moved to the counter and looked around for two cups that didn't look like they'd been dropped in a pile of rust and dirt, all the while making a list in her mind of things she'd need to buy for the ship in order to stay here comfortably. New glasses had just made the top three.

With a pained little hum, she pulled down a plain white mug and turned to look at him, "Coffee?" she asked, her smile hiding the fact that she absolutely would not have personally recommended the dirty water they called 'coffee'. But, she was used to much finer things so perhaps he didn't mind dubious brown bean liquid. "Surely disproving his claim on one item is enough to prove he's lying? Even if it's only about a fourth of the items," she murmured, looking past him to make sure they were still alone.

[Akhsar King]

"They're all mine," Charity said, stepping around him, but close enough that the skirt of her dress brushed against his leg. He wondered briefly is it was an intentional tactic, or just a carelessness for others personal space. She walked over to the kitchen area and went hunting for mugs. "Coffee?" she asked with a smile. King nodded, and took a couple steps nearer so they could continue their quiet conversation. "I never say no to coffee." He said with a grin.

"Surely disproving his claim on one item is enough to prove he's lying? Even if it's only about a fourth of the items," she said quietly, her eyes looking looking past him, presumably to check that they were still alone.

"Well, one gives me a pretty good chance at winning a legal battle if he decides to sick his lawyers on me trying to claim he didn't know. Two would give me infinitely better odds. Four would be the ideal of course." He paused and considered her for a moment. "The other thing that would give me a pretty good case is some good solid evidence that it would lead to your physical harm if I followed through and dropped your location to him..." He trailed off, watching her expression carefully, hoping the fact that he was asking for more details about her claim that Boyer was a murderer was coming across.

[Charity]

"I never say no to coffee," he told her, being a good sport about it. Surely even he knew this was a far cry from any coffee one might find at any respectable establishment or on a better funded ship. Perhaps she could petition to improve some of their supplies now that she had officially been given a position. She would try to run it by their Captain whenever he managed to find his way back onto his ship. In any case, she picked up the kettle and poured King a warm cup of 'coffee', holding the mug out to him as she set the kettle back down, listening to his reasoning and sighing a little. She might have been able to find some kind of documentation for these items back home but...well she didn't quite have a home to go back to at the moment.

"The other thing that would give me a pretty good case is some good solid evidence that it would lead to your physical harm if I followed through and dropped your location to him..." he hinted, staring at her meaningfully. With a gentle sigh, Charity lifted her hand to brush a curl behind her ear, keeping her hand there and staring thoughtfully down at the mug in his hand. Boyers was smart, he rarely left any evidence of his bad behavior for someone to stumble upon.

"Perhaps..." she began, her free hand moving to cover her stomach as her lower lip became trapped between her teeth. Charity turned her gaze back onto his face and shook her head a little, chocolate  waves sliding over one of her shoulders. She was out of ideas and it frustrated her. She hadn't expected him to catch up with her so quickly... or, perhaps she had and had just been fooling herself into thinking she had more time. "I could call him," she said in defeat, knowing it was a terrible idea. She didn't know how to block the location of a wave and even then, she wasn't sure if she could record such a call or if he would allow himself to be honest during such a thing. Charity threw her hands up a little and looked up at King with knit, concerned brows, her gaze scanning his face, searching for answers. She didn't know what to do and for her, that was rare and unnerving.