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Styria’s living quarters were above expectations, though that wasn’t to say they were perfect in any manner. Primarily, for all the comforts afforded to her which she’d been denied as a Marshal in the Arbites, Theodora lacked a sense of forethought to what a long day of work required.
Her desk drawers a messily sorted affair of papers the woman had still yet to tame, most documents and reports scattered about the bedroom in half-sorted piles, and the chair.
A nice chair, the Arbitrator was the first to admit it was more expensive than anything she’d ever owned, it was decidedly not a desk chair. Better suited for a smoking room or lounge, the back’s cushioning was barely functioning and there was nothing in the way of lumbar support beyond a decorative pillow too stiff and too large for practical usage.
Two hours in the was chair enough to make Styria rise up and go to the officer’s deck to get an in person report. A thirty minute tour that barely made sure there were no major issues, and not enough to make her last more than an hour at most when she did return to sitting. A dull pain in her lower back turning to a radiating burn that no amount of stretching and walking could properly relieve. The metallic plates of her cuirass long ago shed off despite all formalities and the woman herself laid out on the edge of the bed begging for relief.
Arms outstretched, staring to the ceiling, about to call in a heating pad or physician when the elevator began its low whine. Styria sighing as she forced herself to stand despite the screaming of her muscles and quickly went about strapping her breastplate back on. The last buckle finished as her most persistent Lexbreaker’s voice rang out, “Shereen, I was told you were here!”
A small growl of annoyance escaped Styria’s throat, eyes closing as she slowly paced out into the hall and ordered Jae, “Report.”
Jae laughed, a thin and whispy laugh that made Styria’s shoulders relax only a moment before she forced herself back to attention. Her lips thin as she turned to face the woman, mouth half open to speak and only stopping as she saw the Cold Trader. Jae’s flowing silky black hair loose around her shoulders, free falling and dry, though with the sheen of a recent wash. Her normal uniform cast aside for a flowing purple nightgown that came to her feet, semi translucent with a camisole underneath barely offering modesty.
The woman’s smile not breaking as she nearly purred, “Is something the matter, Shereen?”
It was those words that brought Styria back to herself, doing her best to force her face stiff as she declared, “improper dress code and behavior in the presence of a superior officer. Mandated Edict: public chastisement beating.”
And Jae let out a small gasp, hand over her heart as she stepped forward and teased, “why, Shereen, I didn’t know you were into such things, and after you complained of our first night?”
Styria’s lips felt dry, face flushed, eyes closed as she made a mental note to have Pasqal check the conditioning unit for her quarters later. A slow breath finally escaping her as she walked past the Cold Trader and took a spot at her desk. One quick flash of pain shooting through her before she suppressed the reaction. A brief look of concern flashing across Jae’s face before the woman crossed over to sit on the edge of the ancient wooden desk.
Callused fingers, the harshest thing on Jae not made of metal, running through the black fuzz on Styria’s shaved scalp. An almost mocking gesture that made the Rogue Trader bite back another sentencing even as she asked, “pleasure then? If it were urgent I’m sure Abelard would have sent me someone capable of professionalism.”
Jae hummed, the woman lazily throwing a leg across Styria’s own, the Arbitrator’s pen letting out metallic cracking as her grip tightened only a moment. Her companion seeming to think on it too long before admitting, “there was a small riot on one of the decks, some gang has killed some of the guards there. Nothing of great risk, mostly contained at this point, though your Seneschal knows how you love to deal with your lexbreakers yourself.”
There was a small bit of excitement at the thought, even her cyber-mastiff Nemea raising his head from the corner of the room where he slept. The dog’s metallic tail wagging before Styria realized it was a bad idea to risk such things in her current state.
Her back was a burning knot of pain, too much movement in an office already making her long for bed. By the time she was done dealing with even the pathetic deck fodder the lexbreakers would produce she’d be rendered to a bed for a day at the least.
Better to leave it to Abelard, and she activated the comms on her desk to announce, “inform my Seneschal he has full permission to deal with the riot as he sees fit. I trust him explicitly in this matter.”
No answer waited for as she turned the comms off once more, continuing to organize papers until Jae asked her, “you’re not injured are you.”
“I am scarred am I not?” Styria responded, tilting the right side of her face to the woman, the burned and twisted flesh that crossed there and down into her armor clear as day. Her cloudy white eye staring up at the woman, a brief desire to pull Jae into her lap put down by switching focus once more. Her next signature too rough, ripping a thin line in the vellum before she restarted and complained, “I will be fine. If you’re so worried for me, perhaps you could contribute to this ship more than you pillage it? Theft of Imperial noble property. Mandated Edict: Field interrogation followed swiftly by field judgment.”
“Shereen, I’m insulted you would-”
“Intent to deceive an Arbitrator. Mandated Edict-”
The woman’s fingers moved from Styria’s scalp to under her chin, a well shaped nail digging under her chin and forcing her to meet the other woman’s eyes without a pound of force. Near immediately the Rogue Trader’s voice stopping in her throat, jaw clenching closed as she tried to avoid letting her mask slip.
Jae not letting the matter drop as she looked the woman over with an inquisitive stare, eyes tracing along her face like a feather’s touch before she asked, “why have you not ordered a better chair for yourself?”
“Improper usage of funds, this chair has yet to meet its end.”
The Cold Trader nodded a few times, sliding off the desk with the litheness of a cat as she led her Arbitrator to her feet. Styria barely led five steps away before Jae released her and walked to the open safe against the wall, the woman reaching in and coming back with a red Arbitrator’s shotgun.
Failure to properly secure Arbites weaponry. Mandated Edict: public chastisement beating followed by demotion of one rank.
Styria not having long to consider her own failure before Jae spun around and aimed for the chair. A single blast of the gun ringing out, splinters flying through the air as a hole was blown clear through the chair. Neither Styria nor Nemea doing more than raising their chins as Jae set the weapon on the desk and turned around with her smile unbreaking.
Styria growling a moment, teeth clenched hard enough to crack while she turned her desk’s comms back on and announced, “inform Janris my quarters requires a new desk chair. Prioritize comfort and long term seating viability. I do not want delivery before noon tomorrow.”
Jae’s gave a cheshire smile, eyebrows raising with pride to ask, “this means I have your attention Shereen?”
“Public destruction of noble property and unlicensed usage of Arbites weaponry. Mandated Edict: three years of precinct interrogation followed by familial mercy sanction to two generations,” Styria answered, trying to remain calm even as the woman slinked forward and laid a hand on her breastplate. Styria’s Mouth suddenly feeling dry even as she added on, “sentence commuted at formal request of the offended party. I will fill out the necessary paperwork at a later hour.”
“Would you like help with your pain?” Jae asked, a finger already working the buckles of her chest plate, “I can’t imagine your armor’s helping you at all.”
“Properly equipped Arbites war gear creates negligible weight across the body. I never wear my armor in improper fashion,” Styria answered, all the same letting the woman loosen the breastplate. Jae not bothering to tell her to lift her arms to help the item off before unceremoniously dropping it on the ground.
Styria’s gaze falling on the discarded armor a long time, mouth barely opened before a hand on her cheek stopped her. Jae almost looking serious for once as she scolded the woman, “can you go five minutes without pretending you’re about to arrest me, Shereen? At least take the initiative if you wish to play that game.”
If you can go five minutes without lexbreaking on the Arbitrator’s tongue and held back all the same. Her cold silence answer enough as she was pulled back towards her room while she helped Jae with the buckles of her armor. Pieces half-discarded along the way until they reached the bed where Styria was pushed back with hardly any strength; the woman falling flat on her back against the cushions.
The fall giving another brief wave of pain, this cringing moment only lightly hidden as she sat up on her elbows. Now in the padded and reinforced shirt and pants she wore with her armor, Jae already sliding to her knees to undo the lacing of Styria’s boots.
The Rogue Trader letting her eyes close a moment, trying not to think about the woman’s position and what she would like her to do from there. An almost impossible challenge while Jae helped her out of her boots and told her, “let me care for you a moment, Shereen. Would you like that? A quick massage to help with your pain?”
Styria released a noise she hoped sounded more like authoritative confirmation and not something worse before answering, “acceptable.”
Jae climbed onto the bed, straddling her Arbitrator and resting on the woman’s lap. Styria tensing under the woman’s weight, face turned away as she took in the wonderful condition of her helmet. Freshly cleaned and waxed, lenses were recently replaced, mayhaps it needed a-
“Shereen,” Jae whispered, a finger guiding her to look back at her before the hands fell to her shirt’s collar. Skilled fingers untying the buttons and lacing there and continuing it down as she ordered, “eyes on me, I promise not to bite unless asked. Though… well, not sure your seneschal would appreciate me leaving marks.”
And the Arbitrator answered without thinking, “the armor of my former office leaves little vulnerability below the neck.”
The Cold Trader seeming happy with that, not responding though her prideful smile as she pulled Styria forward and slid her shirt off her shoulders. The former Marshal not complaining even as she was left in canvas pants and a simple bra. Jae only removing herself from the woman’s lap long enough for Styria to be guided farther back onto the bed and laid on her stomach.
Jae’s weight soon returning above her, warm fingers of one hand and cold metal of the other lightly brushing against scarred and burned muscles and a patchwork of tattoos. Styria not even needing to see them as she felt exactly which ones caught Jae’s attention in the moment. The plate armor designs on her right arm, names of her family on the left, Pyra’s name a black square, and a dozen aquila’s to represent a dozen cults stopped. The symbol of the Adeptus Arbites across most of her back, Egos Legis Sum written across her shoulder blades above it.
Jae laughed at her, her voice low and teasing as she teased, “for someone so dedicated to the Lex, you seem rather fond of flaunting it, no? I’ve seen you let more than your share of criminals go in the name of niceties have I not?”
“The treatment of deck fodder is largely up to the discretion of the local or affected nobility, and I may choose if I apply the Lex to them. Were it any other in my position I would be obliged to treat them properly, but I choose to hold back,” Styria explained, what sense of power she may have had killed as Jae began her work. The muscles of her shoulders slowly kneaded, tension built up over years worked out even as she tried saving herself, “you are one the most blatant Lex-breakers I know. You would be wise to not act such when outside the realm of my control. You would likely-”
Styria hissed as a pop rang through the air, a brief bolt of pain going through her before quickly sliding into pure relief. A held muscle the Arbitrator hadn’t realized was tensed suddenly relaxing under the Cold Trader’s knuckles. The massage working lower and turning to a dull noise of pain and relief as she reached the muscles of her back until-
“Shereen,” Jae sighed, Styria barely needing to open her eyes to see the problem. Nemea stood in the door of the room, crouched low with teeth barred as Jae asked, “can you order him away? I don’t want a repeat of him thinking I’ve decided to hurt you, Pasquel had to fix the dents in my arm.”
“Nemea! Guard position zero dash three, trust level four, hold until release phrase level three!” Styria barked, Nemea not even hesitating to run off across the room. The former Marshal’s smile growing a little wider as she told the woman, “Solomorne is the only one on board with Arbites codes, and Abelard is the only one I’ve trained Nemea to consider an equal. We will be uninterrupted for the time being.”
“And release phrase level three?”
Styria choosing to hide her face a little better as she confessed, “highest level of emergency call. Chosen in case anything is said in a moment of unexpected experience in which I would not want his return.”
Jae hummed some song while she continued her work, Styria letting out strings of curses and utterances to the God-Emperor while she twitched and squirmed under the woman. Only occasionally shifting to avoid the arm under her head falling asleep or something from pressing into the mattress wrong.
After a time, the Cold Trader finally lifting her weight to her knees long enough to guide Styria to flip herself over. The former Marshal letting out an almost lurid groan of relief as the muscles moved with no pain, a few final pops each bringing more relief with them. Her body falling back into the bed, almost entirely limp even as Jae fell back into her Arbitrator’s lap and extracted another gasp Styria silently judged herself for.
Only after a long moment gathering herself Styria announced, “your work was acceptable. If you would wish to informally request reciprocation outside a professional capacity I would be willing to indulge you.”
And Jae laughed at her, a cybernetic hand covering the woman’s mouth a moment while Styria tried not to let the hurt show on her face. Only as she was about to accept her offer as a failure the woman admitted, “why, Shereen, I’m quite flattered I got you to speak such passionate words, and I can certainly feel you mean it, but sadly we haven’t the time.”
Styria opened her mouth to speak and Jae took her opening, swinging her leg across the woman with a little more pressure than strictly needed into her lap. The first syllable of a question turning into a croaking moan, Jae on her feet and halfway across the bedroom’s floor before Styria gathered control of herself once more. Body rolled to the side, face hidden in a fistful of blankets red as her face as she barked with less authority than she’d have liked, “explain.”
Jae didn’t answer at first, arms crossed while she looked over her Arbitrator like a work of art. Styria only able to look at her a few seconds before she hid her face once more and Jae broke down to explain, “You see, I just remembered why I came here in my night clothes at this time. That riot I spoke of was half a deck from some of the Officer’s quarters, and they were trying to move some of us to temporary room but it was taking so long. Idira’s with her Vox Master, but little Cassia and Argenta had no where to go!” The sound of a humming elevator ringing through Styria’s room once more, the Arbitrator cursing as she leaped forward and searched for her shirt across the bed, the clothing nowhere to be found as Jae told her, “Don’t forget to call off Nemea while you make yourself decent, Shereen. Cassia has such high hopes you’ll be a proper host: especially after I told her we’d plan to show her a proper sleepover like she never got in her old home.”
Styria looked up to Jae one more time, watching the Cold Trader pluck her uniform’s shirt from the ground and slip it around her shoulders like a cloak on her smaller frame. Styria’s frustration melting like ice at the sight, only once more replaced by panic as she heard the distant growling of Nemea.
“Tranquillitas!” barked out while she rushed to her wardrobe, a pair of sleep clothes quickly slipped on while she prayed to the beneficent Emperor no one could tell what sort of thoughts were flashing through her head even now. Her frustration with Jae only broken by the sight of a few boxes on the top shelf of her wardrobe, remnants of Theodora or perhaps even that woman’s predecessor.
Board games for parties, children’s entertainment she’d never been allowed, covered in a thick layer of dust, but at the same time…
Styria grumbled a little as she took the boxes down, wiping their surface with a handkerchief and placing them on her bed. Her rack of alcohol checked next even as she clicked a nearby speaker and announced, “Inform Janris I will be having guests tonight and-”
“You require guest beds,” her Vox-Master interrupted, “I was already informed by Lady Heydari. Will you require anything else?”
Theodora had a nice selection, though Styria wasn’t sure she knew enough about the subject to make an informed decision. Amasec was one she knew Idira was fond of, Gleece sounded familiar, Dammasine, Janrisian Wine.
Styria picked up the smallest of the bottles, twirling it a moment to check the label, “Edible spread of some sort, or whatever is enjoyed at these such events. Is Fenrisian Ale good for such gatherings, I have no-”
“It’s toxic to humans in quantities beyond half-shots,” Vigdis saved her, “I will send up a cheese and meat selection alongside a selection of fruits and tools for drinks with a simple syrup. I am sure your lover can ensure a selection of drinks that would be liked by everyone from your selection.”
Styria’s face burned like an iron, barely able to announce, “the lexbreaker is not my-”
Her vox clicked off.
Styria glaring at the silent device, mouth opening and closing a dozen times before she felt arms slip around her waist. Muscles tensing, resisting the urge to spin around and grab whoever touched by her the throat before Jae asked, “have you made your selection, Shereen?”
Any fight in her chest gone, weight pressing back into the Cold Trader’s warmth.
“You know the matters of drinks better than I,” the Arbitrator muttered, eyes closed, trying to keep her shoulders straight, “In the meantime I am trying to think of which law is being broken by this stunts, and what punishment applies for it”
Jae laughed, a small nip of her ear nearly making Styria fall into the table in front of her, “Would it help if I said you could pick it yourself after everyone’s gone to sleep? No citation of the lex needed.”
Styria not sure what else to say except, “acceptable,” even as she heard Cassia calling out for them. A small smile despite herself as she announced, “Mandated Edict: Embracement of offended party until repose is reached.”