Darrian... some time ago... Boodle Capitulum was a difficult woman to get a meeting with. As a fully-independent custom gear expert serving the highest grade of spycraft clientele, her time was very much in-demand. To make matters worse, handlers from various government agencies would often overbook her schedule with meetings they would ultimately never arrive to engage in, so as to prevent her from being able to schedule meetings with clientele they were in any manner of competition with. She ultimately didn’t mind the practice, as it left her with free time to relax in her pool, get a massage, spa treatments, and other niceties she had too little time for outside of work hours; which, for someone dealing in spycraft equipment, could be any time of day at all. When Larzamonte Charoux arrived for the appointment he had thought he had, Boodle was no doubt in such a state when he arrived. When he paged her personal assistant through the door-comm, he did not get the woman he expected. Instead of Aria, an average height, green-eyed redhead with her hair in a bob, as he recollected, he saw a tall, hazel-eyed brunette with a ponytail. Caught off-guard, he said, “Ah... hello... Larzamonte Charoux to see Boodle Capitulum, please.”. Confused, she looked to the side, no doubt toward Boodle out by the pool, and gently said, “No one at this address has such an appointment. Please, go away.”. Charoux held his chin for a moment in puzzlement, thinking calmly to himself in spite of the security measures he was certain were there, and then said, “Well, then, please let the lady of the house know that,” before switching to a loud, sing-song tone, “if Charoux’s little pygmy-pie doesn’t want to honor their appointment, he will leave very disappointed, and there will be no treats!”. There was suddenly a loud “splorsh”, and several rapid “splutches”; on the door-comm, a short, mud-covered humanoid quickly putting on thick-rimmed glasses suddenly flew in from off-screen. The humanoid stared up-close and personal at the camera, and said, “Only one person is insolent enough to call me pygmy-pie, endearing enough to get away with it, and manipulative enough to threaten to deny me treats. However, it’s not impossible that you’re merely some spook who doesn’t know who they’re trying to fool. Show me you are who you say you are, by putting a target designation laser to its best use.”. Charoux did his best to stifle a giggle at the sight of the mud-blob, but he couldn’t keep himself from cracking up when Boodle had brought up an old joke. A window through the security wall opened to a view of the side of the pool; two lounge chairs, one sized for Darrians, and the other precisely sized for Boodle, faced the pool to either side of a small drink table. Charoux looked at the table, and targeted it with the targeting laser in his glasses. A serving droid came out from from behind the wet-bar with two drinks on a platter; the mud-ball intercepted the automaton and snagged one of the two drinks for a tasting, and then allowed it to continue on its way to lay the remaining drink down on the table. After one taste, she exclaimed, “Charoux! Darling! Come in, come in! Where have you been? It’s been ages ! Far, far too long...”. The door opened, and Charoux got a muddy hug around his waist. In mock-exclamation at the mess she had made of her guest, Boodle then explained, “Oh, my goodness, what have I done... I’ve been trying mudding lately; I’m not convinced it’s doing anything for my skin, but it feels amazing ... Concertina, direct Mr. Larzamonte to a swimming suit so that he may avail himself of the pool while his clothes are cleaned, and I’m made more presentable for business...”. She then followed her own muddy footprints back out to the patio by the pool, and turned to go behind the decorative privacy screen that concealed the shower. Concertina, evidently her new assistant, shut the front door, and took Charoux’s newly mud-soaked outerwear so the mud would not track through the house any more than it had already. Once he reached the changing room just next to the measuring and design room, he tucked the equipment he carried into the security safe, and entered a temporary password before shutting the door. He then took a quick shower, selected a pleasant-enough swimsuit from what was available, and took a swim. Having been here before, Charoux knew that taking a swim was important, since the pool was equipped to take body measurements under athletic activity, which was important for achieving a fit that worked under the body’s motions in real-world conditions. The floats and neutrally buoyant buoys that would normally line a typical swimmer’s lane adjusted position in all manner of directions, so as to require him to perform the athletic feats necessary for a robust series of measurements. After several laps, Charoux got out, toweled off, and rested on the lounge chair to fully dry, and sipped on his accustomed drink. After a short time, Concertina came by to let Charoux know that Boodle would be ready to see him soon, so he could put his things back on. He popped open the security safe, put on his gear, and put on his freshly laundered outerwear. Concertina waited outside the changing room to direct him to the measuring and design room, but Charoux already knew the way. Boodle Capitulum, a Solomani human of short stature with thick-rimmed glasses, stood up from her design desk to fully inspect her guest; “Charoux, let me have a look at you! I see your taste in fashion has improved.”; she pulled open his outerwear to inspect his spywear; “But, my goodness, what have you been wearing? This computer weave won’t do, not at all... too stupid , and too obvious ... who is responsible for this... atrocity ?”; then she pulled on his arm so she could inspect the holographic projector on his wrist; “And your holographic wrist projector... they haven’t been that needlessly big in ages ... and those sunglasses ...”; she took out a step-stool, jumped onto it, snatched off his sunglasses, and inspected them, assessing their comparative heft in the process; “are these a knockoff ??? So heavy ...”. Charoux smiled, and gently responded, “My dear, these are all your designs... I’ve been off in Imperial space, and haven’t had the chance to upgrade. And the glasses, if you recall, were a prototype.”. Boodle chided Charoux, “ My designs? They haven’t been my designs in years; I’ve long since disowned them! Shame on you for barely making it out alive with this... this... garbage , instead of visiting your dear friend!”. Charoux nodded, took her by the hand, and said, “A mistake I intend to correct today, if you might allow it.”, before kissing her on the back of the hand. Boodle smiled, before admitting, “Charoux, you charmer... let’s get started. But first, the treats!”; Boodle took the pieces of equipment and hooked them up to the computer to analyze the log that tracked malfunctions. Noting the occasional patch job by Charoux, she highlighted the code and electronics patches for later consideration, and asked the occasional question to make sure she properly understood the circumstances that required the corrections. As she took out her tape measure for some informal measurements, which she insisted was “for intuitive estimations only”, she asked, “So, Charoux, how long have you been home?”. Charoux informed her, “Well, I’ve actually been home for a few months now. We had some trouble with a certain Imperial Psionic lunatic.”. Boodle, disappointed, demanded, “Months? Why didn’t you come to see me sooner? Spycraft doesn’t wait, Charoux!”. Charoux let Boodle know the situation, since she seemed to be unaware; “Well, I’d been trying to reach you for a while, but you always seemed to be booked. I was also surprised to see your new assistant, because I booked this appointment with Aria, your previous one.”. Boodle stopped, and looked straight at Charoux, trying to make sure he wasn’t joking; “I haven’t had that assistant since the war started. She felt she could do more for the Special Arm directly, mass-producing my obsolete designs. I let her go, since her security services were redundant with the recent government-provided security; regardless, Concertina is considerably better at managing my stress on account of my frantic customers. Oh, but how I have run my mouth again! The point, my dear Charoux, is that it seems we’ve both been handled .”. Charoux brought up the original recording of the appointment booking for Boodle, made to an older, but still valid comm number, that provided a valid response code. Boodle pointed out a recent development of communications interference originating from certain low-level bureaucrats that was outside of Charoux’s obsolete experience, and mentioned that, based on the phony assistant’s outdated hairstyle, it could only have been a Zloril StandIn program, improvised from material taken from before Aria had left her service; she also noted that Charoux may well have cut the program off by hanging up before it could deliver a bogus location, since he already knew where to go. Boodle put her hand on Charoux’s shoulder, and assured him, “The responsible parties will not be allowed to do this again, and if they do, they will no longer be my customers.”. Boodle then sat down at her desk, and invited Charoux to sit down next to her, and asked, “Now then, Charoux... how can our spywear make you the finest of spooks?”.
