Emperor Hux checked his watch. His arm immediately returned to its stiff hold behind his back. He paced up to the windowed wall of the waiting room, but did not spend any time appreciating what was outside before turning away and pacing to the other wall. He was very irritated.
His appointment was almost an hour late.
He didn't even know who he was meeting with anymore, because apparently, upon hearing that they would be meeting the new Emperor of the First Order, the inventory supervisor had fainted.
Hux pulled at his collar. He hated this terrible planet; wished it hadn't escaped the Star Destroyer, even though he'd never really approved of that in the first place, either. But his reign did not begin until he agreed to destroy it, so in a way, it was useful to him after all.
He did not like things that were not useful to him.
Finally, one of the five doors to the room slid open. Hux turned to face the sound, lips pursed in disapproval.
He had long since learned how to keep a stiff poker face, but he nearly dropped it anyway.
A creature whose true nature was hidden behind thick makeup and a long, heavily layered and ornate dress closed the door behind himself.
He was stunning, Hux thought as he tried to convince himself that he wasn't.
He was a creature of pale skin and dark hair, pale skin made paler by white makeup, dark hair held back daintily by threads of gold lined with pearls, netted across his hair and draping down to his shoulders from a crown of intricate metals and pearls of various sizes and colors. Only his face was painted so pale, and the collar of his dress hung from his throat instead of his shoulders, which were exposed and almost as light as the makeup itself, dotted with constellations of beauty marks and freckles. His upper lip was painted a deep bloody red, a line tracing down the rest of his face to his chin, and his cheeks accented with a spot of that same color on each one. His wings of eyeliner reached their tiny feathers almost to the edges of his face, but none of this full-bodied mask could hide how absolutely bored he looked. The sides of his sleeves were not stitched together and only connected at his wrists, leaving his arms majorly exposed, as well as the bangles and bracelets that traveled up them. It gave Hux a lot to look at as the creature extended a hand, and Hux realized that he was meant to either shake it or kiss it. He was so suddenly shocked and insulted that he did neither, which may have also saved him from doing the wrong one.
"Emperor Hux. A pleasure to meet you."
The creature spoke as he withdrew his hand. He held it in his other. Hux could not contain his scoff. Who was this, a prostitute? Were they really that desperate to distract him? He was a busy man, Hux had no time for such ridiculousness.
"It's about time someone came to retrieve me. I scheduled this appointment for this planet and zone's fifth hour out of twenty-four, and it's already eight!"
"Very organized, are we? I hope that you forgive us for the wait, though I think your watch may be a bit fast. It's only six, here. We use the star system time." The creature's voice was amiable enough, but far too casual. There was nobody left in the galaxy short of a monarch who was fit to talk to him in such a way. Hux scoffed again, thoroughly irritated.
"Who gave you the right-ahem. I was invited here to discuss distribution of thermal energy plants, was I not? I should very much like to get this over with. I'm rather busy; running a government tends to fill your schedule quite quickly. Not that you should know." Hux couldn't contain his last biting remark, and was infuriated when the creature, angelic as he was, laughed quietly.
"Running a government is not easy, you are far from mistaken there. However, I do not believe it is an excuse to be quite so rude, oh dear."
The creature gave a lilting half-smile.
How dare he?!
Before Hux had control of himself or even realized what he was doing, he reached out and slapped the prostitute across the face. It left a white mark on his glove, with a small red circle.
The sound was perfect; the satisfying spwack echoed through the room accompanied by a stunned huff of air.
The creature that had to be a prostitute recoiled slowly, closing his mouth first, and then dropping his shoulder forward so his fingers could trace where he had been smacked, and then his mouth closing into a thin line as he turned to Hux not with fear, nor anger, but with complete and utter confusion. The door he had entered slid open again as a small group of men all wearing the same grey and white uniform herded into the room, each one giving no recognition to Hux as they crowded the man he'd just slapped.
"My lord, you should not have run off like that without telling anyone where you were going!"
"Your highness, you smeared your makeup? How did you manage that?"
"Oh, let me see, I have your makeup right here, I can fix this in two seconds, I promise."
The handmaids fluttered around the man, and Hux stared from one to the other with huge eyes, realization slowly dawning upon him.
"My apologies, Knights, but I had hoped to meet the Emperor personally, before politics got involved. I recognize now that he is not interested in anything but politics with us."
Hux's hand felt like it was on fire from where it had crossed the man's face as one of the 'Knights' finally seemed to notice that Hux was there, and with a deep bow, murmured,
"Emperor Hux, may we present...Queen Kylo Ben Amidala, ruler of the Republic."