He could sample the wilt on her confidence from his minute trifling. Kaiser was calibrating all his weapons to her weaknesses. Though he put some weight into the air while she kept quiet, suggesting he meant for her to speak, she was doing exactly what he preferred, which was responding to his orchestrated stimulus. Her one-word agreement was enough. There wasn't really much to say about Mote from the outside, and what she had was accessible from official data, anyway. So far, he was just making conversation.<br/><br/>She came undone perfectly under the suggestion of an amicable relationship. Wasn't it the protocol of ambitious leaders, these days, to endear themselves to the people under them? His pupils flared slightly when her blood spread behind her complexion. He had that effect. He'd not kept this form only because it was physically effective. If she appreciated his outward design, this would all be easier. Poor girl. She was barely strung together by her snapping resolve.<br/><br/>His arms crossed to cup his elbows as he listened to her hitching declaration of trustworthiness. She was doubting the quality of her verbal manifest, and she was right to. It was crumbling at best. When she looked at the door like it might fling wide and throw a tongue at her to pull her out, he stayed quiet. Better she marinated in her dreamed-up ghosts. When he finally unlocked the cross of his forearms, he clucked his tongue to the roof of his mouth. It was a decidedly disappointed sound.<br/><br/>"That's all well and good, Ms. McNeil." he said and then knocked on the papers again. The desk was solid, but he still elicited corresponding sounds from it. Knuckles of stone, maybe? She was meant to sign the arcs, not tell him. Her word was worth as much as the air it used. "I need signatures, though. We're going to work with some pending patents and business secrets. I can't have your loose mouth cost me years of research." He flicked a finger in the direction of her lips.<br/><br/>He leaned down to have his face at the level of hers. The solid blues pulsed at this distance. He took out a pen and pushed the end of it to produce the tip. He held it to her cheek, the part where ink couldn't smudge her, to cool her blush. He was pinning her with his attention and he knew it. "I know things are new for you, but I need you to work with me here. I will  give you a chance, but you have to give me your best." He lifted her chin with the writing tool and hovered closer, oppressive. His mythos allowed for some eccentricities, and beautiful people don't have to bow as low to convention as folk.<br/><br/>"Now sign the papers, Jaydin." his lips were pretty, but they spoke sternly. He stood up by supporting himself on her knees, even though he'd leaned down without a problem. It seemed out of coincidence that he'd parted them a little. "And then we'll see about your health check."