2017-07-03: Special Delivery
- Log: Special Delivery
- Cast: Loren Voss, Elhaym van Houten
- Where: Lacour - Adventurer's Guild Headquarters
- Date: July 3rd 2017
- Summary: Broken electronics are a hassle, especially when out in the field. Of course, Elly's the one making the delivery, which ultimately means their already considerably strained professional relationship takes a few more hits.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
If it's not one thing, it's another.
Lacour has proven to be a new fresh hellhole of a city in full celebratory swing, what with far too many unwashed and liquored up surface-dwellers come to town to place bets, have arguments and fistfights, and drink some more in light of the tournament.
Oh, and some of them are participating in the tournament too, so that's nice.
Loren's particularly sour about the drinking part, notably because it was a mishap a few days ago involving some Emperor-damned drunkards, an unfortunate trip and fall resulting from a cracked paving stone, and some idiot's boot meeting his bag that's left his tablet in a less-than-operable state.
Which is to say, he's actually mildly impressed that it hasn't actually broken into two pieces. It's most definitely non-functional and far beyond whatever skills he has to resuscitate it. For now, he can continue to use a pen and paper, but that runs its own risks.
It's just about right before his observational target's next match. And he's not due back in Bledavik for weeks at least. If anything comes up and he needs it, he's going to be in a bad position.
So he's done the responsible thing and submitted a request for the next person arriving in the area to deliver a replacement.
Which brings us up to right about now, where the medic -- having just returned from the streets to the inn he's booked a room at -- stalks over to one of the chairs in what passes for a lobby and takes a seat. He leans his head back and closes his eyes. Yes. Yes, this is definitely another headache.
The Lambs are too loud, especially in the coliseum.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
At least it can't get any worse, right, Loren? You're getting a replacement shipment. It might even come preloaded. It'd be nice to have a new music generator or something, wouldn't it, even if it's just the having more than the using? Or maybe it'll be one of the other varieties.
The computers vary their details, of course, even if their technological details have been fixed for hundreds of years, beyond some incremental refinements.
But it's almost over. Soon it'll be here. Soon he can just lay back and enjoy it. It'll even have a fresh charge so that won't even be a worry for the next month. Yes sir, things are looking up -
In she comes through the door.
Elly has her hair worn up, heaped into a half-teased beehive that is large enough that the top of it is brushing against the top of the doorway. It is wrapped in ribbons and has a couple of colorful if cheap sticks of lacquered wood shoved through it at kind of arbitrary angles. It looks tasteless if not offensive.
Elly herself is in a light blue sleeveless tunic top, black leggings, and a slightly frilled skirt that has a simple embroider on the edges. She doesn't stand out on the street.
AND YET.
"Oh - there you are!" she says to Loren, her usual monotone bleat that thinly veils the soul of a murderer seeming... perkier now. "Are you alright? You look a little 'worn out'..."
Elly has a shoulder-strapped messenger bag with her, and also has put on enough inexpensive local perfume to hide the inevitable sweatbeerlamb aroma. This probably doesn't help Loren if he has a headache right now.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
The last month has been about the longest he's been working solo on any request off-base since assignment. It's felt about three times as long at times. Between the nonsense up here, the weeks he spent in the refugee camps -- with those two barely-sentient idiots 'guarding' him -- and his brief foray into wildnerness tracking, it has... not been great.
He's never handled this level of noise well -- it grates against his nerves. And to think, he was anticipating leaving Bledavik due to the heat. Maybe next time he'll try to see if he can't get assigned somewhere quiet, and forget about the temperature readout. Even weeks of infirmary duty look like a blessing at this range.
Halfway between deciding to dry swallow some medication or call this a loss and retreat to the semi-quiet of his room, in she comes.
Loren sits up somewhat in his seat. ...Emperor have mercy.
"...What are you wearing?" he utters in disbelief, staring at her. Or more accurately, what did she do to her hair?
Though, it's true. She wouldn't stand out on the streets at all.
Getting up, he presses a hand to his temple, and shakes his head. "It's nothing," he says, approaching her. "What are you doing here?" Then pauses, realizing belatedly what this is all about. "...Oh, of course. It would have to be you," he mutters aloud, recent events combining with yet another headache to create a far more irritable Loren. "They had you do the delivery."
And then, Loren wrinkles his nose. What is that smell...
Oh. She's apparently taken a bath in some cheap perfume, too. One eye twitches.
Right now, he's hoping for a swift and painless death.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Don't let him throw you off, Elly tells herself. He's envious and he's tired and he's probably lonely too surrounded by all these -Lambs.-
"Clothes...?" Elly says, reaching up to put a hand to the back of her updo. "It's actually a lot cooler than wearing it down." Physically cooler, presumably. Maybe also in the stylish sense.
She sounds like she's frowning even if it hasn't reached her mouth. "Why don't we go upstairs? You can lay down and we can talk about this without all the noise from the street." An old man who had been lurking in a corner looks up, and Elly offers Loren a hand up.
Which, of course, may not be taken, but be that as it may.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It's cooler? "I wouldn't know," he replies, closing his eyes briefly.
He means the temperature.
"Lie down? I don't need to lie down," Loren says, still holding a hand to his forehead. Still, getting out of here and going somewhere more private seems wise. Particularly given the fact that he'll have to present the shattered tablet as evidence. "...My room's upstairs," he does say, as much of an invitation as she'll get under the circumstances.
The man in the corner is probably getting the wrong idea about all of this.
Predictably, he doesn't take her hand, and as a result, briefly stumbles on rising. Way to give yourself the benefit of the doubt, Loren.
Still, while he might look a bit unwell, he's still able to lead the way upstairs and let her in. One brief (paranoid) glance down the hallway later, he follows her inside.
It's an inn room, and it's small -- that's about all there can be said about it. There's nothing particularly notable about it or its furnishings -- there's a bed, a chest of drawers that's seen better days, a pair of chairs, and a table that's far too small to really do much with.
First things first. Loren opens the medical bag -- until now resting on top of one of the chairs -- and roots around inside. Pill bottle. He uncaps it and swallows a pair of tablets, no water involved.
Then and only then does he once again look her over and somehow resist the urge to sigh. "I'll get it out in a moment. ...What's the situation in Bledavik?" He's read reports and transmissions from the higherups, but there's a difference between those and... what's really going on.
Which is what appears to jar something in his mind. "...Weren't you attacked recently?"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Up they go.
"Don't push yourself... I'm still getting over a dog bite, myself," Elly says, which is triviality, until the door opens and she goes in.
Elly moves towards the chair. Her perfume immediately pervades the room and will stay there long after she leaves. She went hard on it because what fragrance products exist in Solaris are mild synthetics, usually loosely echoing foresty or floral scents. They typically go in soaps. Sometimes there is a trend about them. Sometimes it's just in the formula.
Elly will probably regret it later. Maybe.
Settling in the chair, she rests her own bag on the table. "Other than the incursion - you were able to read that update, right? - It's pretty... I can't say peaceful, but there aren't signs of Metal Demon aggression. They're on heightened alert, but there's no supply line pressure or anything like that."
After a beat, Elly says, "I was. An animal attack. It's healing, though - I don't even have a dressing any more." The tights are not tight enough to reveal anything.
"Though I suppose the dogs were there because of - it feels strange to say this - 'K K'. That's the name... they, gave the Captain, at least..."
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Bringing her up here is a mistake, but it's one that Loren will only fully appreciate hours later. Even opening the window won't really help. It's here to stay for the latest while.
Even as he walks across the room to open a drawer (with some difficulty; it appears to be stuck), the fragrance is thick in the air.
It really does figure. Much like just about everything else he's had the misfortune to encounter since taking up position here on the planet's surface, Lambs go about everything in the wrong way. Too much, too cheaply, too crudely, too garish.
Though the food has generally not been bad.
And he's been picking up on some card games.
"I was," he says, as the drawer finally gives in to inevitability and opens. Most of the way, anyway -- enough for him to fish around inside for the badly damaged piece of electronic equipment. "The locals have been speaking about what happened in 'Old Petra', as well. Does command want it investigated?" He hasn't heard.
Diving into the ruins of a battlesite might even be peaceful by comparison, really.
"Here's the tablet," he says, handing the device -- wrapped in a towel of all things -- over to her. If she takes a peek, the need for replacement will be made absolutely clear -- the thing's almost been broken in two. Resurrection is probably impossible.
Taking a pointed step back -- there's nowhere in here that doesn't reek of her perfume so it's a futile effort at this point -- he folds his arms over his chest. "I read in the report that 'Malevolence entities' were involved. I knew that wasn't the last of them."
And she goes on to say something very strange. He looks at her quizzically. "...What gave you that idea?"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"I haven't heard anything about it, but I was travelling, so that's not a surprise," Elly says, rather quietly. She purses her lips. "I think you should investigate as much as you can... even if it's not a comprehensive report, it could be an important piece of baseline for later analysis. And if you do propose an operation, I think they'll look very favorably on it."
Elly seems to speak from experience. But she doesn't clarify because - "Oh, goodness," she says as the tablet's presented to her, wrapped in the towel. She does peek. "What even happened to it...? You weren't using it as a shield, were you?" She's saying the latter lightly.
"I can certainly confirm it's unusable. Did you manage to pull the data chips, or will you need reauthorizations? I can tell them to set you up, but unfortunately at this distance you'll have to use the consumer mode for a couple of days..."
Elly pulls out a piece of what looks like black plastic with a weird mesh in it and lays it on the table, before reaching into her bag and pausing at Loren's question.
"... Huh? I just mean that it's a peculiar name for someone who seems to be trying so hard to be menacing." Elly looks down. "They... well... anyway, it's just a peculiar presentation. I know we have our own code terms for things, but that's for clarity and to avoid developing preconceptions. This is just... "K.K." Doesn't that seem odd to you at all?"
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"Hmm." Someone else might frown. Loren narrows his eyes slightly. "It's a consideration. It's only hearsay but there were reports of a red light and an alleged 'giant'. It could be exaggeration of the events that transpired, of course, but..." Neither can they necessarily let it go. To say nothing of an opportunity to gain some important intelligence on an unexpected enemy.
And while it's a distance off from here, he doesn't expect to lose track of his target -- still competing -- this quickly. Still, at the same time, it just sounds a little too encouraging. 'They'll look favorably on it'? It bothers him, particularly since she's probably right -- and because he's essentially paranoid. Is she setting him up?
But he continues. "...There have also been reports of an alleged temple of importance near Gounon -- a village to the southeast -- that's apparently become 'hostile', as the rumors put it. It might be an awakened ruin."
He doesn't usually have this bad luck with electronics. It's honestly embarrassing, particularly when she gawks at it. And asks if he was using it as a shield. "--Of course not!" he sputters, taken aback by the question. His shoulders hunch, as if a bit defensively. "The streets are... crowded right now. It ended up getting stepped on." He omits the part where he got jostled, tripped, and someone trampled his bag because that's just wounding his pride at this point. "...I didn't. I'll need reauthorization." He looks away, fidgeting with his glasses. "...I thought as much." Even if it's minimally functional, it's enough, honestly. Even if it's a pain in the ass.
"...Who knows why any of these people call themselves by this or that name?" Loren says, waving a hand through the air dismissively. Ugh. He had hoped he'd adjust to the smell but it's not happening. "It's probably short for something. Maybe it means something special in some native language around here. It doesn't matter," he says, shaking his head. "What makes you think this person's involved with the Malevolence entities?"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"That does sound suspicious... a Gear, or perhaps one of those Golems," Elly says, but it's more active listening tha a serious proposal. As Loren speaks she unpacks her own tablet, which rests on the table, and brings out another one in crisp white... cardboard? It's not clear exactly. It's nothing that isn't biodegradable or recyclable.
"A temple of importance that's turned hostile? I suppose with all this chaos you could be right. You should look into it... I can file a request for backup if you want," Elly tells Loren, "if you think time is urgent."
She straightens up and nods once, soberly, at his explanation. That isn't being judged or picked on. She proffers the wrapped-up tablet with both hands, in a grave way, perhaps because this is a chain of control kind of situation. "Here's your new one. Please confirm that the seals are intact before opening them?" And then she looks down, observing.
And she has to keep observing which is the heck of it. She takes the old one and moves it to wrap it in the black plastic as Loren dismisses her statement. And asks her a question while he's at it. "Well... they appeared at the same time as - this is so awkward, isn't it, I don't want to say 'he' since something about them seemed ambiguous..."
Elly takes in a breath. "I had spotted several people, or beings, with the Malevolence energy upon them and had trailed them, as per my report. I then encountered K.K. There's an association of some kind between them. However, it - they - did slay one of the creatures. That could mean they're actually opposed, I suppose, but it could also mean they'd fulfilled their purpose and they had no further need for them."
"There were no remains," Elly adds. "But they did confirm there were signs of a fray." Subtext, perhaps: No, I didn't hallucinate it.
"Please pass me back the wrappings when you're done, I'll handle them both together," Elly then adds.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"Sounds possible," he says, regarding the possibility that it could be a Gear or a Golem.
Loren shifts his posture, as if vaguely uncomfortable with the fact that she's agreeing with him. "...It might also be a rumor. Perhaps someone just slipped and hurt themselves while doing whatever it is they do in those places. I don't think it's urgent but I might survey the site if I have the time." Just because the last time he wrote a site off, it turned out to be legit. And he wouldn't even have to do more than go inside, particularly with a functioning tablet again.
He also might just be somewhat less than enthused with the prospect of Elly tagging along. Though he does say, at some length, punctuated by him fidgeting with his glasses, "...I'll consider it. I'll need to make sure this wasn't in error first." Even if he had his pick of a partner, the last thing he wants to do is make a request for backup and come back to say 'it was just a broken down temple and some idiots tripped on the masonry'.
That's embarrassing.
"I'll make a suggestion regarding the Old Petra site, and see if there's anything to the temple near Gounon." It at least will get him away from a city that's slowly (spoilers: not slowly) driving him up the wall.
There's a certain protocol for these sorts of exchanges. They're military devices, after all. He accepts the package from her with all appropriate formality, then inspects the package to check the seals. "...Seals are intact."
He pauses a moment, listening to her before attempting to break any of the seals. "Androgyny?" Interesting. He nods, as if indicating she should continue.
That energy again. The same stuff he's blind to. Also, apparently, one of the reasons she might just have the Lieutenant Commander's favor. Loren shifts his posture, unease uncoiling within once again.
"Could it be coincidence?" He seems to enjoy playing the devil's advocate. Breaking one of the seals with the edge of his thumbnail, Loren shakes his head. "It doesn't make sense for this K.K. to slay their own associates, or whatever the creatures are to them." Exhaling a faintly irritated breath, he moves on to separate the next, and carefully begins to tease the box open. "...Though it could be that." He was getting to that, he thinks, annoyed. "If they're just things to be used." Pulling the device out takes some doing -- the box is snug.
"No signs..." he lifts one skeptical eyebrow, as if interrogating her subtext, but seems content to let it slide. "We need more samples from those things.
A moment later, and he'll pass over the packaging materials. "Here."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly takes the trash back and starts to wrap it up with the old tablet in the plastic cloth.
"That's understandable. I think command would tolerate a little misguidance, though, if it bears fruit... I can drop the Lieutenant Commander a line if you're concerned channels will gobble it up," Elly says, which is probably almost as bad as her freaking harlot perfume.
But which will last longer?
"As for coincidence... I don't know. Animals were what attacked me, so it's possible that they have confederates who escaped the area, and unleashed the dogs. It..." Elly trails off, before giving Loren a look that seems kind of searching, and then continues, somewhat wary but opening up perhaps past her public report:
"K.K. told me that I had some kind of 'mark of the destroyer'. In addition to, um... insulting me, personally... I don't know, but in hindsight I think it was some kind of a reaction test. They seemed disappointed at what I did, or how I answered them..."
It seems that's as far as things are going to go. Having wrapped up the trashed tablet and the packaging in it, Elly puts it on the table and moves everything else OFF the table. Out of an abundance of caution, perhaps. She then steps around it, placing both hands atop the package and saying to Loren, "As for the, um, the androgynous matter... I may have just been primed by the Captain, but I didn't feel that it was 'a man,' or a 'woman.' Or even a woman in disguise as a man, or vice versa. It's hard to explain."
"Anyway," Elly says, looking at the package. Her eyes widen slightly. The air grows tenser as Elly breathes out, "hhhhhah"
and
there is a muffled THUMP and the package suddenly expands nearly twice in size, puffing out like a balloon. A little plume of evil-smelling smoke oozes out from one side of the wrapping, though it's thin, and stops once Elly takes her hands off of the package. Dusting it off, she tells him, "We could probably dispose of it, but given the tournament it's probably best if I take it with me, isn't it?"
Elly looks back at the wrapped plastic - which contains a cheaper version, with an inverted phase, of the circuitry that allows Ether to be channeled through a Gear. Instead of being magnified, it's all poured and contained inside. If anything, Elly's out-sized Ether murder powers probably came close to rupturing it. What's inside is probably going to condense into ash over the next several hours.
"That's that, I suppose... Are you doing alright on your own, Loren?" Elly concludes, moving to pack up the rest of her bag. "And how good is this inn? I suppose I should leave in the morning."
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"Perhaps." Loren sounds no less than dubious, though, a point punctuated by a sidelong glance. While he might have had a glowing performance review to hear the Captain say it... as usual, he's waiting for the other shoe to drop. Something's going to go wrong. Precipitating it would be...
And then there's the other thing that could be a problem: making a report, having it be the real thing, and getting any glory undercut by someone else.
Such as, for example, Elhaym van Houten.
Who might just report it anyway, if that's her goal. Well, he sure backed himself into this one. "You might as well let her know," he says in the end, accepting his fate. "About the apparent site near Gounon and the sightings near Old Petra."
At least the perfume might eventually fade, if he opens the window. Whatever her ambitions are, on the other hand... Damn, this is bad. He needs to figure out how to get someone on his side.
There had been a number of creatures in the Hollow. Emperor, it already feels like forever ago. He reaches up to rub at his forehead. At least the headache's fading, which is more than he can say for the smell in here right now.
She's seeking his attention. He lifts his gaze, meeting her eyes...
And he almost wants to laugh. Mark of the destroyer? Well, this K.K.'s got that part right. Instead, clamping down hard on that urge, he shakes his head. "They seemed disappointed... I wonder if you passed or failed. ...The Captain met them once before." He thinks, anyway. "I'd have to check our files. I wonder if they asked similar questions of him."
Blue eyes rest on the wrapping as Elly finishes wrapping things up, and similiarly demonstrating caution, Loren takes a step or two back. "...So 'none of the above'?"
He averts his gaze as Elly breathes out, and still the suddenness of the sound makes him twitch in reflex. The new tablet ends up being held in front of his chest, almost as if it were a shield. But it's over with fast, and more importantly, the thing held. ...Somehow. He squints one eye halfway shut, only fully (well, mostly) relaxing the moment she takes her hands off the package. "Obviously," he comments, with a shake of his head. "There are too many people who can't keep their hands to themselves in town right now." Why take the risk?
But is he doing alright?
The strictly honest answer might be something else. But no one -- let alone himself -- wants to hear that one. "...I'm doing fine," he says, glancing away from her. "It's been busy." And loud, and and overwhelming, and horrible.
There's a pause. On this topic, he can't hold back on. And thus: "If you like next-door neighbors who come back drunk and sing loud songs until the early morning hours, then this inn is fine."
He really, really, is about done with Lacour.