2017-10-13: How The Turns Have Tabled
- Log: How The Turns Have Tabled
- Cast: Loren Voss, Lily Keil, Seraphita
- Where: Bledavik - Royal Palace
- Date: October 13th, 2017
- Summary: Loren drops by to check up on 'Iris'. Seraphita appears and takes the pair on a walk around the palace. 'Iris' succeeds in her fiendish plot.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It's only been a few days since Cecilia (and her eyepatched maid) relinquished themselves into the care of Prime Minister Shakhan (and, well, technically Gebler).
For now, there's little to be had but a sort of waiting game, everything set for the moment the pieces, long since set on the board, are played.
...Particularly given the movements that have been rumored out in Krosse. But certain announcements are still days away.
Right now, there's the matter of the maid.
There's a knock on her door.
"...It's Lieutenant Voss."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
A few days that have passed on and on, since 'Iris Becker' entered the palace in tow with Cecilia Adlehyde. She has busied herself fretting over a lovely (middling) room, rearranged a few things repeatedly, read some of her book, and gone through a few needles already for her medicine.
Has anyone even checked what it is? Regardless.
She has however been listening in on gossip and news as best she can, a tall, anxious woman who has made herself relatively endearing. But right now, there is the matter of the maid, indeed.
"Ah?" The knock at her door comes as an apparent surprise as 'Iris' pauses where she is. "Excuse me, I'll be right there!"
It does take her a minute, however. She arrives in somethin of a hurry, opening up the door in short order. Attention to detail will spot her hair just out of order, her eyepatch recently reapplied. The room behind her is very neat... except for some reddened bandages out. She is in the same outfit as when she arrived, curtseying as she steps back.
"Lieutenant," she says warmly, "What a pleasant surprise! I wasn't expecting company..."
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
There's a sudden knock on the window across the hall from Iris' room. Then it swings open, luckily, as Seraphita comes swinging through with at least enough knowledge of how windows work to not shatter it in everyone's direction so much as loudly open it.
And she twirls, and flips, and lands, before holding up high above her head a large green frisbee with Shakhan's face on it, no doubt merchandise from the still on-going festivities in the city. To her it seems to be a thousand treasures right now.
"Leftenant!! Miss Becker! You'll never guess what I found on the roof while I was doing my practice hops and swings!"
How will they ever guess it's a frisbee indeed.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
This is the reason he knocked, instead of just opening the door.
It's already bad enough that he's ended up getting assigned to management of their guests... and worse the fact that his captain -- that's the medical division captain and not a certain Captain Yugh -- had essentially gone with 'get to it Voss' (at least insofar as her message regarding the impromptu appointment had stated) and left it at that.
Which of course means that if anything happens to their 'guests' -- medically or otherwise -- there's one person who gets to shoulder the blame.
And 'Iris' had not looked as if she were doing well.
Distantly, he notes her hair's in slight disarray, that her eyepatch reapplied.
And takes absolutely no notice of it whatsoever.
"Indeed," he says, glancing her over stiffly. "Have your injuries been healing? If more medicine is need--"
There's a thump from across the room, followed by a 'SCREE' of the hinges on the windows. Loren, startled, hunches up, then turns sharply on his heel to confront the intruder--
The reality is Seraphita, freshly arrived through the window and landing with a flourish right before him.
A good ten seconds of silence trail out on Loren's end.
"Ma'am...? What were you..."
His gaze tracks to the frisbee.
He hesitates. Then, probably because he ultimately can't not make a remark, regardless of her rank:
"It... wouldn't happen to be a frisbee, would it."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Iris still doesn't look like she's doing particularly well; the wound down her face is still sewn closed. She's pale, and a little drawn. And her eyes is a little glassy. ...But it's nothing terribly important. She has enough energy, after all.
One golden eye blinks twice at the look at the window, right over Loren's shoulder. Of all the things that she's prepared herself for, Seraphita hopping merrily through a window was not on her list of likely things.
"Ah!" Iris says in surprise as she sees her, and smile briefly. "My, Lieutenant, giving the game away like that." She tilts her head, "I couldn't say what it is at all! The face is very familiar..."
Maybe she can't help remarking either, but she seems fairly sincere. "Oh, come in--ah, I suppose I can't really invite you, can I...? It's terribly messy. But two guests at once, how very exciting!"
'Iris' steps back, and glances between the two before settling on Loren, "I'm healing fine, thank you. Though... I suppose I ought to refill my stock..." A shake of her head, "It'll keep. A bit of pain is hardly important."
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
"YES!!!" Seraphita screams, evidently full of joy for Loren. He guessed it! "You won! I don't have a medal or a trophy on me so you can have the frisbee!!" And so is the lieutenant entrusted with safekeeping the toy as Seraphita closes in and hands it to him. It's his responsibility now.
Luckily, she isn't one to be bummed out by Loren being such a straight man. She's learned to appreciate that, and you can thank... well, all three of the other Elements for that, let's be honest. To varying degrees.
"Ooh, are you out of healing supplies? We could go get some for you! You're our guests, we have to ensure your security even from disease, illness and injury! Besides, mister Shakhan is rich, he won't mind if some supplies are used for this!" He probably WOULD in fact mind, and that might be reason enough for Loren and Lily both to want to go along with this. That thought doesn't cross Seraphita's mind.
"Have you two been comfortable? How was your old palace compared to this one? I've only been to this one so I'm curious!" Solaris doesn't really do 'palaces' really. Mansions, but not castles.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Lesson one for Iris, if she hasn't cottoned to it already:
Seraphita very, obviously outranks Loren. She knows enough of the medic -- or at least the face he presented to her as 'Thomas' -- to possibly have a sense of how he might normally react to being presented with a trophy of sorts for winning a technically-rigged-in-his-favor guessing game.
What actually happens:
Loren slowly, gingerly takes possession of the frisbee, as if it were a bomb and not a cheap lime-green piece of merchandise with Shakhan's visage on it. He once again hesitates.
As if this situation were a metaphorical bomb as well.
And then at some remove: "...Thank you, ma'am...."
He thinks... that's... the right response under these circumstances.
Seraphita soon finds another target in the form of 'Iris'. "Technically, ma'am, I do have some supplies left, including a likely similar to what she's been using..." he says, addressing Seraphita rather than Lily. Largely of surfacer make, for someone like Iris, that is.
It's just general policy. Unless the benefits outweigh the risks -- and notably, This Has Not Happened Yet -- Lambs aren't treated with the real level of medical expertise that Solaris can muster.
"...But we would have to visit the infirmary." Because he's just in uniform, not kitted out for an expedition.
And then, because he belatedly realizes he has contradicted his superior (sort of) he adds, "Of course, the palace may also have something in stock." His gaze returns to 'Iris'. "We would need to escort you, of course."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Frankly, it's a little surreal, almost, to see Seraphita, obviously high-ranking, acting... This way, that she does. No, it's definitely surreal. That's not just the painkillers working their way through the maid's system right now. More importantly though is the... way this is done. Between the two of them.
Is the fact that 'Thomas' is so very, very removed about this. It is a deliberate effort on Iris's part not to start laughing, but she does vent it by smiling slightly between the two of them.
She also spots the way Loren talks to Seraphita and not her, which is frankly all for the best.
"A-ah, I'm not... out, precisely," 'Iris' replies, as if embarrassed by all the fuss. She glances between thw two of them and finally adds helpfully, "But I would appreciate it. I'm still fine on painkillers, but I'm running through disinfectant very quickly, and I'm nearly out of clean needles..."
"Ah, but the room is lovely! Her Highness seems to be settling in though you know I worry for her, the servants here don't have the candies she likes. This room is nicer than my old one but--ah, please don't say anything about that." It's not that nice. Not to Solarians, anyway.
"But certainly I'd be happy to go anywhere, it gets lonely here trying to rest rather than work..."
She pauses. "Though it is ah, very warm, isn't it? And I never asked you what brought you to see me!"
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
"Oh! Oh oh oh! If you have supplies left we can use those too! You're the doctor, not me, you know better!" Seraphita answers Loren, in a way that unlike his speech indicates in no way that Seraphita is aware of any rank mattering here. Really she just calls Loren leftenant because she decided she was his rightenant. Because she wanted a cool rank too. Element is nice, but it's not a rank, it's a word!
The inside of Seraphita's mind is an odd place indeed. All that pink hair and the fluffy ears must keep her in a constant state of sugar overdose from sight alone. Judging from the way she keeps bouncing about and refuses to stand still, it's a logical guess.
Then Iris says the magic word.
Lonely.
Seraphita advances, grabbing her by the shoulders. "No! Leftenant, we have to do something! Being lonely is the worst thing in the world! C'mon, let's take a walk around the castle! We can go get your supplies if you don't have them on you while at it!" And, presumably, they can talk about their business while they walk about, too, but Seraphita didn't pay attention to that.
"Quick before the loneliness sets in!!"
It is urgent. You can read it in her eyes.
And the fact she's urging them along.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
To be fair, Seraphita being Seraphita tends to throw many people. At least, at first.
And then the situation escalates hard into 'reality' and 'yes, you must cope with this'.
But at least someone -- Seraphita -- is having a good time.
(Loren, for his part, has never been able to 100% convince himself it's not at least minisculely an act. Does he want to face any fallout from misjudging his superior officer? No, he does not.)
(Which is precisely why he's currently the proud owner of a nearly fluorescent green frisbee.)
Suffice to say, Loren doesn't notice anything unusual about the reaction from 'Iris'. He has his own concerns.
Particularly when -- to his view -- the Lamb maid chatters on and on and on.
"Well, yes, I suppose..." he replies to Seraphita. "I have some supplies in the infirmary." Since that's where he's apparently living for the moment, particularly with an injured guest. "We have some hypodermic needles in stock." Clean, of course. Who knows who has a bloodborne disease down here. "Disinfectant as well."
He has nothing to say about the room, because, frankly, he doesn't care, and it's not his job to make small talk.
What is his job: "I came here to check up on you, miss--"
As Seraphita surges past him to grab 'Iris' by the shoulders. "W-wait, ma'am, you..." He hesitates, hands hovering about chest height, palms-forward, as if he's uncertain just what he should be doing here, heirarchy-wise and medical-wise.
Given that Iris is clearly a seriously-wounded if recovering woman.
"A walk? I don't think--"
It's too bad for him whatever he thinks, because he doesn't have a choice as Seraphita urges them both along.
To adventure!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"Ah, do you?" The injured guest in question appears grateful despite her attempts to redirect. But she does hear that Loren came to 'check up' on her and wonders who ordered it, because it certainly wasn't initiative, and yet--
Superiors can be odd sometimes. Superiors can be awkward sometimes. ...and, well, apparently sometimes...
'Iris' is still getting used to the fluff of Seraphita's demeanor to begin with, but she's accustomed to people with more energy than most now and then. Just not... You know, this.
More to the point though, apparently something she said really struck a chord. The maid can't help but wince suddenly as Seraphita grabs her shoulders, stars briefly showing in her vision.
"The--the loneliness?" she asks, moderately dazed without even having to fake it for the moment. But she is very easy to move along in this state, marched right out after the halls. "Are we walking? A-all right!"
She manages not to trip, at least, though she instinctively cradles her braced wrist against herself.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
"Don't worry, leftenant! Left tenant! Grandmother always said, if you're feeling down or sick, take a walk, you're feel better afterwards!" And her grandmother had never lied, Seraphita would insist. Iris' legs aren't broken, and she's able to talk, therefore, a walk will do her some good!
This is not sound medical advice but at least in this this it probably won't backfire horribly. Maybe eventually Loren will figure out if he asserts himself Seraphita will listen without a word of complaint or backsass. Well, maybe words about boredom, but not complaint in the traditional sense.
"The infirmary, the infirmary... where was that again..?" she wonders, as she cheerfully leads the wa. It wouldn't be hard for her two prisoners to escape if they meant to given how often she seems to get lost in thought at a sight or sign.
Though eventually what catches her eye is the ornate door with VANDERKAUM written on it. It isn't locked, because Shakhan's evidently never heard of locks or keys, or maybe the Fatimas didn't believe in that. Then again there's not much to protect in the surface level of the palace.
Seraphita peeks inside, and then motions for the other two to come join her. "Detour! Detour, come on! Mister Vanderkaum doesn't like it when people just barge into his room but he's deployed right now so~."
So let's invade his privacy. By which we mean his quarters. Which are filled with artillery cannons and shells, including a particular piece that is about three times the height of a person and could not possibly have fit through that door.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Most certainly not his own initiative, at least in the sense that he's involved with any sort of Lamb health management plans for their visitors in the first place. But for the time being, it's really bad policy to let her die.
And, to be honest, does sort of cut against his ethical sense as a medic, no matter how depraved those who dwell on the surface may be.
As 'Iris' may know, though -- what the higher-ups say goes for the most part.
Particularly when you're actively working against an entire lifetime and then some of negative reputation, no thanks to your late elder brother.
Which just might, might be one reason why he doesn't press back too hard against Seraphita. Even in spite of the maid's wince. "A walk... er, if it isn't far..."
Sometimes, maybe, you have to swallow your pride to get by.
They walk for a distance before Loren realizes that 1) this isn't remotely the way to the infirmary and 2) Seraphita has no idea where they're going.
"Ma'am, if we head back and take the left..."
But Something has caught Seraphita's eye. Just that much, Loren straightens. Oh yes, he sees it too.
"Ma'am, we shouldn't..." he starts to say, as she walks on in anyway. Not the least because it's Vanderkaum's room, but also because of their current escortee.
And he hesitates. Should he stay out here? Let her handle the potential blowback if they're caught or if someone reports on this? But, wait, no, he can't just abandon her.
This is the story of how Second Lieutenant Voss snuck into Vanderkaum's quarters with a superior officer and a Lamb 'guest'.
He has in fact heard stories about this room. Oh, they were not even kidding.
"...That must be against regulations."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Take a walk! "W-well, my grandmother always said something similar," Iris adds with just a touch of nerves, smiling vaguely as she can't... entirely see Seraphita from here. Truthfully that makes her a little nervous, and not just because her shoulders are very sensitive at the moment.
"Leftenant... Is that an Aveh affectation?" she finds herself asking. Her accent is very inoffensive, for her part, her ordinary Kislevi approach covered over fairly well. ...Not entirely, but wouldn't that make her nervous?
"Ah, don't you know...?" Iris eventually manages to get more or less free to walk with the others--she appears not to like being touched, if anyone pays that much attention to the Lamb's personal space--and she pauses. "Detour? Ah..." His quarters. With all of these...
Iris's eye widens. It is not unlike being in a candy store, but much more restrained. "Oh, my. It's so large!" Loren says they shouldn't... So of course 'Iris' is suddenly standing very close to the Leftenant, right in his personal space. Against regulations...
"Oh, must it?" she asks. "It's fascinating, isn't it? It must be terribly difficult to properly clean..."
She slips closer to Seraphita, "My, what is all this? It's so overwhelming!" Might as well make the most of it.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
"Don't worry, it's okay, it's okay! Mister Vanderkaum took his Dora and went off to the frontlines! He's having fun with an even bigger gun so he won't be back for a while!" Intel would indeed suggest this Vanderkaum guy is out there screaming at people to stay still so he can shoot the main gun at them.
Sadly, people are not that cooperative.
But he loves his main gun very much.
Seraphita hops up, hanging off the barrel of the massive artillery battery like it's a playground attraction. "He likes these a lot! He says, ancient civilizations sure knew how to make guns! I think he might secretly be an art geologist!" Archeologist? Words are hard, okay?
"And yes, yes! Leftenant is his special rank! No one else can have it! I'm his rightenant, we're the best team!" She pauses. "But don't tell Tolone I said that or she'll be jealous because we're the best team too!!"
Seraphita has a lot of best teams.
Don't tell any of them.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
To be fair, it's not Vanderkaum walking in on them -- he hasn't heard any shouting here in about a week at least which suggests that he is indeed out -- that worries him, it's something else. "If someone reported back..."
But it's a losing battle. And at least, there's a vain hope that this will just go unreported.
"Leftenant is just her..." He makes a soft noise that might be half sigh, half bitten-off irritation. It's just a malapropism, he almost says, but then he'd have to explain what a malapropism is, and wouldn't that go well.
He stares for a moment somewhere into the middle distance instead.
'Iris', her own sphere of personal space and protection there-of aside, steps into his own.
It'd seem she's not the only one. He moves to his right, as if perturbed.
Which is about when he notices what Seraphita is up to. "Ma'am, I don't think you should hang from that. If it isn't steady..." His shoulders sag a touch. "...I'm sure that he does..." he comments dryly.
To be honest, he's not certain why some people appear to have ended up as his superiors sometimes.
There are obvious explosives scattered across Vanderkaum's desk, even. Which serves as a handy distraction from Seraphita's behavior. It also earns a long, long stare from the medic.
"...Try not to touch anything," he cautions 'Iris'. "Some of these may be live."
He would keep live ammo in his office, too, he thinks furiously. Oh yes, of course he would.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Iris's head, meanwhile, is filled with calculations and estimations about the load-bearing portions of the wall, how difficult it would be to move one of these things, what those explosives might do...
But the cheerful way she looks around suggests nothing of the sort. Instead she just looks relieved. "As long as he doesn't mind," the maid says to Seraphita with a smile. But she's... hanging off the barrel. "An art geologist..." Iris sounds very impressed by this title. She tilts her head looking at Loren, as if looking for an explanation. Instead...
"Oh, it's a special name for you?" Iris asks pleasantly. "It's so nice that the two of you get along so well. I'm not really like that with the other maids..."
The best team, hm? Why does 'Iris' imagine that might be true.
Iris files away Loren's need not to be touched, and peers over the desk as she looks. "Live?" she asks. "That's funny, they don't appear to be moving." She reaaches out towards one of them, obviously curious, "Ah this one is terribly dusty..."
Is the maid going to clean an explosive if no one stops her?
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
On the bright side, the barrel is very steady, Seraphita fairly light, and that means nothing ends up falling over... or worse, knowing Vanderkaum. That battery might in fact be ready to fire despite being indoors. He probably likes his displays 'authentic'.
Eventually Seraphita gets bored of hanging from a cannon barrel and hops back down, looking at the various shells and bombs laid out on the desk. "Oh, wowie! Mister Vanderkaum is like me! He likes his desk not to have any paperwork on it!" What's more surprising, that Seraphita also would keep her desk full of toys, not paperwork, or that she has a desk at all?
It might just be a Lego table Tolone gave her. Dominia probably has a desk though. No doubt very formal and clean so if Ramsus ever wanders in he's impressed. But alas, senpai will never notice her.
"How come you don't get along with the other maids?"
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
What can Loren do in response to 'you make a great team' more or less but sigh a little bit?
On the plus side, at least the cannon doesn't tip over or something.
On the downside, 'Iris' makes a move for the explosives scattered across the desk.
This time, Loren is in fact watching her. So the moment she makes a move towards the desk, reaches out for one of the explosives scattered across it--
He makes a series of quick steps towards her and snakes out a hand to grab her wrist.
And tries to tug her back.
He's not particularly taking care to be gentle.
"You--" And here, it's likely that he only bites back on his perferred choice of words because of current company. He instead shakes his head. "'Live' means they'll explode if mishandled. Do you understand what I'm saying?" He takes a long, steadying breath and stares her straight in the eye. "Don't. Touch anything in here."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Sighing. It's a good thing to do in a situation like this. Iris is not especially... helping, after all, enjoying the small opportunities to nettle her escort--not that it comes off that way. She seems very genuine, if a little bit... Out of it.
Then, she did talk about being on painkillers.
"Ah, is that so?" Iris asks Seraphita, staring in wonder at the similarity and certainly not at the fact that Seraphita has a desk. Somehow she imagines it's a very nice desk.
Suddenly her wrist is grabbed though, and rather than a note of satisfaction she vocalizes, "O-Ow!" She's tugged back easily enough, curling her arm closer towards herself with an obvious look of hurt. She stares straight up at him. "Oh..." Does she understand? "Y-yes. I'm sorry..." She dips her eyes, "Thank you for explaining..."
Hmm.
"As for why, ah..." She trails off. "I'm not sure," she admits. "I don't really know. Probably because I'm a bit jumpy... I'm just glad to finally be somewhere safe after all of this."
Pause. "...Well, safer. They won't explode if we don't touch them, right?" She considers for a moment, "I'll just have to rely on you in particular, Lieutenant!"
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
Oh no, Loren is mean to Iris!
... Seraphita doesn't notice, perhaps because she's completely desensitized to how Solarians treat people. It's fairly normal. She doesn't understand it, but it's normal, and you don't question what's normal.
"It probably won't blow up! Mister Vanderkaum has a sign for this!"
Seraphita points at the sign in the corner which reads: 39 DAYS SINCE LAST EXPLOSION INSIDE PALACE.
Please note that Vanderkaum has been deployed out for 39 days. Someone no doubt has the thankless job of keeping the sign up to date.
"Oh, we should go find your supplies!" Seraphita suddenly remembers, as she proceeds to get bored of being in the same room for more than ten minutes, even though it's jam-packed with toys and explosives. She can't help it. Maybe it's good in this case.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Painkillers would go a long way to explaining some of this.
Though, based on his experiences (and prejudices!) Loren would have also settled for 'surfacedweller inferiority as usual'.
Some things, you believe, if you've grown up being told that you're the pinnacle of humanity and the true salvation of Filgaia.
He releases his grip once she has the decency to look properly chagrined about her near-miss in here. "Just be careful," he empathizes. Then, with a sigh, explains further (well, she is on drugs): "Not everything in the palace is safe. It's better if you and the princess recover from your ordeals in your rooms where it's secure."
Where they can easily keep an eye on them, without the messy logistics of actually locking them both up.
"If you don't touch it, probably not," he answers.
Then pauses as Seraphita points something out.
Slowly his blue-eyed gaze lifts towards the sign.
some days, loren doesn't know why he gets out of bed
In any case, he looks away again. Back at the desk. ...Maybe it's better if he doesn't think too hard about the desk.
"--Right. We should get her what she needs," Loren says at last, seizing on the chance to do something that gets them out of here before it's too late. "It was the way we came, but it will be... on the right turn, heading back."