2017-10-14: The Voice Of The World
- Log: The Voice Of The World
- Cast: Cecilia Adlehyde, Seraph Ragnell, Loren Voss, Seraphita, Elhaym van Houten
- Where: Bledavik - Royal Palace
- Date: October 14th 2017
- Summary: Cecilia searches for the object that must be hidden in the depths of the palace, with a little help from a friend. Gebler encounters her. A situation ensues.
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.
Cecilia Adlehyde is, perhaps, still a strange presence in the castle. She has been granted some 'more fitting' clothes by Shakhan and his staff, outfits roughly appropriate to a noble if not as lovely as a proper princess's. Some of them have Fatima crests. It's probably best not to think too much about that. She is in such a dress now, white with gold highlights; and at the moment, she is roaming the castle as aimlessly as she always does, clearly still just learning the lay of the land. She stops, occasionally, to admire some piece of art, but largely seems content to do.... nothing? Basically?
Cecilia is doing her level best not to make it incredibly obvious that she is bored ENTIRELY out of her mind with this act, and today she has decided to adventure a little further afield from the normal confines, and has found her way more toward the upper levels of the palace. Specifically, a broad pair of double-doors leading into the royal suites that Shakhan has kept for himself. They are locked.
Cecilia examines them with innocent eyes, and murmurs, perhaps to a nearby friendly (?) ghost, "I feel something beyond."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell, for her part, was going to leave Bledavik after returning and reporting to Cecilia what she found out about the layout of the palace--but then Cecilia suggested they make use of that information, and Ragnell decided, hey, why not? It sounds interesting. So the prim-looking young woman has a butch cowgirl following her around, invisible to most of the guards in the place. Eventually, the two of them make it up to the upper levels to the locked double doors, and Cecilia murmurs something to her...
"Hmmm," she murmurs, resting a hand on the doors. She extends her elemental senses around it, looking for any electrical currents to follow--or potentially co-opt. If there's something special inside, it might be under observation, and if it is, maybe she can possess it temporarily... It's really not how one should be treating vessels, but really, how can you know if a given person or object is the right vessel for you if you don't test it out? As she does this, she murmurs back, "How strong is it?"
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
For various reasons -- specifically, because he had the misfortune to be appointed by Shakhan, and his effectively negative reputation means that no one particularly felt like relieving him from this task (to say nothing of the potentiality of what might happen if something went horrendously wrong) -- Loren has been on standby as support staff.
Largely because of the apparent status of Cecilia's maid, Iris, who by all accounts has seemed to have had the worse few days (weeks? months?) of her life of late.
So right now he's making the rounds, specifically delivery of more analgesic-class medication to the recovering maid.
Which is roughly when he spots Cecilia out and about.
Technically it's permitted, as long as she's staying within the palace grounds.
But that doesn't mean he's not going to be suspicious.
So he approaches -- apparently completely ignorant of Ragnell's presence here -- Cecilia from behind, medical kit in hand, and asks simply:
"Are you lost, princess?"
Lifted eyebrow and all.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
Seraphita does not burst in through a window this time. That would be weird if it happened twice in a row, and Loren probably doesn't want to have to guard a frisbee again. Or a ball. Or a bird nest. God knows what Seraphita might pluck off the roof next time.
Probably an antenna and then someone is going to have to explain to her why that needs to go back where she found it.
Instead she emerges from an elevator not far from Shakhan's locked rooms - the elevator looks nothing like the rest of the palace, the interior a sort of sterile grey or blue. It does, however, go DING when it stops on that floor, because even Solaris wouldn't dare break the cardinal rule of elevator design.
She's carrying a bowl of mashed potatoes with carrots.
"Huh? Oh! Oh oh hi princess! Hi left tenant! Hiiiiiii magic person!" Those dull green eyes stare at Ragnell, but not malevolently, more curiously. What Seraphita sees is hardly a cowgirl but rather a clump of elemental energy in the vague shape of a person. And it's not the first time! Indeed the Seraph and the bunny beastwoman had met before, at the Cage Tower.
"Does someone want potatoes or carrots?" It's a big bowl.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly van Houten had slipped back here for what she may have thought was the last, last time for REAL, since until she absolutely can't she still wants to keep her signals and codes updated, drop off reports, and sometimes just eat homestyle food.
Elly had been carrying a tablet computer. When she steps out after Seraphita she looks left, looks right, looks at Seraph Ragnell, and her tablet computer slips out of her hand.
It bounces high enough for someone to catch it. (Someone is not Elly.)
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.
Cecilia, of course, is ENTIRELY willing to impose upon the good will of other people until they just sort of end up following her directly into the mouth of Hell. This is how she makes friends.
Cecilia is for the most part attempting to not demonstrate that she sees Ragnell, because she's reasonably sure the maids have eyes and Iris can't dispose of the entire staff. Still, when Ragnell asks her question, she takes a moment.
Shaman...
"...it's far greater than a Medium, I think," she says. And then she hears footsteps and turns with a start, eyes locking on to the veritable contingent of people who have turned up. "Ah!" she says to Loren, and swiftly covers her mouth with a dainty cough. think fast adlehyde "N-no, thank you, I am simply exploring the grounds. Even after all Minister Shakhan's done to it, don't you think the castle is splendid? I wonder what's beyond these doors!"
Seraphitas arrival has Cecilia blinking at the strange beastwoman. She still doesn't entirely know what to make of her. "Ah, hello, Miss Seraphi--" wait hold on she said some words there. Cecilia blinks, and because she's awful at this she cannot disguise it when she turns to look directly at Ragnell. This is about when Elly takes a dead-eyed look at the same person and drops her tablet.
THINK FAST ADLEHYDE
OH NO IT'S NOT HAPPENING--
"Carrots!" Cecilia almost yells. "Uhm certainly that sounds grand thank you! How lovely! Were these a snack for somebody?" Who needs this many Force Carrots?
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Far greater than a Medium, huh. That's promising. However, before Ragnell can sense anything useful inside that runs on electricity, people show up, just a bunch of dumb interfering jerks, Loren.
'Are you lost, princess?'
Ragnell looks over her shoulder at him. "Oh, it's this asshole," she says, tone flat, as she eyes him. "He can't see me, Cess, so--oh, hey." This would be when the elevator goes *ding*! and Seraphita emerges with a bowl full of mashed potatoes and carrots. "Hey, Not Seraphita," she says, tone now turning amused as she turns herself, leaning on the wall as she rests a hand on her hip and crosses her ankles. "How's Tolone an' the other Elements doin'?"
There's someone behind Seraphita, too--someone who drops someone at the sight of Ragnell. Since it's WAY too late to signal to Cecilia that she ought to pretend that she can't see Ragnell, Ragnell grins at Elly too, as if there hadn't been the slightest bit of tension the last couple of times they'd met. "Sup, Elly? Haven't seen you in a while. You do something new with your hair? It looks silkier than before~."
At the very least, she might fluster her away from wondering too hard about what Cecilia's doing. Helping!
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
Seraphita idly catches Elly's tablet with her free hand, holding the bowl up towards Cecilia with the other. She may be simple-minded but the rabbit is quite swift and coordinated!
"Oh no, be careful! If you drop the image computer thingy it won't work anymore! Tolone said I'm not allowed to hold these anymore though so you should take it back!!" Tolone is right, Seraphita shouldn't hold technology, she's liable to mess it up.
Her gaze turns towards the princess, nodding! "Yeah! I mean, they're my snack, but it'd be super rude not to share! I can just go get more so it's okay!"
Then to Ragnell: "They're okay! But they're not here, sorry!" Presumably they are off doing their own thing. Or back in Etrenank. Or both! Dominia's quest to get noticed by senpai is unending and cruel.
"Are you another one of the princess' maids?"
Iris did mention not getting along with other maids.
Implying there are other maids.
Seraphita is smart!!
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
A few things happen at once.
The most important of these are, in order:
Cecilia's suspiciously (well, to a paranoid young medic) behavior after he addresses her
The confirmation from Seraphita -- as she suddenly arrives via elevator -- that there's someone else here
Elly's silent recognition of the same apparently invisible person
It must be Spring Breeze, he thinks darkly, his gaze breaking from Cecilia briefly to look -- as if he could see the lightning elemental in feminine form (he can't) -- for the being that everyone else but him apparently has the ability to detect.
It's sort of making him feel a little deficient at this point.
Oh, and Elly's computer goes sailing through the air after a bounce to be caught by Seraphita. Hopefully it had the protective case on.
At which point Loren just sighs. "Princess, what are you trying to do? I can tell someone else is there."
He still can't, but there's enough datapoints here to make the reasonable assumption.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
carrots, Elly hears.
It brings her back to the place where she was. Her gaze snaps back to Ragnell and her cheeks puff out slightly in frustrated indignation, her free hand immediately going to touch her hair. That probably makes Ragnell proud.
Seraphita catches the tablet, which Elly says, "Yes, of course, ma'am -" while reaching out to take it, and then turning her head to look at Cecilia. She does this with enough force to make her hair bounce, and with a 'hmf' in the bargain!
Things get much less schoolgirlish fast. "Ma'am," she tells Cecilia, "there is an unknown hostile being that only some people can perceive very near to you. She has attempted to hurt several of us with lightning attacks. You should move back -"
From those doors? Elly's brow furrows then. "Ma'am," Elly then says to Seraphita, "that's Spring Breeze, from the report regarding destruction of property." She assumes, of course, that Seraphita's profound Ether powers means she, too, can see them. Also now Ragnell knows her code name, Elly realizes belatedly.
She does not manifest an Ether power to sink into the ground and vanish despite a heartfelt wish.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
"Huh? Her name is Ragnell Seraph!" Seraphita insists, after recalling that Cyre refered to her as just Ragnell, and Leo as Seraph, and since Leo was a dashing knight he was obviously being polite and using her surname.
This is how these things go, in that mind of hers.
"She's not hostile, she helped me save Mr. Shoutshout!"
Elly will probably want to fill Seraphita in on the required reading if she wants it to stick. "Aww, but, you're not a liar, so you wouldn't say she's hostile for nothing... maybe it's a misunderstanding! We should all sit down around cake and talk about it!" This is her suggestion. It's a terrible one, don't let her take charge.
The bunny looks at Loren and Elly, seeking an answer as to what to do. They could really just ask her to set Ragnell on fire if they really wanted.
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.
Well, Ragnell, you tried.
Cecilia stifles her reaction to the next several seconds by chewing on a carrot. It is more effective than she expected. She experiences less Force than she hoped for out of it. Mini Carrot, maybe? She is going to owe Ragnell like ten times over after this and she's getting less OK with it, she thinks, distantly, as the events sort of drift past her. "Ah," she says, slowly, and takes a long breath. Finally, she says, "I was following the voice of a Guardian spirit," to Loren, which is both totally accurate and not really that honest. "Is there something I should know?"
She looks sort of in Ragnell's direction and Loren helpfully can't tell how bad she is at not looking directly at the Seraph. "I hear it, from time to time. The voice of the world..." She smiles, a little distantly.
Ah, but Elly's...cautioning her fairly seriously, and Cecilia isn't entirely sure how to respond. If she backs off entirely, she's sort of throwing Ragnell under the ARM peoplemover, but if she doesn't, is that suspicious? She can't afford suspicion. Lily's not here to make Loren's brain explode. "I don't sense any hostile intent," she finally declares, and doesn't go anywhere. She's got your back cowgirl!!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"No big deal," Ragnell reassures Seraphita, waving a hand back and forth dismissively. She looks down at the tablet she caught. She seems to recall that Loren had something like that back in Lacour when Ragnell caused him and Elly some trouble. So those things break easily, huh... Then Loren claims that he can tell someone else is here. That's probably because of everyone *else's* reaction, but just in case, Ragnell waves a hand in front of his face.
Meanwhile, Elly attempts to warn Cecilia about her, and Seraphita casually drops her name. Well, that's that, then. Double-edged blade, this one--but then, that was obvious from the start. Ragnell opts to grin at the redhead. "Spring Breeze? Is that your nickname for me? Aw, dang, Ells, that's just cute!" That grin only gets bigger when Elly self-consciously touches her hair. "Though if you wanna see me as a Summer Typhoon, I'd be happy to demonstrate~," she adds in a husky purr, winking. She looks over at Seraphita, noting her protest, then her self-correction. Hmmm. "How's your li'l shriekbun friend, Sera?" she asks in a perfectly friendly way. She tilts her head towards Elly, winks, and adds, "Cake sure sounds good to me!"
Which of course only underscores what Cecilia says about not sensing any hostile intent. She clears her throat, sidesteps back over to Cecilia, then speaks in a lofty, spooky voice while wiggling her fingers at her, "Ahh, Princess Ceciliaaaaa! The spirits swell through this spaaaaaace! Truly this is a blessed plaaaaaaaace! You must explore mooooooooore, behind this dooooooooooooooor!"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
On some obscure but deep level Elly feels a familiar yet fundamental betrayal. Even Seraphita's taken the side of this stranger...
She pushes past it. Her voice lifts in a huff. "I don't know if she's pretending, but you're being misled," Elly tells Cecilia, her face coloring at the words of Ragnell even as she makes herself keep talking. "She - I don't know - I don't think she has your best interests at heart, whatever she may be saying! I've met a Guardian - they're NOTHING like her."
Elly's hands curl into fists that probably do not help the cute-sad look her face carries naturally. Seraphita might just read this as Elly getting unduly frustated, Loren may FEAR FOR HIS LIFE.
"... I can't make you believe me," Elly concludes, looking duly flustered, "and - I -" She falters and ends up just stopping, looking over to Seraphita for imploring backup. Or maybe she wants the cake.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Ragnell Seraph?
So they (might) have a name now?
In silence, Loren's gaze meets Seraphita's, as if to silently attempt to communicate to her that she should elaborate further, tell him a little more about...
Or maybe she'll just be Seraphita about this, he considers, taking a slow, measured breath as she...
Oh Emperor, why.
"Ma'am, I don't think that's advised," he sets out cautiously, still rounding the question as if she might suddenly bare fangs. Comparing uniforms alone -- to say nothing of the way Elly and he have been addressing Seraphita -- it would seem that the bunny beastwoman is in fact their superior officer. "'The voice of the world'. Naturally." He at least doesn't roll his eyes. "I'd like to know why a known adverse entity," that he can't see, "is on the palace grounds."
He never thought he'd get backup from Elly of all people on this one. He glances at her sidelong. "...Indeed," he agrees, continuing to stare at Cecilia as if he could tease out the truth by his gaze alone. "Are we honestly meant to believe that there is some sort of Guardian presence here?"
Loren doesn't realize it, but he's long since failed that sense motive check.
He also notably does not react when Ragnell waves her hand in front of his face. Or so much as twitch at anything else that the Seraph has to say.
What does he react to?
Elly's building frustration. Just a bit, he stands that much straighter, his gaze shifting away from Cecilia to focus on his alleged colleague. Nervousness may be the order of the day. There have been countless false alarms but--
COULD THIS BE THE DAY HE DIES?!
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
"I dunno much about the Guardians! Grandmother was a big believer but I never got instructed much into it!" the bunny answers all the talking about powers and Guardians, truthfully too. Indeed, if she had been intended to be a shaman in the first place, those plans were swiftly crushed under Solaris' big great heel.
And the slaughter of her people via experiments in one of those soylent facilities. That means there's rabbitpeople Wels out there somewhere, you know?
Not that she ever thinks about it!
She's far too live-in-the-moment for that.
"Mr. Shoutshout is fine!" she then answers Ragnell, before pouting a bit. "I'm sorry miss Ragnell! If my friends say you can't stay I have to ask you to very please leave! Otherwise we'll have to do something about it. There's rules for being here! I didn't make them, or there'd be a lot more cake on the menu." So much more. You can't fathom it.
Though is there a statue here?
Seraphita laughs. "Wouldn't it be super funny if we spent all this time looking for those statue things and then it turned out one was right here? Tolone has a word for that!! I think it's ironing. She says it's really ironing when I'm right sometimes!" The debate is up on whether she means grating or ironic.
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.
'Grandmother was a big believer' briefly draws Cecilia's attention from the UTTER SHAMBLES THIS IS BECOMING but--well, there's not much to do about it even if it meant something. From Ragnell's perspective she clearly sees no advantage to correcting the name, because, she totally doesn't.
She does however look like she's doing some real work not to start cackling at Ragnell teasing literally everybody she can see, and eventually she covers her mouth with a hand in a futile attempt to make like she's covering a cough. It comes out as a fully audible "KEM!" of a fake cough when Ragnell ...haunts her. you're killin' me here rags
Recovering somewhat, she adds toward Loren, somewhat more casually than is perhaps warranted because Ragnell is messing with her head, "The power that sustains the world is everywhere. You should be much more concerned about if there would be a place without the presence of the Guardians."
Seraphita...finally makes a call. Cecilia knows nothing about military uniforms because SHE'S A NUN so she is sort of surprised Seraphita seems to be the one who gets to make calls here. Seriously? This chick? Actually for real? That's what we're going with?
But she does at least momentarily spare a look to Elhaym, who appears to be suffering somewhat. ... she can't really answer that honestly right now so she just replies, "I have, as well," without further qualifying other than a longer, more lingering look. Visited the Temple...? she thinks.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"Hey, you think every single Guardian out there is exactly the same? What about you humans? You think *you're* all exactly the same?" Ragnell faux-huffs, folding her arms at Elly. "Hmph! Trust a human to be small-minded--" She pauses at Loren rolling to disbelieve Cecilia's technically-true assertions. "--just like *this* guy," she adds, waving a hand this way. She snorts, too, at the other things he says. "Awwwww, ain't that cute. Blindy McNerdspecs thinks he could stop me from goin' anywhere I please," she drawls, first eyeing him and then making a show of rolling her eyes.
Though, given her strength, Seraphita just might be able to stop her. She might even be able to throw her out. Ragnell gives this a split-second of thought, then smiles at her. "Hey, speakin' of cake, I hear there might be cake on the other side o' that door," she tells her, jabbing a thumb at the locked double-doors. "I bet if you knock it down, we could all have a tea party. Wouldn't that be way more fun?"
It might be a shambles at this point, but who knows? If she bullshits hard enough, she might be able to make something of it. At the very least, she might be able to convince Team Elly that she was just pulling a prank on the Princess, rather than the two of them being in on this exploration. In point of fact, when Cecilia fake-coughs behind her hand, Ragnell points at her and looks back at Seraphita. "Look! This poor dumb Princess is comin' down with somethin' 'cuz she hasn't had any cake! There's no time to waste! Hop to it, bunny!"
She's so getting kicked out, but it's so going to be worth it. Especially if Tolone's right and irony prevails here.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Seraphita's childhood connection comes up, not for the first time. Breathing out, Elly says, "I'd only read about them myself. But..." At least Seraphita is rallying, Elly thinks. By the Emperor, did they trick her? No, she thinks, I'm being uncharitable. She's a talented battle commander. Nobody's perfect.
She looks at Loren briefly while she thinks that.
"Well," Elly says, "Dam Dariam didn't give us specific instructions, but I can tell you that -" She falters again, having had her temporary emotional rally diluted, her face still red, before she stomps forwards towards Ragnell and swings one hand back
smack!
to slap her in her unfortunately-cute face!
"You've had your fun," she says to the Seraph, voice hot and face still red. "You think you can slip in and out of here and do whatever you want, make fun of people like you're some kind of - of devil?? We're an elite military unit - not clowns, here to amuse you! If you want to make fun of people, go work at the festival!! I've had enough of this!!"
Her arms fold tightly, her tablet computer poking into her shoulder because she didn't have the good wit to put it away. She glowers, but it is a glower that is a lot nearer to tears than she's probably wanting to let on.
More than anything, Elly wishes now that she'd gone to the lavatory to wash off her hands and taken the next elevator. Then Seraphita would have just... eaten Ragnell or something, she thinks.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
Seraphita looks at the door, then back at Ragnell and the princess. She ponders, but then shakes her head. "Mister Shakhan is going to be mad if I do! That would--" SLAP.
Blink blink.
Seraphita seems to have been silenced by Elly's sudden display of anger. She recalls her early days as an Element. Ramsus has always been a fair and kind man to her, but there were times, serious times, when his tone demanded silence and for her to stop bumbling about in such a carefree manner.
It's the same vibes Elly gives off right now.
And so the rabbit is quiet, dead green eyes fixated on Ragnell to see her reaction.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"That isn't what I meant, princess." He sees little has changed, a comment he somehow just, just manages to hold his tongue on.
There's also the fact that the hairs on the back of his neck are standing on end from her comment, which is also a fact he's trying very hard to ignore.
"This isn't one of your shrines. I'm not certain what it is you're doing, but just remember, you surrendered--"
Elly, having had enough, moves -- a movement sudden enough that Loren visibly jerks back as if in early anticipation of some sort of terrible etheric onslaught -- to try and slap Ragnell.
From Loren's perspective, it will look more or less just like Elly's slapped naught but thin air. This is, to say the least, disorienting for someone who is used to trusting what he sees. And the only words he has to go on are van Houten's -- notably historically unstable -- and Seraphita's.
Oh boy.
And this is about when Elly dresses down a figure which she may or may not be hallucinating (mutually hallucinating?). Which, to an external observer who can't see this stuff, looks more or less like she's dressing down Cecilia.
Loren visibly hesitates.
It would be a very, very bad thing all around if she suddenly blew up the princess of Adlehyde. Which is really what spurs him into action.
"Van Houten," he says, approaching her from behind and planting a hand on her shoulder. Fleetingly, he contemplates how quickly he could load and use a syringe. ...Even if all he has on hand are painkillers.
Instead what he does dredge up are the faint tail-ends of an evocation of etheric force, rising from the floorboards to be hardened into the shield he might need if this all goes belly-up.
Which it might! It might not even be enough, considering what he recalls of Elly's little graduation incident. But it's probably not good to think about that now.
His hand, on her shoulder, tightens slightly.
"Perhaps," he starts slowly, as if attempting to calm a wild animal, "we should notify the commander." He pauses. "Instead."
Instead of her blowing everyone up, that is.
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.
Cecilia has absolutely no reason to expect any kind of horrifying Elderpower outburst from Elly so Loren's look of mounting horror is confusing to her. As is--
"The Guardian of Time--??" Cecilia stammers, surprised. SHE didn't get a Greater Guardian! She got the Twelve Angry Men! Who the heck is this chick!? WHO LETS MIDDLE MANAGEMENT HANDLE THE SHAMAN WHILE THE BIG BOSS TALKS TO SOME SKY TART--
And then Elly goes and slaps Ragnell. Seraphita goes entirely quiet. Loren looks like she's about to get her head taken off by somebody else?
...good try, Ragnell. "...it's fine," she says, quietly, her hands coming together meekly. Sorry, Rags. Now's not the time to blow this thing. "Uhm--"
She has no real verbal response, until her head throbs, and her posture weakens, slipping a foot backward as though dizzy. She doesn't fall, but her gaze does falter away and her fingers do reach for her head, fingers against her brow as though in pain.
Beyond the door lies what you are seeking...
Shaman...you must not let petty tyrants stop your path...
"Nn," she groans.
If there is a sudden sense of some vast attention here, perhaps only Ragnell would be properly attuned to the Leyline to sense it. And that, only perhaps. For the most part, it looks like Cecilia suddenly developed a stress headache from all the fighting. How fragile!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
smack!!
Hmm. This didn't go quite the way Ragnell had hoped.
Ragnell's head snaps to one side as Elly's hand impacts with her cheek. It might be an odd sight for Loren, because Elly's hand definitely impacts and rebounds as if there's something solid there, but if he attempts to reach out and feel for something or someone, his own hand will pass through as if through empty air. She notes the way Seraphita goes still and silent, staring now at her; she notes the way Loren suddenly starts treating Elly like a bomb about to explode; she notes Cecilia all but clutching her head and swaying on her feet as if about to faint in response to a certain psychic pressure... She may not hear the voice of the Guardians like Cecilia does, but she can feel *something*. Hm. *Hm*. But, first things first...
"'An elite military unit'?" she breathes. "Please." She tilts her head around, those red eyes of hers now sharp and locked on to Elly like an anti-air craft. "I seem to recall, that time in Lacour, you lettin' Glasses over there treat you like a little baby throwin' a tantrum--an' you runnin' off in tears like he was right. And you think I'm gonna believe you're an elite *anything*?" She snorts in derision. "But let's pretend for a moment you are what you say you are." She points at Loren, now rallying ether to create a shield, and leans in uncomfortably close to Elly. "You think he *appreciates* you defendin' him? You *have* seen the way he looks at you, right? It's obvious he thinks you're a monster. Hell, maybe he's even right about that too.
"What do *you* think, Elly?"
Ragnell holds that uncomfortable closeness, that sharp stare, for several heartbeats longer; then she straights with a lighthearted laugh and a grin as mischievous as the one she wore a moment ago. "Haha, jus' kidding! After all, I'm just some devil prankster here to inconvenience you an' your 'friends' for her own amusement, am I right?" She shrugs broadly, shaking her head. "You're so uptight, Ells! That's no fun for anyone. You gotta learn how to roll with the punches. Like me!" She taps the hand-shaped mark on her face with the back of her hand. "Damn, though, that's some slap you got. You don't play volleyball or somethin', do ya?"
Friendly, oh so friendly, ever so friendly, Ragnell strolls past Elly and Seraphita, turns around, and attempts to sling her arms around their shoulders so she can walk them away from the area. "That actually sounds really fun to me! Right, Sera? Volleyball's a good, healthy sport! Glasses over there can referee, and we can ditch Princess Faintsalot over there, I'm not about them shrinking violets who swoon over a li'l violence. C'mon, hup hup hup, up an' at 'em! If you win, I'll fuck off--promise~!"
It probably won't work, but not much will at this point, and at least it'll lower suspicion of her and Cecilia actually cooperating. That's something.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
The first sign something is amiss is probably the fact Seraphita isn't bouncing anymore. The fact she's quiet is a giveaway but sometimes she does stop talking. Stop moving, though? That's rare. So very, very rare.
The second is that when Ragnell attempts to sling an arm around the rabbit's shoulders there is a decidedly unpleasant feeling. Ragnell is a being of mana, not flesh and blood. To her, Seraphita's ability to siphon magic out of people might tingle a whole lot more. Especially when the bunny's dead green eyes focus on her entirely, and there's that sudden vacuum trying to seemingly consume huge chunks of Ragnell. It burns, that's for certain. Like your blood becoming fuel and being lit. Maybe that's why she's the Fire Element, and not just because she can blow up stuff. Otherwise Elly'd likely be a far better candidate still.
"No. You were mean to my friends, so please leave, miss Ragnell." The force stops with that polite request, Seraphita no longer putting any pressure on Ragnell's delicious MP reserves.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
The strike against Ragnell's cheek is, to Elly's view, the worst mistake she has made in - if not her life - the last year. This year notably includes nearly being eaten by a dinosaur. She will probably get some perspective eventually.
Now is not eventually.
Seraphita goes completely quiet. Elly has enough awareness to know that this is abnormal. Something will happen there, but when, and what? She can't worry about it. She manages to breathe once.
Elly swallows while Loren speaks. She can feel what he's doing. Miserably she thinks: He can't see Ragnell at all. I can't blame him. "You're right," she says softly as her eyes turn away from Ragnell. She looks instead to Cecilia and she gives her a nod, her eyes not yet spilling over with tears.
Ragnell speaks then.
Elly doesn't look at her. Her hands clutch into impotent fists. She doesn't have her gloves on, since this was, presumably, a place where she could not, so her curled fingernails dig into the palms of her hands hard enough to leave red marks. She trembles and grinds her teeth together.
She wants to scream, curse, set fire to everything, bury Bledavik in a layer of frost, leap from a window and -
Something makes Elly twitch, but after the twitch she seems calmer, even if she still doesn't look at Ragnell. She breathes deeply through her nose, out through her mouth. She mumbles a couple of words that probably sound like gibberish to Cecilia, and then starts over in proper talk: "I'm sorry you had to see this, ma'am."
Then Seraphita speaks up.
Elly looks over at the dead-looking gaze of the perkiest Element. Her mouth is slightly open. It is a very vulnerable expression even if she catches herself.
"... permission to - I -" Elly says, before once again kind of just halting. She straightens up on probably ingrained reflex. She does not, quite, look at Loren, but honestly that is probably for the best.
"... Ma'am," this to -- Cecilia - "Do you need to sit down...?"
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
At any minute. At any minute, he expects her to whirl around and face him, murder in her eyes, fire at her fingertips. Or maybe there won't be any warning at all. Maybe it will all just... stop. From his perspective.
And nonetheless, these dark thoughts do nothing at all to stay him. Not even his fingers tremble when he sets his hand on his shoulder. If that's how it has to be, then fine. He knew from the day he signed up for operations here he was never going back home.
He'll contain it here, if this is how it has to be.
The etheric almost-presence of a shield shifts. Nearly erupts into real-world manifestation at the moment Elly twitches.
But it passes. Under his grip, he can feel the tension stringing her frame ease out.
And he finally dares to breathe, too.
As Cecilia slumps against the door.
His hand leaves Elly's shoulder, with it any sense of a preparation of ether-based sorcery.
He steps around her, not meeting her gaze with as much deliberate action as she avoids looking at him. And he finally speaks.
"I think it's time you returned to your quarters, princess. You seem unwell." From anyone else, that might sound almost like feigned concern. He delivers it a little too dryly for that.
<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.
Cecilia doesn't respond right away. Ragnell getting kicked out even by the perky bunny is...
She slowly shifts from clutching her head with one hand to rubbing her face, partway to disguise her reaction and partway because it is her reaction, a raw moment of stress expressed in motion. Alone again. At least she still has 'Iris'...
Loren's flat, cold adjustment is in no way a request and she knows it. She's seen guards before. A hand rises up to press against her chest, quietly breathing. "I do," she says quietly, to him and Elly both, "feel somewhat unwell." But he's not sending her to the dungeon or literally the moon or whatever so, this is still fine.
Her eyes glance up one last time, gaze landing on that door, with something thoughtful in her eyes, before she turns to go.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Now, Ragnell is aware that Seraphita is strong. But she has no idea that she can eat magic, and as a spiritual entity... well, that makes her particularly vulnerable to Seraphita's abilities. That spicy, smoky, burny sensation takes a chunk out of her arm, and Ragnell can only snatch her arm away as if suddenly flesh had turned into a live stove. Ragnell stares into Seraphita's dead eyes for a long, tense moment, red eyes narrowed and calculating and *surprised* as she clutches her injured arm, which flickers for a moment, veins of lightning briefly visible underneath. Seraphita cuts the bullshit. And then...
"Well, okay. Since you asked so nicely, Sera. I mean, I like *you*."
She shrugs, bearing nonchalant, and then gives Elly an unpleasant smile as she pulls away from the two young women. Elly addresses Seraphita as ma'am; Loren gives her basically the same attitude. Meaning... "You have such a nice friend, Elly! I hope you care about her as much as she cares about you. Mean as *I* am, it would be even meaner if you an' Loren were only acting nice because you *have* to, right?" She flips her gloved hands around, then wiggles her fingers. "Bye!"
And then, after catching Cecilia's eye for a flash, she turns and leaves. Possibly at speed, if necessary. Things will probably get more inconvenient for Cecilia, especially with Loren dropping all pretense of politeness, but this is probably not *as* bad as it could've been. Probably. Maybe.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
For all Dominia or Tolone would certainly be happy Seraphita is capable, once in every other blue moon, to act seriousl, maybe Kelvena would disapprove of the poor bunny being pushed to that. And the other two would fall right back into despair at how short-lived it is.
Seraphita bounces back, both metaphorically and literally, as she backflips and grabs onto the regal red ribbons, curtains and tapestry hanging from the walls, smiling anew like nothing happened. And being awkwardly upside down. Once more she is vindicated in her choice never to wear a skirt or anything that would get in the way.
"Sorry miss Ragnell! Let's hang out for that cake some other time!" No, truly, nothing had happened five seconds earlier and she was already forgiven. There isn't, never was, never will be, an ounce of malice or grudge in the bunny. Momentary willingness to defend her friends, surely, but never more.
From her upside down perch she looks at Loren as he helps the princess along, then back to Elly, grinning widely. "Are you okay, Elly~? You got super angry there!! You two sure don't get along, huh?"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"i'm fine" Elly says, just like that.
But she is a first class citizen, and so she has her pride. Loren is attending to Cecilia, whatever the hell was going on. Ragnell is leaving. Elly scrapes up the embers inside her and looks to Seraphita to smile.
"I hope you won't think poorly of me. ... But, I'll go inform the Commander... if you'll permit it."
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
"Oh, oh, I'll come with you!"
Any chance to see the Commander, Seraphita feels. Really, that sentiment goes for the four of them. He's their hero and leader, after all!
Seraphita hops off the curtains and stretches her legs. "Race, race, let's race! Whoever loses has to get the other one some ice cream, and some for the leftenant and princess too!!" Loren shouldn't feel left out, after all, and the princess is their guest, and guests get ice cream. It's good manners.