2018-12-13: There and Gone
- Log: There and Gone
- Cast: Lan Lilac, Loren Voss
- Where: Photosphere - Domicile Level
- Date: December 13th 2018
- Summary: Lan makes a delivery to Loren, holding down the fort at Gebler's recon point in the Photosphere. A brief chat is had before Loren receives a message...
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
So far the Photosphere isn't that great. Lan isn't a fan...
Even after learning something new about Loren and Leah both, she just can't appreciate the all-metal interior of an obviously alien ship. This is partially because it's really jarring and oppressive and also partially because Lan has already fought her way through a couple of goon squads with Leah and could really use a chance to rest for a bit.
The fact that she knows Loren is running the only resupply point she's aware of is a bit cheering, at least.
Lan's just not going to think about how she's supposed to ever broach the subject of Engil with him.
Maybe she just... won't.
Her sandals shuff quietly on the metal plate floor. Where's the entrance again?! All the weird hatches and crates look alike to her. "Loren!" she calls softly, turning around again to look behind a stack of crates. "Loren, where are you?!"
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
The Photosphere is a hellhole. And at present, it's full of hostile forces and Drifters with armaments they absolutely should not have access to, along with the resulting destruction, explosions, and general mayhem.
It's in short just about what Loren had anticipated.
That he's only had to down two Metal Beasts to date that came across the resupply point set into place by the strike team is a small comfort. While the good news seems to be that most of the Metal Demons proper seem to be... preoccupied, assuming there are any of them still allying with their 'Mother', the bad news is that the same can't be said of Metal Beasts, and there is still only one of him.
Also, and he has already vowed this, he will absolutely lose his shit if deVriese ends up coming back here after aggroing some Metal Beast and failing to lose it. That will be it, that will absolutely be the last straw.
He in truth is probably still just pissed off about Sado and who it seems appears to be controlling it.
So this is the scene moments before Lan's arrival close to the concealed resupply point.
At which point she just starts calling his name.
An explosion -- a distance away but still too damn close -- rattles out.
The expression he makes is one that no one is around to appreciate, one that is the textbook definition of 'I can't believe this'.
Which is why the hatch slides open just far enough and Lan -- who is just outside as it happens -- will find herself getting grabbed by the shoulder and hauled inside, in a fashion that on another world at another time might be deemed 'vaudeville-esque'.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Lan has good news and bad news for Loren. The good news is that she is not Tabitha deVriese. The bad news is that nobody can predict where Tabitha deVriese will appear next, like some kind of wandering socio-scientific disaster.
Seriously, she knows why a place like this would be concealed, but doesn't making it too hidden defeat its purpose? Is she going to have to start kicking the walls open? That takes a lot of time and energy!! She's already resorting to the folded paper in her hip pocket when a hand reaches out from a hatch and drags her unceremoniously inside.
"What the-- Loren! There you are!" She's already tugging off the bag slung around one shoulder and trying to shove it at him. "Leah said to bring you these. I think it's medical supplies and bullets? I didn't look."
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"Be quiet!" he hisses back, shortly after sliding the hatch closed again. He glares at her, though it's admittedly more 'a typical, somewhat stressed out glare' from him rather than anything immediately personal.
There's not much in particular inside the recon point: some electronics and the pack they'd been stowed in prior to securing the site (just standard 'receiver-only' communications (there are other means if he absolutely needs to send a message) due to the nature of the operation and the still largely unknown nature of their foes and the Photosphere itself), the pack itself which includes everything medical they might need that he can carry, and of course a pack that contains an assortment of military-issue sols and the dreaded MREs.
It's not supposed to be a long mission, or a heavily manned mission. Just a dangerous and potentially lethal one.
"...She did? Hand them over. No one's been by in a while but I'll need the bullets."
He doesn't elaborate why. She might be able to guess.
In a normal situation like this, there'd be more staff on a recon point than just 'him'. But there are many a handful of operatives out in the Photosphere at most now, which makes the situation a touch dicey for reserving soldiers. So he gets to sit and wait and hope nothing awful works out that he's in here.
A few nosy Metal Beasts have already been problematic. If he can't fight off the next one that comes around...
He doesn't want to think about that one. Relocating's bad for anyone wounded who comes here after, but it's still bad for them if he dies here.
He looks inside the pack. There are bullets...
And energy bars.
Great.
Whereupon his gaze turns to Lan. He sets down the bag, going so far as to pick up the helmet from his body armor that's sitting on the sole crate-like object left in here and similarly set it aside -- there's not otherwise much left to sit on. "So what are you doing? Just playing delivery? I would have supposed Leah-- Major Sadalbari would have taken you on ahead."
It's not at all what he'd expected.
Honestly, he'd thought... that was the end for her when she went off with Leah. Deploy her against Mother, or something like that.
It had just been another knot in the string of tension about this mission, another thing to not think about.
It's... weird to see her again, as he looks at her now.
He's not sure how he feels about it.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"She said it was okay to come take a rest for a while," Lan defends herself, as if she thinks he's upset about her being here. As if she expected him to fuss her right back out into the halls after she's dropped off fresh supplies. "We cleared out a bunch of places and made a pretty good map of everything we could find." Of course, they were only on a recon mission, but it's not like they could - or would - be able to avoid detection forever.
Lan peers into the bag as he opens it up, though the contents are a bit disappointing. Nothing looks like she can use it, though the energy bars could come in handy in a pinch. What's she supposed to do, throw the bullets? It really is better to give it to Loren, after all.
Besides, if he dies here...
"You look like you weren't expecting me." It's almost a question. "Did you think I'd abandon you or something?"
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"She would," Loren grouses, though there's no real heat in it -- if anything the closest analogy is that of a younger sibling to an older.
It's been strange, having Leah back in his life. Like a void was partially -- but not entirely -- filled in. There's still a hole there, but...
Of course, Leah being back in his life is also why he's here now, neck deep in enemy territory while a bunch of lunatics with overpowered weapons have at it.
As if to underscore that part, there's another explosion. So help him, if some Drifter knocks their resupply point in or exposes it he'll...
"So you've got a map, huh?" He sits down, next to the bag of supplies she'd sent. "Don't suppose she's sending it along? It'd help if I have to evacuate. It's not exactly safe in here," he says, pulling out one of the nutribars and eyeing it suspiciously.
It's not like he has an option though -- the MREs are emergency-only, in the event of a stranding. So he dourly peels back the wrapper and digs in. It has the exact taste and texture as cardboard but if he eats it quickly enough at least he'll have something in his stomach and not in his mouth.
"...Abandon me? No," he says once he's done chewing, and that he can take comfort in not being a lie. "I didn't think Leah'd let you off her tether so easily. She's never as happy as when she has someone to order around."
Another boom roars out; debris rains from the ceiling, earning a skeptical look from Loren.
Pulling out his standard-issue sidearm, he begins the business of checking over the gun and then reloading.
"So how is it going out there? I haven't exactly had much of a chance to take a look." He pauses. "Other than the times I had to deal with those Metal Beasts nosing around," he gestures vaguely about the room, "this wonderful suite that's been left to me to manage."
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
It's kind of funny, Lan thinks, how occasionally even Loren does something normal. Like being little-sibling peeved at someone for taking care of him.
"If there's a copy of the map it's in there. I can draw out the main shape of things, anyway." It might not end up very detailed, but she can at least give him an idea of how the place is laid out and where any other potential resources are.
At least, the things she recognizes as resources - food, access to the outside, sanitation, good vantage points.
Lan watches him open an energy bar and wrinkles her nose. She sniffed one once and it didn't... actually smell like food. "Is that what she's like around you? She didn't act like that to me," Lan muses, eyes straying over to the hatch. "She was really kind."
Then again, she supposes that if they have a similar goal, Leah may just not consider Lan off-the-leash yet. The enemy of the enemy of a bird is worth two in the bush. ...Something like that. It doesn't really matter, does it? She offers him her water jug to wash down the energy bar, flinching minutely when something booms close enough to knock dust out of the ceiling. "Nmf. It's mostly Metal Beasts, though we ran into a couple of Demons who were just ready to fight anybody that they saw. I don't think it even mattered that we're here to kill Mother."
"Hey, is there a pencil or something?" she asks, scanning the walls for a mostly-blank space.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Or, no doubt the way he'd think of it, someone holding shielding him from the threats he ought to rightfully be facing on his own.
...Assuming she's even thinking of it like that. He knows it already -- relationships change when you add professional obligations to the mix. It's no wonder that even his brother hadn't been assigned to anything under their mother's jurisdiction at the time.
These days he's lucky not to be working under his mother's current jurisdiction for entirely separate reasons.
It's hard to have a career when you're stationed in a part of the world where nothing much happens.
"You want to draw a copy? Sure, knock yourself out," Loren says, shoving the wrapper back into the bag.
"Kind, huh?" He lifts a blond eyebrow. "Is that what you think? Heh."
He actually laughs, in spite of their surroundings and everything. Just a little huff of a sound, but a laugh is a laugh.
"That just means she's got her hooks in you already," he comments dryly, as he sees to his sidearm. Better make sure it's loaded and good to go. Just in case.
It doesn't take long. He reaches over for the water she offers, downing a mouthful without a thank you.
"Seems like it. After what their 'Mother' announced, I suppose even the Metal Demons are having second thoughts," he comments, setting the jug down. "Well, maybe it'll make this a little easier. ...Leah's gone on ahead, huh..." He glances up towards the ceiling, his expression for now unreadable.
"A pencil? Right. I think..."
He finds one in the supply kit after some scrounging and digging. Important to have, in those events where ink's frozen up or electronics don't work. He hands it over.
There are a few blank spots, where grating and pipes don't break up the sheet metal.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
It's kind of sad, though, too. Because when somebody smiles and laughs, shouldn't they at least look kind of happy?
"I guess it's fine if she does." Lan... doesn't feel much one way or another about it. It's probably fine. Leah has her best interests in mind - it's just that Lan's interests don't come first.
Truthfully, Lan doesn't know if even Loren's do.
"If two people want the same outcome, it only makes sense that they should be on the same page," she reasons. Lan wonders where she heard that before. It seems like common sense now, but she can't remember where she heard it.
She frowns slowly, staring sightlessly at the wall.
Something brushes her hand and Lan blinks, coming out of her thoughts long enough to take the pencil from him and hop up, shaking her head lightly as she walks to what she has newly-appointed the Map Wall. Ugh, she spaced out. Hopefully Loren didn't ask her a question or something, she has no idea what he was talking about for the last couple of minutes.
"...The entrance we came in through was here," she murmurs, picking a place to start drawing.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
'I guess it's fine if she does.'
The last time they'd spoken on leaders or leadership, Lan's response had been quite a lot different.
Loren pauses for a moment, gazing over at Lan. What crosses his face is not precisely something like 'guilt', or even 'shock'. Just a quiet sort of befuddlement, followed by an equally soft realization.
There and gone, as it had never been.
"...Yeah. Something like that."
As 'on the same page' as you can be, when there are things you shouldn't know about and never will.
Honestly, he's fine with that.
It goes for the both of them, really.
He's curious, but there are limits.
He rises to his feet, holstering the sidearm and lingering, nearly over her shoulder, as she starts to sketch out what she's seen and where they'd been.
"From there... Yeah, I remember."
In silence otherwise he watches her sketch out the map. That part's a going to be a problem, he thinks, considering one section... assuming it's even still accessible. The other might be a better route, depending, if something unfortunate happens here--
The receiver-only communication device flicks on, its light red.
...You know, I really ought to know better by now.
Pulling away from Lan, he kneels by the machine and skims the incoming message.
Then swears. In Solarian.
"Hey. I hope you've got a really good memory," he says, stuffing the electronics into his kit. Even in haste there's no jumble of devices in the back: they're packed properly. His sweep of the room is similarly measured.
In Jugend one thing you learn in medical is how to pack quickly and correctly. Equipment left behind is a liability. And speed is of the essence in war.
His face-covering helmet comes last, slipped on and clicked into place. "We need to go. Hanging around here's going to be a bad idea before long. We'll want to rendezvous with Leah."
Before this whole place gets lit up like Emperor's Day.