2019-11-01: The Word For Housewarming
- Log: The Word For Housewarming
- Cast: Loren Voss, Lan Lilac
- Where: Assyria Base
- Date: November 01, 2019
- Summary: Lan attempts to sneak in a package into Loren's room, only to find that he's already there. A linguistics lesson -- and a moment best forgotten -- ensue.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It's indeed a fact that his lodgings on base here are smaller than they were in Bledavik. But the only reason that was the case was because literally no one wanted to be his roommate and he ended up with several would-be roommates transferring to another dorm almost immediately. They had thought he hadn't noticed, but oh yes, he had.
At least here the solo suite is a perk rather than a sign of stigma.
Even if, a part of him notes, it was hardly unwarranted that no one wanted to room with the murderer.
Maybe that's why van Houten had tried to talk to him so much.
He sits down heavily on the mattress and flops back, staring up at the ceiling a touch blankly. His stuff from Bledavik arrived so he'd been putting it away. ...Such that it was.
He got that promotion and it's finally doing things for him.
The paperwork's done. He has an office. He's got people to direct (though they're mostly on standby, out here). He might even have a little bit of (grudging) respect, between the still-simmering hatred he's sure lingers among a few people on staff in Assyria Base.
But it feels like he's going nowhere in the same instant that he's -- just maybe -- starting to go somewhere.
"Now... what?" he asks the ceiling.
It, obviously, doesn't have a thing to say to him.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
There are footsteps out in the hall, coming closer. No doubt they belong to someone on their way to their own quarters--
The door to his private suite opens with a 'tap tap' of knuckles on the threshold, the barest of nods to common courtesy. Lan Lilac, professional nuisance and occasional helper, barrels into the room -- and practically leaps out of her skin when she sees him lying on the mattress. "GAH!"
Did she really not expect him to be here?!
(She really didn't.)
"Whoops! Sorry, I thought you were still in your office!" Lan lets the door slide closed behind her, taking a step deeper into unfamiliar territory to inspect the shape of the bedside lamp. Electric power is still a bit of a novelty, especially after months in Spira where the technology level is much closer to that of most of the Badlands. "Is this one of the ones you can turn on by touching it? That's so weird--"
She's holding a small package wrapped in plain paper, but she's clearly forgotten about it.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It's clearly just someone else going about their rounds--
Which is why he just about leaps out of his own damn skin when Lan barges into the room.
"GAH!"
He jerks bolt upright, nearly losing his glasses to his lap in the process. "What in the-- what are you doing in--" He looks over over, blinks, and finally slides his glasses back up where they need to actually rest (and not, say, hang off his damn face).
Before he starts again. "Of course I'm not in my office, I'm off shift, and..."
He looks down at himself. He's still in his uniform.
His shoulders slouch a little as she asks about the lamp.
"Yes," he says flatly. "It's one of those lamps you can turn on by touching it. It's not that weird..."
He'd had a hard time when he'd first encountered a non-Solarian lamp, actually... fortunately, he hasn't been in Adlehyde in a while, let alone among anyone who got to see him fail to know how to turn on a light.
...If that had been in the informational packet he'd gotten as a fresh lieutenant, he had missed it.
"So what were you doing coming into my room?" His gaze has settled, suspiciously, on the wrapped package she holds.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"It's super weird," she argues cheerfully, poking the lamp a couple of times to watch it go off-on-off-on. "It's really convenient though. You don't have to keep flint or matches, and anybody can use it." It still needs electricity to work, so it's not very portable, but it's a marked improvement over trying to read by firelight.
Looking up from the totally-weird piece of advanced space technology, Lan glances back towards Loren, before following his gaze towards... "Oh! I wanted to see if you were getting your things put away. And I was going to leave this here for you to find, but the cat's out of the bag now I guess. Here," and she hands the package over to him, expecting him to take it. It's wrapped in a few sheets of plain white printer paper and has 'OpEn mE! :)' written on it in Lan's still-clumsy Solarian script.
"I couldn't remember the word for housewarming," she admits, moving to sit on the foot of his bed. "Even if it's not really a house."
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"It is not," Loren insists, apparently unwilling to let it go. "What's 'weird' is a village with just torches and candles."
But on the other hand, this 'him' is more like he is normally. So perhaps...
"...Mostly," he answers her question. His clothing's away, so are his few books and assorted. It's just the last box that remains.
It has 'junk' scribbled roughly on one side. Maybe he's got some things he wants to throw out?
"Nothing you need to worry about, anyway." He pauses.
"Why's it a 'cat' anyway?"
Some Lamb sayings are just weird--
And then he looks down at the package and squints at it. "You're mixing the script styles indicating proper and common nouns again," he remarks, on her handwriting.
...Because he's hesitating on opening in, one hand hovering over the repurposed printer paper. But he can't hang there forever.
He peels back the paper. It's a...
It's a kit. A Solarian street vehicle model kit, one that has a lot of fine parts.
He's silent for a moment. Probably, she didn't know. But it was his birthday just a few days prior.
Even if he's a little too old to keep getting birthday gifts, like he was a kid.
"It uses the alternate word for house. It's not used in a lot of other contexts. That's <house>," he says, using the word proper in Solarian. "But not in the sense of a building. More like home, but personal. More..." He tries to explain the distinction, fails, and gives up. "So it's <housewarming>."
Which is just a cleaner way for him to avoid saying anything about the kit in his lap, the one he's still staring at.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
She isn't completely unaware of his mental state. It's easy to be cheerful when he's not morose... maybe soon he'll start getting better on his own. The body is able to perform miracles all the time - isn't that the foundation of lifesaving treatment? Maybe, if they're lucky, he'll heal and the memories that aren't his will go away and that will be that.
If only things were that simple. For now, Lan is happy to just see the 'real' Loren for a while.
"I dunno. I guess because it's the size of something that can be put in a bag but wouldn't want to stay there-- oh, I see." She'd thought the words looked a little strange, but nobody was around to double-check her work. At least he can read her handwriting at all.
He stares at the kit for a while and Lan wonders if it's too close to a Gear. Maybe she should've gone for one of the botanical models. One of the most complicated kits had boasted 'lifelike bark texture' and 'one thousand leaves' to assemble. But that might've reminded him of Engil, and Lan can't really say she approves of fake plants anyway.
Does he not have the tools he would need to assemble it? Is it useless if he doesn't have them? Can they find suitable replacements on the surface or is Lan going to have to go back to Leah with the sad news that Loren can't complete his model kit and her mission has already ended in failure-- "Oh," she blinks, pulled out of the beginning of a downward spiral by the explanation. "<Housewarming>. Happy <housewarming> then!" she tells him, leaning forward to poke the JUNK box with a toe.
"What's in this one? Aren't you going to unpack it?"
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Maybe. Maybe it's just stress. Leah would know best of all what the psychological evaluation had come back with -- maybe he just needs time.
Maybe.
But it had happened in Spira, in the middle of a more subdued stretch.
Maybe...
"Most things don't want to be in a bag," he points out. "It could have been a small dog." This is a dumb argument, and he's fully aware of it -- it's just how words work sometimes. But he's feeling like picking a useless fight simply because of his general mood right now, and so it goes.
Until the point where she gives him a present.
He's got some things. Not that he's done a lot of kit building down here -- not that he's generally had time for it even if he did. But he'll eventually have some time off granted, and unlike those even higher up the food chain from him, he's still got the space to take it.
If he needs something special, he'll just send for it. Problem solved.
He's still looking at the box. He traces the edges of it, a part of him almost just itching to open it and unpack the parts. But even if he has a dead period now, it's not going to last. It'll have to wait.
"...Thanks," he says, soon after she says it to him properly, and he's quite possibly not just saying it in response to what she's said.
Just a little bit, Loren has let down his guard.
Only, as she prods the junk box, suddenly sits bolt upright again. "--Just junk. I'm going to toss it," he affirms, shaking his head.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"But some dogs are too big for a bag, while all housecats fit into a bag," Lan counters triumphantly. "...Unless it's a really, really large bag, I guess." How did they even get started on this?! But it feels so normal from him that she's happy to participate.
"You're welcome. Anyway, I'm glad you like it. It's not healthy to do nothing but work," she sighs optimistically. As if the addition of hobby materials into his life has now solved all his problems!
But that box...
Not like Lan would have any idea about the sorts of things young men want to keep secret! "Oh, want me to take it on my way--" She shuts up mid-sentence, apparently having just figured out that he means 'it's secret things he doesn't want her looking at'.
What's in the boooooooooooooox, Lan doesn't ask. Instead she looks away, trying very hard not to grin. It's such a Loren thing, to get flustered about the contents of a cardboard box.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"See? It doesn't specify what size of bag," he says, as if this were at all an argument he should feel proud about being in -- or trying to win.
Judging by the look on his face, though, the absurdity of it all is slowly catching up to him.
Maybe... maybe he should drop it...
Loren sighs out a breath and rolls his eyes. "I know. I've only just returned to duty," he reminds her, before finally standing and walking over to set the box on his desk.
Which is the point where she asks about the box.
"--Don't," he says, when she remarks that she's fine getting rid of it for him. "I'll... I'll handle it," he adds, glancing away.
As she continues to stare at him like she knows what's in it.
"--It's not what you think," he blurts out, reddening. "Do you really think I'd just... leave that around?"
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Oh geez, he's got the wrong idea-- Well maybe not entirely wrong, but--!
He protests. It's not what she thinks. "I... I don't actually care what's in there, okay?" she tries to reassure him. "I don't need to know either. I mean, do you honestly think you've seen everything in my kit?" She's a girl, girls have secret things-- wait, he's a medic, that means he knows all about that kind of thing and probably isn't even squeamish about the Red Moon Days. Well good, that's one less thing for him to start blustering about if their packs ever get swapped--
Lan realizes she started staring off into space twenty or so seconds ago and mildly panics, shoving the Mystery Box at him with her foot. "Here! Throw it away yourself!"
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Fortunately, for the really embarrassing stuff, there's computers. At least then it's just something for you... and the Intelligence Ministry, let's be honest here.
Privacy is an illusion at best.
"I'm not about to go through your kit!" he protests, which is exactly what she's saying?
He realizes that a moment later, leading to him making an expression that manages to be chagrined and put out at the same time.
Lan, perhaps cutting to the chase, toes the box at him instead.
The box--
Skids right on past him to impact the far wall. It, in accordance with some sort of cruel fate, promptly tips over and spills its contents on the floor.
First, the good news: he wasn't lying, there's nothing inappropriate in there.
Mostly, it's junk. Old reports, looks like. A stray paperback. Wrappers.
And a small and cheerful plush replica of Minister Shakhan of Aveh.
Some things should just not exist.
Loren stares at it for a long moment, then looks over at Lan, pleadingly. "Listen, I can explain--"
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Sometimes, Lan is just too powerful. Like now. She watches, unable to stop what she's begun, as the box careens past Loren and whumps against the far wall just hard enough to spill its mystery contents at his feet. Her hands are halfway to her face when the paper and crinkly plastic wrappers are joined by something else. Something colorful. Something... cuddly.
Lan puts two and two together, and turns to Loren with a blank expression. The silence seems to stretch on for eternity...
...but is really closer to a handful of seconds. "That's it?" she asks, eyebrows rising underneath her sideswept bangs. Lan stands up and comes closer, picking up the stuffed doll "Your childhood teddy--- uh... teddy gramps?"
Enlightenment has slammed into Lan like a freight train. Gods above, no wonder Loren is so fucked up.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"--NO!" Loren snaps at her, more like a child than a grown man of twenty-one. "Look! It ended up in my possession and I wasn't able to get rid of it, okay!?"
He wants to crawl into a hole.
Instead, he approaches her and attempts to snatch it right out of her grasp. Which, then, will just mean he's got it in his hands.
And then what?!
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Ended up in his possession. Wasn't able to get rid of it. But he grabs it out of her hands. Doesn't that mean that he might be lying? That he's rescuing it?
"Listen," Lan tries to get ahold of the situation by any means necessary. "It's just a teddy gramps, okay? Don't get so upset!" Even if, yes, even Lan can understand why this would be incredibly upsetting for some people. She's oblivious, not stupid. "Just put it back in the box and we'll forget we ever saw it." This is reasonable!
And this is Loren she's dealing with, who is anything but.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Is it really a rescue if it's just going back in the box...?
She's rational. She speaks to him calmly. Soothingly.
He looks like he either wants to run out of the room -- his own room! -- or outright explode, staring at her as if she were the only other thing that existed in the entire world.
He doesn't say a word. He just turns suddenly -- abruptly -- and crouches next to the box, stuffing the horrible plush toy into the box with entirely unjustified force. The papers and other things are stuffed in haphazardly afterwards. When he finally stands, he doesn't meet Lan's eyes.
"..."
His is a sullen silence.
I'm going to burn it, Loren thinks, his face still burning with embarrassment.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
If it makes him feel any better at all, Lan's tawny cheeks are sporting a faint flush as well. How did this even happen? She just wanted to give him a present and check on him!
Is Loren cursed or something?!
He stares at her. She stares at him. Neither of them say a word for far too long. "..."
"Can we go back to five minutes ago and try again?" she asks hopefully, after the long silence.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Welcome to Loren's life. If it's not crushing despair, it's unprecedented humiliation.
If only his memories were still intact, he might agree with her that he is in fact cursed.
"...Yeah," he says, eventually, after the seemingly endless silence is broken. Even he can't sulk forever.
He stands and walks for the door. "Look, I..."
Then shakes his head. "...Forget it. I'm going to take a walk."
They said there's a sandstorm so it's not like he can walk anywhere but around the base. But at least it's somewhere else.