2020-10-16: It May Be Necessary
- Log: It May Be Necessary
- Cast: Loren Voss, Taphas Parth
- Where: Lake Macalania
- Date: October 16, 2020
- Summary: In the encampment at Lake Macalania, Loren takes a break between his duties... and is happened upon by Dr. Parth. Certain avenues are contemplated.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Whenever he gets back to Assyria Base in Damzena, Loren has decided, he's going to try to appreciate the heat a little bit more. Yes, the trailers they've parked in Macalania -- in lieu of more permanent facilities, for now -- are heated, but that doesn't mean that the part that exists outside the trailers are. And eventually he's going to have to go back out there.
Holding in both hands a steaming cup of something -- coffee is probably a good bet -- the medical officer just sits for the moment within what's passing as his office these days, or in other words, the clinic.
The Major's orders had been clear -- confirm the information from Filament before they attempted an extraction. She had a point, knocking down Bevelle's doors would be a problem for their position here, given the amount of forces Solaris had committed. Meanwhile a more subtle way in was...
Well, it was obscure.
At least Azoth wasn't going to get any worse, even if they cut his head off. They could always bring back the core.
Lan, though--
He doesn't want to think about it. His grip on his cup tightens.
<Pose Tracker> Taphas Parth has posed.
"So you're alive."
The voice is quiet, level and feminine - and, perhaps, one that's been heard a time or two before. It belonged to a quiet nun, then. Or is that really who it was?
The figure who steps into the office door is not in any way dressed for clerical duty. She's kept her pale blonde hair gelled back and she's still wearing the round glasses, but in lieu of a cassock she's fallen back on a labcoat, slacks and a warm black turtleneck. A couple of medical devices peek out of her pocket. Cradling a steaming mug of something or other between long fingers, the woman leans slightly against the doorframe. Steady eyes track over the figure behind the desk, as if taking stock of his overall health - or is she analyzing something more?
This time, she's alone. Wherever her rosy-haired charge may have gone, she's no longer casting a sociable shadow to hide the so-called Mignonette.
"I understand a couple of us are indisposed," Taphas Parth says levelly, letting herself into the office without so much as asking permission. Her voice remains quiet and her shoulders slightly slouched, less a barge-in and more an assumption of permission. "Any word on them yet?"
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
When she steps into the office, Loren nearly drops his cup. How's that for a reunion?
But no -- instead of scalding his lap, Loren fumbles with the cup for a moment, sets it aside on the nearby counter, and rises stiffly. Perhaps he hadn't known her for who she was, precisely, at first, but he'd realized that 'Mignonette' was...
"Ma'am," he says, and it's a wonder that he doesn't fire off a salute. Perhaps it's because she's not in uniform. "Can I... help you?" he says, his gaze darting over her, as if to somehow assess what it is that she's here for.
"A couple--" and it takes him far too long to understand what she means.
"--Right. Azoth is missing. I received some information that suggests he may be in the hands of Yevon. Current orders are to investigate," he says.
He doesn't mention Lan.
"We need to confirm the information's accuracy."
<Pose Tracker> Taphas Parth has posed.
Is she even a member of the military hierarchy? Dr. Parth isn't wearing a Gebler uniform. There's a small silver and jet pin at one of her lapels, but it denotes her as a specialist. It's not a rankpin that shows up very often.
Raising her mug, the slender woman takes a slow sip. A few whisps of steam drift from it, to either side of the sharp line of her nose. Above the brim of the cup, her eyes remain focused on Loren as he fumbles.
There's a hint of rosiness at her cheeks. It fades quickly, though, with little more than a slight twitch at the corner of one eye.
"Azoth. Right, that unit." Taphas brings her cup down to midriff level, and she's been lingering just long enough now for the scent of coffee to reach the nostrils. "Annoying. But that seems to be this planet in general." She sniffs and jerks her head, lips curling slightly. "Pissant frigging place," she mutters, just barely audible.
Her tone returns to normal as her eyes dart back to Loren. "Okay. So we'll have to figure out what to do about that one. How about Lilac? I'd heard something there."
A shrug, before Taphas lets out a soft huff of breath. "Honestly, bring me up to date, really. I've been pretending to be a nun for too frigging long and I'm still trying to get back into good habits."
That hangs in the air for a second before she smacks her palm against her forehead.
"UGH, I suck. Habits. Fucking hell."
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
He has something similar on his own uniform, frankly, but it's more to alert others that he's aligned to medical/support division specifically when on base. Hers, on the other hand...
He thinks he's read some of her papers. He thinks he's read multiple of her papers.
"Yes, the automaton," he says, ducking his head in a clipped nod. "He was separated from us at the operation in Cardon Forest. I can't confirm the circumstances of his capture." Though if he's going to make a guess...
"Yes. I've been working to gather information with my team." He might be medical, but whether it's because of Sadalbari's inference or... other factors, he's ended up once again taking a leading role with these sorts of operations. ...Part of it's probably due to his (accidental) personal experience with the matter, though...
His left hand twitches involuntarily at his side, at the mention of Lilac.
It's a moment more before he speaks. "...The same," he answers. "Also in custody, according to the information we received."
And then Taphas Parth, willingly or not, makes a joke.
Loren's own face goes carefully blank, the sort of expression one wears when they're uncertain whether they ought to laugh or not.
And then after an awkwardly long stretch, he starts with, "...We were engaged in an operation in Cardon Forest to," and he pauses a moment, "cause a distraction for the Major." She had woken that... machine. "With Megaman Juno activated, we evacuated soon after, and lost track of Azoth and... Spicule in the process. Currently I am heading the search for and retrieval of Azoth." As Parth would know, operations here are largely focused on consolidating their position and investigating the ruins -- and as such, staying under Yevon's radar while they're engaged in a fight against Althena's Guard and, recently, the Al Bhed.
<Pose Tracker> Taphas Parth has posed.
The strange thing is that they're old papers. Taphas doesn't look like she's older than her mid-twenties - or perhaps someone younger but with an older demeanor. Yet there are papers attributed to 'T. Parth' from well prior to 20 years ago.
The joke leaves her with a warm blush racing across her face nevertheless. She scuffs her heel and grimaces, scowling down into her coffee cup as if chiding herself inwardly for the moment of imperfection. It passes with a hiss of breath through her teeth.
When she looks up again, her lips have come together in a thin line. "The Yevon people seem to be getting their hands on too many of us. That's annoying."
Taphas scratches at her cheek, shifting in the doorway to rest her shoulder against it in something of a slouch. As Loren goes over the situation, she nods along and indulges in another sip of her coffee. "Makes sense. Spicule I can probably help you with a little more directly." Another little grimace twists her features.
"I came along for the Megaman Juno thing. I don't really enjoy being chased. I definitely don't enjoy Spira very much. It doesn't even have the decency to not be freezing here."
Not that it made a difference. Taphas didn't burn in the summer sun.
Taphas peeled.
"It is what it is." She shrugs. "Azoth.
"On the one hand, this time I've got access to my things, so I won't have to try and replicate key supplies out of grass and twigs and chocobo shit or whatever barbaric crap's on hand. I've got an honest synthesizer unit." She crinkles her nose. "On the other hand, Azoth has no discernable bioelement. If they've been damaged I probably can't do much about it."
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It is weird but... maybe she's had some alterations done. Maybe she just ages really well. Loren, as much of an idiot as he can be in other regards, is not about to ask a woman about her age.
"...I suppose so," he says, to her summation of the situation -- and the fact that Yevon had gotten their claws on a few too many of them.
Does Lan count as 'one of them' anymore...?
Speaking of her in fact-- "...What do you mean by that? Ma'am," he adds, almost as an afterthought. He hasn't taken his eyes off of Parth, particularly not when the hair on his arms feels like it's standing on end.
"...It's warmer to the south," is the thing he says next, and it is, Loren decides in the moments after, one of the dumber comments he's ever made. Yes, and she knows that already. If ever a person held in their expression, even fleetingly, 'regret' in a nearly pure form...
It's a relief frankly, to direct the subject to a place that makes him seem like less of an idiot. "Yes. While we're limited in what we can requisition, we have access to the essentials. If it becomes necessary, it is possible we could assemble a strike team... but the Major would rather avoid that." Probably.
She considered, in the sense that their goals were achieved, the Photosphere operation to be a complete success.
Slightly, Loren shakes his head. "If he's damaged, let engineering sort it out." He wonders if they'd put Anaitis on that job. ...Anaitis...
Later, I'll send them a message. He hasn't forgotten what he promised.
<Pose Tracker> Taphas Parth has posed.
Maybe she shares her mom's name or something and those old papers were done by Taphas Parth Senior.
Hooking her free thumb into one of the pockets of her labcoat, Taphas shrugs slowly. "She could be hurt. I am a physician. As much as I've turned into a bit of a specialist these days, it's not like I'm not qualified to take care of things."
How would she take care of Lan, exactly? A lot of papers filed under 'Parth' are somewhat esoteric. A lot of things about Ether potential and chemical functions in the brain stem and things that seem totally inapplicable to a standard infirmary.
The flicker of regret in Loren's face is met with a brief softening in Taphas's, as if the fact that he, too, can be an idiot makes her feel a little better about her earlier punnery.
"The Major is probably sensible in that respect. Better for things to work out without a direct intervention. With luck, Azoth will get out of there either alone or with help from whoever else the Yevon captured."
Another sip of her coffee before Taphas switches the mug to her other hand, letting her push the first one through her hair. Once more her eyes narrow a little behind her glasses. Whatever casual air she might have been trying to adopt - not very successfully - begins to fade away as she seems to assess Loren for a moment.
"My other project is over for the time being," she explains. "Obviously I have my own duties to attend to, but if the need for an insertion team does come up, I'll assist you. I'll have more flexibility to do that now."
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
That had been his initial thought but... looking at her now, again, he's not so sure.
Frankly so much of his mind has crumbled at this point, though, that even he can't rely on what he thinks or feels.
"I am a combat medic," he answers her with, unable to entirely squelch that odd chill that's settled over him. They'd been cutting edge stuff, the papers. He doesn't have a photographic memory -- haha not even at the best of times -- but he can remember that she had written things on neurochemistry, on...
"But... if you think it's necessary..."
...the brainstem.
'Come with me,' Lan had said, awake and herself.
It's just a matter of chemistry.
...Isn't it?
Slowly, Loren takes a deep breath, his gaze for the moment a thousand miles away. Then he blinks, and then he's here, back in the clinic, in a room that isn't nearly as warm as it ought to be.
"...Understood, ma'am. We may need your expertise." A pause follows. "Will you be assisting on base solely, or...?"
He's learned by now: some in Solaris have no problem dirtying their hands if necessary.
<Pose Tracker> Taphas Parth has posed.
If only the world knew that Loren Voss was a broken man willing to accept anything now.
The woman nods as he explains himself. If she can tell he's ill at ease, Taphas doesn't make anything of it. It's a conversation with a coworker to her - albeit one who comes from a different world than her, in a lot of ways.
"It may be necessary," she says with a slow shrug. "I have an interest in a few things here, anyway. If nothing else I'll get the opportunity to observe things. Actively, of course. But."
Taphas scuffs a heel against the floor, glancing down again, then back up to Loren. "No, I'll go out with you."
She doesn't look all that physically imposing, to be honest - she's not even in a uniform. She sips her coffee, shoulders straightening subtly beneath her labcoat - a small gesture, but there's still something slightly slouched to her gesture. No standing at attention here.
"I've learned how to hold my own over the years. In a fight, I mean."
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
'It may be necessary.'
Yes. It may be necessary.
He can dress it up however he likes -- claim it's for her own good. Claim it's for Solaris' good. Claim it's better than death. But he knows the truth. Peel back the lies and the truth's still there at the core.
But it still may be necessary. For him, that is.
But the topic turns away from such dark things, and towards her goals here -- outside retrieving Azoth (and Lan). "With me? Ma'am?"
Loren looks her over, which might be the joke of the decade: while he's not without muscle mass, he's not particularly imposing either. "Are you certain?"
Was she a retired officer too and no one told him that part?
<Pose Tracker> Taphas Parth has posed.
"You seem to have taken charge of things, at least," Taphas says with a cant of her head. "I mean, I understand that you're a medic, not a commando. But from what I understand, circumstances keep putting you in this position."
The small woman adjusts her glasses with a little tap of her fingers. She nods, shifting in the doorway to lean her back against it, head canted to let her look at Loren sidelong. "I'm certain, yes. My capabilities are... a little different than the ones my projects had."
Lorelei Calice, presumably. She did, if nothing else, have high-level ether ability. As Mignonette, Taphas had mostly stood by and snarked.
She adjusts one of her sleeves slightly, glancing down at it. "Let me know what your plans are, anyway. When it's time to move, we'll move."
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It's not normally how things are done. Typically, it would be someone with more combat experience in the leadership role, with Loren likely situated at a supporting position in the squad. But it's a fact that things happened, and that Loren had been exposed to a great many situations that a Second Lieutenant -- Captain, now -- would have never normally endure, let alone survive.
Experience counts for a lot with Commander Ramses, and apparently, also with Major Sadalbari.
And the reward for hard work is more work.
"...I see," he says, his more snarky elements of course with their wings clipped in the face of someone who -- in various points that matter -- heavily outranks him.
Just not militarily.
So Loren will just have to take her word on it -- and trust that the Commander wouldn't saddle him with someone who can't handle himself. No, if nothing else, he really can't let down the Commander.
Or the Major.
"Understood. If you are assisting, I will keep you informed, ma'am."