2018-01-31: No Working!

• Log: No Working!
• Cast: Riesenlied, Noeline, Lydia Seren
• Where: Wayside
• Date: 31st January 2018
• Summary: Mikaia and Janey put Riese on house arrest so that she won't strain herself. It proves to be... challenging, as Noeline and Lydia find out.

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<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

With the incidents at the Sunken City and El Pazzo largely behind them, Riesenlied and Noeline have finally taken the time to recuperate at the Baskar Colony, largely on the former's need to organise her thoughts and recover from the ordeals of having to face both Ambrosius and Kaguya, two people very close to her. Fortunately, Noeline was there to support her at her time of need, and now...

"One!"

Janey's cheeks puff up as she holds, "One full day of playing and hanging and schmoozing around with us. No work, no talk of Guardians or Statues or demons or monsters!"

Mikaia folds her arms and nods next to her, looking resolute. "You're on house arrest now, mommy!"

Riesenlied sits on the opposite side of the table, horns deflating. "I-I'm... I'm not... that bad... aren't I?"

Someone's in trouble...

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

Noeline's smart enough to have not even sat down at the table at all, standing nearby with her arms folded and doing her best to present herself as a neutral party in all of this - the one who had to go recover Riese and bring her back safely to Wayside. That's the plan, at least... though Noeline's not entirely sure she's going to get away scot-free given the dark looks Mikaia's been giving her as well.

Thankfully, she looks a lot more hale and hearty. Able to heal faster than her partner, Noeline's been able to rid herself of the collection of bandages she'd been sporting in the wake of the Primarch attack, and outside of an occasional twinge she's feeling more or less back to normal. For the sake of the kids - not to mention her own possessive nature - she did insist on carrying Riesenlied into Wayside herself.

Openly, she snickers at the edict as it's laid down. "You /have/ had a great deal on your mind," she notes in a tiny attempt to be diplomatic, crossing to Riese's back to rest a hand on each of her shoulders. It's not exactly support per se, at least not as far as this discussion is concerned, but she's been quietly clingy ever since arriving at Baskar. "It would probably do you as much good as it does them."

She pauses, though, and raises her eyebrows over at the children. "... but, speaking of 'house arrest'... a scout did report a couple of small figures heading out into the hills to the north-west. Why, I wonder what that could have been?"

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Someone's in trouble...

"'Ey, do my ears deceive me? It sounds like someone hasn't been spending enough time with these cutey patootys."

The voice of course belongs to Lydia who has been oiling up a wagon she's been working on, intent on adding it to the Carakin's train as she is. It needs some touchups. She wipes her hands off on an oily rag before looking over to Noeline. She waves a hand in her direction with a faint fangy grin. She doesn't see Noeline as much as she sees Riesenlied or Cetiri, but she feels a connection to her sassy personality. "And did I hear one full day of playing and hanging and schmoozing? I don't know if Riese can handle it...!" She looks to Riese, grinning more. "Can you handle it?"

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"I... realise that ..." Riesenlied admits, thinking back to her latest panic attack as she clutches her hand to the Dragon's Tear--

--which suddenly disappears from her hand as a little flying object whizzes by her, Odjn bobbling up and down as she finally grumps to go, "No Tear for you today either. I swear this thing's actually killin' you slowly, isn't it?!"

Someone really is in trouble! Mikaia and Riesenlied did see Lydia when they went to November City before, so they aren't as surprised as Janey as she gawks to go-- "Whoa, cool! Who's your new friend, mom??"

Mikaia huffs to say, "Come on, Janey, think a little harder."

Janey squiiiiiints and tilts her head, trying to divert the topic from their impromptu adventure outside, "U-uhhhh.... you didn't pick someone else up and call them daughter, right? I know Cetiri loves doing that, but--"

"It's Astie, silly! Or Lydia, as she prefers, now," Mikaia grumps. She does look a bit more contrite as she looks to Noeline and Riese, though. "It's true... we tried to go find her..."

Odjn huffs to complain, "A full day of schmoozing around doing nothing? Riese'd have a better chance armwrestling Siegfried to the ground!"

The burns, the burns...

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

Noeline raises an eyebrow back at the girl as she waves, then huffs lightly as she bows her head in something like recognition - not so much Lydia herself, as her connection to the CaraKin. It actually takes her a long moment to put together the former Asteroid's identity, and she needs Mikaia to confirm it for her, blinking in momentary surprise before apparently accepting it for what it is.

Wayside's certainly seen stranger, after all, and she's picked up bits and pieces from Cetiri.

Odjn's intervention draws a sudden and stunned burst of laughter from her, though, and this time the surprised look lasts even longer. "You--... well, if you all feel that strongly, I have no option but to go along with the idea as well. For Riese's benefit, yes?" she confirms with a lopsided grin, as if she weren't going along with this in an attempt to divert attention from her own traipsing off while injured.

Noeline pauses when Mikaia begins to confess; she huffs again, but softer this time, and touches at her hair for a moment as she tries to figure out what to say in return. "... I can't say that I'm upset. I know you can both look after yourselves, and it's not like we want to stop you. At the very least, let the scouts know you're leaving next time, so we don't think you're missing?" she offers. It's a pretty big peace pipe, but that seems to be appropriate right now.

"In the meantime... we'll just have to find her something to pass the time with," the Crimson Notble continues with an amused glint in her eye, answering Lydia and Odjn both. "I'm sure we won't have to actively tie her down - probably not, at least."

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia says, "Oh..right... I keep forgetting..." Lydia laughs. It is not quite a 'ga ha ha' laugh--she hasn't earned the ga ha ha yet. "My name's Lydia Seren, Janey. I went by Asteroid while I, uh, had an Asteroid for a head." She crouches down so Janey can get a closer look...particularly at her teeth which is the most unchanged thing. "Got it? Got it?" She is curious about the Dragon Tear but asking about The Dragon Tear looms periously close to 'Not Playing With Janey and Mikaia' and as such is firmly off the table. "I think she can do it if we help her out a little."

She looks over by Noeline. "Huh...they're already exploring out on their own? Well, not entirely on their own, since they're together..." She snickers briefly herself and says, "They're really impressive kids ain't they? I feel bad for ya, you're raising lil' Drifters!"

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"H-h-hmm..." Janey squints and furrows for a moment, before admitting, "It feels like I'm gettin' tasked with a big, important secret. Janey's not m'name either, y'know? But-- you know, Lydia's a pretty name, so I'm all for it!"

Riesenlied shyly lowers her head and beckons Noeline closer, so that she can recline against her and bring her to comfort. "You're all right. I must remember the people who are important to me... which, you all are, of course! I-- well, if I am going to be here, how about I bake cookies--"

Odjn complains, "No! Working!"

"E-eeh... umm-- what if I tidied the bedroom so it's nice and clean--"

"No! Working!" Mikaia chimes.

Riesenlied looks to be struggling... ...

Janey grins as she says, "Yeah! We're kinda Little Drifters already, y'know? We went to this little abandoned amusement park and ran into the Lunies and Jay!" She rubs at her nose. "But sure, we'll let Val and the others know!"

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

With a light snicker, Noeline obliges by stepping forward a little to give Riesenlied someone to lean against. It lets her slip her arms around the other woman in a loose hug in return, her chin resting gently atop Riesenlied's head to lightly muss her blonde hair. It's a rather close position for a discussion like this, but-- well, it doesn't seem like Noeline's willing to give that sort of thought much time at the moment.

She does outright scoff at Odjn, at least. Not so much in defence of Riese, more-- "/You're/ the one vetoing /that/ idea?" she blurts, as if that were the most unbelievable part. "Not that I don't agree with the idea of resting in general, but I would have thought you'd jump at the option. Besides, I have a hard time considering that 'work'," she snickers to herself, eyes closed. "Perhaps if she got the kids involved at the same time?"

She lets it go, though, content to just let the children run the show for a moment - and cracks one eye back open in Lydia's direction. The grin probably isn't meant to be quite so indulgent, but she's limpeting right now. "They're survivors, same as us. They've been through more than you'd think," she genuinely vouches for them, voice steady - then she sags just a little with a theatrical sigh. "I'd rather train them than deny them the chance to go and explore... not that I could stop them, eith

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia possibly misinterprets Janey's statement. "Oh? What's your name then? Though if you'd rather go by Janey, that's fine too!" She is of the school that your real name is the one you want to use, and that's that! She wanted to use Asteroid before or ASTIE as some called it, and now she just wants to be Lydia (or... Lydie?). Any other names are illegal.

"No working!" Lydia chimes in with Mikaia.

This...this is brutal. Poor Riesenlied. "Abandoned amusement park huh..." Lydia considers. "Haven't found that one yet... but sure, that sounds good. Jay is basically also Mom To All."

She stands herself up and adds, "I'm sure they have. But!!--That doesn't mean I can't be impressed, heh heh... So. What kinda play are we thinking of?"

We all know the sort of stuff Asteroid likes quick pick something else.

Though she does look contemplative for a moment... hmm...

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied and Noeline look very comfortable with each other, the Hyadean sighing and letting that tension bleed out of her shoulders. There's a smile as she expresses, "When Odjn's turning down cookies, that's how you know she's serious..."

Odjn huffs in turn and-- her tail waggles to one end to another. "I'm just worried for you, y'dummy!"

"Well, whoever my mom was called me Muse... but, y'know, I'd rather be Janey these days," Janey puts her hands behind her back. "Like Calamity Janey, Lord of Calamity!"

Mikaia nods a few times and says, "It's what you want to go by that's important."

Lydia brings up the suggestion of play. "Hmm... I'd say soccer, but mom really sucks at that," Janey continues the burns.

"Or board games? But when mom starts losing, she gets really pouty..." Mikaia points out.

Riesenlied looks like she might cry... ...

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

Noeline's smile in sympathetic, at least, even if it is also terribly amused; she pats a hand on top of one of Riese's for a moment, and badly hides a kiss in the back of her hair. "... there, there. ... besides, I think all of us know we can't stop you working when your heart is set on it, which is basically all the time," she snickers brightly. "How about if you just stay near? Catch up with what people in Wayside are doing. Connect with them a little more."

"Just... /slowly/," she adds with an amused snicker, because she knows full well that the minute Riese tries she's going to find some way in which she feels she needs to help everyone. "Simply talking to them, taking stock of what's going on, and easing their worries if you can. It's something I should probably be doing more of myself," she grumbles, before looking up to fix Odjn with a light grin. "It's not exactly working, but not excactly... not. But I'll be on hand to reel her in a little."

She lets that hang in the air, and then ever so innocently adds: "I suppose I could pin her down?"

"We're rather grateful to the Kinship, to say the least," she continues the next moment as if she never said anything, letting out a breath. "Miss Barber is quick to avoid compliments, but in terms of getting some supply lines and assistance in building Wayside, her help has been invaluable. ... how on earth did we miss an entire amusement park?" she adds with a grumpy kind of pout. "Honestly, only on Filgaia."

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia is starting to feel a little bad for Riesenlied here.

"I feel like you two have decided to play 'Mind Games' instead." She sideglances over to Noeline. "If Jay is able to avoid compliments from y'two, then she could probably avoid bullets." It's true, certain individuals involved here are very good at making others feel good about themselves. It surely must take excellent skills to avoid the compliments.

"I guess if it's abandoned, it'd be kind of...scary...wouldn't it? I've never actually been to an amusement park."

She thinks it over.

"Say," She says. "What IS an amusement park? Is that like..." She trails off. She looks down. She listens to the kids tease their mother so cruelly.

"Well, Lord of Calamity," Lydia says. "Calamity Janey it is. I'll go by Calamity for short--"

A beat. "Just kiddin' I'll stick to Janey." Muse huh. That's an ... ... interesting name for a kid! She isn't going to show up ten years down the line with a mysterious backstory and an entire party of individuals at her beck and call is it??

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Mikaia does let up, at the end, when she giggles and says, "But, even if mommy pouts a lot, I'd play anything with her~!" as she limpets onto her side, climbing up to her lap to get a pat from the Hyadean. "I love you very much, mom!"

Riesenlied does warm up, her expression lightening as she leans against Noeline when she comes down for a kiss. "I-I'll try to be better..." while pausing to return the favor, leaning her head to the side to reach up to her partner. "To be more available. Thank you, everyone... and that sounds good, Noeline. I wouldn't want to not take a walk around the village, even on a day off, after all."

Janey leans her head to one side and says, "It's like a-- big park, with a lot of rides? There were spinning teacups, and a pirate ride... it's something people had a long time ago or something?" Maybe Janey is going to come back ten years later as a dashing rogue... flipping off her cape to exclaim that someone should bring her Mikaia to her.

"Hey... Lydie, you're a beastgirl, right? Just like us," Janey fidgets after a bit. "It's-- uh, it's not there anymore... but I used to have ears and a tail too, y'know. It's fun to meet other beastgirls..."

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

With a light snicker, Noeline-- rather unceremoniously ruffles Riesenlied's hair, leaving it rather a mess. "It's not about being available or not. They're just looking out for you. It seems to be too big a job for me to do alone, after all," she grumbles, but goodnaturedly, and is on hand to help Mikaia up into the other woman's lap in a single smooth motion.

Straight afterwards she's back around Riesenlied's shoulders, leaving the other metal demon rather surrounded on all sides; she seems to recognize she might be spoiling Riese a little much, huffing out a breath to herself, but in the end she runs with it.

"As point of fact, I've seen one myself," she cuts in to Janey's explanation with a light grin. "Ruined ones are here and there, but I remember there being one when I last passed through Guild Galad. Fairground rides, stalls, and the odd-- thing that looks like a minecart track, except with twists and turns and aboveground. It didn't exactly seem my sort of thing, I suppose. I can only imagine an abandoned one would be a little haunting."

Riesenlied isn't the only person Noeline's protective of; she visibly stiffens for a moment when Janey broaches the topic of her past, carefully watching their de facto daughter in case she needs an out.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia Seren says, "Aw, sorry Riese. You're actually really cool, and good at it, we're just teasin' you, you know!" She actually does feel a little bad about joining in. She's seen enough BAD parenting to not want to actually make Riese feel bad about how she does it. Caring about your kids is a good pre-requisite to succeeding at this job, in her opinion!!

Lydia then blinks a few times. "Huh..?" She says to Janey, her eyes widening faintly. She doesn't know what the situation is.

But just the way she says it, well, that's enough for her. She glances over to Riese, suddenly serious, before she takes in a deep breath, and turns back to Janey.

"I guess it's true. You've been through a lot huh...?"

Lydia doesn't tend to show this much care when talking to anyone, but with Janey she does take her time.

"I'm totally a beastgirl," She adds. "Just like you." She smiles down at Janey. "I'm sorry about your tail, and yer ears, but you've gotta be at least as tough as your namesake since you're handling it like a real trooper. Don't let 'em say you're not good enough for anything you wanna do, arright?" She smiles with heavy amounts of sincerity. "That's the Calamity way, so I hear!!"

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied gasps and-- reaches up to her hair with a very soft whine for a moment. "Don't...! You know it takes a long time to get the hair in order..." before Mikaia giggles to suggest, "Then, I'll comb mom's hair slowly so it's aaaall in order again," as Noeline helps her climb up to her mother's lap.

She looks to Noeline to say, "Sometime... when this is all over... I want to see where you've... gone. What I've missed..." her expression falls just a little, before she bites her lip and catches herself.

She does look to Lydia to warmly smile and say, "I'm glad things worked out for you. I'm sorry I couldn't be there to help out the CaraKin... I wasn't in any condition to assist."

Janey grins in turn to say, "Yeah, you got that right! Filgaia's rough for anyone, kid or adult, and tryin' to baby that truth's just gonna make things sting harder if you ask me!"

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

Noeline has, somewhere in her brain, earmarked 'go to Little Twister and kick the hell out of an old lady' - though she'd probably not actually pick at that particular scab, and there's every chance Gwen went and did it already. "That is the Wayside way, I suppose. Take whatever comes, and stay standing. The same holds true for most of Filgaia, I dare say."

She does relax after a moment, particularly when Riesenlied whines about her hair; Noeline grins in response, letting the tension go fully, and sneaks in another kiss atop the other woman's head. "I'm just providing a first point of call for your day off," she notes smoothly, as if that were the idea all along. Janey gets a brief glance, as if to check for sure that she's still alright--

--and then Noeline seems almost to shake off the worry entirely, letting out a breath. "I take it they're alright with the whole situation? To be honest, it doesn't really seem like much would ever particularly break their stride, I suppose, but it must have been rather a confusing time for a while there."

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia laughs into her hand at Mikaia's antics. Hair is pretty awful to deal with. Lydias' hair doesn't look like a lot of time is spent on it but maybe Lydia does spend a lot of time on it to make sure it looks like it doesn't get a lot of time spent on it but it does seem pretty messy all things considered. Maybe it's one of the reasons she was ok with not having hair and having a good excuse for it.

"Ugh, I'm glad you weren't there to help Carakin out," Lydia tells Riesenlied. "Because you need days off too, and I don't wanna be taking any more from you than I gotta. I was actually gonna be heading back to Wayside soon, maybe I'll come along iffin you don't mind when you headb ack."

She does have to get back to work herself after all.

"You're quite the hardened drifter," Lydia says. "I'm just a pampered gal out of her depth compared to you, ain't I! Tougher than the toughies."

She quirks her head. "When we get back I'll show you how to bounce the soccer ball off yer knee without dropping it. Trickier than it sounds!"

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied looks up with an encouraging nod to Noeline, saying, "It is how we've looked out for each other all this time too, back in the Gutter. And from those closest to us... we've developed very deep friendships and camaraderie. I'm happy to have seen it develop..."

Mikaia furrows her brow as she says, "Mom, you don't have to use big words to just say 'everyone's getting along'... hehe..." she's not complaining, though.

"We've been working hard on the airship... it-- there are a few challenges, but I think people have some very good ideas," Riesenlied nods to Lydia warmly.

Janey puts that grin on as she says, "Oou! I'm not anywhere near the level I wanna be, Lydie! I'm not giving up until I master the Burning Soccer Kick!"

Ok, so maybe Janey's going to grow up into a star player and be referred to by 'She' by everyone...

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

"And then one of them goes and pushes herself far more than anyone else, just to keep everyone else going," needles Noeline lightly, and with a bright grin; she settles back around Riesenlied, sounding about as far from angry as it's possible to get. "Really, whatever are we to do with you? Perhaps we should get you into painting, or something similarly quiet," she wonders playfully, though probably only so she can suggest herself as a model. Oh, madame...

"You're welcome to stick around, of course," she nods next to Lydia, huffing out a breath. "I would perhaps just let the guards know about your circumstances, so they recognize you as a member of the Carakin, but otherwise the village is still free passage. Tensions are still a little bit high after everything that's happened, so it wouldn't hurt to make it clear, I suppose," she adds, deliberately lightly. "Things are finally calming down, at least - if you want to join Devet in looking into the airship, I'm reasonably sure that can be arranged."

Carefully, as if with deliberation, she lifts up from where she's still hugging Riese, leaving the blonde to Mikaia as she reaches out - and plucks Janey from her seat, immediately hauling the orphan over one shoulder in a fireman's lift. "Oh, dear. The Wayside Star Player is undergoing a transfer," she intones - and then looks to Riese, regardless of the fact she's got a grumpy Janey in her arms. "... of course, once we can, I intend to take you everywhere I've gone before," the demon declares with a playful smile.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia already thinks Janey's a star player and gives her a fond pat of the head. Unlike some people, Lydia is giving with her headpats.

"Hey I know," She asides to Riesenlied. "I'm helping out too! I've been gabbin' with Cetiri." In fact, she gives Riesenlied a bit of a mischevious grin. "I've even heard you hired on a certain scientific Emma Hetfield to lend you some help too. It's a tough challenge, but I'm not inclined to just roll over for 'er! I'll do my best too!"

She shounen punches her fist into her palm.

......and then she pats Janey on the head again. Pat pat.

"Nope." she adds to Noeline. "We can't lose our star player...! At least not until she learns how to kick a soccer ball so hard that it bursts into flames." Luckily, this is something that Lydia can teach even if it's at least a medium grade soccer skill (It's hardly AVATAR ARMOR EQUIP).

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riese does look very bashful at Noeline, but she's resolved to not get too teased anymore! She's rather pleased being in Noeline's hands anyway... "P-painting? I'm not good with that... but, mm, maybe knitting?"

riese you already sit on a rocking chair the slippery slope to grandmahood is not far for you

Janey looks really pleased to be given headpats... though, she kind of shies away from certain parts of her head -- which, if Lydia notices, has old scars from where her ears once were. It probably doesn't hurt for her anymore, but it's probably more a memory thing than anything else.

Doesn't stop her grin, though. "Yeah! That cool lady in the labcoat? She told us to go scuttle some of our Gears' slave generators to plug into the airship! We're running into a problem though...?"

Riesenlied nods, proud at Janey keeping tabs about the news. "Simply put, we just don't have the time to excavate the entire bottom half of the ship that's been entrenched in the ground..."

Riese this dangerously sounds like work talk again!

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

Noeline's grin is rather amused; she doesn't seem terribly invested with teasing Riese all that much, despite her occasional mischief, and more content to just act as a lazy cat resting against the other woman's back. "Hmm... still, if you ask me, I could see you dragging Mikaia and Janey into the kitchen for the day," she muses around her partner's earlier instincts.

"Even if Odjn says it's still work, I can't imagine the kids would argue. In the meantime, perhaps I can look after Wayside for a bit so that fifteen people don't immediately ask you for help," she hums. Noeline's no fool. She's not going near Janey, flour, and combustible materials.

"... well, listen to you. And here I thought you were skipping out on some of your studies," she smirks at Janey, then huffs out a breath. "... we might simply have to recover what we can, I suppose, and leave it at that or else come back for the rest. It's already a rather inhospitable place to try to recover an airship from, even with the Primarch gone."

But... she taps Riese lightly on the shoulder, and points down at her lap - aiming to derail the work conversation by indicating that Mikaia appears to have slowly drifted off. Oh dear.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia Seren definitely notices the scars. It doesn't appear on her face, of course, she's still smiling as normal. She doesn't pat for the scars either. Not at all.

But deep inside of her heart...

LYDIA PSYCHO UP

More to the point, she determines to find out who did this, if they're still alive, and do...'something'. She isn't sure what 'something' is but she is angrier, angrier than she thinks she's ever been--and she's been pretty angry, as you know. At the same time, the troubles she has gone through hit perspective strongly. She was one of the lucky ones, she realizes in this moment, maybe not as lucky as Cyre but definitely a lucky one.

The reality is worse than she even imagined. If they can do this to children and not care, they can do it to anybody. They probably think it's helping.

She is jarred from her rage by Riesenlied's words. She looks over to Riese. She thinks about it. And then she smiles, "Well that's pretty work-talk, but that doesn't seem like a big problem. Easy to fix, actually. I'll pop by and give my two cents on it when we get back to Wayside, and at least one full day from now."

She looks over to Noeline and adds, "Sound good? Once you're done with this, you'll be hard pressed to find anybody who can stop you..."

She has many sharp friendly fangs.