2022-03-04: Besides, All Our Friends Are Here
- Log: 2022-03-04- Besides, All Our Friends Are Here
- Cast: Emilia Eschonbach, Milly Ashford
- Where: Ashford Academy
- OOC - IC Date: 0096-03-04
- Summary: Milly fails her exams and immediately sets about doing Student Council work. She finds a little something extra.
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
The Fantasy Seduction Club is one of the most, if not the most, questionable clubs on the campus of Ashford Academy. An all girl club where the members dress in erotic or sexy outfits- a not unfair descriptor. But there's more than that. They talk about the most effective outfits, they discuss technique, they 'explore the concepts of sexuality', and they occasionally designate one member to be the dressup model for the day. It sounds less wholesome than it is.
And it's not very wholesome, admittedly, but it is one of the few places on campus where Emilia Eschonbach can feel good, or like she has any purpose. Even if that purpose is cleaning the club room. For such a small club, they have a surprisingly large club room, with two full size dressers, racks and racks of clothes in garment bags, carefully marked and sorted. Drawers full of accessories, rows of wigs. A curtained off changing area.
And right now, Emilia is ironing some of the outfits worn that day, with others sent for laundry. The room itself is moderately clean- a final vacuum needed, a few straw objects like a bikini top and maid's headwear.
Certainly, Emilia had been cleaning a lot lately, but that was fine. If it meant she got to stay, it was fine. If it meant they kept using her as the dressup girl, it was fine. It it meant she wasn't being bullied because no one came near her, it was fine. If it meant she didn't have to go sit in that bare dormroom, it was fine.
Even if she was alone in here, it was fine.
<Pose Tracker> Milly Ashford has posed.
Few people walk out of exams with the absolute confidence Milly Ashford presently has. When the stakes are this high, underachievers generally panic about not knowing it and overachievers start second-guessing themselves. Milly has walked out of her exams with her head held high.
Milly has strategically achieved the closest non-graduating numbers by answering the exact number of necessary questions correctly and filling all remaining space with drawings of cats. On some history teacher's desk, there is now a version of the Universal Century Charter that is completely accurate (hidden provisions aside) but replaces all instances of 'Earth Federation' with increasingly realistic drawings of cat noses and every proviso about space colonies with a random line from a club budget.
Milly has decided to park herself right here at Ashford for now. Maybe in six months or a year she'll decide Ashford Academy doesn't need Milly Ashford? But for *now*, it does need Milly Ashford, so for now, it has Milly Ashford.
Milly treats Ashford Academy's every room like it belongs to her, because it does. She barges into the clubroom, saying, "Student Council, here for end-of-term inspection!" Her gaze tracks across the room, and finds... Emilia. She thinks. New student. Somewhere in the first year zone. (The linearity of years always gets a little wobbly in the Universal Century anyway. People try but there's so much shit going on that it's not actually realistic.)
"Oh," she says, with a slightly playful smile. "New girl duties, huh? How about that. Ah, ironing maid outfits and taking down the other students' underwear sizes... the summer of adolescence." ... Milly you are *a teenager*.
Then, a little more seriously: "Are you settling in okay?" She plops herself down on a couch in the club room, again as if she owns the place. (Again: She does.)
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
Milly's dramatic entrance startles Emilia, her hand leaving the iron for a moment, only to dart back and pull it up. She can't risk burning anything, turning off the iron and putting it to rest and shuffling the dress around on the ironing board. "M-Miss President. I'm sorry, I wasn't- I didn't realize it was inspection day. I'll have everything finished soon, I promise."
Her voice is kept low, even while startled. She sounds... tired and flat, really, but there's.... a slight undercurrent of anger, that she tries to restrain. This space being invaded- though not really. This is Milly's school, after all. She's the one who lets this club exist. Emilia shouldn't upset her. She can keep it in check.
"I don't mind, miss. It's a small club, and I don't have to do it every time." Most of the time. But not every time. "I... I don't do that, miss." She sounds slightly confused. "The Treasurer takes everyone's measurements, including for swimsuits and the like, so they're recorded." It's weird. She knows it's weird. But it's what her club does and it makes sense for her. They need to know if they're going to shop for the members.
And then Milly gets serious and Emilia looks away. "Fine, miss," she lies. "I've been going to boarding schools most of my life. I get used to them quickly. Even when they're in another country." She fidgets with her long hair, in it's elegant hime cut. She just has to get through this conversation, and the President will move on. She's graduating soon, right? She'll move on and Emilia can go back to being under the radar.
<Pose Tracker> Milly Ashford has posed.
"You think this is the worst this club's room has ever been at the end of year?" Milly asks, teasingly. "You should have seen the state it was in when I came in as a first year. This is fine." Playfully, she whispers, "If the other girls put you up to this, you could probably ditch the room for spring break and it wouldn't cause any problems." She considers getting back up... but no, not quite yet. She can tell something's up, but...
"Great! I'm looking forward to getting to know you next year," she says, all easygoing smiles. Shifting to a full reclining posture, she lazily lets her hand drift over an end table. Her hand drifts over a few different props, before eventually settling on a folding fan, which she flicks open with practiced ease.
"Lots of boarding schools, huh..." Milly goes over what she knows about Emilia. (The requirement that all students join a club leads to Milly getting a lot of data for free.) "I hope Ashford's the one that sticks. We do things a little differently here, though..." There's a big, playful smile on her face, as she says, "I think it's important to keep the school on its toes."
Wait a minute... next year?
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
Emilia is caught by surprise. "You were a member, Miss President?" It's not that much of a surprise, given her time at the school, but it's a little bit of a shock. "I didn't think that someone like you would..." She's shoving her foot into her mouth, and she just trails off, looking away again. You idiot. She probably hates you now. "I'm not going anywhere over break, miss. I may as well finish now. I'm almost done." The change in topic is an easy offramp and Emilia takes it. The conversation will be over and...
"Next year?" Emilia looks right back up, eyes wide again. "Why? You're a third year, aren't you, and exams are over?" Why would Milly Ashford still be here. "Do you... do you have some role with the school while you're attending university?" She hazards a guess. Oh good. The Student Council President hates her and then she's going to be on faculty? It's coming up on the end of term, Emilia, you just had to finish ironing and vacuuming and now... now...
Milly starts musing, and it pulls the lavender haired girl out of her (current) catastrophizing. "We'll see, I suppose. It depends on what Grandfather's people decide." There's no point pretending everything is fine because... well, the whole school already knows. "...Area 11 might be far enough away for his tastes, though."
<Pose Tracker> Milly Ashford has posed.
"Oh, so you're the first one who's gonna find out, actually," Milly explains, a bit of mischief on her face. She fans herself a few times for dramatic effect. Lets Emilia twist in the wind a bit. (It might be cruel, in some senses -- but Milly can already tell Emilia needs to learn that not all silences blow up in your face.)
"Unsatisfactory marks across the board! I'll be retaking exams until I get it right. Of course, none of this will affect my student council duties. Did you know that the student council positions don't rotate if no one graduates?" It's usually to provide continuity with second years, allowing them to retain their positions... but Milly is no stranger to teasing the worst result out of paperwork.
"Hmmm... is it too childish to say, 'my grandfather could beat up your grandfather'?" comes Milly's answer to the follow-up question. "If you like it here, you're gonna stay. Simple as that." A beat, before she adds, "And if this isn't far enough, well! I'm sure Grandfather would be happy to expand to space. It'd really rub Anaheim's nose in it if we started up a school in Side 5 to brain-drain Industrial 7."
She can't be serious.
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
"To find out...?" Emilia seems bewildered and nervous. The silence isn't great either. But she's also learned that you never speak up in a silence. That makes it worse. That always makes it worse. So when Milly finally tells her, Emilia looks shocked.
"What? Why?" There's confusion, sure, but also... some indignation? Whatever it is, she's not used to showing it. "Why would your family even..." Allow that. She wants to say allow that. They could rig the results easily, or easily isolate Milly until she passes. How could she be so... so arrogant? Or is that what it is to just be better than Emilia? She's actual nobility, not some worthless granddaughter with no value. Of course it is. She simply wasn't born good enough, and she didn't fight. Those are the morals of Britannia, aren't they? As much as she despises them now, they were the morals she was raised on. "...I don't understand, Miss President, I'm sorry."
And then she gets sideswiped by Milly, and she looks down at the ironing board. "...will he?" Emilia says, deathly quiet with actual, furious venom in her voice that she can't restrain. She takes a few silent seconds to recenter herself. "I mean... Why would he?" She shakes her head. "What value would I hold to him? I doubt my tuition fees are worth the trouble."
She's not even going to entertain the possibility of opening a school on a colony. Even if it did happen, Grandfather would never let her go to space. His secretary personally intervened to make it clear she would not be allowed to attend the field trip to that Britannian Ship a few weeks ago.
<Pose Tracker> Milly Ashford has posed.
"I'm not graduating! I have too much to do with my friends," Milly explains, with an easy smile. She snaps the fan shut again, and draws up to her full height. She's *enormously* tall for a woman in Area 11, and honestly even pretty tall for a Britannian woman in general. Walking over toward Emilia confidently, Milly finishes, "Besides -- this place would fall apart without me! Have you *seen* the rest of the student council? None of them are ready for Prez yet."
She's across the ironing board from Emilia, now. "Hmmm, what value, what value..." She moves that fan up slowly, drawing it up to point at every inch of Emilia's body. "Future Student Council Treasurer? Disciplinary Committee head?" A beat. "... Ship's cat?"
Milly spots that venom and can tell it's out of her league. This is a problem she cannot top-stance, domme-stance, nor chaos-goblin her way through. So instead... She brings the hand not holding the fan forward. It's a practiced gesture in its slowness; she goes until she sees Emilia flinch and not an inch further. (If Emilia permits it, she'll place that hand gently on her shoulder.
"... Maybe it's because we need a political football to threaten to throw back at the mainland," Milly offers. Emilia probably won't accept 'because I can tell you're struggling and I'm making the conscious decision to help you,' so she has to offer at least a *little* bit of a cynical answer. The kind ones can wait until Milly has a full assessment of Emilia's complete defensive posture.
The mischief hits her face again as she whispers, "We've got a few of those." She starts walking around the ironing board, pace restrained but not slow by any stretch. "Anyway, if it doesn't work out... we don't want you walking away feeling like you didn't make the most of your time here at Ashford, do we?"
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
Emilia has to look up at the advancing Milly, completely baffled by her whole approach. But she does look away again at talk of friends. Milly is everything Emilia isn't. Likeable, desireable, charismatic, confident, important.r
Happy.
Emilia just stands there as she is assessed. Like this isn't the first time. Indeed she starts to become more like she was at attention. Or being inspected. The way her face looks, she's expecting bad news. The options Milly presents seem... well. Outlandish. "Please don't make jokes." She's not referring just to the ship's cat.
nd then the blonde starts moving her hand towards Emilia and the younger girl just watches it, but Milly doesn't get very close before Emilia takes a tiny step back, seemingly involuntarily.
Emilia shakes her head again. "...I asked you not to make jokes." Milly was right. She can't even accept the cynical answer. "The only use I have to Grandfather is a marriage to seal a business deal, and he hasn't found a potential partner with standards low enough for a bastard." She pauses. "His words."
It's only when Milly starts talking about making the most of her time at Ashford that she shows anything other than bewilderment, anger or crushing despair. "...What do you mean?" She's actually curious, despite herself. Maybe she can see a little of an outstretched hand for what it is.
<Pose Tracker> Milly Ashford has posed.
That prompts a small lean back from Milly. She cups her right elbow with her left hand, and brings her fist to rest between her chin and her lower lip. It hides her lips for a moment, allowing her to emote a bit -- there's some genuine concern there, and for a minute, she's legitimately unsure how to express it.
Then it hits her. "... If he finds one and he's nasty, take him to Clovisland," she says, resting a hand gently on the ironing board. Once she's sure of where she is relative to it, she leans on it a tiny bit; she doesn't want to tip it over with a potentially-still-hot iron on it, just... take the chance for a little stage blocking. "The place is getting a reputation for killing marriage arrangements. Can't imagine how that happened!"
She breezes along, still confident despite the momentary overstep. "If he pulls you out next month, you don't want to feel like you spent your time here miserable, do you?" She brings a finger to her lip, playful. "If your grandfather's going to slap you with a sheaf of paperwork and marriage proposals from the other end of the world, I'm gonna teach you how to start losing paperwork and forcing writeoffs." With a slightly put-upon roll of her eyes, she notes, "Trust me, I learned from the best. The rest of the student council's *great* at finding ways to lose paperwork." (It's a friendly rib for people with a history of putting off work, not genuine frustration.)
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
Emilia, quite frankly, doesn't know how to deal with Milly and it's been obvious on her face since the moment Milly walked in. She's used to bullies. She's used to people flexing their power. She's not used to... to... whatever this is.
Emilia... continues to be confused, those she steadies the iron reflexively. She sort of stares at Milly, like she started speaking tongues. "...I can't afford the admission, and I doubt anyone Grandfather would pick would bother with the dating stage. It would probably be done with no involvement from me. There'd only be a ceremony if my husband to be insisted." That one is more speculation than fact, but it seems real enough. The fact is, though, this is the most unburdening Emilia's ever done- ever been allowed to do. And she seems frankly uneasy to be doing it. But Milly seems to be insisting on involvement, so Emilia should just lay out there why she's wrong to be involved.
"...I don't get it." Emilia says, putting her hands on the ironing board. "What do you get out of being nice to me? It doesn't make sense. I'm not someone who matters. I'm not important, I'm not valuable, I'm not wanted, I'm nothing. If there's some elaborate prank, or cruel trick, please spare me the buildup." She's angry and resigned and despairing all at once.
She's also completely devoid of hope.
<Pose Tracker> Milly Ashford has posed.
"Hmmm. That might not actually hold up. He can insist, but if you don't get an interview that's actually human trafficking and I don't think he can afford the scandal." More playful, almost catlike now. "As for the admission, it's 40 gilla... which I'll reimburse you if you tell me what day it's happening. I can spin a rumor mill pretty quickly, and you can do a lot with a sufficiently embarrassed-looking picture of a noble."
'What do you get out of being nice to me?' ... It's kind of a hard question. "... A challenge, for both of us? I like you? I'm looking around the room and thinking about what to stuff you into for next year's Crossdressing Pageant?" Milly answers, rapidfire. "Maybe, 'My grandfather's upset that the Eschonbachs' posture in New Yark lost us a key defense contract around when I was born, and messing with Joseph Eschonbach makes me feel better about myself,' if that feels right to you?"
She saunters away from the ironing board, back toward the door -- about halfway, in case Emilia wants to stop her. The fan is still in hand. "*I* can pass a short-answer exam, if I want to. But maybe first-years need multiple-choice tests!" She turns back, gives a wink. "Anyway, I'll be here for at least two more terms, if my math on how many classes I failed is right. You've got time to find the answer you like. Don't be a stranger."
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
Is it... even possible to argue with this woman? She has a counterargument, however flawed, for everything. And yet... and yet... "Does... does that apply to commoners?" What she said was how she had understood it. She's still confused as to why Milly is helping but she's just given her something. A weapon or a shield, she's not sure. But something.
And then... Then Milly gives her something she can understand. Milly can use her looks, just like the club does. That's fine. It means she's useful. And revenge. She can understand revenge. She can be a tool of revenge against her grandfather, not matter how petty and small, for petty reasons.
She's more than okay with being used like that. If she can be an effective tool against him... Milly can use her however she likes, as far as Emilia's concerned. "...yes. It does."
Emilia's quiet as Milly leaves, still kind of taking it in. Two more terms to find the answer. She watches as Milly leaves. It will take her a while to process everything that happened here. But... somehow, she doesn't seem to be on the Student Council President's bad side yet.