2024-07-03: Glass Jaw

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<Pose Tracker> Suletta Mercury has posed.

        It doesn't take long to spread throughout the school that the Holder failed a simple Piloting exercise for having not recruited a team for the assignment. A rumor that adds credence to the idea that she's just a simple bumpkin with no backing, and no support -- support which no one is willing to give her, even when she asks in the halls. ("Forgive me," a boy says, "I don't want to make enemies in Jeturk House.")

        When she asks her new friend Nika and the people with her, though -- Lilique's gentle question about whether she realises they're Earthians goes right over Suletta's head. And while Nika can't help her, she's already recognised that Suletta is a kind soul, so of course she invites her to Earth House to introduce her to some other people who could help.

        There's just -- one -- problem. Even though Nika defends Suletta, insisting she's not like the other Spacians who look down on Earth House, and the members of Earth House shake her hands in recognition...

        A spanner SLAMS into metal, bending it inwards with ferocious strength. "WHAT THE HECK IS A SPACIAN DOING HERE?!" Chuatury Panlunch -- 'Chuchu', to everyone who knows her -- has a terrible reaction to finding Suletta in her home, and screams her out, as multiple members of Earth House try to hold back her wrath.

        It's only when she's sitting on the steps outside, mourning her sure defeat, that Elan finds her... and offers to invite her to his house. She gasps, and stammers, eyes wide with gratitude -- until Miorine storms in to interrupt them. "It's not okay!" Miorine cries, hands clasped tightly to fists as she stalks up. "That man is an enemy! How many times do I have to tell you?! This isn't just a filthy date, it's enemy action! This jerk just wants to get his hands on me!"

        "I couldn't be less interested," Elan replies, mildly.

        "Oh, yeah?!" Miorine lets go of Suletta, who she'd grasped possessively, to snap at him: "I wouldn't care for a dummy prince like you, either!"

        But it's Suletta who interrupts her: "H-h-how could you say that?! Mr. Elan invited me to his House," she says, stern and serious despite her fear. "H-he's gentle, kind, and very..."

        "You're defending him that much?" Miorine asks, her own voice lowering, though her hands still curl to fists. "Why?"

        "She's recruiting team members for her exam," Elan's even voice cuts in to explain. (Perhaps it's a mercy that Suletta doesn't have to.)

        "In that case, forget him," Miorine says, hands to her hips. "Why didn't you just ask me?"

        And that's enough to drag Suletta back home, at least -- to Miorine's place of rest, a haven belonging to no House. It's only once she's safely in Miorine's clutches again that Suletta chokes out, looking at her plants instead of at her:

        "T-thank you for helping me, but -- I s-s-still need someone else, right? S-since I need a mechanic and a spotter..."

        "I can manage both by myself," Miorine insists, poking at a plant to make sure it's well.

        "What?" Suletta asks, her anxiety interrupted as she watches Miorine straighten up and sit down on her chair. "But aren't you in Management Studies?"

        Miorine made a tap on her tablet, before swiveling around to face Suletta, leg crossed and eye closed. "Exercise support doesn't require more than memorizing the manual. Did you actually think I couldn't manage that much?"

        "T-That's amazing!"

        -=-=-

        What's less widespread is that Chuchu also failed the same exercise, and has to retake it from an 'accident' with a slow masking spray that ruined her visuals during it. It gets a chortle from various Spacian students around campus who look at Earth House as individuals who shouldn't even be there at the school.

        But that's not her focus right now, because it hardly made a footnote on the evening news. NUNE's media control implies that the labor riots over poverty down on Earth are getting worse, but that the Benerit and Gaia Sabers Garrisons prevented the violent dissidents from getting out of control and damaging valuable property.

        And so a troubled Chuchu sat on the steps of the Earth House hangar, her hair in a pink bonnet for bedtime, as she made an important call, five men of about middle age on the other side of the line all crowded in to speak to her.

        "Chuchu!" "How's everything?" "Are they feeding you?"

        "One at a time. You can't talk over each other like that if you expect me to answer you."

        "How's school, Chuatury?" Now a sixth man had crowded in, as another asked, "Have those Spacians given you any lip?"

        "Nothing I can't handle. Just yesterday, I fought a gang of them who tried to mouth off."

        "Oh!" "That's our Chuchu!"

        "But hey, let's talk about what I saw in the news. Did those Spacian turds really fire on your picket line?" She tried to broach the subject, but the adults all immediately waved it off.

        "Don't worry about us. Just work hard on your studies." "Show them what mobile craft operators can do!"

        Despite her fears, Chuchu forced herself to put on a smile, "Thanks, everyone."

        -=-=-

        Miorine jogged ahead of Suletta, wearing the support uniform of the thick tan vest and green coveralls, "I'll do my job, you just focus on clearing the assignment."

        Unfortunately, on the way was three members of Earth House, including one belligerent girl with pink poms for hair, "If the Princess is helping you, why'd you even come to our House?! Spacian turd..."

        Nika tried to deescalate, moving in front of her, "Chuchu, I explained to you..."

        As Suletta cowered behind Miorine, Miorine asked in an easy tone, "You're from Earth House?" Miorine slowly stepped up to the girl, as Chuchu replied, "Got a problem with that?" "Spacian? Are you calling me a turd just because I come from the Ring? Then you're no different from those of us up here who discriminate against Earthnoids." Miorine doesn't even bother to address the fact Suletta wasn't from the Ring. Perhaps the distinction would be lost on this girl. Chuchu lurched towards her aggressively, "You-!"

        Miorine simply walked past her, even s Nika and Martin held her back, "We have better things to do than waste our time dealing with you."

        Unseen to all of them was two girls, watching, smothering their laughter as they watched.

        -=-=-

        It all started so well, Suletta got into the Demi-Trainer, the exercise began, Miorine began expertly navigating her. "Ahead, Five degrees to the right. Then there's another thirty meters ahead."

        "Yes!" Suletta turned the Demi-Trainer in response, as it tramped over the Testing Sector's field. "Response from eighteen meters ahead at ten degrees, turn right." "Got it!" And again she turned, but as she did, the green visor-like sight of the Demi-Trainer's head began to turn a stark, oily black.

        And the Demi-Trainer stopped moving.

        "Hey what's going on! Why'd you stop?"

        "For some reason, the main sight has gone pitch black!"

        Back at the support station, Miorine answered in confusion, "Black? Is it some mechanical failure?"

        In the distance, two girls watching from the school steps high fived each other, "Yay~" And Chuchu, in her own demitrainer gave them a dark look, "Those two..."

        Miorine got on the comms, "Sir, we're experiencing some mechanical trouble. Please suspend the exam." Up in the control booth, the instructor answered in short order, "Absolutely not. Inspection of equipment in advance is part of the exam." With a cluck of her tongue in disgust, Miorine spoke to Suletta, "Suletta! Use your instrument readings to figure out the direction. I'll guide you! There's a landmine twenty meters to the left, proceed right-"

        The Demi-Trainer extended its arms blindly, as Suletta slowly began to compensate and... an alarm rang. As the Instructor stated, "Time's up. Suletta Mercury, fail."

        "Please allow us to retake the test." Miorine spoke up, as Suletta's horror turned to surprise, "Ms. Miorine?" "Students can attempt a makeup exam." She explained, "Don't give up!" "G-Got it!"

        Unfortunately.

        An explosion rocks the field on the next attempt.

        "Suletta Mercury, fail."

        "Please allow us to try again!"

        Another explosion on the next try, covering the field in smoke.

        Suletta's Demi-Trainer blindly topples on the next, falling into a crevasse, and time runs out.

        The next time... Suletta's Demi-Trainer had made it two thirds of the way across the field when Nuno from Earth House, a boy wearing a knit cap and hoodie under his uniform remarked, "She can't manage it while blind." "We're improving our time though. You take over!" As she tossed her goggles over to him, and took off on a Haro Scooter, leaving the astounded boy lost, "Wait, what!?"

        At top speed, she zoomed over, as Suletta's Demi-Trainer blindly battered into the weapon exchange platform. Leaping off the scooter, Miorine worked the lift and rose up alongside the platform, "Suletta! Get ready to exchange weapons."

        She worked the controls, and the Demi-Trainer's arm was twisted off by one section, with a pneumatic hiss, before she turned it around to the other side, and Miorine announced, "Link with targeting system confirmed." Miorine's heart pounded, they'd almost done it, "Auto correction, all green! Go! You have this!"

        As Suletta's Demi-Trainer moved forward, ready to fire at the target, which would mark the end of the test- an alarm sounded.

        "Suletta Mercury, fail."

        Miorine didn't miss a beat, simply stating, "Suletta, we almost had it. Let's try again. Return to the starting position!" An irritated Chuchu in her Demi-Trainer asked, "Hey Princess, how many times are you gonna do this? I can't even start my test." Miorine was quick to reply, "Retries are permitted, aren't they? Quiet down and wait your turn."

        And that's when Suletta breaks her silence.

        "Enough... I want to go home."

        "Suletta?" Even Miorine sounded surprised by this turn of events, as Suletta continued, "I was... actually afraid to come to school alone. I never wanted to duel either. I don't want to stand out! As I am now..." Tears splattered on the faceplate of Suletta's helmet, drenching it in, as she sounded increasingly despondent, "I'll never graduate!" What started as sniffles, broke into sobs, and then wailed over the comms.

        "Enough of this Suletta! Pick yourself up!" Miorine began to call at her, "Aren't you planning on founding a school! Aren't people counting on you?" Miorine pushed, and pushed without mentioning how she was one of those people, that she thought it was wrong for people to do this to Suletta, to put them on her shoulders. All that mattered was pushing her back to the starting line, "Everyone at Mercury saw you off, right? They gave you good-luck charms!" In her cockpit, Chuchu's face softened, as Suletta's wailing escalated further, and Miorine kept yelling at her, "Are you really going to give up?"

        Suletta's sobs only broke up enough to answer her, "But I can't do it!" And Miorine only upbraided her, "This was YOUR decision! Now you go back and stand at the starting position right now!"

        Still sobbing, Suletta barely managed to orient her Demi-Trainer around and start heading back.

        Two girls listening to the comms on the steps, began to burst out with laughter, one of them holding their abdomen, the other pointing at Suletta's Demi-Trainer. "Some Holder she is!" "Country bumpkins should rot away in the boonies." Both of them were so caught up in their mean-spirited crowing that they barely perceived Chuchu storming up the steps, and immediately, drawing back her fist, rocketed it into the girl on the left's face with a vicious haymaker.

        With a sickening impact, the girl slumped over the steps, instantly silenced by unconsciousness, as the other looked on in disbelief. Chuchu's face was twisted with rage, "Neither of you are even carrying anyone else's hopes and dreams! It's cheap of you to interfere!"

        The fuss carried over to the exam area immediately, as Chuchu brawled with the other girl on the steps, Miorine noticing to tell Suletta, "Hold on Suletta! That girl from Earth House has started a fight."

        By the time anyone can get here, the brown haired ponytailed girl was exchanging blows furiously with Chuchu, as Chuchu grabbed her vest to ensure she couldn't retreat. "Earthnoids should crawl on the ground like the underlings you are! Noone wants you here!" Chuchu's scream shouted over her insults with, "SPACIAN TURD!"

        By now, Earth House was trying to hold Chuchu back... as Suletta ran up, and stuttered, "S-Stop it!" As she separated the two, the ponytailed girl took it as an opportunity to clock Suletta with a powerful hook to her right cheek, sending her reeling, only too late realizing...

        ... she overcommitted, leaving her wide open to the furious right straight from Chuchu, sending the other sprawling, insensate on the steps.

        An alarm suddenly went off, as the instructor announced.

        "This test today is suspended, for disciplinary review of the participants. Further announcements will be made soon."

        The sound of more sirens went off, as Haros sporting Helmets with Blue Crosses drove in two long hooded hover stretchers, announcing.

        EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!

        The plastic hoods suddenly shunted open.

        PLEASE DEPOSIT SUBJECTS IN NEED OF MEDICAL ASSISTANCE FOR TRANSPORT!
        PLEASE BUCKLE SUBJECTS IN!

        "Leave it to my lousy father to skimp on having actual medical professionals on hand..."

        The faculty for their part, only shows up after the Haros have carted off the students to say to Chuchu, "Please come with us, Ms. Panlunch. We'll be taking you to the Dean for the disciplinary review." "As if I don't know who you Spacians will side with already." She grouses, but walks along with them...

        Leaving the rest of them... dealing with the aftermath.

<Pose Tracker> Elan Ceres has posed.

        It isn't typical for Elan Ceres to approach students in distress. But Suletta Mercury is not, compared to the general student body of Asticassia, a typical student. She might well be his one and only friend--or at least, the only one who's gotten him to admit he wants to be their friend. So when he saw her sitting on the steps stressing about her exams, of course he'd approached. The issue was a simple one--one he could fix, even--and so he'd invited her to his house. He had that authority. He could actually do something to help her.
        
        ...Except then Miorine had happened. He can't blame her for hating him. Her reasons for it are logical, even valid. But she's just such a stressful person to be around. It's nice in its own way that Suletta insists so much that he's a kind and gentle person, but he really hopes he's never ordered to duel for her hand. Being engaged to Miorine, even as a farce, sounds deeply unpleasant.
        
        The fact that Suletta tolerates it so much only speaks to how kind and gentle she is--and how optimistic and insecure.
        
        Nonetheless, since it's Suletta who has to live with her, Elan lets it go. He explains the situation and then watches them go; then he leaves for his own business. Mostly re-reading The World as Will and Idea. He's been doing that a lot lately. Specifically, ever since Sunday. For similar reasons, his <font color="#d7ff5f">pretty</font> face has been even more inexpressive than usual, only the faintest hint of softness there when he'd reached out to Suletta. That, too, had passed, though.
        
        So he hadn't intended on coming by the exam grounds to see how Suletta does. He's already passed his own exams; that should be the end of it. But he ends up doing so anyway. He's approaching on foot when he sees Suletta's Demi-Trainer slump for the last time; when he sees those two girls from Jeturk House laugh themselves sick; when he sees a girl with pink puff hair get into a fist-fight with them. He stops a fair distance away, only watching until finally Suletta herself gets involved and ends up punched for her efforts.
        
        It's only now that the instructor intercedes with an announcement. Elan looks up at the sound of the suspension, then over at the approaching Blue Cross Haros. Only once they, Chuchu, and the faculty are all gone does he approach the rest of the way--to Suletta, of course.
        
        "That was surprising," he remarks. However, he pulls a handkerchief from one of his pockets and offers it to her. Her face is a mess. "Are you all right?" 

<Pose Tracker> Miorine Rembran has posed.


Miorine notably sideeyes Elan, as he offers Suletta his handkerchief. Miorine looks positively grumpy, but that definitively is not the reason for it. Instead...

"I'm not sure why you decided to get in the middle of that."

She flicks her gaze at Suletta like a lash, "If you got expelled because some idiot teacher decided you were a part of it, then it affects me too."

Turning away, she looks back at the field where it all went down, "Now we're going to be back here doing this all over again..."

Well, on the bright side, she's not upbraiding her for wanting to quit while she's sobbing in public anymore?

It's... an improvement!

<Pose Tracker> Arianna Passerini has posed.


Earlier:

"Oh, goodness, stop volunteering for everything," Arianna declaimed with a wave of her hand at the staff meeting. "I can certainly run a stall. This place needs airing out anyway."

"Thank god," said Oscar, through a head cold and the resulting filter mask. Rose shrugged her shoulders.

Just a little bit ago:

Arianna chews on a toothpick while sitting at the Tempo Profundo Pop-Up, resting her chin on her hands. She has a rather surly look, because she has a self-heating tray half full of quattro formaggio stuffed shells and it was, in principle, supposed to be empty by now. Don't these kids eat snacks?

At least she can watch the mech trials.

"Huh," she said. "That one's got awful luck."

But then, a customer. "Well, if it isn't Luanova! If you've been wanting another taste of cuisine, we have these - we made these particularly for the pleasure of walking and eating. You see, we did something a little different, for your ease of eating - the cheese is in the inside, of course, but so too is the tomato, and so whether you want a fork or to dine by hand, it's so convenient and flavor-"

This is when the medical Haroscooters sweep by. "Ful," says Arianna, briefly distracted.

After this a sale is completed, one way or another -- 3 shells for a reasonable 'walkaround snack' price, with even a little cardboard tray to hold them in and a bioplas three-tip spork, along with napkin and --

The Haroscooters leave, with individuals enclosed.

"Luanova, darling," Arianna says, "tell you what, forget the payment, but can you walk with me a little? I just do not want to be the next victim if this is some sort of murderer's row."

SO, NOW

Arianna Passerini is approaching those who remain, after the faculty and the medical Haros have moved away. She seems alarmed.

She is wearing her usual peasant blouse and slacks, as well as a waist-height apron with a range of minor accoutrements including several white cloths as she approaches the cluster. Arianna gets visual confirmation that there is not a HUGE amount of blood on the floor - no ruptured mechs, no recent gunfire - she glances at Luanova and nods once, firmly, before continuing her approach.

"My God, what happened?" Arianna asks, once she's within earshot. "Suit accident?"

<Pose Tracker> Secelia Dote has posed.

Secelia was, as always, keeping her ear on the ground. Even if she was part of the business side of things, there's still some form of competency test that's easily passed. Not that it mattered, not while watching the Demi-Trainers work away. It's a bit of a nose for trouble; As soon as she heard that the Holder was beginning to fail repeatedly, there was a thing to check.

Namely, if the suit was maintained properly. It wouldn't be good for business.

The fact that things seemed to be fermenting was only bringing a frown to her face. To tap finger against palm, eyes taking in the scenery. Again. Again. Again. So focused that she was in watching Suletta walk away in the defective (so she supposed) Demi-Trainer, that she missed the first punch entirely. "Mhm?" Just in time to watch the second. Oh. Not good. Not good at all.

She is, somehow, the last on the scene. Call it a woman's intuition while striding up, the lackdastical girl maintaining a small frown. "I wouldn't say as such. She's probably gonna get some form of punishment, depending on the damages."

What damages she thinks is involved is left unsaid.

<Pose Tracker> Luanova Luckwright has posed.


        "You don't have to explain street food to me," Lua had answered with a smile. "I like trying things." Perhaps the idea of 'street food' needs a pitch to some of these rich kids for whom it's insufficiently prestigious. But she, too, follows the medical scooters with her eyes, and she gives Arianna a serious nod. "Sure." This is the same woman who, on her first visit to Tempo Profundo, had her security agent scout it out first, isn't it? She takes the lead in escorting Arianna, but relaxes visibly when she sees the ponytailed girl bloodied on the stretcher. Is that it?

        She's wearing the uniform of graduate and postgraduate students. Another Ring heiress, the daughter of arms manufacturer Senator Luckwright from Neo-America. "A fight?" she appends to Arianna's guess. She goes ahead and takes a bite of one of her stuffed shells, her eyes betraying an appreciation for the taste of it. Doesn't seem very concerned, although she's still looking around at the students present and trying to size up what actually happened.

<Pose Tracker> Suletta Mercury has posed.

        "Um -- s-should I..." Suletta starts, when the faculty arrives to take away Chuchu. But she stammers too much, and hesitates too much, and she's already gone.

        Even though... it doesn't seem fair, that she's facing that alone, after doing something like that for Suletta.

        Her hand, paused in the middle of lifting, jerks when Elan approaches -- with a handkerchief. "Mr. Elan!" She exclaims, and looks from his handkerchief to his face and back again a solid four times before she realises she should take it. "T-t-thank you," she stammers, as she holds it to her jaw. It doesn't feel like it's bleeding, but she still examines it, pulling it back away, to be sure.

        Sometimes she doesn't notice it's that bad, so she has to check.

        Once she's sure it's not too bloodied, though, she wipes at the scrape of that fist, patting it down and pressing it to her cheek again. Since it's not bloodied, she knows she doesn't need antiseptic. It might just swell. She smiles, sunny, to Elan, grateful for his care.

        But it's not just Elan who offers her his care. Miorine's is -- well, Suletta's eyes cast down, hearing that. "B-because... she got in that fight to help me," she explains, lamely. "I didn't want them to fight... I didn't want her to get hurt." She was worried about Chuchu, Asticassia's local force of nature, getting hurt?! "S--since she did it for me -- aren't I involved, Miss Miorine?"

        When Arianna shows up and asks, so too does she take responsibility for it, despite Miorine's implicit directions. (They've sailed right over her head.) "I--I was h-holding the exam up," she says, to her, still holding that handkerchief to her cheek. "Some girls were l-laughing at me... s-so Miss Chuchu got out and punched them. I tried to, to stop the fight... but I wasn't able to." Luanova was right, in the broad strokes; it was a fight.

        "B-but she was just d, d-d-d, defending me!" She adds, in protest, looking to Secelia -- and Elan -- with alarm. "I-isn't there a-anything I can do? It's my fault!" WHY DOES SHE KEEP ADMITTING GUILT!

<Pose Tracker> Stella Loussier has posed.

        "Man, what a bunch of amateurs."

        The comment, likely unheard by anyone else, comes from an isolated section of stands overlooking the training grounds. There a group of three are seated, observing the exam that is playing out. Another announcement sounds out about Suletta failing. The one who made the comment amongst the group, Auel Neider, bursts out laughing again, before wondering, "What's up with this chick!? I can't believe it's the same one we were warned to avoid."

        "Mmmm, it's true that her skills do seem to be lacking. Though I think the concern was more about that strange machine of hers." This calmer observation comes from the other guy in the group, Sting Oakley, who is currently watching the examination with a keen eye.

        Between the two of them, Stella Loussier sits, leaning forward in her chair, head propped up against her knee. She doesn't seem as interested in being there as the other two. Though her eyes are currently focused on the machine that Suletta is trying to maneuver through the exam. She murmurs out quietly, "Suletta... Mercury..."

        Sting turns to look at Stella, "You've met her?"

        Stella shakes her head with a negative hum, simply explaining, "Stella has heard the name..." It's been mentioned a few times, from what she can recall. Supposedly she's an important person, though Stella doesn't understand why. Not that it really matters to her, barely a passing curiosity.

        Sting hmms thoughtfully, "Probably best that way. We're only here for observation purposes."

        Auel snorts, waving his hand, "Says the guy who's already been through several duels."

        Sting shrugs, "Couldn't be helped... Turning down too many would be suspicious. And for some reason a number of them seem to think I'm some kind of threat..."

        Auel laughs before leaning over to explain, "It's because of all the girls vying for your attention. The guys are trying to get one up on you or put you in your place." He then shrugs in amusement, "Jokes on them though."

        Another failure is announced, though Auel doesn't laugh this time. Instead he simply slumps, "This is starting to get kind of sad..." But something then catches his eye and he leans forward, "Oi, what's pinkie doing?"

        Sting watches as Chuchu storms her way up towards the two girls. He muses out loud, "Seems she figured out who's been sabotaging their machines."

        BAM!

        "Holy shit!" Auel lets out a joyous explanation and laugh as he watches Chuchu slug one of the girls. There's a grin on his face as he continues to watch, "That looked like a hell of a punch. And now check her out, laying into the other one. I like this chick." He raises a fist in the air and calls out, "GO GET HER!"

        Sting simply lets out an annoyed sigh at the antics. Stella meanwhile still has her sights focused on Suletta's machine, ignoring the fight altogether. Finally, an announcement goes out that the test has been suspended due to the incident.

        Sting rises from the seat, saying firmly, "Let's go, there's no more reason for us to be here."

        Auel lets out a whine, "Awwww, it was just getting good... Oh well. Looks like they're dragging her off anyway." He rises, beginning to follow Sting out of the training grounds.

        Stella quietly rises, beginning to follow her fellow Extended out. Along the one though, she glances back in the direction of incident, where she can now see the girl in the uniquely white uniform. She murmurs quietly to herself, "Suletta... Mercury..."

<Pose Tracker> Elan Ceres has posed.

        Elan doesn't return Suletta's sunny smile when she hands him back his handkerchief, but there is a brightness--an attentiveness, perhaps--there in his eyes that isn't there usually. He folds it neatly and tucks it back in his pocket. "You're welcome," he replies. It seems she isn't hurt too badly. That's good.
        
        But Suletta's weakness is always how easily she's affected emotionally. Miorine makes a good point about a teacher potentially deciding she was involved, and Secelia approaches at the end commenting on what kind of punishment Chuchu will get. Arianna and Luanova likewise approach, wondering about fight vs. accident as they munch; however, Suletta's already explained with them in earshot, so he leaves it at that. (There are others nearby also watching, even cheering Chuchu on--but they soon make their leave. Recognizing Stella, Elan briefly watches them go before focusing back on the matter at hand.)
        
        "They won't," he tells Miorine. "I saw it. Suletta Mercury was hurt trying to stop the fight. If the teacher tries to make her culpable, I'll say something."
        
        Of course, that's setting aside the fact that Suletta is trying to make herself culpable. How much weight will 'saying something' carry in that case? He perhaps notably doesn't say anything when Suletta asks what she can do, though he meets her eyes. What can either of them do? Whether it was for someone else's sake or not, Chuchu chose violence.
        
        ...or so his line of thought goes. After a moment, his gaze flicks towards Secelia. Mediating student conflicts is one of her jobs, after a fashion; what does she think? 

<Pose Tracker> Miorine Rembran has posed.


"Who says she did it for you anyway?" Miorine asks with that same irritation in her tone, without sympathy for that position, "Maybe she just wanted to punch Spacians."

Granted, she doesn't exactly like people like that pair either, but she knows better than to fight over some mean words being thrown her way.

"If she'd had half a chance, she probably would have put you back on the ground."

Miorine doesn't actually listen too much to gossip, or she'd have a better reason as to why that violent Earth House Girl did what she did, but right now she just knows what she knows-!

And what she knows is that singular interaction of being called a Spacian Turd.

Still Elan notes that he'll say something if that were to happen, because he saw it, and Miorine gives him a suspicious look, "Ohhhh? So we ought to just rely on a member of the Three Branches to be on our side in this?"

It perhaps makes sense why she wouldn't trust Elan to just - tell the truth and bail them out of it. "Besides I'd rather not owe you any fav-"

She interrupts herself to snap at Suletta not long after, at her taking culpability anyway, "Stop saying it's your fault-! Someone might actually believe you!"

Carding her fingers through her long hair in the back, "Goodness sakes... we should at least get away from the scene of the crime before this idiot confesses to the murder of Degwin Zabi."

As her eyes flick towards Lua and Arianna, who'd asked for an account, totally barreling through that, "Hey! You run that popup right? Is your place open?"

<Pose Tracker> Secelia Dote has posed.

There's a gaze cast down at the site of the fight, Secelia only maintaining a light frown at the sheer emotional mess of it all. No shine of any sort of enjoyment from that minor spat, only the gaze of someone particularly annoyed that the altercation had happened.

"There's multiple people here who can say that you weren't the one starting it at all. Even the instructor shut things down, see?" A glance out at that same field; True to the instructors words, Testing was suspended. Setting aside the fact that Suletta was trying to shoulder the entire blame on herself...

Ah, it's a slight bit frustrating, the undercurrent of pity at such a state tamped down by understanding. "Say, Suletta. Why do you think you're guilty of someone else's actions?" Not a mistake. "By all accounts, it's only her that's going to receive any action by the school's rules. It's not your fault."

Notably, she speaks right past Miorine. "Don't worry. If there is a good reason to punch them, I'm sure something will come up." 

<Pose Tracker> Arianna Passerini has posed.


Arianna looks at Suletta, weeping, stammering. She does not know her; her arms fold loosely as she considers her words. She's addressing other people. Arianna recognizes most of them, particularly Elan, whose presence makes her face brighten.

Elan gives a narrative of the situation. "Ah, a fight, then," Arianna says; this might cover all of it. She smiles at Elan - not too much - but it's there.

Back to the others. Miorine intervenes. "Yes," Arianna says, "Just up the way here." (To Luanova, she says, "Thank you, even if it wasn't a murder," but quietly.)

It is to Suletta that Arianna speaks -- and she speaks thus: "You should listen to Miss Rembran here," Arianna says, perhaps while gesturing to guide people to move in the direction of the stall and its soothing stuffed shells. "I don't know where you're from, but listen. The police are ultimately the same everywhere. There's no reason to give them anything but courtesy, because if it comes down to it, they won't give it to you."

<Pose Tracker> Luanova Luckwright has posed.


        That's the uniform of the Holder, and that's certainly not the disposition Luanova was expecting to see out of the Holder. That's interesting. Her eyes linger just a moment longer on Elan Ceres and his generous concern for the distraught Suletta Mercury. That's interesting. And something about a conflict with Spacians.

        Suletta's peers seem to have her reaction handled, so there's little need for a stranger like her to step in there. Instead, she follows up on Miorine's sharp address to Arianna with a casual raise of her little pack of stuffed shells and a friendly smile. "Formaggio stuffed shells with tomato. I'll pay for everyone you're bringing over, just for today." It's a good idea to help the kids settle down.

        "Except Elan Ceres," she adds, still smiling in a matter-of-fact tone. He can pay for his.

<Pose Tracker> Suletta Mercury has posed.

        Suletta feels bad that she got Elan's handkerchief dirty, when she hands it back over, but it's still nice he offered it to her.

        "A--ah--" She starts, when Elan defends her, and Secelia points it out. (Elan would defend her...!) But it's Miorine who breaks through her stammering, as she insists: "N-no, she tried to attack me earlier! If she was doing that again, s-s-she would have just done it! She hit that girl because she hit me, t-that's all..!" So she's trying to defend a girl... who already tried to take a piece out of her...?

        "I, um..." She says, her hands squeezing together, as she considers Secelia's question. "I just think it's wrong for someone else to get in trouble... because of me. I -- I should be the one to... I should take responsibility." It's an uncomfortable question, more incisive than it appears.

        (She has to...)

        She has to follow Arianna; Miorine all but said so, and she can at least catch those implications. "Um... t-there weren't really police on Mercury... i-it wasn't big enough. The elders just took care of it, so..." She doesn't know about running from cops. This explains so much.

        She blinks, though, looking from Luanova to Elan in the wake of her specific exemption. "T-thank you, but... do you... know him, Miss...?" She asks, evidently confused as to why he, specifically, would have to pay.

<Pose Tracker> Elan Ceres has posed.

        A handkerchief can be cleaned. Indeed, from a certain perspective, a handkerchief is meant to be cleaned. If it's going to be cleaned for any reason, it should be for someone like Suletta.
        
        It's still understandable that Miorine doesn't trust Elan as a head of one of the Three Branch Houses. Even so, when she basically refuses him, he simply gives her a long, steady look. He isn't doing this to try to get either of them to owe him a favor, but once again she reminds him that she simply won't believe him.
        
        It could be worse, though. Given how malignant Secelia's attitude can often be, it's always strange to see her actually treat someone nicely. At the least, she's more in tune with things like Feelings, something Elan would rather pretend not exist, and so offers Suletta some actually gentle gadfly questions. Elan watches her, a quiet gratitude hidden in his heart.
        
        "Yes," he tells Arianna in the meanwhile, now giving her a slight nod of acknowledgement. Anything else he might say gets cut off when Miorine addresses Arianna about her pop-up and Arianna addresses Suletta about the cops. Instead, he focuses back on Suletta, still insisting on taking responsibility for something that wasn't her fault. He understands after their conversations why she has that mindset, but-- "I don't understand. Why would that girl attack someone else on your behalf after first targeting you?"
        
        It isn't a guiding question, unlike Secelia. He genuinely doesn't understand the logic.
        
        Meanwhile, Luanova offers to pay for everyone to have a snack at Arianna's, even, which is kind of her. Except for him, of course, but that doesn't bother him. The outright, open snub doesn't get so much as a bat of his long eyelashes, and he lets Luanova answer Suletta's confused question with only a deadpan glance her way.
        
        He does still walk with everyone else as they start to follow Arianna, though. 

<Pose Tracker> Miorine Rembran has posed.


And Miorine certainly matches Elan look for look, perhaps she's still smarting over earlier when he implied he wasn't in fact after her.

Despite the fact she doesn't want him to be? Look it's complicated!

Secelia noting there are multiple people who will say that- "And another one being you doesn't inspire me with confidence." She mutters, before...

... Secelia keeps talking past her, "Suletta. Just ignore Secelia. If you feed her when she's hovering about we'll never get rid of her." As if she were a stray cat, or the like.

(More like a Stray Troll.)

It's perhaps a strange comment given how Miorine first seemed so willing to to feed someone who was hungry when she met Suletta but she's definitely not meaning in any physical sense.

But it's also obvious that Miorine isn't ignoring Secelia.

"Good grief. ... Didn't you hear her during the exercise? She even complained she was upset at you for all the retries!"

Arianna speaks on how she's write about the cops, and Miorine nods, "My lousy father owns the cops around here - which is how I know they're never on my side."

And as Suletta cites her inexperience with cops on Mercury, "And you know by now they're definitely not on yours." She says as her grey eyes rake across her.

Still, as they walk, and Luanova offers to treat everyone but Elan Ceres, Miorine just notes mildly without even looking at Luanova, "You'd be better off getting on his good side, than bothering with trying to court my favor."

She is... completely misreading Luanova's intentions there.

<Pose Tracker> Secelia Dote has posed.

Confessing to the murder of a Zabi would be dangerous in of itself, alongside the lesser but equally calamituous things that one can confess in the heat of the moment. There's nothing to say about the hankerchief; Even she knows better than to interfere with the slow give and take of someone interested in someone else.

Context aside.

"Responsibility for what? Taking an exam again? Mmmmh, so you didn't want to pass? I did hear Mercury was a bit rural, but friends defend friends." Take it as she might, Miorine's warning heard, understood, and promptly disregarded, she still lobbed another one to prod the Holder. "Thinking it's all your fault isn't going to retract the punch."

Still, she does follow the proper social cues, stepping along to shift with the crowd. She's not going to turn down Free Food, no matter the occasion. Being the student counselor that she was, blending in is as simple as bouncing around the crowd.

"But, but. If the cops are owned by your father, Miorine, that makes it all the easier. You could just pay them off or ask your father to fire them, no? Do you think he could turn down his daughter's pretty smile~?" And thus the social butterfly ping-ponged.

As for Elan... "People are complicated, you know. I heard about what happened with Chantury, but I don't think its as cut and dry as you might think." Ah, she's got her usual smile after stepping away from the Crime Scene. "Though, if they're smart enough to triplecheck the Demi-Trainer, they'll probably find something amiss~!" 

<Pose Tracker> Arianna Passerini has posed.


Arianna glances at Luanova. Then at Elan. Her eyebrows lift, but beyond that she doesn't butt in; instead, she simply leads the group back to -- the stall!

It's a tent over a table. There's just that fancy wooden sign out front. Still, the self-heating tray does give off gently warm and cheerful smells. Homey, perhaps, if one doesn't mind the scent of tomato and cheese.

"See, if you're dealing with things, person to person, you should take responsibility," she answers Suletta as she gets to work serving people up. (Heh heh, this is going to cut into the food waste she was facing down.) "But when you're dealing with the police, what I think is, you're dealing with a system there, not an individual. A police officer, as a person drinking a coffee or whatever? Whatever. But never give the legal system things it does not deserve."

Arianna glances at Elan as he is excluded from the circle of free eats. (Arianna's thinking this place may have less price sensitivity than she expected, but sadly, she is not a ruthless corpo...)

"Hah!" she says when Miorine speaks up. She does not comment further. After this, she tells Secelia, "I think you came to the main restaurant, right? So, since all of you are new to this one, I can tell you: Eat with the fork or pick up the shell with your hands - it's hot but not THAT hot - there's no wrong way to eat it. Just be careful; it can squirt."

"You're from Mercury?" Arianna asks Suletta, then. "I've never been. You wouldn't happen to know the dock fees and tariffs, would you?"

<Pose Tracker> Luanova Luckwright has posed.


        Luanova rolls her eyes at Miorine, tilting her head to the side. "I don't know the details of what happened here, but you kids seem like you could use the opportunity to settle down. Especially Ms. Mercury. Hi, I'm Lua Luckwright. I'm in the grad program." She steps forward with an offer to shake Suletta's hand, the firm kind of handshake you get from the youths who are used to doing formal business. Lua answers the girl's question without dropping her warm smile. "Oh, I've known him for years. He's nothing like this." What does that mean? Lua does not elaborate, and smoothly moves on to escorting the kids back to Arianna's pop-up, enjoying her stuffed shell. She holds it by the cardboard half-container it was given in. "Tempo Profundo isn't here every day. Good traditional cooking with some items you won't find elsewhere." That's another reason she doesn't mind paying: it seems like a nice idea to help this place get the business. She likes Arianna and her staff.

<Pose Tracker> Suletta Mercury has posed.

        "I... I don't know," Suletta sighs, when Elan asks why Chuchu would change her mind. Miorine reminds her that she was cross, and Suletta insists: "I -- I know she was mad, I just, I think... I think she wanted to help."

        The cops... are certainly not on her side, though.

        (Or Aerial's.)

        Miorine tells her to ignore Secelia, but when she asks if she didn't want to pass, Suletta's hands wave wildly in the air. "I-it's not like t-t-that! I definitely, definitely want to pass! It's just--! It's just, I couldn't--!! It was too...!" But she cuts herself off, and sighs again. "Yeah..."

        (She can't undo what was done. She can only move forward.)

        "I guess you're right," she says, to Arianna's insight about the police. "They kept asking so many awful questions... even when I told them everything. They just wanted Aerial to be at fault... it's not fair." So it's not fair when her robot gets blamed for crimes she doesn't commit, but Suletta should take responsibility?

        (It's not Aerial's fault.)

        "H-hello, Miss Lua!" She says, shaking her hand; she has a strong hand, but it's held delicately, as if her attitude doesn't match her physical profile at all. She looks between her and Elan, and says, "Um..."

        It makes her nervous, so she decides to address Arianna's question, instead, and she does indeed just pick up the shell with her HANDS like some kind of SPACE SAVAGE. "Y-you just have to talk to the elders!" She says, cheerfully. "We don't really get a l-lot of visitors, so we don't really have, um, d-docking fees, like that... but sometimes they ask ships for payment. I don't really know how they judge..." Just how backwater is that backwater, exactly?!

<Pose Tracker> Elan Ceres has posed.

        "I see," Elan tells Suletta. (He doesn't see. He doesn't press either, though.)
        
        He knows from experience that ignoring Secelia is a hit-or-miss prospect. Still, he doesn't weigh in on the matter. Ignoring her is sometimes the only thing one can do, but somehow he doesn't think either Suletta or Miorine will quite manage it.
        
        Especially when Secelia says things like 'his daughter's pretty smile' in regards to Miorine and her father.
        
        He does give Secelia's input on Chuchu's behavior due consideration, though. He doesn't pay attention to rumors, but even he knows she and Suletta both have had to retake the exam a number of times, something underscored when Miorine brings it up just now--and Secelia suggests that there was something wrong with the Demi-Trainers themselves. A thought pings in Elan's mind. He looks from her to the Holder.
        
        "Suletta Mercury. Why did you need to re-take the exam so many times? Even if you had a minimal support crew," i.e. a crew of just Miorine, "it shouldn't have been that difficult for someone with your skills."
        
        Before long, the group reaches Arianna's pop-up. Elan lets the others sit. He doesn't pay Arianna's many looks any mind, or Miorine's suggestion that Luanova should be trying to curry favor with him--but he does pause at Luanova's assertion that she's known him for years. Were they that well-acquainted...?
        
        Still, he doesn't remark on it, and neither does Suletta, and Luanova doesn't elaborate, so it's a topic that will just have to remain dropped. He listens to Arianna's legal advice and food warning both, and accepts and pays for his shell without fuss or fanfare. He wears gloves, but that just means the heat will bother his hands that much less.

<Pose Tracker> Miorine Rembran has posed.


At first Miorine pretends like she's ignoring Secelia again, but as she says 'Pretty Smile' Miorine utters something a little low, showing she'd definitely scored a point.

"If you want someone to smile for my lousy, good for nothing father then why don't you audition for the part yourself?" She utters, trying to dismiss the fact that she did, but she's obviously angry. "Show everyone your winning smile, Secelia."

Part of her wants to hit her, but she has to control her temper. Secelia has power over her future, being part of the Dueling Committee.

It's a different kind of power that one can exert than Guel did... when she was his fiance...

However, Suletta speaks of how she wanted to pass but... 'couldn't'... "'Couldn't?' And just where did all that determination go? The first time you meet a little adversity and you just give up like you're going to abandon your dream and run back to Mercury!"

There's this this sigh, "Honestly, if you'd just sucked it up for a few more attempts rather than showing everyone what a crybaby you are- we'd be done with this nonsense."

However, as Elan asks, Miorine is the one who answers the question, "What do you think happened? As an Unpopular Holder - she became a target. It's just like in those crummy duels!" She holds up a hand, waving it dismissively, "It doesn't matter that you got sabotaged. It's still your fault."

Arianna mentions the shells, she puts up a palm, "Pass. I'll take the fork." The gesture may remind Suletta of a certain moment when Miorine put up that palm.

It was just missing a forehead flick...

Indeed, Miorine takes up the fork once her meal is out and... slices, CAREFULLY a piece of a shell off.

She doesn't want any sex-crazed accidents and/or rumors flying around.

<Pose Tracker> Secelia Dote has posed.

"You couldn't, huh...I don't believe that." Stated as a simple fact to Suletta, the most straightforward fact imaginable. "Well, in contrast to lil' miss feisty here, I think a proper, working Demi-Trainer will let you pass it just fine."

Oh, she'd have words if it turned out that bastard suit was defective...Still, the gal's own words about how rural that place was...Best to keep quiet.

The mental scoreboard that no one was keeping track of was mentally notched by a few. "Aaaah? I'm sorry, Princess." There's a wide, wide smile of someone who's got complete confidence in her looks, and worse: She knows how to flaunt it. "Miorine, I can't do anything against Delling. You're the blood daughter of his lineage, I can't sway him with a pretty smile. Not unless...Noooo, I can't, I'm too young." She's got that smile...And immediately pulls back.

"But if you're not going to exploit your own connections, that's entirely on you, you know~"

She's not turning down free food. Not in the slightest. Eat with the fork or hands, huh...There's a bit of hesitation on how exactly to go about working at this shell, before opting for the fork. Sure, there's a thumb angled to keep it centered, but most of the work is with that trusted fork. Mhm. Not bad. Rouji's going to have to try this... "Got any more for sale? I think I could spare a few for takeout." 

<Pose Tracker> Arianna Passerini has posed.


Arianna smiles as her ship is named; she puts a hand over her heart. Then she looks towards Suletta. "Sometimes they have the right to ask you, but you can always think: How do I answer the question, without telling them too much."

A beat passes. "Aerial?" Arianna says, looking round for a moment. "I'm not familiar. Anyway, if you know how I can message them, it'd be good to know..." She smiles a little thinly at 'asks ships for payment.' Maybe she won't go to Mercury after all!!

"Ah, so you were the one having that bad luck," Arianna says. She points from where she's standing - "So business here isn't so good, and I watched a lot of your tests over that way." A decent slice, mostly the back half but a bit of the first half of the practice field, is visible from where Arianna is standing. It's not a great place to watch... but you CAN do it.

(Miorine gets a fork. Arianna glances at Elan, and her eyebrows lift. If there is a clear transmission here, it isn't emotional.)

"Certainly, but check with your patroness if you're buying out the tray, she may not want to drop so much for strangers," Arianna tells Secelia. Then, she laughs. "'Patroness,' it's so funny how you put these words together. The idea would have been absurd to the Romans!"

<Pose Tracker> Luanova Luckwright has posed.


        Luckwright whistles low. "'Elders?' Not a whole lot of places have 'elders,' per se."

        She sees Elan's pause, and it is met with a bright, closed-eyes smile and a wiggle of her fingers. Perhaps he has seen enough of her by now to recognize that, in this context, as a sort of taunt.

        "Really," she says conversationally to Arianna's thought of the Romans. "Because of the small scale, the gender politics, or just the grammatical suffix?" You don't get conversation about Rome every day. "Anyway, your patroness is good for a tray, go ahead." If she's going to try to be a smartass and order a day's worth, that's just silly, but if she's just bringing orders back for a reasonable amount of friends, Lua doesn't particularly care.

        Lua finishes one of her shells, and then leans back in her seat. "I don't really know what went down, but it wouldn't surprise me if sabotage did happen. When the stakes are high, there are a lot of people more concerned with what they have to gain than being honest with the people around them. Sometimes even when the stakes are low. This is the kind of place where people like that flourish."

<Pose Tracker> Suletta Mercury has posed.

        Miorine rebukes her for giving up, and she looks down. "I'm sorry," she says, quietly, and doesn't bring up just how much adversity she's been facing. "I know... it's my fault." Miorine lays the blame at her feet, and she just -- accepts it. Apologises. Even though she was strong enough to separate Chuchu from her prey...

        Still looking down, she adds context to Miorine's explanation, for Elan: "Um... it's my screen. My windshield, I mean... it went completely black," Suletta says, shamefaced. "I tried, but even with Miss Miorine helping me, I couldn't do it fast enough..."

        She brightens, though, when Secelia mentions getting her a working Demi-Trainer. "Really? I-if I could see, it would be so much easier...!" Even if it is Suletta's fault she was sabotaged, can't she hope it doesn't happen again?

        She frowns, though, when Secelia teases Miorine so blatantly that even Suletta can tell. "That isn't Miss Miorine's fault, Miss Secelia!" She declares, bravely. More bravely than her default, anyway. "She doesn't want to follow her father! Since he's mean to her, you should respect that!" ... even though Miorine just criticised her so painfully, she's still standing up for her.

        She is the Holder, after all.

        She finally manages to eat her little snack, though, and she smiles sunnily to Arianna. "Wow!" She declares, brightly. "That's really good...!" She's happier, as well, to say: "Aerial is my Mobile Suit. We're family! The people of Mercury sheltered us, so we owe them a lot. I'll get you their contact details... if I tell them you're coming, I'm sure you'll be welcomed!" Would Arianna really take advantage of poor, naive Suletta to waive docking fees?

        And she nods, to Luanova. "Um, you see, I was the only child on Mercury," she explains, "so everyone was my elder. Young people don't come to Mercury, not really... even my mom had to go to the Earth Sphere to do business, since there wasn't any at home." She was away a lot. It was lonely. She had to come to school on her own, she said...

        But she looks pretty cheerful now, so surely it's fine?

<Pose Tracker> Elan Ceres has posed.

        "...I see," Elan tells Miorine. And this time, he does see. Those two girls who were carted off on stretchers were from Jeturk House, after all.
        
        It does strike him, though, how people keep answering for Suletta. He starts to answer Arianna on the matter of Aerial, even, before he realizes he's doing it too--did it the other day, even, when Miorine was demanding why Suletta was defending him. He glances at Suletta and refrains for now, instead listening as she adds context.
        
        "That explains it," he muses. Not just why Suletta was having so much trouble, but-- "Then that girl attacked them because she thought they were the saboteurs." And they likely are the culprits, but Elan doesn't know if hard proof or a lack thereof would have mattered to that puff-haired girl.
        
        When Arianna asks that wordless question, Elan nods slightly towards the forks and accepts one for himself. He'll eat his shell with care, cradled in one hand and sliced open into small bites with the fork in the other. It's something to do while Secelia and Miorine are sniping at each other, something he has no interest in getting involved in, even if Suletta doesn't hesitate.
        
        As for Luanova, well... it's clear she dislikes Elan Ceres. He'd had a vague idea already, but he hadn't realized how deeply that went. He'll have to be even more cautious around her. Whatever taunt that smile and finger-wiggle represents, he leaves it be to focus on his snack and listening to the conversation. 

<Pose Tracker> Miorine Rembran has posed.


"Just remember that - the next time you feel like giving up on everything." She points her fork at Suletta, J'Accuse!!! "Do something more productive than crying about it."

Suletta explains further what happened to Elan, "We were just seconds away the last time you bothered to try." She adds like she's STILL MAD about it because of course she's still mad about it, "If you hadn't broken down - then you'd have gotten it done."

Miorine Rembran has never stopped being mad about a single thing in her entire life.

Indeed, Elan is correct, many people talk over Suletta Mercury - she makes it so very easy for Miorine to do so, as Miorine answers his comment. "I'm not so sure - but even if they were responsible it was a stupid way to deal with them."

She may be looking at Arianna and Luanova in this moment, given the discussion of the people who flourish here, "They'll just spin what she did to fit their narrative, and things will get that much worse for her and her House."

Miorine slices off a bite with a fork, holding it in her mouth as Secelia answers her, and she's not amused brows contracting with fury, but... Suletta comes to her defense, and she eventually slides her fork out.

"It's pointless lecturing her." She mutters, she has to... restrain herself there. "Secelia is just a sex-crazed idiot who doesn't know when to shut her mouth."

But wait, isn't SULETTA a sex-crazed idiot in Miorine's eyes? Oh no.

Solidarity???

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