2024-07-09: Is It Betrayal?
- Log: 2024-07-09 Is It Betrayal?
- Cast: Seolla Schweizer, Elan Ceres
- Where: Asticassia School of Technology
- OOC - IC Date: July 9, UC 0099 (2024)
- Summary: Seolla helps bring a shipment to House Peil from Mao Industries. Elan is initially uncooperative--but then they talk it out.
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
The last year of apprenticeship with Mao Industries has been...taxing on Seolla, for sure. She chose this path more out of fear than ambition - it was a company friendly to Mithril, now Satellicon. It's somewhere she could get an in with owing to experience and contacts - Tessa was a major help there.
But she's a little out of her depth, largely doing odd jobs and test piloting rather than something to make a more stable career with. And nowhere is that made more obvious than her current task - simply operating a ship carrying various mobile weapon components sold to Peil Technologies. In essence, being a delivery driver for the company - though one who's more than capable of defending herself in the event of any piracy.
As the transport ship is waved into Peil House's hangars in Asticassia's docks, and cargo unloaders converge on the vehicle, Seolla finally has the chance to stretch her legs, disembarking into a glass-paned lounge overlooking the expansive hangars. With a hiss of air seals unlatching, Seolla tugs free the helmet she's worn the entire flight, washing her face in...a water fountain. She's far from a fussy type when it comes to the little shots of relief after an operation, but it certainly garners her the occasional odd look - not like the rest stop is all too crowded.
<Pose Tracker> Elan Ceres has posed.
Asticassia School of Technology is built into a front, which means there's all kinds of deliveries made to and from it every day. This is especially so for the Houses backed by one of the three major branches of the Benerit Group. Professional adults, assisted by Peil House students, welcome the transport ship and the cargo unloaders. Seolla might get some odd looks, but Peil House is an austere, spartan house. The people here focus on their goals.
In particular, Elan Ceres has no reason to be here beyond that he's the head of Peil House. Given that this is, to certain people, more than enough reason all on its own, he is particularly checked out of the proceedings, openly reading a book rather than paying attention to the proceedings. He's a piloting track student anyway; there's little for him to do beyond provide one of the signatures for the paperwork. He doesn't pay Seolla any mind. He doesn't look up from The World as Will and Idea until some of the Mao Industries people approaches him with an e-signature device.
"Mr. Ceres, so nice to meet you," they say with a friendly smile. "The unloading is going smoothly and we should be done on schedule. Could I have your signature here to confirm delivery, please?" They hold out the e-signature device.
He doesn't lift his pretty face so much as a millimeter. "No."
The Mao Industries rep falters. "Er... no?"
He turns a page. "Come back later."
The rep sees the absolutely nothing else Elan is doing and boggles a bit, momentarily lost for words.
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
Water droplets mist the air as Seolla tousles her face dry, taking a deep breath of the recycled air. ...Asticassia's a place she'd considered attending, but the idea of getting into one of the most cutthroat institutes in the Earth Sphere struck her at the wrong time. Maybe under different circumstances, the challenge would've felt like an aspirational fight...but after her escape from the School, it just felt exhausting to think about. And besides...
Seolla's head cranes over towards where her coworker's having a difficult time with a basic task, and overhears the flat denial of the signature - and her lips crease into a frown. A long, rough sigh later, and the pilot's marching towards Elan with a piercing glare, placing a hand on her coworker's shoulder, and brusquely accosts Elan,
"Listen here. I know all these little formalities are eating into your clearly busy schedule, but they're important for our operations. Don't go thinking you're too good to lift a finger, got it? Honestly, that's what I can't stand whenever we've gotta call Group members...they're all so full of themselves, ugh..."
It's a familiar slightly-breathless accusatory tone - not as intense and vengeful as when Seolla was at Sveaborg, but certainly coming from the same place. Her coworker's obviously put in a bit of an awkward spot between the two, and they slowly back off - Seolla snatching the signature device from their hands in the meanwhile.
"Take the two seconds to uphold the nanometer of responsibility we expect, okay?" Seolla's clearly got it in her head that Elan must be some kind of holier-than-thou rich kid...
<Pose Tracker> Elan Ceres has posed.
It isn't Seolla herself that catches Elan's attention. It isn't even her demand for basic courtesy and upholding his end of what's going on here. It's her voice. When she speaks, he blinks up at her, lips slightly parted. He stares down at the signature device when she snatches it out and holds it out at him, then back up at her.
"..."
Then he shuts his book and sets it down. His flat affect doesn't change--his expression is still stoic, his voice is still quiet and nigh-emotionless--but this time he actually looks at Seolla and her co-worker both.
"I'm sorry. I wasn't clear. I'm not refusing to sign. But signing before the cargo has been fully unloaded and we can confirm everything has successfully been delivered would be premature. If anything happened to be damaged or missing, it would create more paperwork later for both of us," he explains, looking from her to the Mao Industries rep. He bows his head, tassel earrings brushing his face along with his long side bangs. "I apologize for my rudeness."
"Oh--" The rep looks from him to Seolla, then puts on another smile. "No, when you put it like that, I understand. I'll get an ETA on the completion, then. Seolla, could you keep Mr. Ceres company while I go do that real quick?"
Once they get confirmation, they jog off. Elan watches them go. Then they look over at Seolla, still holding the signature device. He takes her in a long moment before he finally asks, "You're a pilot?"
That's probably obvious from her suit, but still.
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
Of course, Seolla didn't quite get the opportunity to hear Elan speak more than once or twice on that day - and there was quite a lot going on, so when he does explain himself, his voice doesn't quite elicit the pang of recognition.
Aren't exchanges unfair sometimes...
Planting a hand at her forehead at the simple but clear explanation, Seolla starts to stammer, "...If that's what it was about, you could've at least- hkhkh...augh." Deep breaths. She's having to go from full steam to zero in the span of less than a minute, so she takes a long step back, stretching her arms wide for a single moment.
"...Alright. Yeah, have them give us a timeframe so we know what we're in for. Should've asked that to begin with, but I wanted out of that ship for some slightly more fresh air..." Seolla's fingertips massage at one temple, and the rep runs off, leaving the slightest awkward silence that Elan gratefully breaches.
"Huh? Yeah, I'm - my internship's as a test pilot for Mao, and since it's something I'm able to do, I run these transports every so often. It isn't really glamorous, but what is, anymore?" A momentary skyward glance, tucking the device at her side, before she finally takes a close look to Elan's eyes...and pauses, just for a moment. The flicker of feeling more...apprehensive? Careful? She isn't sure what. Just that her impression of Elan from a distance wasn't entirely correct, perhaps. "...You're Mr. Ceres, huh? ...Hm. You're not exactly what I expected. Younger than I thought the big-shot would be around here, though that's not exactly unusual these days. ...Well. May as well ask what's been happening at this school these days...if there's any gossip worth sharing with the delivery girl, which might not be much."
<Pose Tracker> Elan Ceres has posed.
Even if he had spoken only a very small bit, the pilot of that Zowort Heavy had a voice modulator on, distorting their voice. Sometimes exchanges are made to be unfair.
Elan only watches Seolla when she grouses about his initial curtness, his expression still unchanging. He doesn't speak--but that gives Seolla time and emotional space to cool off and mentally reset. The rep acknowledges Seolla and leaves, and it's just the two pilots left.
An internship as a test pilot... Elan considers this claim. It certainly seems true, but is it just her that's hiding a secret, or does it go all the way up to Mao Industries's CEOs? Impossible to know.
...Still. It's a relief, one reflected in the way his eyes and shoulders relax slightly. So she survived after all.
He doesn't look away when she stares back at him. He shakes his head slightly. "I'm not a big-shot. I'm just a student. The expectations placed on me have nothing to do with who I am." He pauses. "I don't pay attention to gossip, but I can tell you what I'm aware of. Before that, though... what's your name? I want to know who I'm speaking with."
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
Unlatching a water bottle from her hip, Seolla takes a few brief sips from it - further cooling the heat vents, even if she still looks a little like she's stuck with a residual scowl.
Popping the built-in straw free from her lips, Seolla idly spins the helmet on her wrist with her free hand, as though testing it against gravity. "Huh? My name? ...I'm Seolla. ...Sometimes I'm a little unsure if I remembered it right, but I'm pretty sure I did. Yours? Unless you wanna keep this formal, 'Mr. Ceres'."
...She's covering up for how she probably should know the first name of the person she was supposed to be coordinating this delivery with, but didn't quite clearly remember.
"Hm. I guess the attitude from earlier...or maybe some other stuff on my mind was making me think you called the shots around here. So they're just assigning you a simple task to get you used to the humdrum of shipments, or something like that? ...Well, it'd probably be bad even for students like these to feel lost and confused in a cargo bay. I always imagined a place like this would be totally beneath someone like you, though."
Closing her eyes, Seolla holds onto a little segment at the edge of her helmet, and casually tosses it to the side - but what she's gripped is a safety tether, so it just reels back towards her palm right before it hits the floor. There's a frustration she can't put to words here...that aimless sense of envy towards those more fortunate, perhaps.
<Pose Tracker> Elan Ceres has posed.
"You're unsure if you remembered your own name right?" Elan prompts. Maybe it's just his stoic mien, but he doesn't actually say that as if he's confused by it.
Even without what he suspects about her, he understands well what it's like to not be able to remember.
"Elan. Ceres," he replies. His gaze tracks her helmet as she seemingly tosses it away, but really keeps it on the end of a line so it can't get away. "I'm supposed to be overseeing. But with as many competent people as there are here for this, there's nothing to oversee. I only need to check at the end that everything's been done correctly."
He pauses again to look at Seolla for a moment, as if making up his mind about something. Then he gazes out at the general hubbub. "I don't want to be here. But I also don't have a choice." A beat. "What about you?"
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
"...That's probably a weird thing to say, sorry," Seolla murmurs under her breath. "...Had memory problems growing up. Some stuff happened," she quickly says, a little evasive of the topic. "...But Elan. I'll do my best to remember it. Elan, Elan..." ...she may work a little too hard to remember, if she's gonna repeat it over and over.
...But the way Elan phrases that simple question-
Seolla's eyebrow raises just a tick - if it were just rich kid apathy, he wouldn't have asked her, huh? A fist clenches, then relaxes.
Turning in place to look the same direction Elan does, Seolla thinks about it for a minute. Is this really where she 'wants' to be? "...Well, I'm not sure about 'wanting' to be here. There's...more important things I should be doing, but don't really have the ability to do right now. Being here is...selfish. Someone I know would even call it cowardly. Betrayal, perhaps."
Every time Chienne's voice rages in her ears, all Seolla can think of is how she might be right about everything. Is that who she should be more like? Raging in vengeance against the world and setting aflame the people who hurt her and everyone like her - hunting them down to enjoy the sight of their demise...
"...But, well, I chose to be here, I guess. ...If I did what I wanted, there's people important to me who'd cry."
<Pose Tracker> Elan Ceres has posed.
Some 'stuff' happened. Elan nods once. If it's weird, it doesn't look like he thinks much of it. "Seolla," he repeats in return. He doesn't press further about that 'stuff'--not for now, at least.
He does wonder at first by the change in her expression and the way she clenches her fist if he's unintentionally angered her somehow. But she relaxes and looks off into the cargo bay with him. More important things she should be doing... He mulls on this.
"Betrayal is a strong word," he notes. "Do you think that someone is right?" The rest of what she says, about choosing to be here, would indicate 'no'--but the fact that she brought it up at all hints 'yes.' Likewise, she says she chose to be here, but if she did what she wanted, her loved ones would cry. He looks at her again. "What do you want to do?"
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
"What I really wanna do, huh," Seolla thinks to herself. Her gloved hand grips tighter to her helmet, watching as the cargo handlers open and close the hatch on the beige-colored Huckebein tucked away in its own sub-hangar on the ship.
"...Is it betrayal if you promised someone you'd help them, and just barely didn't have enough power to do so? If you'd probably die trying? If you know that without your help, they're going to suffer?"
The last time she heard Ouka's voice was so long ago...and it's already starting to slip from memory, despite so many agonized days comforted by her.
"If I were doing what I wanted, I'd be risking everything for their sake. For the sake of everyone like them. Hah. ...Saying it to someone who doesn't know probably sounds really childish. Like I wish I could be some kinda avenging superhero. ...But it's true."
Craning her head over Elan's way, Seolla asks, "And you, Elan? You got me to admit something ridiculous and immature, but we're probably never seeing each other again, aren't we? Got anything ridiculous and impossible you want? ...I guess it's not 'impossible' for me...just insanely reckless and stupid."
<Pose Tracker> Elan Ceres has posed.
Elan stares into the middle distance for a moment. Then he neatly, quietly folds his hands in his lap. "I don't know. I've never had anyone like that." He thinks. He doesn't remember for sure. But if you can't remember, it's the same as never having had anyone. That's not the point of what she said, though; the point is... "I see. So you have people who would cry if you died."
He shakes his head when she supposes he finds it childish. "It's true I don't know your particular circumstances. However, it sounds like you've given the matter a lot of careful thought." He looks back at the ship. If it were Suletta Mercury, she'd probably blame herself for not being able to keep a promise like that. She'd probably die trying to uphold it. And Seolla isn't Suletta--isn't either of them--but Elan suspects she expresses more of that wish than she's willing to admit to.
"It's not wrong," he says quietly, thinking of what she'd screamed that night, "to be angry at the injustice in the world. There's so... so much of it."
He considers her question. Will they really never see each other again? He finds himself hoping she's right. If she does end up getting herself killed trying to risk it all, he'd rather not know about it. Better to leave these chance encounters on a neutral note. But that, too, is not the point. "No," he replies. "Wanting things you can never have--" hurts too much. "--is meaningless."
The rep comes into view then, walking over at a brisk pace. Elan nods to them in acknowledgement before glancing back at Seolla. "...We should leave it at that. I hope you and your crew have safe travels."
Even when you're free, there's always something pulling you back... It might also be meaningless to wish her safe travels, but--it's the least he can do.
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
...Did Seolla give it much thought? She steps backwards at the idea, covering the bottom of her chin with her helmet, before she admits, "...I really didn't think about it. I honestly...just did what others told me. Just like I always did. Even doing something selfish is something that takes someone else's guidance."
"...But I'm doing it because it's where I am from wanting something I thought I could never have."
Seolla's eyes turn to iron here - stern and resolved and turning to fully face Elan. "...There's days I thought I'd just have to give up. Frankly, I could've never imagined what happened to me until right before I did. ...Weird things happen. Impossible things happen. ...So don't say something like that..."
There's a slight shimmer in Seolla's eyes. Her lips part in the slightest pained grimace. "...This world's a terrible place to many people. ...I'm furious at it all. But if I stopped wanting to help whoever reached out, then they'd win. There. I'm in this because people I'm disgusted with would laugh and celebrate if I gave up on impossible wants."
...At the seeming conclusion of all the exchange of goods, then, Seolla breaks from that flame of vengeance, and remembers in a haze what she even started talking to Elan for, offering that digital pad back silently to be finalized and signed for. "...Yeah. I guess we should. A lot's been on my mind, and for some reason it fell on you. ...Heh. I guess that's what happens to people who have a bad attitude around me."
Seolla flashes a small smile once it's done with, and then, lowering her shoulders, finally turns to get back to the transit shuttle now that it's all unloaded.
...but before she leaves for good, one last look back at Elan. ...Something she can't quite place in her expression. ...Maybe a misplaced memory, she concludes.
<Pose Tracker> Elan Ceres has posed.
Elan gives Seolla a considering look. It seemed to him that she'd thought a lot about it, but she says she hadn't thought about it at all. There's something there--something relevant--but before he can grasp it, it floats away like a soap bubble. He can only let it go.
But Seolla hasn't, and doesn't. In that respect, she is similar to Suletta. Elan's lashes dip as his gaze sinks. "...I see. You're a willful person. I hope that carries you far."
It's already too late for him. But she asked him not to say something like that, so he won't. There are things he can't say outright, same as her.
When he signs off on the device, he gives her a shallow nod of farewell in response to her smile. A bad attitude, huh... Maybe she's right. But he doesn't know what other attitude he can have.
He watches her go for a time--long enough to see her look over her shoulder at him with an odd expression. Then he picks up his book and goes too.