2024-04-30: Teatime

• Log: 2024-04-30 Teatime
• Cast: Secelia Dote (ft. Rouji Chante), Elan Ceres (ft. Shaddiq Zenelli)
• Where: Asticassia School of Technology
• OOC - IC Date: April 30, UC 0099 (2024)
• Summary: While overseeing one of Asticassia's many petty duels, Secelia overhears something interesting about Elan and just can't help but needle him about it.

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<Pose Tracker> Secelia Dote has posed.

Secelia, as always when it came to these type of situations, was in the background. Taking the time to stretch her legs, practically half-slouched over the back of the couch while watching this duel. She's not concentrating. Much. Two Demi-Trainers bashing it out because one of them took the final lunch order over another. Granted, it was still an obligation to do so, and to keep watching over them...

...Shaddiq's got it taken care of. He's the observer. Secelia's just here with Rouji, the Haro swiveling about in the boy's lap.

"Got it working today?"
"Not particularly. The soldering needs some work, and it still needs the latest firmware flashed so that we can confirm its good to go before general announcement and release."
"I see." Secelia did not see. She wasn't a technical kind of gal.

"...I got twenty on the brash one." Ah hell. She's tossing a bet into the ring.

<Pose Tracker> Elan Ceres has posed.

        Shaddiq has to have it taken care of, really, because God Themself could not get Elan to care about a petty lunch dispute. He'll attend, his pretty face as deadpan as ever, but he'll likewise remain in the background, sitting on the other side of the couches from Secelia and Rouji, reading a book, content to simply be present and otherwise ignore what's going on.
        
        When Suletta Mercury or someone else equally intriguing duels, then he'll pay attention. For right now, he'll maintain his quality time with Schopenhauer.
        
        That is, until Secelia starts betting on the outcome. Elan still doesn't care and still doesn't look up from his book, but Shaddiq smiles over his shoulder at them.
        
        "Haha, that one does have a lot of spunk, doesn't he?" He turns his smile from Secelia to Elan. "Who's your bet on, Elan?"
        
        "No one," he replies, still not looking up.
        
        "Not interested, huh? What if it were the Mercurian Miss in the ring again?"
        
        Now at last Elan looks up to give him a flat look.
        
        Shaddiq's smile broadens as his eyes squint shut. "Just wondering," he adds lightly before he turns his attention back to the duel at hand.
        
        And that would seem to be that--except now Secelia has something to pounce on.

<Pose Tracker> Secelia Dote has posed.

Secelia would take up on this minute scandal out of brazen interest alone; Keeping tabs on who's moving where and how the relationships of the school were paramount to being a counselor. Keep an eye, move to do something before it cascades...Or be there when the smoke from the wreckage disappears. One of the two.

Poking at Rouji's Haro, watching the green ball flicker every so often. Good enough when its quiet. One look at Elan's book while she was passing over was enough to dissuade her from truly pursing matters of literature. Not too many words, but not the right kind of words that got her interested in enjoying that sorta genre.

Disinterested as she was, the silence was everything. The fact that Elan had a reaction...

"Hoooh? You've got your eye on her, Elan? What's up? You saw something in her?" A cup of her own chin, leaning back on the sofa. Elan Ceres, taking notice of Suletta. Of course she's interested. "Nothing that'd cause a conflict of interest if you're ever mandated to watch a duel of hers, right~?"

<Pose Tracker> Elan Ceres has posed.

        Philosophy doesn't particularly seem like Secelia's cup of tea, no. It's a subject that's too much of the mind and not enough of the heart--not unlike Rouji with his Haros. Elan isn't interested in starting a conversation, so that's just fine by him. But the matter of Suletta Mercury is different--for all of them, really. That's more Secelia's cup of tea, especially if she gets to spill it.
        
        So when Secelia does indeed pounce, Elan frowns at her, tassel earrings swaying as he turns his head. "No," he says curtly of a conflict of interest. "But she and that mobile suit of hers dominated Guel Jeturk easily."
        
        Which would seem to imply that his interest is in Suletta's capacity as a duelist... except he doesn't actually duel that often.

<Pose Tracker> Secelia Dote has posed.

Philosphy was not one of Secelia's strong suits, not in the textual form. No, living in the center of conversations and dealings was where a girl like her began to thrive, something so easily discerned as any Duel Committee happening would attest to. A crooked smile and a knowing glint in her eyes, sloching back on the couch she so intimidatingly occupied.

"Ah, Guel? Shame on him. He lost, and what the duel says, goes. Though..." A crooked eyebrow. "I never took you much for a dueling kind of person, Elaaaahn. If all it took was the suit to win, I'd be in a much comfier spot." The sort of underhanded Burion boasting: After all, Demi-Trainers were from the house sponsored by Burion. It wasn't glamorous, but everyone needed training wheels.

And that needed a supplier.

"So what do you think? Suletta's that sorta special gal? What'd they call 'em...Newtypes? One of those Cyber ones? Or maybe she's a Coordinator?" Even if Asticassia was outside the general purview of Earth-sided affairs, the encouragement to keep abreast of the developments of war was never understated.

<Pose Tracker> Elan Ceres has posed.

        What the duel says, goes--until and unless Guel challenges the new girl to a rematch to get the results nullified. But that's neither here nor there at the moment. It's simply a potential future, or maybe a potential yesterday. Both are an illusion anyway--only the result of human perception.
        
        Secelia subtle-brags about Burion's Demi-Trainers. Without batting an eyelash, Elan quotes, "'Victory is never decided by mobile suit performance alone, nor by the skill of the pilot alone.'"
        
        ...He did specify both Suletta and her suit, after all.
        
        That suit that might be a GUND-ARM.
        
        As far as what she is, though, Elan simply says, "I don't know."
        
        "But you're interested in finding out. That's why you brought her dinner while she was locked up, right?" Shaddiq pipes up.
        
        "...How do you know about that?"
        
        Shaddiq smiles over his shoulder again, if briefly. "Let's just say a little birdie told me."
        
        (Secelia's not the only one who loves tea.)

<Pose Tracker> Secelia Dote has posed.

The barb is deflected with a quick click of the tongue, waving it off. Lousy brat, knowing the Duel Speech by heart. (All the Duel Committee members have said it enough to know it by pure memory, but that's neither here nor there.)

GUND-ARM. The sacred cow that was brought here for some reason. That suit, like anything else, was something that piqued her curiosity. Was it, really, what it was? She's not one to totally rely on rumors or hearsay (only partially), and yet...Was it?

That being said. Dinner? To her? "Oh? That's much more than just mobile suit performance with a pilot, Elan~ Could it be? She's the Holder, you know. I know Miorine's clinging to her, but...Oh, this is gonna be good." A laugh from someone who's deduced a possibility. "What're you going to do if it is GUND-ARM? It's a perfect shot at the title of Holder, you know."

She has no real stake in it. So she says, anyways. THe continual assertions of her being in the business side of things is, at a surface scan, truthful enough.

<Pose Tracker> Elan Ceres has posed.

        It remains a mystery. Aerial's pilot and the company that made it insist it's not a GUND-ARM, and indeed, while Suletta is a mess emotionally, physically she seems fine enough. But without having been in the cockpit with her--without a closer look at how she pilots or the machine she's piloting--one can't be certain.
        
        As Secelia delights in this new information, Elan simply stares at her, eyes as flat as usual. But his book, and his hands, settle down to his lap.
        
        "I'm not interested in the title of Holder," he replies. And that too seems truthful enough. He's dueled, but never for the hand of the Bride.
        
        Of course, he could have always just been biding his time. Elan isn't exactly an easy read.

<Pose Tracker> Secelia Dote has posed.

Without anyone having been given the tools, expertise and permission (on the 'legal' side that ruled out forcible searches due to extenuating circumstances) to inspect the Aerial, who knew what it had! She wasn't the one talk about on these sort of things; The matter of putting the suits on the right spots mattered more than the specifications. Usually.

"Then, if not the title, or the actual suit..." Three fingers held up, flaunting how each of those two things left only an index finger pointing up, the sole thing that could remain. "...Should I start trying to find the romantic heartthrob songs now, or should I wait until you're serious about it, huh~?"

Oh no. Secelia has found a target that warranted suspicion of the Age of Teenager Turmoil. She is, of course, keeping an eye on the duel all the while. Her bet left open, she was already allocating that money back to "what sort of fancy meal strikes my fancy tonight?" accounting.

Choosing to lean on Elan's rejection made the needling easier.

<Pose Tracker> Elan Ceres has posed.

        If not the title of Holder, nor the suit itself, then what? There's an obvious answer there that Secelia makes a show of deducing. It's more or less an accurate deduction, since one GUND-ARM is surely no better than another and the Aerial is thus no good or at least no better to him. But...
        
        'Should I start trying to find the romantic heartthrob songs now, or should I wait until you're serious about it, huh~?'
        
        Elan's flat stare doesn't budge. He simply stares his colleague down.
        
        It might be more of a 'don't be stupid' than a yes or a no--but it's also more than an 'I don't care,' as Elan would usually say. He has that book right there in his hands, and he has yet to return to it, after all.
        
        If his interest in Suletta is romantic, he might have a tough time winning her heart from Miorine with how inexpressive he is...

<Pose Tracker> Secelia Dote has posed.

She matches the stare beat for beat, ignoring how the duel was progressing. A successive race to the arena and the room's climaxes, so one could say. Holding that stare, marinating in it, relishing in how Elan didn't try to even break away from her own akin to every other time.

"...I seeeeee." The last syllable is drawn out, a confident, brash girl slotting that sort of crucial information in for later expenditure. An IOU of sorts, destination undefined. "Then, I'll go with the latter option, if your non-choice is the answer." An overexaggerated shrug, collapsing back onto the couch proper.

"I can't help those who can't want to help themselves first." Nestling into the comfy embrace of factory-margin furniture was definitely not bought at a bulk discount, her attention flicks over to Rouji.

"Anything?"
"Nothing that's relevant. I think it's good to go."
"I'll make the call later today. Set up your investments properly."
"I already did."

<Pose Tracker> Elan Ceres has posed.

        In that sense, it is a win for Secelia, isn't it? Elan might not give her a proper response, but it's clear that he cares.
        
        "Do as you please," he replies, lowering his gaze and raising his book to meet it.
        
        ...he probably cares.
        
        He definitely isn't interested in Secelia's dubious guidance on the matter, though, so it's ultimately as she says. Still, even if it's only a baby step forward, it's movement forward.
        
        In the meantime, there's always Rouji. And...
        
        "The match is decided," Shaddiq announces as one of the dueling mechs severs the blade antenna of the other. And the winner is... NOT the brash one! What an upset!
        
        Good thing no one actually took Secelia up on her bet. She might not get that fancy dinner she wanted, but she won't be treating someone else, either.

<Pose Tracker> Secelia Dote has posed.

The smug satisfaction of winning an emotional battle, combined with the elation of being able to get one-over on Elan, the Philosophical Heartthrob of the Dueling Committee. Two for one, she's going to ride that high for a while.

The admission only adds to that compounding satisfaction. Ah, nearly as good as sussing people out in the first place. A step forward as a step forward, and apathetic brushing is slightly better than total rejection. Baby steps, indeed.

"...Che." She does hold herself to her word, pulling out her phone. A few taps, a wire money donation/transfer to the Dueling Committee's coffers. The budget for the next expo grows minutely, slightly larger with that. "Funds allocated. Good job, we'll validate your results about that food feud you two had." ...It was such a petty thing, too. Big robots for small disputes.

A victory for showing off the prowess of the Burion Demi-Trainer, consistent as always. "Any other duels incoming? There's still some stuff to square away."

<Pose Tracker> Elan Ceres has posed.

        'Admission' is a strong word, but then Elan did tell her to do as she pleases. If that includes interpreting what he says as an admission of Secelia being right, he doesn't have grounds to complain.
        
        Not that he would bother. But still.
        
        There are indeed other duels--but Elan won't be weighing in on those, just as petty as the duel that just passed. Between that and Rouji working on Haros, the rest will be up to Secelia and Shaddiq.