003 Video/text @SERENE

[sereneflame]

[For the last week Serene has been completely missing but now here she is, sitting on her bed and grinning widely. Her formally pale face is now deeply tanned, far more than those few weeks on Zeta-12 could have left her, and her bare, paler shoulders look more firmly muscled than before]

Am I dreaming or am I here? [If your character speaks Persian well, she'll sound like she has an atrocious accent. If your character isn't fluent they likely have no idea what she's just said.

She laughs, rubs her face]

I hope I'm speaking a language most of you understand, but who knows what you strange earth-humen speak. Hold on!

[Her eyes narrow in concentration and text slowly appears on screen]

Hello! I am Serene Charlord, a newly arrived yet not a new recruit. It has been near two years since I have walked these halls but I see this place is as strange and chaotic as I recall.

Are there any here who still remember me? I hope so, for I have spent the last two years hitting my forehead as I think of questions I should have asked about your realities while I still had the chance. I am not sure what power has drawn me back here again, but I would not be surprised if it was the force of my curiosity.

[By the time she comes to the end of that text she's biting the tip of her tongue between her teeth. She considers her words and shrugs, grinning again]

There! Now I have covered everyone. Hello, my old friends and enemies. I look forward to meeting you again.

Comments

action?

[ofobedience]

[He takes in the view, recognises the part of the castle she appears to be broadcasting from, gives a nod.]

And I suppose I could take a break from dealing with them. It becomes monotonous after a while. I'll be with your shortly.

[The image cuts out, and it only takes him a little longer than one might expect to reach her room. Killing the bugs may be a monotonous task, but he still pauses to dispatch any of the vile creatures he comes across on his way to her. As such, when he knocks on her door, his uniform is a little blood-smeared, skin still vaguely smoking from the wounds he endured on his little journey.]

action!

[sereneflame]

[When she opens the door and looks down on him her eyes widen at those smoking spots of blood on him.]

I forgot you were shorter than me.

[But there's still an atmosphere about him. She opens her door and lets him in, pulling up her wrist keyboard to type]

You are shorter than I remember! But you still so very much the same.

Can I touch you without you grabbing my hand?

[ofobedience]

[She opens the door and her voice comes in a collection of incomprehensible words that have his head tilting slightly to one side, lips curled in a sharp little smile despite his lack of understanding.

Then the typed-out words appear, and he laughs a short clipped laugh, shrugs his shoulders. He never gives much thought to his height, and after all, two of the most influential women in his life are taller than he. It seems fitting.

Her request strikes him as strange, though-- outside of the twins, it's been the longest time since someone else touched him in a situation other than battle or to serve some specific function]

I suppose that depends on how you intend to touch me.

[sereneflame]

[She taps away quickly and shows him her screen]

I intend to hug you because I have missed you. Don't break any part of me!

[She gives him a moment to read that and then moves in, her arms open and ready to catch him about his shoulders]

[ofobedience]

[It's a fair concern-- throwing herself at him unexpectedly may well have resulted in just that.

As it stands, he has time to read the words before she's moving towards him, and in line with her request he refrains from lashing out, doesn't catch hold of her or push her away. Instead he stands there stiffly, back straight and muscles pulled taught beneath the skin, doing nothing to reciprocate the gesture]

[sereneflame]

[She expected the stiffness, so she simply wraps her arms about him and squeezes him tight for a moment, leaning her cheek on his hair as she murmurs]

I was so shocked that I missed you, but here I am.

[She lets him go and pats his shoulders as she steps out of his personal bubble again]

There, you did not suffer too terribly in my arms, did you? Come and sit down!

[She goes and sits on her low bed, gesturing to the seat at the desk and at the mattress beside her, letting him choose where he's most comfortable]

[ofobedience]

Das kann ich nicht nachvollziehen.

[And yes that applies to whatever she just said to him, but more than that, it's her behaviour he can't understand. Standing there with her arms around him and her face pressed close, it leaves him with a vague unsettled feeling that he can't fully comprehend.

She moves away though, and it's true that he didn't suffer, only felt some nameless feeling that left him ill at ease. He moves to take a seat at the desk, though, maintains a facade of cool collectedness despite the small unsettled sensation that runs like fingers across his Spine.]

I suppose not.

[sereneflame]

[She grins at that as she reads it and then up at him]

You suppose not indeed. Giovanni! I honestly cannot believe that I am seeing you with my own eyes again.

[She cocks her head as she stares at him openly, then holds out her hand to him]

Can I see your glasses? I have always been curious about them

[ofobedience]

[It's still a hard thing to grasp, that she's really been gone for a long stretch of time when he'd only seen her a week before, but so much about this place is strange that he tries to let it slide. Just smiles his knifeblade smile.

When she extends her hand to him he regards it coolly from behind said glasses, chin slightly tilted.]

They're ALASTAIR issue, like the jewelry. A substitute until I can regain the ones I lost.

[Because even here - perhaps here moreso than anywhere else - it's uncomfortable to be without them.]

[sereneflame]

[She puts on a pout at him for not immediately indulging her whim, though it's not a serious look. In truth she's intrigued]

Then are they functional rather than decorative? I had assumed that they were simply a fashion from your world.

[ofobedience]

[She can go ahead and pout all she likes-- all he does is smile that slick little smile of his, shrug his shoulders.]

They function much like the jewelry, you can use them to communicate with other members of the team. I'm sure you can get a pair of your own if you're that interested.

[And there's the other function of course-- to help conceal himself, cut himself off, obscure any wayward emotion that might show in his eyes, unwittingly.]

[sereneflame]

[She pouts at him again for that, though she lowers her hand and leans back on her bed]

And deprive the world of a chance to gaze into my beautiful eyes? Even I am not that cruel a woman!

[ofobedience]

[Good, she's desisted.

In the wake of her comment his eyes go briefly to hers, hidden as his are behind the glasses (a good thing, a useful thing) and then he laughs, just once.]

Careful, now. You know what they say about pride.

[sereneflame]

[She giggles at his laugh, pleased she's gotten some amusement from him]

No I do not, at least not on your world. Tell me what your people say.

[ofobedience]

That it comes before a fall.

[His smile is a sly little line]

[sereneflame]

Hmmm...

I don't like that saying. Pride is a healthy emotion to have, for those with none are far too vulnerable to manipulation

[ofobedience]

[Too vulnerable to manipulation. Well. His face is a smooth unreadable mask, whatever emotions lie behind it remaining remote and out of reach, but perhaps that blankness conveys something in and of itself]

Perhaps. It's just a saying.