Stahlmin 99 [Claes, Goib]

Both Veiller and Goibniu were up-in-arms about Chastain's little mind trick. When Goibniu started to berate him, the officer gave a casual shrug.

"I wouldn't so much call it hypnosis as I would 'mental suggestion,'" Chastain argued.

A smirk rose from him, but it faded easily enough with Veiller glaring. He scoffed.

"Besides, problem solved right? Alphonse and Glas do the report, and I can focus on my recon."

Everyone's eyes had been on Chastain, so they were a little surprised to hear Kiara meekly say she was going to finish the assignment. As Kiara walked away, the Captain squinted, but said nothing. Chastain once again shrugged and walked back to his seat, picking up his book and resuming his readings.

Around this time, Claes had been getting her bearings. Glas hugged ridiculously strong and aside from the sheer embarrassment, being smothered was something Claes had to recover from. She had tuned out entirely to the conversation. Well, she had until Kiara spoke and pass by her. Claes tried to straighten up and follow her, noticing the tiniest healing on her forehead.

"K-Ki...Kiara..."

She tried to get up, but then dropped back into the chair. Her back still felt like jelly.

Glas, who had been reading the papers, waved at Kiara as she left.

"C-come back soon!" she said. "We have adoption papers to figure out!"

"Glas?"

"Hm?"

"Please don't say you're serious."

Glas gave the captain a sheepish smile. The Captain rolled her eyes and moved back to Goibniu.

"That you do, McCrae," she said with her hands on her hips. "I'll deal with Chastain's behavior. You should maybe check on Alfson over there. She seems...the worse for wear. And then find where your friend ran off to."

***

Once Kiara left, if she was paying attention, she would see a quick blur of violet pass her. A short thing only a few inches taller than herself in a fine blue and white dress, her violet hair in a ponytail.

"Liseran, come back here," a low voice growled.

Before Kiara would even notice, she'd bump into another person. The said person quickly stumbled back, adjusting his kerchief. He wore the signature Expiate trench coat. A jabot peeked out from the collar.

"My apologies, officer," the voice said, though it seemed quite distracted.

If Kiara looked up, she'd see a man almost a foot taller than her. He was extremely pale, and his hair was a golden-wheat color. He was on the older side, perhaps his early forties based on the lines under his eyes. His features could be described as hawk-like. His sharp light blue eyes looked down at her as he adjusted his neckwear. Kiara would be able to identify him as the Chief Commander.

"But that's practically the same thing!" And indeed, it was. Goibniu had the upmost respect for his superiors, as they were in said positions for a reason, which is why he held them to a higher standard. For Chastain to be so casual about the situation was rather weird, but at least the captain knew that he was better than this. He did say the report would be done by Alphonse and Glas, and while he could protest about it, he wasn't told if someone specific needed to sign the papers, only someone from the Special Ops room.

Kiara, who was the victim in all of this, was not amused by the event, and thus took it upon herself to leave the room completely with barely a goodbye. Goibniu would have followed after her, if it wasn't for the fact Claes was still rather rather stunned by the hold. "O-Officer Alfson, are you okay?" He said, as the woman merely slumped on a chair, looking rather under the weather. "Yeah, I'll see if I can get her to move." And with that, he placed one of her arms on his shoulders, holding the officer close so that he could help her walk. "Officer, lets get going, Cadet Kiara ran on her own."

Kiara, stopped short as an officer seemingly rushed past her, she turned on her heel and ended up nearly running into someone ELSE. She looked up a bit in annoyance before the man apologized. She damn near moved past him before she realized just WHO it was. Well...At least this didn't take long.

Kiara looked down, reaching into a pocket for the letter. She noticed her vision was fairly blurry and blinked a few times. When she felt tears rolling down her face, she was quick to wipe them before holding up the paper. "I have a letter for you." She said blandly. The commander would notice that the cadet in front of him looked oddly drained. That and, while she didn't appear to be injured, there was blood smeared across her forehead and hand. She didn't seem to notice either and she tried to push the letter into his vest. "It's a personal letter. Probably important." She continued as she continued trying to find an avenue to slip the paper in. It was clear she wanted to be anywhere but there.

By the time Goibniu protested, everyone had moved onto doing what they wanted. Alphonse was looking at the papers and Glas had gone onto hugging the Captain.

"Glas, please!"

"Hauuuu but I miiiiissed youuuu!" Glas whined.

"Rrraaaaahhh!"

The two would wrestle as Goibniu checked up on Claes. She was struggling to get out of her chair. However, she finally managed to straighten up.

"R-right, McCrae..." Claes said woozily.

She'd push herself out and looked to the door.

"She shouldn't have gone off too far. Let's go."

Claes would slowly step on the ground, wobbling as she did and open the door. The moment she did however, someone would crash right into her.

"GAH!"

Claes hit the floor hard as another figure let out a squeak. The person in question was a girl in a blue and white noble woman's dress and a shawl with violet hair in a ponytail.

"C-Claes! I'm so sorry!" the voice would say.

When Claes opened her eye and looked at who was on top of her, it was Liseran.

"Liseran?" Claes said, suppressing a groan from the impact.

Liseran hurriedly got off her and looked aside.

"S-sorry. I was running from--"

Liseran scowled and looked down at the ground.

"Never mind. Are you hurt?"

She'd help Claes up before looking at Goibniu. An embarrassed flush would cross her face.

"A-ah...Officer McCrae. Sorry, I didn't see you there. I'm not interrupting something am I?"

***

The Commander would examine the envelope for only a second as Kiara tried to evade him. His eyes were quick, and he definitely saw the red of her eyes and the smudge of blood on her forehead.

"Hold up a moment," the Chief Commander said, his voice firm.

If Kiara didn't pause and turn around, he'd step in front of her, his hands on his hips. Kiara would notice just how sharp his gaze--like blue sharpened steel. They quickly softened, however, coming across as confused.

"Did something happen to you, Cadet?" he asked.

"Perhaps once we finished our tour for Cadet Ferro, I should take you to the infirmary to-" He began saying, when suddenly something struck Claes. That something turning out to be someone very familiar, with a rather familiar purple hair color and perchance of being involved in the Expiate despite her only connection being her blood. Thought Goibniu was a little bit more concerned for Claes, as the poor girl has been at her wits' ends ever since the tour started, and now she has been facing physical assault everywhere she went! This definitely isn't her day.

"Oh dear... is everything alright?" He asked the two, as Liseran took notice of his presence, and apologized for her inconvenience. "Well... not exactly. We have been doing a tour through the headquarters for one of our latest officers, as well as delivering papers to key members of the Expiate. It just so happens that the Special Ops room took us a bit longer than normal, and as we made our way to the Chief Commander, we got separated." He said, as he looked to where Liseran came from, with a look of confusion. "But, what has caused you to run like that? Were you running towards something in particular?"

Kiara froze as The commander suddenly asked her to wait. She weighed her options for a moment. Before she could make a decision, he stepped in front of her, asking if something had happened. He'd see confusion on her face as she looked up at him. Her eyes would squint hard into his, giving an unintentional glare as she tried to figure out what he could possibly mean.

Oh!

"Oh the clothes?" She snapped her fingers and a wide smile suddenly appeared on her face. For a moment it seemed her worries were forgotten. "I did this myself! A design that gives me freedom of movement, access to my tattoos, they'realsocardicmarksifyoucanttell, and still represents the Expiate!" She placed her hands on her hips, rather proud of herself. "I'm Cadet Kiara Ferro!" She then seemingly realized just who she was talking to and snapped a halfhearted salute while pulling a small notepad from her pocket.

"While you're here, I've noted some..um..Issues with the state of affairs here, and I think with a few edicts in place, productivity could really skyrocket." She flipped it open and quickly began to scrawl notes. "I meant to write this before I met you, but one of the problems got in the way." She glanced up, then back down at her notebook, then back up again.

"Are you aware that certain members of your special ops team are prone to bribery and mental manipulation? A small investigation will likely show other corrupt ventures of one Officer Chastain." She wrote down a few more notes, a serious expression on her face.

Claes touched her sides tenderly. God, her body was going to ache tomorrow, wasn't it? Liseran and Goibniu started an exchange, and Claes' eyes fixated on Liseran in concern. She hadn't seen her, well, since that horrible stray incident. Not so long after that, it was the library in Aldmerrow. Whatever the case, it was a surprise seeing Liseran in a normal situation.

"Lise..." Claes murmured. "Why are you--"

"I'm not running towards anything," Liseran said, completely ignoring Claes. Her tone was stiff as she glanced behind her. "I was trying to get away from--"

Liseran scowled and lowered her head.

"Look, it doesn't matter. You two are busy, I"m sure and I hate being in this building as long as I have been."

Claes looked like she was about to speak herself, but frowned and looked away.

"But of course," she said stiffly. "Be that way."

Liseran was about to step away, but then turned back, scowling.

"Oh, you're mad?" Liseran said.

Claes crossed her arms, scoffing.

"No, of COURSE not, milady," she said. "It'd be irrational to be mad at a friend I haven't talked to for months and who I last saw PRETTY MUCH DEAD and is now insistent that she wants to be AWAY from me as much as possible."

Liseran's eyes widened, completely in utter disbelief.

"Excuse me?"

Claes turned her head away.

"Just go. That's what you want, after all. Wouldn't want your daddy grounding you, now would you? Oh wait, he can't. You're already grounded."

"Wh-why--you--!"

Liseran's face had turned pure red and her body was shaking. She looked like she was going to shout back if Goibniu didn't intervene.

***

A brief glimpse of surprise slipped out from the Chief Commander's stoic expression as Kiara shifted moods entirely and started talking about her outfit. He looked at her up and down, as if only realizing the monstrosity that was her new uniform design.

"A-ah...I--"

But Kiara quickly shifted to talking about "improvements" and also Chastain.

The moment Kiara mentioned that name, the Chief Commander scowled.

"Ah. Him," the Chief Commander said. A gloved hand lifted and massaged his forehead as if he was nursing a headache. "I've definitely had complaints about him. I'll have a good conversation with the special unit's captain about this. Though..."

He looked at Kiara seriously, lowering himself a bit to meet her at eye level. His bright blue eyes shone.

"I'm more concerned if this has to do with why a new cadet like you was running in tears from the direction of the Special Unit department," he said.

As it turned out, she wasn't running towards something in particular, but rather trying to get away from something, that something not being stipulated, as the conversation soon shifted into a sort of spat between Liseran and Claes. With each statement the conversation escalated into more dangerous levels, with Goibniu caught in the middle, trying to get his word across without much success. Either he would get one word out that'd be ignored, or his mouth would just open right as one of the girls rebutted the other.

And then, there was a moment of hesitation where Liseran was fuming, yet not replying immediately. This was the edge Goibniu needed for him to speak up. "Aaah, girls, wait! Calm down." He said, stepping in to stand between the two. "It would appear that the past between you is rather sour, but I believe that a contest of who can make the other angrier is not going to do. I suggest we try and solve this more amicably, explaining each other's situation and refraining from belittling the other." He said, as he began looking around.

"... However! I believe it would be better if, aaaaah... we try and solve this at a later time! Officer Alfson, we must return to Cadet Ferro, who knows the kind of situation she's stuck in!"

Kiara blinked in surprise as the Commander cooly sidestepped her complaints and instead chose to focus on something entirely unimportant in this conversation. "Tears? Me? Nah that doesn't sound like me at all." She shook her head, wiping her eyes one last time JUST to make sure. "That was probably just the blood, its fine. I'm fine. Anyways."

She tapped her notebook with her free hand, seemingly done with her notes already. "I recommend looking at my notes here, they show problem areas in the Expiate and its staff. It also has the full details of Officer Chastian's corruption and abuse of power." She then just up and tore a few pages out of her notebook and held them forward proudly, all the while giving a wide, yet slightly off smile to show that she was ONE HUNDRED PERCENT completely fine.

As Goibniu tried to explain things, Liseran and Claes diverted their gazes, their arms crossing. At the mention of Kiara, Claes' mood shifted into one of worry.

"Kiara," she murmured. She'd take Goibniu by the risk and give him a small tug. "You're right, McCrae. We should go. It's pretty clear we're not wanted here either."

As she said the last line, she sent a glare at Liseran. Liseran stiffened, but sharply turned.

"Of course," she said bitterly. "I'd hate to inconvenience you two. Good day, officers."

And with that, Liseran bunched up her skirt and started in the other direction. Claes flared her nostrils and would yank Goibniu along until the Chief Commander and Kiara would be in sight.

***

The Chief Commander stared at a moment as Kiara denied feeling upset, arching his eyebrow when she casually mentioned the blood. He placed the notebook in one of his hands, slipping the envelope in between to keep it secure as he started reading her "report". Kiara would then see a white folded handkerchief in front of her.

"Best tidy it up then. You'll worry the nurses walking around looking injured."

He looked back at the notebook. As he did, he continued to speak, albeit absently.

"As creative as your efforts are for modifying the uniform, cadets aren't allowed to wear whatever they want," he said. "Now that I'm saying it aloud, you must be who Velhesca had been talking about. Your rationale for access to your marks would be justified...only Expiate officers are expected to quickly and efficiently cast marks without having access to printed ones. After all, most of your Expiate function marks are those that I'm presuming aren't on your arms, either"


He said all of this nonchalantly, as if reciting something from a handbook. Then, eyes lifted as he looked at the torn off sleeves. The bright blue eyes had earlier seemed rather dulled and tired, but some sort of light shone as he paid attention to the tattooed marks.

"That said," he added. "Tattooed marks show their own form of practicality. Perhaps you can enlighten me on your own reasons for them."