[IC] ANKL. Part 2

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

The blue haired Ustole had been content being quiet at the moment while she was being directly addressed. lt was a bit tiring dealing with Church Officials even when genuinely being cooperative. She was using the time she wasn't the center of attention to recoup, glad she had gotten the time she did to do so. "Given the circumstances, l do not blame you. No offense taken. Friends aren't exactly something l make often." She decided to exclude the methods many of their classmates had resorted to to escape her in the past. Others didn't see to take well to the prior resident leaving through quite permanent means. 

"My apologies for not telling you prior Arturia. Though... the roommate part l only knew about today myself. lt was only a matter of time anyway. Perhaps it's good that she choose to be here rather than... all of the prior residents of our little abode." Kaede was always a bit hard to read even for Arturia, perhaps the only person that'd spent enough time with her to even have one on her. However her earlier statements during the interrogation and Alva's well... willingness to be within 15 feet of her probably said more to Arturia then any words Kaede could. "That also goes for that girl. l had only known she'd arrive when Tys briefed me." as her mentor had often been to this room time and again, Arturia would be familiar enough to know who she was.  "l didn't know she'd arrive this quickly. She's not some normal church official either. She's something.... more. l've heard whispered but... l couldn't say with certainty such a thing was real."

Kaede looked to the girl. lt was certainly the one that had dislocated Alva's arm. The one that Arturia had run after that day. "Understand something Arturia. The less you tell me the better. l have to be as cooperative in this investigation as possible. Even though it's not my desire too, they'll be hovering around me anyway as they seemingly have no information and l was the sole member that was present in some capacity. l cannot lie if l do not know the truth. Her methods were immediately hostile. l'm sure you are aware what means given she'd reason to suspect you of hiding something. l did what l could. And l shall continue to do so to the best of my capabilities, but this is likely the start of a long road."

[Shamitako]

Lexi

 

"Oh, that's alright. It's nice to run into you again, it's been a little while." Lexi smiled at her friend.

 

As luck would have it, Lexi's books were on the same topic as Platinum.

 

"Arr you doing an essay on Layo too?" Lexi asked, "We could study together if you want."

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Platinum

 

"... Yes, it has been a while" Platinum replied, shrugging off the fact that Aislin practically ignored her question on 'how she was doing'. It didn't matter though, because if there was something going on, Platinum was fairly certain Aislin would tell her. Hopefully.

 

But, at the younger girl's question, Platinum shook her head, "Actually, I've been researching Layo as a pastime, but it's nice to have another head to share findings with. Aker should be getting a study room for the both of us, but I'm sure we can fit you in too" she explained, before standing up, a holding a decently sized portion of Aislin's books, along with her own.

[Chevaleresse]

"A little, yeah. Every single roommate we've had has transferred out after a few weeks." There was an implied, but unstated, "bitches" appended to the end of her words. Something pinged at her about the blush, too, but she passed it over, not entirely unconsciously. Good for Kaede. Her attitude changed a bit, the worry she was carrying about finally breaking through to the surface as Kaede spoke. "Yeah, I understand. It's. . . yeah. For the best." Looks like she was alone, for the time being. She barely knew what was going on with Lilith and there was already so much. A part of her desperately wanted to vent about what had happened today, but there were at least three layers of things that would be very bad for the wrong person to hear about. "At least this is doing a good job of confirming how I already felt about the church." 

[Twinwolf]

"I can't imagine why. Kaede's a little... different, to be honest, but I don't think it's in a bad way!" Alva... honestly seemed a little annoyed at these unnamed past roommates. Of course, she didn't know the circumstances. "The rumors are bullshit." She nodded, more to herself than anyone in the room. Then blushed a little with embarassment. "...Sorry for swearing." She said, as if it was a bigger issue than it was. 

 

Alva winced a little as the conversation turned back to the church. "...Yeah. I can't disagree on that... threatening death at a drop of a hat? That's just not ok." Alva did not like receiving death threats. She also didn't like that apparently that happened often enough for her to make an informed opinion on it (well, in the first case it was a human sacrifice threat, but same difference)

[Shamitako]

Sharp

 

The study rooms were more along the lines of study cubicles, only large enough to hold a small plastic table and the occupants of four chairs. Platinum and Lexi would arrive to find a large chunk of the table already covered in art books with a few mythology books scattered between them.

 

Sharp was surprised to see Lexi, but saw nothing wrong with a third member of their little study group. 

 

"Hello, Miss Lexi." He greeted politely.

 

"Hi, uhh... Sharon?" Lexi responded. 

 

Sharp didnt mind the uncertainty, and would have only been a tad annoyed at Lexi using his first name, if not for the rage that he was filled with towards the name Lexi had chosen to use for him.

 

His face went stone cold and he looked at Platinum to ask, "Why is she here?" With any sense of cordial attitude forsaken. 

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Platinum

 

"I see you've got everything together" Platinum said to Aker once she arrived, placing her own stack of books in a free portion of the table, before sitting down herself. It was about that time when Aker turned to her, asking her why she brought Aislin with her, which caused the small girl to return a less cordial look, "Aislin has been studying Layo Mysticism as well. I figured she would be a good addition to cross reference findings" she replied, "and keep an eye on her for a bit" Platinum added silently, picking up one of the books she had collected, beginning to read through it while Aker or Aislin replied, if they did at all.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

"They'd not usually resort to such methods... l don't know what that girl is but she's not a normal official. She said as much herself. They are desperate so it seems they've broken out some trump card." Kaede mused in response to all the hate of the Church. She'd little love of them herself but at least be angry with them for the right matters. Kaede felt something at Alva's words a reaction even slightly played across her face. She herself didn't notice the half smile that crept across her face but perhaps the other two girls had. Kaede turned her attention to the girl that seemed to be soundly sleeping at the moment or... what she figured was a state of sleep. An unanswered question... one of which she was unsure wouldn't taint her current state of plausible deniability. Arturia was clearly trying to keep something bout this mystery girl under wraps but... she couldn't begin to guess what. She'd hope it didn't tie to this investigation... it'd be problematic.

[Chevaleresse]

"I mean, just because I don't NORMALLY give out death threats doesn't mean it's okay for me to decide I should do so to random people because I think they might be connected to my agenda." She huffed, then seemingly started to relax slightly. "And, uh, Alva? I don't think I give a fuck if you swear, for the record." Arturia began an attempt to flop onto her bed once more, and once more was met with the fact it was occupied. She shook her head at herself; with that girl gone, it was time to deal with this. She glanced between her two roommates. "Just. . . Without getting into too much detail, if stuff starts to get real weird, please leave as soon as possible." She leaned down and reached out towards Lilith, gently poking her in the shoulder. "Lilith, you need to wake up, we have to talk to Miss Katherine."

[Shamitako]

Lilith

 

Lilith heard a voice reach into the darkness that surrounded her, stirring her awake. It was a comforting voice, one that made her feel safe in a way she hadn't felt since she was a small child.

 

"Mommy?" she asked groggily as her eyelids slowly opened.

 

But when Lilith finally laid eyes on the person standing over her, she remembered what had happened. Her eyes immediately shut again as tears started pouring out of them. She jumped upright and wrapped her arms around Arturia before the older girl had time to react. Though Arturia might have thought otherwise at first, there was no malice to the action.

 

"Thank you." Lilith said between sobs, "Thank you so much."

 

She continued bawling into Arturia's chest for quite a while before she finally released the hug. She kept crying even after she let go, but her tears were quickly fading.

[Chevaleresse]

Arturia breathed a sigh of relief when Lilith's lunge turned out to be another hug. "I'm just glad you're okay," she said, returning the gesture and patting Lilith on the back lightly. It occurred to her that this was an unhealthy dynamic, for her at least. Being gripped with fear every other time she got close to Lilith, but trying this hard to keep her safe anyway. . . Lilith accidentally calling her "mommy" started to make a terrible kind of sense. She was in it now, though, and she wasn't about to back out now. Besides, if it did go the way she was thinking of, she'd at least have done something useful with her life. 

 

She let Lilith cry it out while continuing to pat her until the girl decided to break it off on her own. Arturia grabbed a tissue and handed it over to Lilith so she could dry her face, should she so choose. "Alright. Uh, if you don't know them, this is Kaede, and this is Alva, they're my roommates. I took you back to my dorm after, er, everything, but I think we should go find Miss Katherine and talk some stuff out with her. Sound alright?"

[Shamitako]

Sharp

 

Sharp still wasn't happy, but Platinum's response was enough to remind him that they ha a goal here, he needn't let his personal feelings get in the way. That is, until Lexi spoke again.

 

"So, are you not Sharon?" Lexi asked innocently enough.

 

But Sharp was already seeing red. "Say that name again and I'll have your tongue." she threatened, deadly serious.

 

An high ptiched yelp escaped Lexi. "S-sorry, sorry. I'm really bad at names, I didn't know. Can, can you tell me your name?"

 

"Sharp Aker." Sharp said flatly, still burning with irrational rage. He continued to glare at Lexi, who merely squirmed, until a ringing sound cut through the tension. Both Sharp and Lexi turned to Platinum to see if she would answer her phone, which graciously deigned to distract them from one another. 

 

Lilith

 

"Hello." Lilith's greeting was barely more than a whisper. She recognized them both from camp, though she didn't really know who they were. She would have preferred to be alone with Arturia. She trusted Arturia. 

 

Miss Katherine? Lilith didn't know why, but she didn't like that idea. But.. Maybe it was necessary. If she didn't go, Arturia might not be able to keep her, and then she'd just go back. She didn't want to go back. 

 

"Alright." she agreed, "but, um, what about the-" Lilith cut herself off, glsncing nervously at the other two, "What about the milk?" 

 

It wasn't all that important in the grand scheme of things, but Lilith had been looking forward to experimenting with the formula she'd remembered. On the off chance it worked, it would help Arturia protect her. And even if it didn't, they could at least have some fun making it together.

[Chevaleresse]

Arturia looked at Lilith with confusion for a moment. Milk? It took a moment for the conversation they'd had before everything had happened earlier to filter back into her head, at which point the pale-skinned girl turned an impressive shade of scarlet; the second time Lilith had caused that sort of sunrise that day. And she had just called Arturia "mommy," too. "We'll, uh, talk about that in a bit." By Nayru's left nipple, this day was going every single variety of poorly. "Let's, just, step out into the hall for a sec," she managed, somehow sounding more strangled now than when she had actually had the wind knocked out of her earlier.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Platinum

 

At the continued antagonism between Sharp and Lexi, or the rather one sided version of it, Platinum sighed, flipping through another page of her book... At least until her phone began to ring.

 

The suddenness caused her to jump a bit, before pulling it out of her shirt's pocket, taking one look at the screen and visibly deflating. "One Extremely Doting Mother" was the Caller ID, which was only one person. Of course she had to call now.

 

"I need to take this, I'll be right back" she stated to Aker and Aislin, before pulling out her chair and walking off, more to find a less active place in the library to take the call. Soon enough though, after about the fourth ring, Platinum accepted the call, bringing the phone up to her ear and facing her back to one of the bookshelves,

 

"Hello?"

[Shamitako]

Platinum

 

"Hello!" an extremely cheerful voice responded to Platinum, "It's mummykins, how's my little princess doing? I hope your move went well.Kisses!" 

 

As always, Platinum's mother showed her "princess" with love but didn't give Platinum any chance to get a word in edgewise. 

 

Lilith

 

Lilith wasn't sure exactly what Arturia was embarrassed about, their earlier conversation had been full of so many embarrassing things that it was impossible to guess. The hall was a good idea, they would have at least a little freedom to talk out there.

 

Trying not to make things any more awkward, Lilith agreed quietly and headed for the door, saying only a brief goodbye to Arturia's roommates.

 

Mack

 

Mack returned to her desk and her book. Being a librarian again was a little dull, but it was the only position she actually had the credentials to get. It wasn't like it was the worst, Mack did legitimately enjoy the job. And she couldn't have done a more active job anyways, not while her arm was still at least a week from fully functional.

 

She had hoped Arturia would have come to the library by now, but it seemed Mack was fated to only look upon other cute girls. A call would have been nice though. After trying so hard to kill each other, the least a girl could offer was a phone call. 

 

As if the universe itself heard her complaints, Mack's phone chose that very instant to ring. When the caller ID showed an unknown number, her heart leapt as she thought she might actually have her wish granted. Unfortunately, the response to her, "Heyo, Mack here, who's this?" Was a barely intelligible, "HI, I'm dead people."

 

"Oh, upside down kid. I guess you got a phone." Mack replied, cloaking her disappointment in surprise.

 

"Wizardry does not come cheap, the earth holds a great bounty." Trick replied in her usual gibberish.

 

"You're using a payphone with some spare change you found on the ground, aren't you?" Mack felt she was getting pretty good at parsing Trick's nonsense.

 

"What path does the rebellious one take?" Trick changed the subject, confirming Mack's suspicions. 

 

"Seth? I dunno, I ditched Her after I botched the Alexus capture. She probably didn't want me to stay anyways, seemed real mad that I went for Layla instead."

 

"Your time is no longer held by gold?" 

 

"I mean, I still work, just not for Her."

 

"How much?"

 

Mack nearly jumped out of her seat at the bluntness of Trick's question. After all the riddles, it was actually harder for Mack to accept what Trick was saying when she was this straightforward. "Whoa, slow down kid." Mack answered, "You're calling me with sidewalk change, there's no way you can afford my prices. I only do free under specific conditions."

 

"The location is safe, but travel is tricky."

 

"Oh really?" Mack supposed that could work, "So one of your 'dead people' has some free riches, but you can't get there. I suppose I'll trade the location for a job, so long as it's not too risky."

 

"The guardian of the sea must find the key."

 

"Alexus doesn't have a knight yet, that's why I was supposed to kidna-" 

 

"The key, yes." Trick interrupted, a sense of urgency in her voice. Mack supposed she must have run out of coins.

 

"Right,yoy want me to find her a knight, will do. You can give me that location next time you find a phone. I don't usually work without an advance, but I'll make an exception for a magical girl who floats on her head."

 

Mack didn't get a response, just a click as the line disconnected. Seemed that was it from Trick, at least for the time being. Mack supposed she should get to work right away, she'd seen Alexus in the library earlier. If she got lucky, she could have the job done by the end of the day.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Platinum

 

At the sound of her mother's voice, Platinum visibly deflated a bit, resisting the urge not to sigh, "It went well, and I'm doing fine. I'm a bit busy right now, can I call you back later?" she asked. If she was anymore petty, she would've silently added 'not', but the last time she changed her mind about calling her back it... Didn't go well.

 

At least, it just made her mother a bit more annoying than normal. Which to her was enough of a punishment.

[Chevaleresse]

Arturia let out a sigh as soon as they got out into the hallway, trying to take a moment to compose herself. "Sorry, I, uh. You know, even if it's for a practical thing, that stuff's weird to talk about." She didn't mention the "mommy" bit for now, but couldn't help a second, internal sigh at that. At least if that filtered back through the grapevine, her mom would think she had a girlfriend and finally let off on that. On a slightly more practical note, they couldn't talk about Lilith's ideas around the other two, not after agreeing it was best that nobody eavesdropped on anyone else's business. "So, uh, about the. . . milk? Does it really have to be. . .?" She couldn't quite bring herself to finish that question, embarrassment clamping down once more.

[Shamitako]

Platinum

 

"Oh dear, I didn't mean to interrupt. Of course you can call back later." Platinum's mother said, the fact that she was being genuine making what followed even more agitating, "But while I have you, I wanted to let you know that I'll be traveling to Nayo for work over the next couple of weeks. Now I know you went to a school with housing so you didn't ha e to worry about my travel schedule, but I still feel terrible leaving you for so long, so I asked your Auntie Silver to come check on you while I'm gone."

 

Luckily for Platinum, Aunt Silver was much more subdued than her older sister. She'd probably only agreed to the checkups because of how long Platinum's mother's business trip was going to take, Platinum had never known Aunt Silver to agree to anything without a good reason. 

 

Lilith

 

"Well, there are the other options I mentioned, but milk would be significantly more stable and much easier to get, since you can always just buy some at the supermarket." Lilith explained, "It's the metals, the silver especially, that are hard to come by. And if I get the ratio wrong the whole thing is ruined, so even if we get enough there's a chance of it all being wasted to first try."

 

Lilith wasn't sure why, but talking about this made her feel calmer, more focused. This weapon, it felt important to her to make it. More important than even she could truly know.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Platinum

 

“Alright, alright. I’ll direct anything of importance to Aunt Silver, if I have to. Goodbye, good luck on your trip” Platinum replied, and before the conversation could continue, she hung up, leaving herself to stand in silence for a few seconds before sighing. At least she could handle her Aunt, so everything wasn’t too bad, but her mother's constant worrying never let Platinum feel good. She could handle herself. She HAD to handle herself.

 

Either way, with that, Platinum pocketed her phone, stepping away from the bookshelf behind her and walking back to where Aislin and Aker had been left. 

 

Hopefully they hadn’t been getting on each others nerves more than before.
 

[Chevaleresse]

Arturia blinked. "Oh." Supermarket. "I thought you meant. . . Uh, nevermind that." If she hadn't thought of the same thing, she wasn't going to be the pervert that admitted to her mind going there. "Anyway. . . I don't really have a lot of money to throw around - Mom just takes it back if I don't spend it all, so I can never really save. Plus I'm not really sure where to just get silver, unless you've got a lot of nice jewelry or something." Arturia started to walk down the halls, in the direction she remembered Miss Katherine's office being in; she wasn't too worried about being overheard. Snippets of the conversation would just sound like something out of a fantasy novel or roleplaying game, unless the listener was already in the know - and everyone in the know seemingly wanted a piece of both of them already. 

[Shamitako]

Kallisto

 

"So, you wanted to talk?" Kallisto asked the strange woman before her. She didn't seem like much, but she had asked Kallisto here under the claim of being the one to revive the goddesses, so Kallisto was extremely wary.

 

"I did. We have much to discuss." Her replied in a measured tone.

 

"How?"

 

"I suppose that would be the most pertinent question, very well." Her pulled a curtain off the wall, revealing a mirror, "This mirror can reflect anything, so I visited your children and used the mirror to reflect you across time through their bonds."

 

"Huh, that's surprisingly simple. I don't suppose you'll tell me what my son is up to?"

 

"Deucalion is the leader of a cult in Layo where he ritually maims sacrifices and tells the future using sunspots. I hear he takes after his mother."

 

"I'm glad he's doing well, but you wouldn't be telling me unless you intended to ask me for something in return." Kallisto noted that the woman who had brought her here, Delilah, had left the room. Her must have been extremely confident in either her abilities or her offer to face down a goddess on her own.

 

"Have you played Queens?" Her asked, holding up a Knight piece from the mentioned game.

 

"I know what game you're playing, and I have my own plans to win."

 

"Thats the thing, I'm not playing yet." Her put the knight into her pocket, "I was hoping you might be willing to let me join in."

 

"You want my knight to be on your side. If you have control of my defense, I'll have no choice but to listen to you." Kallisto understood perfectly, but that was only half of the bargain, "What do I get out of it?" 

 

"Your brother."

 

"You're bluffing, I failed. And he doesn't have someone to link your mirror to."

 

"You didn't fail though, it just took a while for the results to become clear."

 

Kallisto still couldn't accept it, "How do you know where he is when I don't?" 

 

"He came to me, offered to join my cause thinking we had a common goal, but he thinks too small. I don't want to destroy you."

 

Destroy. Kallisto should have known he'd hold a grudge. Bringing him back wouldn't undo the sin she and her sisters had committed. It certainly hadn't assuaged her guilt, success didn't undo the irreparable harm she had caused to all of them.

 

"I appreciate the offer, but I can find him on my own. Telling me he exists at all is more than enough." Kallisto turned to walk out of the room.

 

"I'm sorry, but your ability to leave is also part of the deal." Her said, her voice still perfectly measured. 

 

"I was hoping you'd say that."

 

An arrow crashed through the window, heading on a perfect trajectory for Her's heart. Her was unfazed, and the mirror behind her flared to life with a pale green glow, causing the arrow to spin around and fly back in the direction it came from.

 

Behind Kallisto, there was a scream which was suddenly cut short by a gurgling choke. Natalie walked up beside Kallisto, a metal spike coated in ice and frozen blood extended from her palm.

 

"I don't think I can get past that." Natalie said.

 

"Not alone, but she seems to have to consciously defend herself, so enough attacks at once and you can get through."

 

"Got it." Natalie nodded and sprinted forward, a purple sword materializing in her free hand. She slashed upwards with the sword, but Her effortlessly deflected the attack, causing Natalie to be flung backwards.

 

Natalie kept her attacks up and Arya's arrows continued to fly through the window, but Her had no trouble deflecting them, so long as she kept her eyes on her attackers. Unfortunately for her, that meant her eyes weren't on Kallisto, who walked walked around the room to get behind her, standing next to the mirror. At Kallisto's signal, Natalie and Arya stopped their attacks and Her finally realize what had happened.

 

"This mirror is impressive and very unique." Kallisto said, reaching out to touch it, "I'm told that weapons such as this are bound to their wielder after their creation."

 

"Yes, no matter how you try, that mirror will only respond to me." Her boasted, but her calm voice wavered slightly. The mirror flared to life, and started to reflect Kallisto's hand away.

 

Kallisto shook her head, "No, I don't think so." she said as a shield of flames burst from her hand and surrounded the mirror. Rsthet than being reflected away, the flames locked at the mirror and the edges of it began to melt. Her's face paled in fear as she realized what was happening. The mirror snapped off the wall and appended itself to Kallisto's forearm, searing itself to her skin as it turned into a shield.

 

Kallisto's new weapon was split into two disks, a larger one serving as the main shield and a smaller one which attached to her arm. The larger disk spun freely from the smaller disk, a function that's use was quickly made apparent as Kallisto swung her arm, causing the shield to spin rapidly and detach from her arm. Cloaked in flames, it spun through the air and sheared off Her's arm, causing the woman to scream in agony.

 

"Before I kill you, I'd like to ask one thing." Kallisto said, "Who are you really?" 

 

Her clenched her teeth and fought through the pain to answer, "Why don't you ask my father? Tell him Mary says hello." 

 

Rather than let Kallisto kill her, Mary channeled her true power and caused the ice on Natalie's spike to echo through the air and impale her through the chest. 

 

Lilith

 

Lilith seemed uncomfortable at the mention of jewelry. "I, um, I do have some jewelry, but we'd have to go back." she explained. "And I don't want you to see those things." she thought to herself. "I don't think that would be enough anyways, we need something bigger, around the size of those little carvings people put on shelves and stuff."

 

Lilith had no idea where to get that much silver, and money was even tougher for her than Arturia, since she'd relied entirely on Cora for support the last two years. Maybe Miss Katherine could help. Lilith still didn't like the idea of visiting the teacher for some reason, but it seemed like Arturia trusted her, and Lilith trusted Arturia.

 

The offices were in a different building from the dorms, but close enough to connected by a hallway between them. While each teacher had their own individual office, they were clustered into several branches to make it easier for teachers with similar responsibilities to communicate with one another. Being a general guidance teacher, Miss Katherine's office was in the largest branch, one which had a reception room to help organize visiting students.

 

Surprisingly, despite the tumultuous nature of moving students around, Arturia and Lilith were currently the only visitors. The only other person in the room was the receptionist, a boy about Arturia's age. A very pretty boy with practically glistening medium brown skin and curly black hair. Though his features were soft and almost girlish in places, Lilith could tell he was a rather strong boy, at least compared to the absolute noodles that receptionists usually were. 

 

On seeing the two girls enter, the boy directed his orange eyes towards the floor, his head quickly following in a submissive bow. It contrasted pretty oddly with his appearance, Lilith had been expecting more confidence from someone so well-groomed.

 

"Hello Mades Dearest, I am your most humble Betwere, how may I be of service to you this fine evening?" his greeting was ridiculously formal, even for a man performing a service job. Lilith figured he was probably new and was still sorting out how to weave his name into introductions without seeming presumptuous.

[Chevaleresse]

Arturia noted Lilith's discomfort, but found herself unable to think of a way to address it. I knew it was a bad idea to bring jewelry up. Fortunately, before they could fester in awkwardness for too long, a distraction in the form of a cute boy made itself known. She almost startled herself with the thought; Arturia had never been the type to be "on the hunt," so to speak, rarely noticing such things unless she was specifically seeking them out. The awkwardness ratcheted up again when he began to bow and scrape. "Uh, hi, Betwere," she started rather lamely. She was pretty sure she understood why he was nervous, though it didn't do much for the silver-haired girl's own feelings. "We were just visiting Miss Katherine. Is she busy?" A part of her wanted to reassure the boy that he didn't have to be so formal, but she also didn't know how to manage that without making it more awkward. Maybe it'd just naturally come if she visited often?

[Shamitako]

Lilith

 

Lilith wasn't used to being treated so formally, and actually kind of liked it, even if Betwere was taking it to a bit of a ridiculous degree. Still, she stayed quiet and let Arturia do the talking.

 

When Arturia mentioned there reason for being there, Betwere immediately started typing on his computer. "I'll double check." he said, "But I believe Made Lucille put in for some emergency time off the other day." he focused on the computer for a short while and his face fell, "I'm sorry, Mades Dearest, she did indeed take some time off for an emergency trip to Nayo. If it's nothing urgent, I can take a message and try to get in contact with her."

 

While Betwere was talking with Arturia, Lilith was looking around the room and trying to avoid getting involved in the interaction. As she glanced around, she noticed a mirror hanging on the wall nearby. It was just one of many items mixed in with paintings and some wooden carvings of holy symbols, but it stood out to her. Suddenly she knew where she and Arturia could get enough silver for their purposes. In her excitement she nearly announced it outright, but managed to stifle herself enough to reduce it to a giddy smile while they were still with company.

[Chevaleresse]

Arturia narrowly avoided cursing out loud, mostly only stopped by Betwere's formality. "That's. . . unfortunate." She glanced at Lilith who was . . . grinning like a loon? Maybe she'd just thought of a joke or something; she'd need to ask in a moment. "Let me think for a sec; it's kind of urgent." She couldn't really give him the full message; that would invite far, far too many questions. Of course, so would her other ideas. "It's also private." A bad combination. She also didn't trust anyone else to help her with the issue; the closest thing to an influential person Arturia knew was Kaede, and they'd already agreed to not speak about whatever was going on for one another's mutual benefit. "Uh, do you think you could just, I dunno, tell her to call me as soon as possible? I can give you my phone number, if that helps." That was also probably weird, but it was at least less weird than her trying to sneakily ask for Lilith to be placed in a room without a guardian's consent. 

[Shamitako]

Betwere

 

Though he was somehow maintaining his cool outwardly, inside Betwere was in full alarm mode. He'd only been here for a week and a half. He barely knew what he was doing with basic things, and personal information, like phone numbers, was not basic. And Alexus's tits why was the tiny one smiling like that? 

 

Moving very deliberately, Betwere opened a drawer and started searching for the relevant forms while he explained the situation to the girl. "I can take a phone number, but you'll have to fill out a waiver. Do you have self-signing permission from your mother or legal guardian?"