(8:34:14 PM) ***Charley sits in the communal office area of their assigned quarters back in the main (old) city. She's not in anything approaching a formal uniform, preferring instead a scoop-neck babydoll and a pair of denim shorts. Her hair is back in its usual tie. And all she's doing with it is some data entry and light correlative work, clearing some of the forms she'd promised Wallace she'd do for him.
(8:36:12 PM) Earthflame: The bugger is that half the forms are in the local language. Automatic translation software is pretty good, but it's still a slight delay and takes extra work to make sure. Caith drapes her arms over Charley's shoulders, leaning over to look at her with a pout, long blonde hair spilling down around her. "I'm boooored."
(8:37:32 PM) Charley: "*You're* bored," Charley snorts, eyes not diverting from her screen. "I think I can feel my will to live slipping away. It's no wonder Wallace is so jumpy, if this is what he does all the time. It's numbing."
(8:40:10 PM) Earthflame: "So talk to me!" Caith rolls over to slip down onto the arm, leaning against Charley's shoulder. "It will help both of us." The forms do seem endless... For such a small world, they produce a ridiculous amount of paperwork. It's no wonder Wallace is overworked, this is probably more than his office was expected to have to deal with, given the current state of things.
(8:41:55 PM) Charley: She sighs and scrubs her face with the arm that's not trapped under her familiar, leaning back in her chair. "Alright...let's see, uh...crap, you put me on the spot and my mind totally blanked out."
(8:45:16 PM) Earthflame: "So, it went back to normal?~" Caith teases lightly, giving Charley an amused grin.
(8:45:54 PM) Charley: "Hey!" She pouts. "Just because I like sports doesn't mean I'm an airhead."
(8:46:49 PM) Earthflame: "Of course not. Your head is full of bricks instead~"
(8:49:40 PM) Charley: "You know," she says archly, one eyebrow raised, "if I'm so dumb, what does it say about *you* losing that race to me forever ago~?"
(8:50:28 PM) Earthflame: "That I was very lucky~
(8:50:29 PM) Earthflame: "
(8:50:46 PM) Earthflame: Caith leans in to peck her in the cheek, slipping down to rest against her shoulder, loosening up her grip on the captured arm.
(8:52:00 PM) Charley: Charley's cheeks redden slightly, and she deflates from her jumped-up posture. "How are you so good at that?"
(8:53:18 PM) Earthflame: "Practice~" She laughs softly, shifting down to put her ears within Charley's reach.
(9:03:22 PM) Charley: "I suppose that makes sense." She obliges, petting the offered ears and scratching at their bases. As much as Caith enjoys it, it's calming for Charley too, so she takes every opportunity given, and then some.
(9:03:22 PM) Charley: A minute passes, give or take, and then Charley frowns lightly. "...What do you think of this place, Caith? Maeziou, I mean."
(9:05:29 PM) Earthflame: Caith sighs happily, eyes falling closed at the petting, her voice soft. "...It's more fun than home? It could be more fun... But I'm not having bad dreams."
(9:12:54 PM) Charley: Her frown deepens. "...You never told me you were having bad dreams before..."
(9:14:39 PM) Earthflame: "It's been a while. I had them worst just after we first met... But I just wanted to forget them." There's a pause, and the girl is now a fox again, curling up in Charley's lap. "This place reminds me of home just enough to get me thinking about them again, even if they've not returned."
(9:15:52 PM) Charley: She automatically starts petting through Caith's fur. "Did you want to tell me what they were about?"
(9:17:48 PM) Earthflame: "The races people lost."
(9:18:31 PM) ***Charley quiets for a moment, then gathers Caith up and hugs her enough to push her own nose into the fox's fur. "...Oh."
(9:19:47 PM) Earthflame: Caith wriggles into her embrace a bit, eyes closed. "I remember seeing them walk away... But I never saw any of them again. Nobody tried twice."
(9:22:10 PM) Charley: "I wonder if they knew they could," she mumbles. "...Doesn't matter. I'm here for you now."
(9:24:53 PM) Earthflame: "I'm really happy you won." She murmurs again, nestling in. "For both our sakes."
(9:31:22 PM) Charley: "Me too, 'cause I have the best friend I could ask for in you, Caith." She shakes her head. "You, and now finding Lana here, best big sister ever...the place is boring me to tears--well, except for that no-head guy--but I haven't been this content since I think just after you and I met."
(9:32:31 PM) Earthflame: "A little boring might do you some good~" Caith smiles, slipping down to curl up in Charley's lap again. "You're very quick to get in over your head... Although with Lana around, that always happened less."
(9:34:49 PM) Charley: "She did make sure I always had at least a lifeline, yep." Charley smiles fondly, remembering, as she goes back to petting her familiar. "...Kinda wish I had a way to do the same for her, now, actually."
(9:39:28 PM) Earthflame: "Mm?" Caith nuzzles at Charley. "What's got you worried?"
(9:53:54 PM) Charley: "Oh, just this...dumb arranged marriage thing that she's going along with." Charley looks away. "I know technically it should have been me, and Lana stepped in when I ran off, but...there's old-fashioned, and then there's *old-fashioned,* and I wish to the Saint-King that I could convince her to take at least a dose of catch up to modern times."
(9:54:30 PM) Earthflame: Caith chuckles. "Charley? If you were in her place, you'd have said no."
(10:11:58 PM) Charley: She gives an awkward grin. "Well, yeah, there is that...wish I could give her some of that stubbornness. But...I guess I sorta understand where she's coming from."
(10:12:30 PM) Earthflame: Caith grins and gives her an affectionate little headbutt. "Talk. I'm the only one here to listen~"
(10:16:17 PM) ***Charley sighs heavily. "So...even when we were kids, like before you and I met, our parents were really super hard on her. I know it's because she was adopted into the family and everything, basically playing bodyguard for the spoiled heiress--me--but they always dangled that bit of recognition right out of her reach. Like if she just did a little bit better, they'd treat her like a real daughter."
(10:16:24 PM) Charley: "Least, that's how I saw it."
(10:17:13 PM) Earthflame: "And you think that's what's making her do this?"
(10:18:39 PM) Charley: "Well, she's way more disciplined than I am, and--look, I don't think she's *really* thinking that maybe this last act will make her their real daughter. She's older than me, and smarter than me, and I'm sure this is all stuff she's thought about a *ton.* But at least on paper she's still their kid, and since I did the irresponsible thing then *someone* had to do the *re*sponsible thing."
(10:19:40 PM) Earthflame: Caith hops off her lap- And then her humanoid form places a hand on Charley's hair, stroking it gently. "...This sounds like it's as much about you as it is about her."
(10:21:12 PM) Charley: A grimace as she lets her head lean back into the touch, staring at the ceiling. "...You're probably right. I'm terrible at people-stuff. I just want Lana to be *happy*...but apparently I think my way is the only way for her to be happy."
(10:21:43 PM) Earthflame: There's a pause... And then Caith drops down, looking Charley in the eyes.
(10:22:54 PM) ***Charley mimics one of Caith's expressions, tilting her head slightly to one side. It's a gently quizzical expression.
(10:24:00 PM) Earthflame: "...Oh Saint King..." She actually giggles.
(10:24:56 PM) Charley: "...What? What's so funny?"
(10:25:11 PM) Earthflame: "I think you're jealous~"
(10:26:41 PM) Charley: "Jealous?! No way!" She sits up and turns around in the chair to face Caith. "I don't even like guys! Why would I want to get saddled with that puffed up ball player when I'm a better athlete than he is anyway?!"
(10:27:15 PM) Earthflame: Her eyes sparkle. "I didn't say you were jealous of Lana~"
(10:28:34 PM) Charley: "Well who else would you be talking about then? She was the focus of all this!"
(10:30:13 PM) Earthflame: "You're jealous of Him~"
(10:34:09 PM) Charley: That shuts her up.
(10:34:24 PM) ***Charley blinks blankly at Caith for several long, quiet seconds.
(10:36:51 PM) Earthflame: "...You were always the brawn to her brains. And you just get her back... And then some musclebound Belkan with a softer side and a fanclub swoops in to put a ring on her finger."
(10:38:00 PM) Charley: "...W-well yeah, but that's just because she's my sister, that I did, as you said, just get back..."
(10:44:49 PM) Earthflame: "If you say so~" She sing songs, smiling and ruffling Charley's hair again.
(10:47:12 PM) ***Charley grumbles under the gesture. "'M not jealous," she pouts, crossing her arms over her chest. There's red in her cheeks, though.
(10:47:43 PM) Earthflame: "So you're Not hoping to show up Kizellan by joining the other team?"
(10:48:30 PM) Charley: "Well yeah, of course I am, but just 'cause I gotta show him he's not all that!"
(10:48:49 PM) Earthflame: "And would you care so much if he wasn't engaged to Lana?~"
(10:49:40 PM) Charley: "Well, y--...probably," she amends. "But if he weren't then I'd probably never have heard of him anyway so it's all moot."
(10:54:31 PM) Earthflame: "You think so? He's still technically family, and it seems like you can't go anywhere on this planet without meeting one of their relations- A guy who looked kinda like him hit on me in a bar, playing up the old planetary nobleman thing." She smiles. "I threw the drink he bought me in his face~"
(10:56:45 PM) Charley: She sniffs a laugh, the smile coming somewhat unwillingly to her lips. "I bet his expression was priceless. Probably never had a girl turn him down."
(10:57:32 PM) Earthflame: "I'm not sure about that... He dropped a line about me being an animal in bed." She rolls her eyes.
(10:58:48 PM) Charley: "...Really?" She rolls her eyes. "Saint-King...now I wonder if he's a virgin, with pick-up lines that lame."
(10:59:44 PM) Earthflame: "Saint King, I hope so." She smiles. "But my point is... If you were here, you'd have met him. And I think, if he wasn't engaged with Lana... You'd probably get on with him. You appreciated him as an athlete, right?"
(11:01:31 PM) Charley: The response is, relatively speaking, a long time coming. "He was pretty good, yeah. Better than anyone else out there on the field, even if he just sat there waiting to use his Rare Skill."
(11:03:40 PM) Earthflame: She smiles. "Someone you could compete with. You know people like that make some of your best friends~" She preens just a little, fluffy tail waving expressively behind her.
(11:05:00 PM) Charley: "Well yeah, but there's been no competing yet." Willfully or otherwise, she's focusing on the parts that perhaps Caith isn't intending to drive home.
(11:09:00 PM) Earthflame: "Sounds like a place to start~ If only to ease off that restless energy." She hops over Charley, coming down behind her in a graceful landing- And then starts to knead her shoulders.
(11:13:52 PM) Charley: There is obvious tension there, released smoothly as Caith works her magic, and Charley's head lolls forward as she instantly relaxes under her familiar's touch. "...You've got ten minutes to stop that."
(11:14:23 PM) Earthflame: "If I do it for longer than that, you won't get any more work done today~"
(11:16:57 PM) Charley: "It'll keep~"
(11:17:37 PM) Earthflame: "How about...~" She keeps going for a few more minutes, but stops before Charley is too far gone. "I leave you with that and-" And then the small fox is curled up in her lap again. "Stay here while you finish up?"
(11:19:23 PM) Charley: She chuckles, well-loosened and with their earlier conversation buried in the back of her mind, and scratches Caith's head again. "Deal. And we'll go running later to make up for being stuck inside all day."
(11:20:22 PM) Earthflame: "Yay~" Caith lets out a contented little sound... And Charley is confronted with something odd. The page that awaits her is one she'd swear she'd already looked at, but it's not checked off the list.
(11:21:00 PM) Charley: She rubs her eyes quickly and leans forward to peer at it again, double-checking what it's for.
(11:22:57 PM) Earthflame: It's a list of TSAB financial requests, the subsidies offered to planetary businesses... After a second, she realises the oddity. The auto-translation software usually does a quick job. The pause to play with Caith let it give it the full workup, making it look a lot more recognizable. A quick search, and she finds the original- One in Midchildan, the other in Maezi, both listing identical
(11:22:57 PM) Earthflame: funding requirements and both signed off on by Wallace- The TSAB would be paying for all of these twice.
(11:28:04 PM) Charley: Charley frowns again, thinking. Paying these requests twice is bad enough, and smells of some kind of embezzlement. But maybe the requests being billed twice are related to that trawling shuttle on the ocean floor somehow, leaving the TSAB unwittingly funding this mystery organization's faux "Belkan" resurgence.
(11:28:04 PM) Charley: Then she groans. Of course, the damn hole in the sky is cutting them off, meaning it's all but impossible to corroborate with anyone back on Mid, to say nothing of even a neighboring system. And it's not like any of the other worlds connected by those caves have--wait, there's those observation stations...
(11:34:36 PM) Earthflame: Just from the stuff she was given, it's easy to see it's not an isolated incidents- Duplicate invoices, already signed off, for things like cultural funding, subsidies for Archerien operations or TSAB mandated improvements to the local prison... Even a duplicate tax rebate for some niche and specific Belkan write-offs. The duplicates are always delivered on different days from each other, amidst
(11:34:36 PM) Earthflame: large numbers of other papers... No wonder Wallace missed them.
(11:37:11 PM) Charley: It's looking pretty bad by the time she finishes going through the short stack. The simplest solution is that Maeziou, the ruling family and the Archerien and everyone, are bleeding the TSAB for everything they can, twice over...but it can't be that simple. Even if she allows for half the people she's met so far to secretly resent the Bureau while smiling at the incoming figurehead guards like herself, that's still too much...
(11:38:14 PM) Earthflame: Caith looking up at her from her lap, vulpine face expressing what might be a frown. "...You look serious."
(11:38:50 PM) Charley: "...Sorry. It's these reports..." She gives Caith a brief summation.
(11:39:31 PM) Charley: "It looks huge, but at the same time, it's not so big to make an obvious tell..."
(11:40:22 PM) Earthflame: "...Oh." She nuzzles against her. "...I'm not great with things like this."
(11:41:51 PM) ***Charley pets her tail with great affection. "Neither am I. I feel like there's something right there, some picture that's just too blurry to make out yet...but you know who's smart enough to do it?"
(11:42:10 PM) Earthflame: Caith grins up at her. "Lana."
(11:43:55 PM) Charley: "Bingo~ I'll get this to her attention later, don't want to scare whomever off."
(11:44:24 PM) Earthflame: She nods again, snuggling into Charley. "This is all turning out to be more complicated than we expected."
(11:47:01 PM) Charley: "Yeah." She frowns lightly. "It kinda makes some of the attitudes make sense, though. Bully the temporary TSAB presence into withdrawing itself from everything, continue robbing them blind..."
(11:50:18 PM) Earthflame: Caith just lets out a little whine, cuddling into her more.
(11:51:14 PM) Charley: "Who knew this place was filled with so many secrets..."