Goriel and beyond, part 6

[Graybeard]

Sister Rose was touched (although Argus' response had also been what she was hoping for). He trusts me. Even though this is something that's Tsuirakuan business, he's willing to share, and to trust that I won't do anything that gets him in further trouble. Under the circumstances, what a leap of faith that is ...

I love this man.

She pulled her thoughts back together. "The mind speech is a good idea," she said. "That way you can say truthfully, if asked, that you didn't talk to anyone else about it, not even me." She smiled slyly. "The truth, nothing but the truth, but not necessarily the whole truth."

A minute or two later, they were installed in Rose's cell, which was slightly the larger of the two (although, much to her regret, not large enough for Argus to spend the night there). Argus opened the seal and began to read.

My dear Cleiviein:

An unfortunate event has occurred in the Homeland that commands my attention tonight. I must therefore use this alternative mechanism to inform you on a matter of mutual interest. Please accept my apology for this breach of decorum. (Wow, thought Rose when she "heard" this. An apology -- from Kitaura? Argus is moving up in the world.)

I herewith inform you that certain elements of your continuing investigation now fall within the purview of the Official State Secrets Act. Specifically, all association of your investigation with the insurgent group known as "The Convergence" is subject to the Act. Most critically, Tsuirakuan interest in this group is a matter of the highest sensitivity and compromise of this interest is subject to the most severe penalties under the law.

You are authorized to continue with your investigations, and to report your discoveries directly to me. The unfortunate departure of young Mr. Lochlear from your group compels us to find new methods of communicating. These will be provided. However, you will not speak of Tsuirakuan interest in The Convergence to other members of your group, even your beautiful and redoubtable lady friend from the Veracian temple.

You are also instructed to conceal Tsuirakuan interest in The Convergence from the panel that will convene tomorrow. If asked, you are to inform them that your own interest in the matter arises from your association with Major Nuria-Lucas and that you are unable to speak for the government of Tsuiraku on the subject. No other comments are authorized.

Good hunting. Our mutual friend Nikolai sends his regards to you and your lovely daughter.

(s)KITAURA Kentauro


As soon as Argus finished reading, magical fire bloomed from the paper, and in seconds it was reduced to ash.

[Drannin]

"Charming," Argus commented. <"Keep it a secret, even though a brain-damaged dog could have figured out their interest. It's really what I would expect from homeland security. Keep a secret just so you can say you're keeping a secret."> He snorted.

[Drusia]

[OOC: Women's hair styles aren't exactly in my usual area of knowledge. Drusia, please feel free to get Therese set up with whatever makes sense, given her general Bernadette-like demeanor. Incidentally, I've always pictured Desiree wearing her own hair long and loose. /OOC:]

OOC: As you wish. As for Desiree's normal hairstyle, it really varies. She has actually had quite a few throughout the game. She has her "simple traveling braid," she has her "lover's haste knot," and - when the opportunity for proper hair styling has presented itself, as now, she typically goes for the complex "dual braid pigtail loop" pictured in my current Avatar. Long and loose has only come up a few times (mostly in Goriel, and a bit since, since Anfisa likes to brush it). Anyway, post hair stylist, she will look thusly -->
/OOC

"Thank you," she smiled at Desiree. "I will."

The three of us head in while Tim hovers looking nonplussed.

"For you," I say to Therese, "I'm thinking something sophisticated. Your curls are so beautiful... we don't want to lose those." I summon over a stylist and make clear my desires for both myself and Therese. Anfisa, expert that she is, can easily take care of herself. I describe to Therese's stylist what I'm looking for until I'm satisfied we're on the same page, then seek out another stylist for myself. My own hair desires take a bit of explaining as well.

"Is this for a wedding?" the stylist asks me as she takes notes on the details I've asked for.

"No, just for us," I reply.

An hour or two later, we're finished. Anfisa's attentions are wonderful, but it's nice to have my hair in a more complex style again. Twin braids fall over my shoulders, while a pair of smaller, tightly braided pigtails circle my ears, leaving my back free of hair. The dull brown gown I'm wearning now isn't exactly working with the style - I'll have to get something cut low in the back.

Therese, meanwhile, has had her curls tightened. Rather than flowing, wavy curls, hers now fall around her face like a curtain of soft springs. One stray curl is artfully left unbound, playful and coquettish, and falls just far enough from her nose to not tickle it. The rest of her curls fall back from her face in an ordered fashion, wrapping her head. She looks like quite the elegant lady - an heiress, perhaps, on her way to an opera. The fairly simple dress she's wearing looks rather informal for her new hairstyle.

OOC: And I don't know what hairstyle Anfisa's going for. Thoughts Alberich? /OOC

"We want to make a good impression, don't we? How do they feel about off-the-shoulder? I know it's not a local fashion but they know we're not local, don't they? And maybe if they aren't looking us right in the eye they won't be so scary..."

"I always enjoy off-the-shoulder," I agree easily. "Although, for myself, perhaps sleeveless? I don't want to show much décolletage - Veracian sensibilities being what they are - but something low in the back would be wonderful." I wonder how Veracians feel about clothing that favors the derrière?

I pause, considering Therese. "Perhaps a bit of décolletage for you, though. And sleves. You look so good in both men's and women's clothes... a dress that hints at a military uniform, mayhaps? Strong, masculine lines - with a low enough neckline that no one questions that you're a woman." After all, Tim said that the issue was pretending to be something you're not. If she's showing some décolletage, it will be clear she isn't in disguise.

-- Desiree

OOC: My thoughts on Therese's hair and dress:

Spoiler: show

Note how the curls frame her face.
Also note the military cut of the shoulders - very strong, but with clearly feminine cloth and clevage.

[Graybeard]

[OOC: Yep, that fits, although Therese's hair inclines more toward red rather than orange-blonde. (Where did you get the image?) At home she wouldn't be caught dead wearing anything that sensuous, except for special celebrations -- see below -- but this isn't home, and she's a master of disguise, so ...]

Her hair done, Therese took a moment to inspect the results in a mirror as she was being fitted for her new outfit. Not bad, not bad at all, she thought. Well, that wasn't totally true; in fact, she felt as if she looked quite bad ... which wasn't the same thing as bad-looking.

Desiree and Anfisa were waiting as she emerged from the shop, feeling slightly self-conscious. (She tried to convince herself that that was because they'd kept Tim waiting all this time. However, she couldn't.) The other two women, she thought, looked positively smashing. Back in Refuge-Nouveau, the three might have been preparing for a night on the town to celebrate a successful rescue; the Sisterhood had no problem with that kind of celebration when things had gone right. They didn't always go right, unfortunately ...

The three women converged on Tim, ready to accept his escort (or vice versa) to dinner, or back to the temple, or wherever they were going next. However, they weren't the only women to be taking an interest in the young priest ... merely the only young, attractive women. Also bearing down on him was another woman, dressed in the most conservative of Veracian clothes, and old enough to be at least their mother, if not grandmother. This woman, two years later or so, would have another encounter in the streets of Saus that would allow her to express her disapproval of what this world was coming to, but for the moment, this one would have to do. Her tongue was already getting primed and loaded for the lashing it would administer to one of Luminosita's own, consorting with such hussies ...

Maybe this outfit wasn't such a good idea, Therese thought as the old woman began to speak her mind. [OOC: A, go for it! /OOC:]

-----------

"That was a bit anticlimactic, wasn't it?" Sister Rose smiled at Argus. "Under the circumstances, though, I think that's probably a good thing. It also gives us time to get back for dinner." She took his arm.

[Alberich]

[OOC: Anfisa is open to suggestions, but left to herself I think she'd go for hair piled up on top and also falling alongside her face and onto her shoulders, which would go well with the demure facial expression she intends to wear at the board. As you know, one of my inspirations for her appearance, though not her behavior, was the character of Odette from Diary of a Madman - somewhere in the vicinity of the second picture on the top row and the first and fifth on the third row.]

[Graybeard]

OOC: My browser is complaining about that link, A. Something about secure connection to an unsecured site, which raises its little silicon suspicions about the authenticity of the site. What gives?

[Alberich]

[OOC: Damned if I know. When I went to the site directly from my google search, I got no problems. But when I went there from my link, I got the little "certificate warning." However, recently, I've been getting that same warning when I go to Google.com itself. All it is is a google images search with a bunch of Nancy Kovack pictures, including shots of her as Odette in Diary of a Madman - my search terms were "Diary of a Madman" & images kovack - so you can generate it yourself by entering that at Google.]

[Graybeard]

[OOC: OK, was able to see them, and yeah, that makes sense as an Anfisa model. So back to Rose and Argus, while we wait to see how Tim is going to deal with the little old lady ...]

Sister Rose took a moment to put her robe back into its dress-like configuration before heading off to dinner. Saus had a larger Reformed congregation than anywhere else in Veracia, and came as close to being "cosmopolitan" as was possible in the country (which is to say, not very). The Reformed Church was still a very small minority in the city, though, and for an obvious nun to be walking around on the arm of a man -- a foreigner at that! -- would be too provocative.

And she wasn't letting go of Argus, that was unthinkable right now.

"I think you'll like Aron and Gretta," she said as they walked. "They're part what Brad and Lillith are now, and part what they'll be like in fifteen years, if all goes well. They're doing their best to give their kids a well-rounded education despite limited means -- they don't want to sponge off Mom and Donald, but the fact of the matter is that schoolteachers just don't get paid well in Veracia." She smiled. "I'm sure they're going to do their best to practice their Tsuirakuan, though. They don't get many opportunities to talk to a native speaker, what they've learned has been mainly from books. So try to be understanding when --"

She broke off, seeing that a large, rough-looking man was heading in their direction at a pace rather faster than a trot.

She stopped in her tracks, doing her best to assume a posture of readiness for close combat as best she could remember it from the old days, and switched to mind-speech. <"Uh, oh. Not sure I like the looks of that...">

[Alberich]

[OOC: Main difference is that Anfisa's built among more petite lines.]

[OOC2: Whoops. Okay...]

Her tongue was already getting primed and loaded for the lashing it would administer to one of Luminosita's own, consorting with such hussies ...

She reached Brother Tim and began an outraged, "What do you think you're...?"

"Excuse me?" asked Tim politely. "Escorting some of our foreign guests..."

"Escorting! The very idea!"

Tim was only mildly perturbed. In a village like Umbertiel they didn't welcome a busybody. You had to rub along with everybody when there were that few bodies around. But he had to talk quickly before one of the foreign ladies started talking - a no-win situation. He had his answer -

"You'd rather our foreign guests walked around with a married man?"

"He wouldn't stay married long if he walked around with these..."

"So you'd want them walking around with an eligible bachelor?"

"He wouldn't be eligible for long if word got around..."

"So you want them walking around the streets by themselves?"

"Luminosita forbid!"

"Then you must see this is the best way." She looked outraged. "As long as we have foreign guests," he added. "But keep your eyes open in case they try something untoward! And if something seems terrible - be sure to report it to your own local priest. Who is that, by the way?"

"Father Cully."

""Yeah, to him. Then he can take it to his superiors and they can give any problems you see the attention they deserve."

He thought dinner back at their lodgings would be more restful, and when she was gone, he'd recommend that.

[Drusia]

"Then you must see this is the best way." She looked outraged. "As long as we have foreign guests," he added. "But keep your eyes open in case they try something untoward! And if something seems terrible - be sure to report it to your own local priest. Who is that, by the way?"

Report untoward activity? What do they expect us to do?

A very contrary part of me is tempted to take this moment to kiss Anfisa, just to see the woman react.

The part of me that fears smitings, however, easily overpowers the urge. Instead, I turn up my nose slightly and give her a withering look, as if I feel dirty even being near her. She retreats quickly enough - either because of my chilly gaze or because Tim suggested she take this up with her own priest, I'm not sure which.

He thought dinner back at their lodgings would be more restful, and when she was gone, he'd recommend that.

"But we're all dressed up!" I protest. Not loudly, but firmly. "Our lodgings are boring. Anyway, I thought this town had a reputation. I want to go somewhere fun." Preferably somewhere where we won't stand out too much. This is supposed to be the most liberal town in Veracia, after all, with the most Tsuirakuian influence. So far all I've seen is war memorials and churches - and nice shops, granted.

-- Desiree