#paperbxund

                                               ☆ ░░C∅SπIC D⊍ST░░ ☆

So, Velum was around now. 

They’ve had tons of people in the castle before, especially since the coalition has been gaining more traction. It was something of a given, but Pidge couldn’t bring herself to shrug off Velum like she did Slav or alien diplomats. See, she felt queasy whenever she saw Velum, or even thought about her, really. 

But it was this good kind of queasy, that made her feel lighter than ever—if that’s an actual thing. It’s all very confusing.

Still, as nervous as she is, none of that stops the paladin from trying to reach out, as displayed in the form of Pidge trying to caaaaaasually slide up Velum for the smoothest small talk she can muster.

     Thace turned the final corner leading to the bridge, his final stop as he finished making his rounds for the night. The corridor was blessedly empty, just as it should have been around that time—a prime opportunity to let his facade drop long enough to hide a yawn behind the back of his hand. It was a quiet shift, though dreadfully boring, and it left him willing the doboshes by so he could retreat to his quarters that much sooner.

     It was a plan that fell to pieces the instant he passed by Velum’s station, only to find her still at it. As far as he could tell, she’d fallen asleep in the middle of signing out for the night; her hand still rested on the console, but the rest of her slumped haphazardly in her chair, close to spilling out of it and onto the floor.

     “Another heavy workload, I see.” His muttering was barely loud enough for him to hear, much less her as he leaned in to gloss over the contents of her screen. As usual, the bulk of it was made up of mass amounts of paperwork that Prorok should have been able to see to himself. But then, why would he do that when he had someone who could take care of it for him?

     Thace rolled his eyes, and his attention shifted to poor Velum who only seemed to slide closer to the edge of her seat with each passing tick. He had half a mind to leave her there—after all it wasn’t his responsibility to make sure she made it to her quarters at night. But she’d also served as the buffer between him and the lion’s share of the busywork that Prorok enjoyed piling on, so he couldn’t help but feel at least a small pang of guilt at her plight.

     He didn’t want to wake her, but trying to pick her up to return her to her quarters was bound to be awkward. The threat of a harassment report loomed large in his mind, no matter how many ‘dates’ they’d been on.

@paperbxund

Cairis grinned at the other woman.  

Velum hums thoughtfully as she gazes at her latest progect. Taking out her phone, she sends an inquiry.

[txt]: Hey Thace, do you know where I can find humidity monitors?

[txt] There are environmental monitoring stations on most decks. If you are wanting the main monitor, you will have to go down to Engineering.

“Um.. I think so. It’s kind of hard to tell when the ship is in a bunch of pieces.” Velum muses, keeping a respectable distance from the Paladin. As much as she had been reluctant to accompany him on this mission, Krie had pressed that her knowledge of Galran accounting would be invaluable in the wreckage recon.

Glancing around, she soon turns as she spots a door with a particular symbol on it. “Oh! Here, I think there might be something in here.” She tells him, beckoning him with a small wave of her wing as she trotted over to investigate. While she was acting cordial, friendly even, she was anxious. She didn’t trust the Paladins much, but, she had nowhere else to go, and thus felt it necessary to secure her place in the Castle.

     Nodding, lips pursed in only mild frustration -- at the circumstances, not so much at Velum -- Shiro perks slightly when they seem to have a possible stroke of luck. Following after the Galra’s wave, he approaches the door just a couple of steps behind her, looking it over with scrutinizing eyes. While it doesn’t look like anything special, he doesn’t ever let such a thought affect his judgement, and he trusts that Velum knows what to look for.

     “ Great, ” he replies, hopeful, and flashes her a brief but appreciative smile. “ Now it’s just a matter of getting inside. ” A simple matter, really. Right hand raising, the tech activating and heating to a hot white-pink, Shiro reaches forward and makes quick work of the door, slicing a hole large enough for them to slip through. Wasting no time, he ducks inside, hand already cooling back to a normal state, and gestures for Velum to follow.

How many times had they been roped into going to some party together now? It had to be the third time maybe, at least. This time, however, things were actually going rather well. Velum seemed to find her feet amongst the crowd, and with her wings folded tight against her arms, she hadn’t had any accidental snags, or worse.

By now it seemed word of Velum and Thaces… “Fling” had spread, to both of their dismays, and there were a few leering females who already seemed suspicious.

She frowned a little, feeling the pressure build as more eyes lay on them.

After a moment, she looks over at Thace, blushing, and beckons him down, as if she wanted to say something in his ear. However, when he lowered himself, she gently holds his face, pressing a quick peck to his lips, before she turns, face burning.

Hopefully that would get some pressure off their back for a while.

     The gossip hadn’t been lost on him. He’d heard the chatter, some of it derisive, some outright disbelieving in what was quickly becoming a paper-thin ruse. It didn’t matter, he’d told himself. As long as Prorok left the poor girl alone, he could keep up appearances. After all, it wasn’t as though his relationships were anyone’s business but his own. And if they tried to make it their business, he had means of dealing with it.

     He did, however, feel badly for poor Velum. Hardly the Galran ideal of the ferocious, warmongering female, he’d heard a few unsavory things said at her expense. Perhaps that was why, when she beckoned him to her level and admittedly caught him off-guard with a kiss, his neutral mask cracked just long enough to favor her with a smile. A fleeting one, perhaps, but a smile nevertheless.

     His exhaustion wasn’t quite enough to keep him from noticing a familiar figure headed his way, her nose buried in what looked to be a book of all things, and her path unwavering. He slowed his pace, saying nothing as she approached. And though it might have been amusing to see her reaction if she’d collided with him, he held out a hand at the last moment and deftly maneuvered her to his left while he angled himself to the right.