With the morning of the day of their new task at hand, Celeste finally leaves her dorm room for the first time in four mucous-filled days. Dressed in an outfit that would be the envy of many renaissance faire LARPers, she's wearing multiple layers of leather and hand-spun cotton, knee-high boots, and covered in a veritable arsenal of blades bearing varying degrees of ornamentation.
Across her back is a katana in a sheath that has a quick-release buckle centered betwixt her bosom, at her left hip is a long and slender scimitar, at her right hip a simple short sword, across her lower back is a crossed pair of basic daggers, each with its own separate strap for its sheath, in her left boot is a thin hidden knife, and finally, in a thigh harness strapped to her right leg is an all-black tactical knife.
Arguably, the tactical knife is a modern design, but when sheathed it doesn't stand out as being such. Anyone that would question its not-technologically-advanced-world suitability upon seeing it would have other, more pointed, concerns to worry about.
Sighing softly as she shuts the door behind her, she leaves her palm resting on the doorknob for a few seconds while concentrating before finally letting go, heading down the hallway towards another section of the dorms.
After a few short minutes of leisurely walking, she stops when a voice sounds out from above her head.
"Oh, hey Celeste, already time for your next tryst with the HFF? I must say, you're looking rather sharp today." Looking up at the source of the familiar voice, a young adult male arachtaur is casually standing on the ceiling. His short black hair seems to be the only thing about him that is concerned with the existence of gravity.
"Well well well, if it isn't my favorite nudist. Hey Svek, what's up? And yeah, har har, very funny. With how often they like to flirt to get my attention, it almost feels like that's how they see it." As Celeste answers him, he silently skitters down one of the walls, reaching a sideways position that doesn't involve the two of them craning their necks to an uncomfortable degree in order to face each other.
"Eh, not much. Hey, while you were busy role-playing as a bedbug, did you watch any of the stuff I recommended? I haven't had a chance to watch much from your list, though I have to admit I laughed when I saw just how many of them had 'Dracula' in the name." Continuing their conversation while leisurely chilling at a 90 degree angle from her, Svek has a fairly cheerful expression. He must have already finished his morning coffee.
"Any? More like ALL of it. They were all complete trash, I loved every single one of them. Even still, I don't think I'll be able to sit still long enough to watch another movie for a rather long time now, my bed and I are taking a break in our relationship after these past few days." While responding, Celeste crosses her arms and leans most of her weight to the side, leaning against the same wall as Svek, just a few feet ahead of him.
"Hah! Good, good, glad you liked them. And I can't say I blame you. I'll be sure to tell you any spicy rumors about anyone he sees while you're gone." As Svek enjoys implying the promiscuity levels of her bed, Celeste snorts in response.
"I'd certainly hope so. You know, if I learned one thing from those dumb B-movies, it's that apparently I could just go take over your entire homeworld with nothing but a disposable lighter." Giving a mischievous smile, Celeste mimes the motions of lighting a, well, lighter.
"Right? It's way too much of a running theme, though it's pretty fun seeing when someone actually manages to come up with a new spin on it. I legitimately can't think of a single horror of ours that doesn't involve at least one person getting burned at least once. Though to be fair, you probably wouldn't even need that lighter as much as you'd think, knowing you, a knife would suffice. We're generally way less combative than you feisty little humans, so you'd have an advantage there." Further reinforcing her claims of potential tyrannical occupation, Svek lifts one of his spindly legs to gesture vaguely at her while saying 'feisty little humans'. He has his arms crossed while doing so, and a bit of a smirk on his face.
"Hells yeah. Anywho, I probably should get goin'. It's one thing to make Theo wait, but 'Essa is gonna be watching as well this time for training purposes or something, whatever." Remembering there are multiple people potentially waiting for her, Celeste reluctantly stands back fully upright without being supported by the wall any further.
"Ah, run along then, I won't keep you. Tell Theodore and Theresa I said hi. Hell, if he isn't ready yet, give him a slap for me too while you're at it." Grinning widely after he gives his parting, Svek's particularly impressive top canines shine with a faintly green tint as they catch the interspersed light from the hallway, his eyes narrowing a skosh from the large smile.
"Ha! I might just give him that slap regardless. Catch you later, maybe even in time for dinner, after all, this round of play with the HFF should be just a quickie." Squeezing in one last bit of extra innuendo, Celeste waves at Svek while she turns to continue on her earlier path.
He chuckles a bit and climbs back up to the ceiling, continuing on his own journey as well.
Only a little further on her way, Celeste stops outside a dorm room's door. Raising up her right hand, she knocks 'shave and a haircut' with her knuckles and then holds still, waiting for the callback. A second later, a muffled and slightly distant pair of knocks respond.
Pulling the door open, she marches right in and heads straight to the bathroom door, leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed.
"You know, if you're gonna invite someone right in like that, you might give a girl the wrong idea." Taunting from her side of the door, there is a moment of silence before the bathroom door opens, revealing a fully dressed and ready to start his day Theodore.
"And she'd have been rather disappointed. Oho, all these years and I never realized you looked at me that way, you'd think I'd have noticed sooner." Stepping out of the restroom, Theo ties his hair back into a loose ponytail with a small black elastic band as he walks toward the outer door.
"Ha, you wish. That's Jenna's job, and I'm pretty sure she's thirsting as hard as any one single girl possibly could, it's borderline creepy. No wonder you won't pay her even an ounce of attention. Oh, Svek said hi, by the way. And to slap you, hold up a minute." As she hustles the few steps distance between them to get closer, Celeste starts raising her right hand up as if she's going to make good on the request.
Stopping and spinning in place to grab her wrist, Theodore simply gives her a warning glare before releasing his hold and then heading over to open the door.
"Knowing him, it was supposed to only be if I was making sis wait. We can just head straight there, she said she wanted to go early to look everything over, knowing full well I definitely didn't want to get up early to go and join her." Stepping out into the hallway while saying this, he holds the door open for her to exit as well. Once she is beside him, he shuts the door and holds his palm over the doorknob with a similar state of concentration as she had done for her own room.
Making their way over to the elevators, they ride down to the operations floor, walking past a few rooms to finally stop and enter a door with a small sign reading 'ETF control room # 3'.
The first thing Celeste notices upon entering the room is Theresa sitting in the large swivel chair for the main operator, spinning in circles.
The first thing Theodore notices upon entering the room is the four large insulated cups of coffee, two of which are next to the main control console, one is in 'Essa's hands, and one is emptied out and lying in the trash can.
"Oh, maybe having you around actually won't be so bad after all." Theodore manages to give the most brotherly greeting he possibly could.