Elena was aimlessly milling around the ample hall, agitated, hasty steps were resounding against the walls. Outside, a heavy snowstorm was raging, trademark California Minor, and the severe wind was clashing against the large panorama window showing a snowscape, making it creak, maybe almost crumble. If anything, the storm was by no means conducive to soothing her already uptight mind at all. It only set her teeth on edge even more, she was tearing her hair. Pacing up and down hectically, veering whenever close to a wall and walking back again, she was staring at the metal ground, busy with doing her dyed hair to make it look more or less acceptable. Her steps were echoing and reechoing in the room. To wave about with her hands frantically was merely another, though vain attempt to relieve stress, of which she more than enough already had.
When done with her hair, she leaned against a nearby wall, forcing herself to concentrate for a few brief seconds. She looked around the ample room, inspecting it once again despite her having done that a dozen times already since she had entered. It was a big one, two exit doors opposite to each other. A large table stood in the middle of the room with a few chairs spread around it. Obviously it was some kind of scenic outpost from which visitors could lay eyes on the scenery of California Minor. If there hadn't been that particular snowstorm, it might have been a good sight, she thought. But most importantly, there was an alarm bell situated near one of the doors, easily noticable in its bright red. To some degree, it alleviated her mind, knowing there was something she could do in case of an emergency. And with that sort of business she had got enmeshed in, emergencies were most likely daily fare. While she kept one hand covering her mouth, mostly to keep herself from hyperventilating, the other one pawed at her fastened up leather jacket, feeling the gun that was hidden under it. Elena was well aware a gun would only be an adornment in case the whole story went sideways, but maybe she'd be able to be fast enough to shoot her in the head. All those were naive deliberations though, as she knew she would draw the short straw in the event of this escalating. Elena wasn't able to avoid thinking of a piece of advise she had been given some time ago. Never go on such meetings alone. Now here she was again, had some irony to it, though she couldn't find any bit of it funny. At least this time she knew well what was in store for her, which was at least something.
She was about to get even deeper into the sh.its, she knew. While she could have easily copped out of this whole deal, just by not making an appearance at all, Elena was not a woman of backdowns, and neither could she help thinking it would only make things even worse. If anything, she was not keen on angering her appointment needlessly by not showing up. It was not a woman you would want to antagonize, that much she had grasped. Elena hated acting with no backbone, but she was quite sure backbone could mean death. Not to mention she was in the heart of Liberty, here she maybe even had the edge on said person. This woman creating problems on this planet, risking captivity, was highly unlikely. Hopefully. Elena would have to keep her cool, however intricate it might was. Her heartbeat would probably betray her the very first second of their meeting, but there was nothing she could do about this. Top priority was to clean her mind of anything that could inconveniece her. If she listened closely, she could actually already hear it: the squeaky, girly voice in the back of her mind, pressing for making Elena's life a living hell again. An outbreak of her emotions, like which she had suffered often already, would come extremely amiss. Having no other choice but to disallow it, she tried to think of something else, something that was not revolving around last month's events. It was much the same as with a pink elephant, though. If you were told to not think of one, guess what you would imagine the first.
Elena took a deep breath. In fact, she was on the verge of going into hysterics, but neither could she allow herself that. Again, she tried to clear her mind, still breathing rather fitfully. Momentarily she shot a glance at the panorama again. The weather wasn't getting better. A sigh was audible. Then she delved into her thoughts again. Fabricating lines of words. She would have to get over this fast, as keeping up an act would become more and more difficult with time passing by.
Being in state of agitation was natural, for she was awaiting Enma Loyola.
Enma Loyola's ship entered the atmosphere and is closing to a needed spaceport. Landing a ship during the snowstorm is usually forbidden, but her pilot skills and Rapier's design are making it less risky. Only concern is the navigation system, if it will go down, then she might be in trouble. It is her first visit to this planet and Loyola is not quite amused. Of course it's still terraforming, but so far, that was the first planet that met her with snowstorm. She used to think that Malta have harsh climate, but California Minor is about to change her opinion.
But despite her confidence, her body is in full tense and by reflex she's paying maximum attention to the navigation bar. Navigation bar is the only way to pilot ship in this case, since physical visibility is limited with a few meters. Finally she can actually see lights of the spaceport and the Outcast fighter is successfully landing. She cannot really stay here for long, her presence here is illegal and it's a matter of time until she will be arrested. Non of those risks were not really needed. But she already had some adrenaline dependency and she just enjoyed it.
Asking around, she finds a way into Elena's room. She is late for quite some time, but the reason is self-explainable so she is not feeling bad. Loyola is entering meeting room with a bit wet cloths and hair, her skin is having a red shade, because of the frost. "Hola." She only said, trying to establish an eye contact.
The silent, yet still perceptible ticks and tocks her wristwatch were constantly uttering had been bugging Elena a great deal while she was waiting for her rendezvouz to arrive. She had been clandestinely peeking at the time over and over again while having her arms folded in front of her chest and nervously tapping with her fingers on the upper arms. Almost biting her lips open with discomfiture, she gazed at the opposite wall as she tried to look as nonchalant as possible by casually leaning against the metal. Thoughts were rushing through her head. Maybe Loyola wouldn't make an appearance and spare Elena a horribly disgusting meeting. Then again, she knew that was unrealistic, and just a glimmer of vain hope in the end. Loyola would arrive sooner or later, and due to the snowstorm outside a delay was only normal. It would make her lips slip a sigh filled with unease.
She had spent the last minutes bracing herself for what was to come, but when the door creaked open and the blonde figure appeared behind it, Elena's mind promptly emptied out. Quickly glancing at Enma, she tried to pull herself together and establish eye contact, failing promptly. Shying away from looking her into the eyes, she instead weighed her head to the left, copping another look outside the window; except snowflakes over snowflakes rushing by, there was barely anything else visible. Elena would have to begin this conversation already having a lump in her throat by the sheer thought whom she was sharing the room with. It was accelerating her heartbeat even more, and she was palpitating with anxiety. Adrenaline was just as well kicking in, rushing through her veins, yet the kick she got out of this was anything but pleasant. It was angst-inducing.
Assaying to swallow down the lump, her mind was racing to find a proper way to reply, now that she had already fouled the first eye contact up. The vacancy that had infested her mind was of little to no help, as all the lines she had been carefully concocting before had just vanished from one second to the other. It would take her several seconds to come up with an opener, then she just feigned a disbelieving headshake. "Horrible weather today, don't you think?", said she with a thin, feeble voice, doing an acceptably good job at suppressing a tremble. As she willed herself to turn her head around again slowly, she would catch sight of the other person in the room again. Her mien was quite vacant, neither showing joy nor fear, or rather just obscuring the latter. Then though, a small smile - quite factitious it was - which she had to force was litting up her face. Still in a leaning position, Elena ogled Enma. Different to other infectees she had met, this one actually seemed more or less normal from the outside. If she hadn't known better, she would have written this woman off as a usual city chick, just judging from her looks. Frightening was something different, definitely, but it was Elena's meager knowledge of Loyola as a whole that frightened her.
The smile she had put on was already proving to be difficult, as keeping her cool was even more so. "Good evening, Miss Loyola", she said in a cantedly gallant tone of voice, gulping almost audibly and taking a step forward, away from the wall she had been leaning against, opening up her arms.
Switching balance to her left leg, Enma is looking at Elena from up to the bottom. After gathering some public information, she still is not sure if this girl is usable. It's not like Enma is super busy those days, but she got used to value her time. Loyola looks around to rate the room and to notice a possible trap and danger. Room is quite generic and nothing seem to threat her. Enma's body is slowly relaxing after tense piloting and she's noticing that her mouth if pretty dry. She really wants to drink, only now she remebers about the bottles of water on her ship.
Handshake or not? GIrl seems to be afraid and it will harm the process, so it's better do. Enma stepping closer and extanding her hand towards Elena. Some snoflakes melted down on the floor at the place she stood before. She did not get cold and now, when she entered warmer room it even felt hot. FInally, she's focusing her look on Elena's eyes and trying to make it as friendly as she can. It's not like Elena is going to believe her, but it will help at some degree.
"I'm really glad to meet you in person." She said softly and warmly, which was contrasting even with her look. "Sadly I don't have much time, but I hope we will be enough for us to decide. It's been a long way and I would like to ask if there is something to drink." She dropped that and already thought about falling in some chair, but was politely waiting for Elena's response. This time going and saying 'right' things is harder than usual and she just temped to be open.
It proved to be a difficult act to stifle the relieved sigh that would almost slipped Elena's mouth as she fraughtly listened to Loyola's words. Thank God, she thought by herself when she heard that she wouldn't have much time to discuss anything. It was like a ray of hope to her, that this meeting she had been drifting into by talking herself into more and more trouble could actually go smoothly without any nasty repercussions. Not to mention that Elena might be able to succeed with her acting thoroughly as long as the meeting was only a short one. Enma obviously was only here to tell her about possible job offers, ones that Elena could decline without any problem. She didn't want to work with an Outcast, even less with an infected Outcast, but yesterday she hadn't had enough guts to disagree with a meeting. She could have punched herself for not showing backbone back then, but this way she might even be able to find out a little more about Loyola's motives, targets and overall goals. Maybe it was her subliminal curiosity that was doing its job of pushing her into a parlous situation again. Only that her curiosity was now more painful than ever, taking the anxiety of hers into account that had been pestering her for weeks.
Ogling Enma's outstretched hand for a brief second, Elena perceptibly hesitated to give in to the handshake, but in the end decided to stop demuring at doing it and made another step towards her opposite, putting out her own hand to shake hands. Enma's hand was still bitterly cold in comparison to her own, making her expression go vacant again momentarily. Her heart skipped a beat as their hands met, for it reminded her of a similar situation she had a while ago. Subconsciously she moved her eyes to the left, but only there was no company next to her this time. It put her into an agitated mood again, and she had to bite her lip to not start breathing heavily. Still, her hearbeat doubled. However, without a doubt did Loyola have a completely different demeanor than the snarky, malevolent posturing Bassam Hussaini had been so infatuated with. To some degree, it soothed Elena, not being confronted with such deviousness when meeting Loyola, but she was still aware most of this probably had to be nothing but a show, so she was not inclined to let her cautiousness fall in any way.
Elena caught herself in too much inward thinking again, risking to come across bad thoughts in the process. Faintly shaking her head, she eyed Enma again. Quickly withdrawing her hand, she would cross them in front of her again, subconsciously trying to put an extra layer of security between her and the infectee. She would have loved to just start gasping, but she refrained from it, leaving her hungry for air which made her pulse go up even more. The lump wouldn't want to go away from her throat easily, so she just gulped again. "It's a pleasure, Miss Loyola", she squeezed out of her mouth, even though that wasn't completely false. Elena knew it was a high figure that was standing in front of her, forcing her to pay at least some deference to her. Kissing arse she would not, though.
Again a few seconds of hesitation. Loyola wanted something to drink. Elena just nodded decisively. "Alright, I'll take care of the water quickly. If you'll excuse me...", said she, walking back to the other door, opening it and vanishing behind it seconds later. The room that lay behind was a meeting room just as much, though with a small counter that also had a water dispenser. It gave Elena the opportunity to slip her mask for a few moments and release some tension this way. Almost instantly after closing the door behind her would she start gasping for breath as though she had been nearly drowning beforehand. Heaving a silent sigh of relief, she would fill up to plastic cups with fizzy water, only then to realize how much her hands were actually shaking, almost spilling some of the water as she grabbed the two cups, one in each hand. Yet the release of tension had the unfortunate side effect that thoughts obtruded themselves on her again, the last thing she had to deal with right now really. The feeling of nausea came up again. Giving herself a few seconds to get herself together, she closed her eyes, pushing the thoughts back again. Inhaling deeply and slowly, she tried to lower her pulse as much as it was possible with death possibly lurking next door.
A smile did she force on her mouth as she came back from the other room, the slight delay probably being noticeable for Enma. Stepping closer to her, Elena offered the cup of water to her opposite, suppressing the tremble in her hand. "Here you are", said she, biting her lips afterwards against. She was feeling a little dizzy, actually. "Let's come to business then, I suppose?" With that, she sat down on a chair, though it had more in common with collapsing than sitting down.
Water that Enma drunk is a bit cold, but it only makes it better. Traditional pain in her right knee troubled her once her body warmed up again. For a second Loyola was confused, not able to focus her thoughts in one direction. it come further and Enma is getting disorintated and some Elena's words passed, not reaching her mind t all. Her confusing is more or less obvious and Enma hates those 'falling out' moments. In time, those are happening more often and she's very worrying about them.
Concentrating again, she discoveres Elena sitting in a front of her. Enma's hand in holding empty cup of water. Taking one deep breath she is looking around and at the same time Loyola is remembering what she's doing here. This chair is not so comfortable, so she's trying to fix her position, before looking at Elena again. Girl is pretty much in her hands if she won't do any hard mistakes. Which won't likely happen, rich experience that she had now helped her a lot recently. Gaining experience like this is a painful process, but in the end, it's very rewarding.
Hooked smile is appearing at her face before she starts to speak. Usually she would hide one, but in this situation this will play a positive role. "Business, oh yes." She layed back in char and put her hands on the table. "I've asked around about your organization and discovered that we are some kind of an old friends. It appears that you like working with some Colonial bandits. Gladly I didn't meet you during our last attack. You can't even imagine how thankful you should be to Eliza Valdez who stopped us from attack on Glendalough Orbital."
Enma is pushing cup a bit away and thinking about Eliza with sadness. "Eliza was kind and some sort of naive optimist. Naturally she made some money while upholding negotiations. But she could always take more." Loyola probably would ask Elena to bring more water, but that would rather harm their talks. Or not? She already gave Elena another reason to not make her angry. It was a matter of not scare her too hard, so she's smiling. "But the times have changed and now we are sitting here." She's touching her neck to make it more obvious. She already sounded that her mouth is dry and she wanted Elena to guess it.
Elena's cup of water remained untouched, standing in front of her on the table as the water slowly, but surely lost its trapped carbon dioxide. She preferred to not drink from it, for that would have evidently bespoken her anxious state of mind. For now, she kept her trembling hands which had already begun to pale under the table on her laps, having them folded to suppress the tremor as well as possible. Biting her lips - almost open even -, she reluctantly faced up to Loyola every now and then, yet her main focus laid on the cup, first and foremost to shun away from direct eye contact as she had her head lowered. Elena knew this could very well be the worst portrayal she had given in years, but to some degree her social skills had begun rusting over the last month, not to mention her mind's fuzziness made it a nigh impossibility to concentrate. Her attempt to make a reflective, calm appearance didn't turn out as well as she had hoped.
She gulped as Loyola brought up the topic of Glendalough Orbital, totally blind-siding her. Frankly, it was the least she had expected, which is why her reaction on it turned out evidently flustered. For once she stared straight into Loyola's eyes and raised an eyebrow. Her lips were forming a few words, but none of them would be spoken. Eventually she put a cheesy smile on her face, trying to obscure her panic-stricken reaction inside her mind. Starting to fiddle about with her hands, rubbing them slightly, she relieved some of the stress that had been building up. Some moments passed in which she concocted suitable words, otherwise she would have probably just babbled some nonsense, and since it was a hanging matter, Elena preferred to not say anything that could create even more troubles than there were already.
"Right, I remember Miss Valdez," said she hoarsely, shifting the weight of her body to the right. What went on in her head was a weird combination of thoughts of the utmost distress and giving up and just running, and thoughts of getting herself together again and to tough it out. Wrestling for dominance, none of them could gain the upper hand, and as such Elena was lost in a state of ambivalence that made it extra hard to stay focused. To the outside however, she just seemed to be trying to black out fears or anxieties of hers. However, this topic Loyola had introduced was an inconvenient one, and thus Elena tried to solve the issue as quickly as possible, pulling the chestnuts out of the fire. "A sympathetic woman, without a doubt," she canted, then cleared her throat after having choked on her own spit. Her throat felt somewhat constricted, making her breaths heavy, yet silent ones as she attempted to obfuscate her nervousness. "Times have changed, and so have states of negotiations." In an act of diverting, she quickly went on, stuttering a little at the beginning: "A-anyways, you said you might have a job or two for people like us. Would love to hear your ideas." Another crooked smile. Interpreting the signs correctly, she grabbed her own cup of water and pushed it further towards Loyola. She hadn't taken a single sip from it to this point. "You sound like you could need this one too."
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