Claire grasped the Outcast's hand, but she was obviously much stronger with Cardamine running her veins. She wanted to call security or at least have someone in the room to get the Outcast off of her, yet no one was stationed nearby as the ship was run by a skeleton crew. She thought she was safe with someone who has sworn fealty, that they would understand the difference in status and would help her. Yet it seemed that the roles were completely reversed and the Outcast was pulling all the strings. Her pride took an incredible hit, being completely overpowered by the drug addict she expected was subservient.
Tears rolled down her burning, sore cheeks as she looked at the Outcast in fright, who has now seemed to relent. Still in fight or flight, the only thing on her mind was how to get out of this situation. The only way to inform the captain, or the security team, was through the console in the room, and that's an unlikely feat to accomplish with Enma holding her against the wall.
Swallowing any pride she had left, she anxiously nodded to the Outcast, as if agreeing with Loyola's statement of apologising. She felt completely degraded by the guest, only adding to the stream of tears and emotions flowing like a river out of her.
"Just leave me be! I've agreed to what you demanded, what more do you want from me?" she said as her voice cracked.
She braced herself and closed her eyes, fully expecting the animal in front of her to go rabid once more.
Enma waited for Claire's reaction, hoping that DeFrance will stop being an annoying little ***** she is. Really having no intentions to proceed with force, she's meeting Claire's nod with approving nod at her side. But then Claire would start screaming and asking stupid questions, proceeding with her hysteria. It was enough to get Enma angry after her rather fast cooling down.
— I do want...
She sounds cold and angry. Why after this general exhaustion she gotta deal with this girl. Enma came here to provide her almost honest service, but being treated like *****. Loyola would form a fist, punching Claire's belly. She could have hit harder, but it was just enough to knock down and stop her from screaming among other things. Princess would slide down against the wall right down on the floor.
Now Enma looks down, thinking about what to do... She would almost feel some pity for her unexpected victim. If this was a real fight, Enma would start kicking Claire with her rather heavy boots, but she won't. With a smile, she places her boot at top of Claire's head, because she has an opportunity. A bit pressing it down, but not really. Claire must be never was bullied at school or anywhere else. It may be a whole new experience for her. Loyola is catching herself on the thought of whatever she's doing now even, but things just seem to happen. Maybe that's the way for their relations to settle.
— I would like that you would not treat me like a dog. I am putting myself at risk to help you, and your insulting tone is often very unpleasing.
Enma would remove her boot from the top of Claire's head. Moving her hand down and lifting up princess' chin, forcing her to look into En's eyes.
— That's the weird situation indeed.
Enma smiles down at her, Claire was brought to quite a pathetic state. And for Enma it was kind of easy, once again she thought to herself. She then pulls a communicator from her pocket, starting to film how she holds Claire's chin, as her thumb would push into a girl's mouth to make a proper scene.
— Don't worry, that's for our archive, our first sweet moments together.
Loyola stops filming, as empathy and pity are taking over. She starts feeling sorry for kind of unjustified cruelty, not like she didn't enjoy it, but it still felt kind of bad. Pushing that premium communicator back in her pocket, Enma extends her hand to help Claire to get up.
— Rise, your highness, it would be a shame if anyone comes in and sees you at such a state. I hope that we will get along better and my humble service to your highness will pass without such incidents.
Claire was still recovering from the hit, having had the wind blown out of her. It can't be worse than this she thought, until she felt the boot on her head, only further degrading her. The worst was being recorded in that compromising situation, knowing that the worst state she's ever been in is now cemented in that communicator's history.
She glanced at Enma's hand after recovering, staring at it for a few seconds as she wasn't sure if Enma's assault was finally over. Fearing further repercussion, she caved in and grasped the woman's hand, standing up with her assistance. She let her head hang low in shame, her long hair becoming a mess from the encounter. If only Léon was here, he could have prevented all of this from happening.
She was completely in the Outcast's power, yet what just transpired reinforced Claire's burning hatred for Enma and the Outcasts to levels she would never have believed were possible. She will remember this for the rest of her life, and will never let it down. Oh, how she'd love it if the roles were reversed...
Air around Claire seem to almost blaze, this girl isn't giving up so easily. But breaking her is not the purpose, in fact, Enma wants Claire to be strong and capable. In that capacity, she would be harder to manipulate, but she feels like that is the right thing to do. After all, Claire is a much better political game material than her sister. In any case, Claire will need to take a lot of lessons before she will post a danger to Enma herself.
Loyola, noticing that Claire is lowering her head would, of course, raise her with both hands, holding gently. The burning hate is in girl's eyes and the princess is fairly failing to hide it. There are some reasons to hate her, obviously, but the girl seems to be in some sort of escapism and channeling hatred on Enma. While clearly running from a greater picture of her Kingdom being ruined and her actual enemies achieving victory.
— Votre Altesse, you may, of course, hate me, your friend and servant. And naturally not Bretonians, Libertorians, and traitors at home. They are at fault of your current position, and hate is a good fuel of action. You are only directing it in the wrong direction.
Enma, still using your position would land a short and kinda pure kiss on princess' lips. Maybe to reveal that hateful expression of hers.
— We shall rest, have dinner, it will be a long day tomorrow. If intel is bad I will try to convince the captain to change course, if he won't listen, then I will get you to safety... Your...
Her eyes would look at Claire's hair being in disorder. Something inside her demanded it to be fixed, though, she for some reason didn't think that this is her direct fault. In a sudden spasm of something, hard breath, and light panic Enma is reaching for Cardamine inhaler. The very next moment it becomes much better.
— Your highness, I think you should let me brush your hair if we have a brush and mirror nearby. I also frankly don't know much about food and dinners in particular. I think we could talk about something not political, since trust me, your highness, in a game we about to play you will get sick of the politics.
Sounding just as calm and convincing as before, Enma would step out of the way of Claire, giving her a lead in the situation. Only wondering how the girl will use it. This physical activity has cost her quite dearly, as she feels herself like a wreck. It hopefully will send the right message to Claire and will inspire some fear and following respect. Kind of brutal, but fast and damn effective way to achieve such things.
Claire was stunned at the unexpected, unwelcome kiss. She genuinely wanted to stab the woman then and there, but knew she had no chance if it were to come to having a fight with the Outcast. She stood there, still trying to recover from the pain of being hit in the stomach, before Loyola decided to start speaking again. Naturally, most of those words fell on deaf ears.
She found the woman's attitude incredibly volatile, as if she was mentally unstable. Both from the fact that she just assaulted her, and from her mannerisms and speech. It must be the Cardamine, she thought. Regardless, as soon as Loyola stepped aside, Claire took the opportunity to start walking, her hand grasping the area she was punched as she moved forward.
"My hair is fine... Dinner usually gets delivered to this room at 1800, not even half an hour until now." she said quietly as she inched closer to the console. "I'm not going to be eating today."
She couldn't pretend as if everything was fine. It just wasn't possible. She was degraded and assaulted minutes ago, and the only thing she wanted to do was hide in a corner until time ran out. Whenever she thought about it, tears started welling up in her eyes once more.
"I need time alone. You can ask the crew member bringing food any questions." she said as she walked towards the exit, with the intention of locking herself in her quarters.
At the same time, a notification sound bleeped on the console, throwing the holographic screen back on display. A message has been received from none other than the captain, reading "Update?".
Loyola moved her head to the side and cringed a little. That was one of the most forced and unnatural looking girls trying hard. After all of the attempts to address Claire's status and generally being polite.., Enma sighs, maybe it was better to keep her against the wall a little longer. As usual thought of giving up and just letting this girl die are visiting hear head, but Loyola is successfully dismissing them.
— I am afraid that your hair is not fine, your highness.
Making a strong statement, Enma is once more pulling communicator out of her pocket, making a snap picture of Claire. Then demonstrating a bitсh princess her clearly messed up hair. But why is even she wants to answer that? The girl is in denial and wants to escape and cry out her eyes.
On the other hand, it was kind of early and Enma didn't want to stay alone for the rest of the day. And no one but Claire would make a good company. She decided to say just that, as Claire was heading towards the exit.
— You know your highness, I'd like you to keep making me a company. Being alone kind of drives me insane and this place is overly not too friendly. So I ask you to stay with me for a little longer.
Maybe showing off some weaknesses there, let it be. Claire may give out something interesting when she thinks that Enma shifted to a weaker position, it's still more or less an observation and initial contact stage. And it won't be as hard during their work together on returning DeFrances to power in Gallia. Or at least she hopes that relations will change.
Then the console makes a notification beep, taking attention of them both. This may be a gamechanger that is important or something not important at all.
— Shall we take a look?
Enma pointed at the console, moving anyway to take one of the seats in front of it. She then turns back to see if Claire is coming. She would smile, while her body would shake a little, her vision blurred a bit.
— You are not hiding anything from me, your highness? We shall trust each other, I will show you my comms later, some of them are funny and some are even interesting.
Claire froze in her tracks as soon as she heard the notification. That, combined with Enma's request, made her reconsider leaving the room. She didn't have too many important details on the console - mostly conversation logs with personnel on board the ship - but she would have preferred the privacy.
She sighed, wiped her tears once again, and stepped back to the console. She took a chair and moved it to the other side, and sat down closer to Loyola. It was already unlocked, and the woman was in front of it, so there wasn't any chance of locking her out. Not that she would try, being in the same room as the Outcast was already enough to cause massive anxiety.
"There isn't much to hide." she replied as she brought up the conversation window with the captain and, after hesitating, wrote: "Everything is fine. Their scouts will check the gate, but they can't help with repairs."
She looked at the woman beside her before sending the message off, as in looking for confirmation.
Liking certain self-censorship on the princess' side, En nods in approval to send a message. Loyola is generally happy that Claire is calming down and stop causing trouble. Enma had little interest in Gallic internal messages. She would kind of enjoy reading some dirt about herself already, but it would be nothing too interesting comparing to what she gets to write in other places. Gauls, despite being somewhat elegant are quite blunt and straightforward.
— Yeah, I expected to read something along the lines of "throw that outcast bitсh off the ship" or something. And then I would still try to save his ass. Anyway, we are done here, your highness...
Enma proceeds to turn off the console after Claire sent a message and a typical gallic checkmark at the interface has indicated that the message was indeed delivered. It was intranet, but still, this ship is the wreck in many ways now. Enma stands up first, offering Claire a hand. The touch of En's hand for Claire would feel colder than it should be. It seems like something was wrong with En's body temperature.
Loyola then insisted on a dinner, not much was happening, since they both were tired. Claire was way too cautious so Enma couldn't squeeze anything valuable from the princess. Maybe tomorrow that stress will pass a bit and she will be more talkative. For now, Enma does everything to demonstrate that she is not a monster. Casual discussions about sorts of Gallic wine helped in some weird way.
Next morning, Enma would still tag to Claire, making sure that everything is under control. Waiting for Claire to dress up and prepare herself, usual morning routine. Emma was browsing things, then thinking that it would be a good idea to check if the report is already have arrived. And it actually was there about 30 minutes before they woke up. Not reading it in detail, Enma confirms that the gates are under hostile control. Putting tablet to the side, at least there were no casualties during the mission. It would be a shame to lose people like this.
It will solidify her influence over Claire, but it does not make her happy. Loyola is deeply confused with her feelings towards certain DeFrance family members and kingdom as the whole. Thinking why does she even have any sympathy for their cause, if Loyola herself is being hated and despised by them. There was more sense to work with them when they had a solid power, but what is making her help them now. She timely stood with her controversial thoughts as Claire is finally got ready. Loyola could only wonder why did it take so long, as there was nothing special about the makeup or anything, at least from Enma's point of view.
— Your Highness, the recon report has arrived. I think we shall gather Captain and others in the situation room for the briefing. The gate appears to be under the so-called 'provisional navy' control. There is also some other news from regular channels. Apparently, there are traitors among the nobility of the highest rank. We need to convince everyone to change course. Otherwise, they will die or just surrender ship and themselves to the traitors. I think it falls under defection and in my opinion, such shouldn't be allowed.
Enma addresses Claire with respect to her status, not letting herself nothing that etiquette would not allow. At the same time, letting herself to shot call and generally behaving like a person with a much richer knowledge of situations like this and course of actions. Despite the very respectful tone, Enma is nearly giving orders. And from her point of view, she has to act in this way for Claire's own good.
The first thing Claire saw was Enma waiting for her as she stepped out of her quarters, and the expression on her face wasn't promising at all. Claire spent the entire night nearly sleepless, drowning in all sorts of unpleasant thoughts and memories. She spent extra time to cover signs of fatigue on her face, showing weakness at this time couldn't be worse.
The news certainly wasn't inspiring. The ship was on its way to certain death.
"That's not good... The captain needs to hear this at once." she replied. "Follow me. I'll request him to attend."
Claire walked on, leading them through the hallway to a relatively spacious conference room with a table in the middle with chairs circled around it. As they walked in, the motion-detectors triggered the lights and powered the interface in the middle. Much like the console, the interface was holographic and was able to project displays onto the table, along with registering input.
The woman took one of the chairs, and started working with the console. Logging in with her credentials, the familiar UI of the console in her office came into display. Quickly marking the invitation for the captain to attend a meeting in this room and marking it as high priority, she sent it off and leaned back. He should arrive in a couple of minutes as he wouldn't ignore a high priority request when waiting for intel.
Not even five minutes later, Renaud activates the door behind them and enters the room, taking a glance at both Enma and the duchess.
"What is this about? Did your scouts return?" he said, looking at the Outcast. He wasn't in a particular rush, but the question of what lies at the gate has been digging into everyone's mind.
He approached the table and sat down at the opposite side, waiting to hear the news.
Enma is completely losing her breath while following Claire's fast walking. Gladly hed had few minutes to recover it before the captain appears and takes his seat. She's making some manipulations and with help of Clair is managing to connect her device to the ship's console. Her movements are generally a bit rushed and clunky, making her look not too confident at all.
Finally, holographic slideshow, video and sensor records begin to play from the center of the table. Enma is leaning forward, preparing to speak and push her point. Having Claire on her side and not the opposite certainly helps. Oh though, the data speaks for itself and captain could realize what is happening from the very first moments of this spontaneous presentation.
— Indeed, they have returned, gladly without taking losses. Traffic at the gates is as usual. But the gates are no longer under control of the Royal Navy. From the last news reports and from what my people saw, it appears that large portions of the Royal Navy have joint their forced with Council and now trying to establish a new regime.
Enma then, rather suddenly leaning back into the chair, and getting her boots at the table, crossing them there, to strike at captain mentally. Even more, she slowly pulls out her Cardamine inhaler to make a dose. Now enjoying herself, slowing down her tone and speech.
— Her Highness and I believe that an operational plan that is currently under execution can now be counted as a failure. Returning to Gallia by using this route is no longer possible and we advise you to immediately change course. Otherwise, you are leading yourself and crew of this ship to captivity and this ship to be used against the Crown in the future. This outcome is not acceptable and it's your duty to cancel the operation right now.
Loyola pauses again, somewhat looking at Claire from whos name she's now speaking. Enma decided that she may very well do that without asking, Especially considering that in her eyes she can convince people fairly easily and that she's having some sort of super charm and that she's speaking the truth anyway.