Session 46.1 - A Brief, Friendly Chat

It started as a simple enough request. Some time after departing from Somnus, Isa asked a passing member of the crew to find Lily and have her come to the briefing room. Isa was even polite about it. But she's never really come to terms with how the thespian grapevine works, and how each node in the path has to add their own dramatic flourish to the message. By the time the request actually does reach Lily, it's become an order. Or a threat. Possibly both. Look the important thing is that Osler is furious and if you don't get up to the briefing room right away you're going to get thrown overboard and hey I need to go do that thing for Linnet, good luck love you!
The end result of this is that Isa is waiting in the briefing room with absolutely no clue that expectations for this meeting may be...mismatched.
The door to the briefing room opens with purpose, admitting one member of the Hivemind, Lily. The Starfall never established a dress code for the actors to summarily ignore, but it's still a little strange that one of the freefloating crew members has shown up to Isa's request with her rings off, fingerless gloves on, boots tightly laced, hair braided, and rapier belted around her waist. "Osler," she says, her voice level and rehearsed.
The door slams shut behind her. Loose hinges.
Isa is finishing up a report, so she hasn't yet noticed Lily's posture. "Dunan," she says. For those who know her well, it's a perfectly neutral tone. For those who don't, or those who are primed otherwise, it's cold and terse. "Have a seat?"
"I'll stand, thank you," comes the equally clipped response. For those who know Lily, it's crackling with tension. For those who have been involved in Cardian politics for most of their lives without really engaging in said politics, it sounds basically normal.
"Suit yourself," Isa replies in a tone that is either casually accommodating or snidely condescending, depending on one's perception. She closes up the report and only then looks at Lily. Her head tilts a few degrees left of vertical.
ANALYZING... Disproportionate tension evident. Probability of violence: Physical 63%, verbal 58%, emotional 21% Possible responses: - Belligerent. Most likely outcome: violence(physical), bidirectional. Crew standing: negative(bully). Intended goal: failure to achieve
- Conciliatory. Most likely outcome: insult, violence(emotional), outward. Crew standing: negative(condescending). Intended goal: failure to achieve.
- Apologetic. Most likely outcome: insult, violence(verbal), inward. Crew standing: positive(humanizing). Intended goal: possible
"I'm sorry," she says, her tone softening enough to sound craven to herself, and possible apologetic to external listeners. "I wasn't clear about why I wanted to see you. There's no trouble here."
The tension remains, at least for the moment, one eyebrow lowering, one eyebrow rising. "You're not mad," she says warily.
"No..." Isa replies cautiously. "I should have made that more explicit."
Lily takes a deep breath, and Isa can see the tension drain out of her shoulders. She doesn't relax her position fully, which points to some martial training in her past. "Reputations," she says sympathetically, letting one word sum up a lot.
Isa nods. "Great for getting people to snap to in a battle, less so for...pretty much anything else. Anyway. We're heading into Cardian airspace tonight, if you haven't already noticed. First, any concerns I need to know about, and second, anything you need to see to while we're here? The city's not on our itinerary at the moment."
Her hand rests on the handle of her rapier. "I should stay with the ship. If we do go to the city and my name is mentioned, say I left the crew."
"Fair enough. As I said, we're not planning on going near the city, but if we do I'll make sure word gets passed down." She doesn't inquire further.
Lily nods, and turns to leave before thinking better of it. With perhaps more caution than is polite, she says, "Are you all right, returning to the country?"
"I'm not thrilled about it, but there are things that need doing. Not planning to linger," she says aspirationally.
"Understood," Lily replies not unkindly, the Cardian emotional exchange now complete.
Isa nods. "That'll be all then. And if I hear about any of the crew learning a lesson about embellishment, I will assume anything that reaches my ears has been exaggerated."
That gets an actual grin.