tinker, sailor, soldier, SeeD

[wrnpcs]

Characters: Claire Farron, Dr. Verena Gold, and eventual soldiers etc.
Location: Esthar Presidential Residence; government side
Rating: PG for now
Open/Closed/Finished: Closed
Summary: Claire's been playing bodyguard to a scientist, and now the scientist wants to play spy.

It had been two and a half months since prominent Estharian scientist Dr. Verena Gold had hired a SeeD from Balamb Garden as her bodyguard, seeing as government security wouldn't protect a mere scientific consultant to the government. Two and a half blessedly quiet months, but it had been time to get to know this off-worlder SeeD a little (she wasn't the most chatty), get some personal experience of the off-worlders being more than just bringers of chaos like those that had swept the world at the end of the year, and for the doctor to decide that Claire Farron could be trusted with secrets, not just with her life. Sure, SeeD Farron had been made aware that Gold had made some enemies in the government, but it had only been recently that Gold had let her know about the meddling and the political opposition she had faced on her pet project working on the laptops Balamb Garden had received.

Finally, Gold had asked Claire to accompany her as she looked for related information amongst the government files that she hadn't been granted clearance for. Tonight was the night: She had downloaded blueprints and approximate security guard rosters for the Presidential Palace onto her PDA, and now the two were in a service hallway of the Palace, Gold tracing their planned route with her stylus.

"Remember," she whispered. "If someone sees us, try to go for a knock out instead of a kill, and if it looks like I'll be arrested rather than hurt, get out of here."

It wouldn't do to leave a trail of corpses through the Palace, nor to find any interesting information but have no way of putting it to use because her bodyguard was in jail with her.

(OOC: Random tech note for those who might be interested: Gold's PDA is similar to the Palm III, maybe the Palm Zire at most rather than a smartphone. Phones are still pretty dumb, especially around Balamb.)

Comments

[subjected]

"Yes." The soft answer Claire gave back was as automatic as ever, inflection flat and tinged by the lingering influence of a military lifestyle quite a bit more strict than what she'd been dealing with the last two years.

Regardless, that wasn't all there was to her reaction- a soft frown was tugging at the woman's lips as she watched and listened to the other's instruction, her arms crossed over her chest. The former-lieutenant had plenty of training; questioning the direction of whoever was currently in charge wasn't something she was particularly inclined toward... but she also wasn't really one to simply go along with whatever only because it was putting gil in her pockets, either. The concept of this whole thing in general gently nagged at her even as she was agreeing with it.

"There's no guarantee it won't be arrested, then hurt, Doctor," she muttered a few moments later, but although she was concerned... her tone still gave nowhere near as much worried intention as the words likely would have sounded out of the mouth of just about anyone else- or at least anyone who had spent those months of time at the side of another as their protector. Blinking, the woman looked up and away, then back. Other than that, it appeared she had no other objection.

After all, there was little doubt the l'Cie would have already brought up everything she could picture going wrong soon after it had been presented anyway. And as deadly as the woman could be, she had no problem with trying to avoid trouble, likely revealing herself as the dangerous "sorceress" she truly was. If it came down to it, it would be Daze long before the doom of a Thundaga spell or similar was seen out of her.

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Gold grimaced.

"I know," she replied. While she hadn't heard of Estharian law enforcement trying that kind of thing, it was becoming increasingly obvious to her that she didn't know much about her country's affairs; Esthar was definitely capable of it.

She sighed. That was hardly the only thing that could go wrong here; Claire had presented several scenarios that she hadn't thought of herself. But at the end of the day, Gold thought the risk was worth it.

"Let's go."

Esthar used far more resources on border control than on security inside the city: There were no lasers nor monsters, cameras were minimal, and patrols weren't often scheduled down the halls the women took. However, they eventually did come across a guard, pacing with a shotgun in hand.

[subjected]

In any case, it was too late to back down now, right? Not without a very sufficient reason presenting itself. Claire followed without further input aside from a short nod, attempting her best to keep her almost notoriously loud footsteps to making as little sound as possible.

When she saw the guard though, it was all she could do to keep from sighing audibly, her sharp gaze catching sight of not just the weapon, but the fact that the man already had it drawn! Why? Who knew, but she froze, then took a step back, shaking her head deliberately.

Because while the last thing Claire was afraid of were handguns - especially a relatively inexpensive model that a firearm enthusiast like her would never be caught dead with - that did not mean that she was just going to pull her "I'm a l'Cie" card and waltz up for dance with the man. That would be a very PSICOM move, sure, but she wasn't--

Why was she thinking of a thing like that now?

In any case, the woman reasoned, it was better to remain unseen entirely. Therefore, she waited, hoping that the man and his trigger-finger soon stepped away and back out of sight. She didn't want to resort to drastic matters involving magic so soon- she was no spying expert, but even she knew that that would leave unnecessary evidence: a witness, no matter how indirect.

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At least the safety was on!

Gold's lips pursed as she checked the map on her PDA. Drawing closer to Claire, she pointed her stylus to the hallway the man was guarding: It was one they would likely have to go down. She began tracing an alternate route, but it involved backtracking, and, from the guard roster she opened (it seemed this guy was early), running into another guard.

[subjected]

Claire didn't look happy as she stared down at the device's screen, gloved fingertips brushing strands of dyed-brown hair away from her forehead with a frown. Needless to say, her instincts weren't fond of the reckless-feeling nature of this, even though she'd already walked in knowing that that sort of strategy had a high chance of being required...

She was a lot more reluctant to use her powers now than she might have once been.

Regardless, inaction would only serve to waste time, a crime in itself that Claire was even more unwilling to commit. Breathing a near-silent sigh, she straightened again... and stepped back in the direction of the armed guard, a hand pressed over her heart, a brief silver iridescence glowing in the air around her the only warning presented before she fired off a Daze spell at the man's turned back.

Her only hope was that it would manage to take on the first try- that he wasn't somehow wearing anything that would serve to dispel her familiar-yet-not type of magic, before the stunning effect downed his awareness of what was going on around him and they could move on around.

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Despite herself, Gold watched in fascination as the spell hit the man. Instead of continuing his stroll, he stopped, still obliviously staring straight ahead when Gold took a cautious step forward.

She moved around him, waiting for Claire to catch up before mouthing, Sorry to her. She'd caught that displeasure before the spell, and while she knew Claire didn't entirely approve of this whole endeavor, the smaller things felt easier to apologize for somehow.

Then, she nodded up the hallway, and indicated the righthand side for the next intersection.

[subjected]

Claire knew she would just have to deal with the uncomfortable irritation playing at the back of her mind, to continue forward whether she liked it or not. She'd dealt with worst, after all, and done things she liked even less because they'd been necessary at the time.

She just prayed that, given her track record, her luck wasn't about to abruptly run out, after that short show of fortune from her spell working both right away and about as successfully as it was probably capable of. It was just that... if the guard was particularly cautious, it was still very much a possibility that he'd notice something was off once the spell wore off; his raised alarm could put an end to the two women remaining unnoticed very quickly.

Yet at the same time, dwelling on could-bes, could be their undoing as well. For what felt like the three-hundredth time, the woman made herself refocus on what was ahead of them instead of behind.

... But not before sending one last glance in the direction they'd come from. Try as she might, she couldn't decide if the way she felt something was off here was just her imagination... or legitimate l'Cie instinct. However, whichever it was, it wasn't being soothed by the latest turn's find of an empty hallway. Not like it should have, at least.

SUMMARY because already slow mods got smacked by RL. hashed out with Claire-mun before posting!

[wrnpcs]

Claire wasn't wrong about magic being evidence: After realizing he'd lost a few minutes, that first guard raised the alarm, bringing in a pile of soldiers. Eventually they found Claire and Gold in one of the main database rooms, Gold downloading files onto her PDA.

The women were quickly surrounded thanks to sheer numbers. While Claire was distracted fighting them off, some of the other soldiers grab Gold, but before they managed to haul her away, Gold disconnected the PDA, threw it at Claire, and told her to go, and she was terminating her contract early.

Claire tripped the fire alarm and went...