Too Far Ahead Got Behind Me [Closed]

[Satra]

[For Sera when she comes back from her epic Texas adventures or whenever she can. P:

The few times the woman was distracted from her goals to take a moment to look back on her past, Heilyn was filled with an astonishment that almost seemed surreal. Goals that seem far too unattainable in the beginning now seemed to smack her in the face with their impending tangibility. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes for only a few seconds as the advanced on the presiding Queen's office. She couldn't even describe the feeling she got in moments like these. To put derogatorily, it was like Disbelief, Pride, Determination, and Fear were having a wild foursome in her chest cavity and were busy hand cuffing each other to her ribs and heart.

Born a three she always set herself, her drive, to come this far: High rank, high form.... respected so much more now than before. Why was it so strange to her? Hadn't this been everything she'd worked for? Did she have doubts she didn't even know about?

The door was in sight. She focused on her goal, what she wanted, want she would say. She couldn't let an unexpected revolution of nerves get in the way for her desires. She'd been happy as merely a Jack for a few years, but now it was time...

She knocked on the door, sure of herself.

...Time to put more of that which was before her behind, and tick off another victory.

[seraaches]

(( Gads, chica, i am so sorry. ;;;; i never even saw this one. *headesk* Next time, poke me, ne? ^^;;;; ))

For once, he wasn't doing paperwork. Not that his desk was clear. But he wasn't doing paperwork.

Instead, he leaned forward-- between a trade agreement from Midori Beach and a proposed proclamation regarding geese and third Tuesday Downy Day-- his elbows carefully resting atop more paperwork-- food invoices and weapon sharpening bills-- and stared at the platypus who stared nervously back.

A confident knock on the door sounded and Rai called without turning his head or eyes, "Come in, Heilyn."

The oh-so fortunate Jack was walking into an almost staring match. Rai was just glad he knew who was supposed to be walking into his office now. Ira had done that much before disappearing for a few days. Sadly, however, it left the woman at a bit of a disadvantage since she certainly didn't know about this meeting with the Dye Guildleader. Though she very well might recognize the man; Rai had no idea if she dealt with any of these Cards.

[Satra]

[BWAHA! XD ]

Heilyn opened the door to find... someone sitting in her seat. A Midori Platypus who was busy having a staring match with His Majesty. Was this... some sort of test? It was an extremely odd one, to be sure, if it was. Then again, His Majesty was known to have a quirk or two. She had her hand on the door knob as she surveyed the situation. The door was inches away from being closed.

"...would you like me to wait, Your Majesty, or is there something I can help you with?" He knew she was coming. Majesty Rai never missed or forgot an appointment that she'd heard of, and he'd said her name specifically before the door was open...

As the door remained slightly ajar, the faithful Tove wriggled his way into the room. He nuzzled against her cheek and gave a soft chirp. She gave him a warning glance to behave then returned her attention back to Rai. The Tove landed on her shoulder, watching her patiently and quietly. Tinman's behavior problems had really disappeared in the past few years.

[seraaches]

(( m'kay, before i forget again, your sig img cracks me up and makes me want to go watch live-action SM. o___O;;; lol ))

"I think you will quite useful," the stallion said quietly. "Guildleader Popposeinolopos has a problem which is about to become your problem."

The platypus cleared his throat. "Your Majesty, that Popposenolopos."

The equine gave the man a droll look and the Midori resident swiftly averted his eyes.

"Guildleader Popposenolopos," the Queen said clearly, enunciating each syllable. "Will now relay his problem to you." He lofted a brow at the platypus, features still rather cold.

The platypus cleared his throat again and sent the stallion a pleading look before glancing at the woman again and then at the floor. He seemed rather embarrassed by the whole thing.

Shinrai, for his part, was looking on with his 'duty' face on, though, beneath it all, he had to admit a certain level of amusement. Poor Heilyn was getting burdened with a strange problem, but the horse was confident she could handle it. He was curious, however, to see how she would do so.

[Satra]

[Haha, thank you. <3 ]

Heilyn blinked, but kept a neutral expression on her face as she looked at the Platypus. Guildleader Poppowhatnow? Was the problem his name?

"Of course, Your Majesty," she nodded at Shinrai then looked back down at the Platypus. He seemed quite embarrassed and hesitant to state the problem at hand. Hmm, he seemed to be an introvert, too. She toned down her aura and gave a small smile that curled the edges of her lips slightly. She wanted the problem to come out, and introverts tended to just curl up in a ball and guard everything when she was around. He was still turned around in his seat, though, so she couldn't see his rank. Tinman however, was quite displeased at the drop in her magical aura. He made a short grunt-like noise and nudged her jaw.

"Guildmaster," she said, afraid that attempting to say his name would cause her injury, perhaps a brain hemorrhage, "Please, explain your troubles to me. I will deal with them quickly and practically." She said nothing about pain or embarrassment. Well, as long as she felt neither of those things herself, and the issue was dealt with as efficiently as possible, it was a job well done.

[seraaches]

A 'mere' Eight, the platypus seemed slightly less on edge, though a faint hint of colour tinged his cheeks and suggested that he still wasn't entirely comfortable. He sent the Queen of Hearts another hopeful glance, but the stallion simply quirked a patient eyebrow. The stallion, at least, wasn't offering the Midori Beach man any help at all.

"Well," the man began, glancing towards the woman and then away again. He finally stared at the floor for a long moment, then, with a deep breath, drew up to his not-entirely-impressive 4'3" height and turned emerald green eyes on the woman.

"I need pee."

Shinrai quickly bit the inside of his mouth to keep from laughing and instead turned a calm, if vaguely amused expression, towards the Bog resident to see how she was taking this fun turn of events. He'd had the same trouble when Popposenolopos told him.

[Satra]

A thin eyebrow raised itself as the man's need was brought out.

What.

The Hell.

"You need pee," she repeated in a rather blunt tone, not entirely sure why he would need such a thing (and not entire sure that she would want to know why), "I'm assuming your mastery of the common tongue is good enough that you meant you need urine as opposed to needing to commit the act?" Hell, if anyone knew the road bumps on the way to learning a new language, it would be Heilyn. She shot a quick glance at Mis Majesty, who looked vaguely amused. It's not that she hated him for this. Hell, if she were in his shoes, she would dumped this guy and his little problem off on the first person she saw, too. Especially with the way higher-ups loved to dump their jobs off on the Bitches of the Court, the Jacks. Without really giving him enough of a pause to get a response out, and even if he did, she would cut him off in her typical rudeness.

"Tell me, Guildmaster, are you from Midori? or perhaps the Capital?" she asked in the same fairly unamused, blunt tone, "What is so special about the piss here that you would need an audience with the Presiding Queen of Hearts to obtain it? Surely there is a bounty of it where you're from?"

[seraaches]

The man looked flustered and angry all at once. "I can speak the common tongue quite well, thank you very much, your Excellence," he retorted, face flushing a deeper red. "And my place of residence has nothing to do with anything! I need large amounts of urine and do you know how difficult it is to try and collect that from the disparate villages of Midori Beach or from the shops in the Capital? People don't collect that sort of thing and I've been wracking my brains for an easier way to collect the amount we need for this special dye and this is the best solution I could find!" For how mild-mannered he previously appeared, the platypus evidently had quite the set of healthy lungs beneath his initially drab expression.

Shinrai thought it prudent to step in quickly before the Guildleader could be further insulted by a miscalculated comment.

"The Palace has a sewage system, Heilyn," the Queen explained quietly. "Guildleader Poppsen--"

"Popposenolopos!"

"Popposenolopos was wondering if it would be simpler to tap into that rather than try and ask people to collect their. . . urine in cups."

[Satra]

Heilyn growled as well as her human vocal chords would allow and narrowed her piercing yellow, slit-pupil eyes slightly at the Guildleader. She released some of her strength on the intimidation that came with her human form. Tinman perked up and made a soft trilling noise.

"No need to get snippy, sir," she said in a quiet voice, enunciating every syllable, "I am here to help an meant no offense. I merely wanted to make sure I was not misunderstanding your needs. I did not grow up learning the common tongue and know full well the problems a simple misunderstanding can cause." Tinman lifted himself off her shoulders and began hovering, looking between his Master and the man. Tempers were rising. Was Master going to fight? He waited for more indication.

Heilyn shook her head after His Majesty spoke.

"I'm not fully educated on how our system works, but I'm pretty sure that it would not be terribly easy," she turned to Popposenolopos... Popposenlopos? Whatever, "All of it goes to the same place. We would have to separate solid from liquid waste. On top of that, from what I understand, the urine would be diluted from the water it was flushed with and other running water such as showers, soapy and dirty water from the kitchens, etc. I don't think that fits your needs. And, no offense, but we are not about to rearrange our entire sewage system to appeal to a single Guild's needs." And image came forward to the front of her mind. Dirty city streets roamed by the financially unfortunate...

"There are many poor in the Capitol," she continued, "I'm sure you'd capture the attention of many if you offered a small amount of money for a cup of urine. Or even if you offered them clean free water in exchange for your needs, I'm sure there will be many who need respite from dehydration and the filthy water offered in the slums," she shrugged, "but that's just a musing of mine, take it or leave it. I don't know what the financial capabilities of your Guild are, sir."

[seraaches]

The platypus looked displeased with her answer-- though he wouldn't make eye contact with the woman now; perhaps it wasn't wot he was looking for, perhaps he didn't like poor people, perhaps it still seemed like too much work, or perhaps he just had indigestion. He wasn't given a real opportunity, however, to voice his complaint or lack thereof.

"That sounds like a good idea," the Queen of Hearts put in blandly, sending the Midori Beach resident a look that suggested it was in his best interest to at least pretend to agree.

"It. . . may suffice," the Guildleader agreed a bit sullenly as he glanced towards the equine and away. He didn't seem overly comfortable in either of the Face Cards' presence.

"We'll let you mull this suggestion over," the Queen continued, almost as though the man hadn't spoken at all. "If you have any further issues, you will contact Ira and he will direct you as needed." Obvious dismissal rang in the stallion's tone and the platypus was swift to pick up the hint.

"Thank you, your Majesty, your Excellence. You have both been. . . helpful." The man quickly bowed his way out and grey-green eyes now rested thoughtfully on Heilyn.

"How long have you been around the Court, Heilyn?" he asked.