Ask Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girl-Squire

[Laila Din]

Please report to Room J29 for a mission briefing. That was all the message said, leaving Laila to ponder about what it could possibly be as she changed out of her comfy sweats and into the uniform she wore as a squire. "Man, I feel like it's been forever since I've gone on a mission!" Laila thought she'd be done and over with school several months ago, but it turns out that she'd failed one of her classes. The teacher was such an ass about it too; they refused to bump her grade up! So she was forced to return to boarding school just to finish one damn class. Since it would have been a waste of her time not to, she'd gone ahead and taken a few more classes and attended full-time.

Flash forward to the present, and she was back at one of the various Imperial outposts located in Empire territory, in some stuffy little closet of a room that she was only tolerating because it was a temporary situation. It would take more than Imperial standards to break the princess out of Laila. If she had to remain here any longer, she would be requesting an upgrade in accommodations.

"Axela, turn off the music." The AI voice assistant immediately paused the speaker that was blasting some pop song as Laila buttoned her final button and headed quickly out the door. Her tail swished sharply behind her as she marched toward room 'J29', scarlet eyes drinking in the drab grey hallways of this particular compound. Upon locating the room, the princess swiped her access card and entered in stride.

"Princess Din, reporting for duty," she announced lazily as she stepped in, searching for whoever the mission briefer would be. It was some middle-aged human woman with jet black hair tied back into a neat bun and a stern look on her face. Laila suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. Was looking like a bitch a job requirement for these people?

"Thank you, Squire Din," the woman repeated back, sharply correcting her for the "mistake" Laila had made. This time the tiefling didn't suppress her desire to roll her eyes, prompting a glare from the woman. "We will begin shortly after Squire Delevigne arrives."

@Xorism

 

[Rhiannon]

It seemed like forever ago that Rhia had met the infamously fashionable Miss Din on their respective first days. So much time had passed, days and weeks went by filled with both scary and adorbs moments, it would be hard to tell it all in one sitting.

While more lessons or missions sounded entirely thrilling, there was simply nothing that could compete with running around in a farmyard field with ones own wolf puppy. That was perhaps one of the few if not the only things Rhia could claim to have that Laila couldn't, yet.

Arriving in a suitably timely fashion, the blonde squire noted that Laila had already seemed to make a great first impression on their instructor slash babysitter for the day. Now normally Rhia was a saintly angel in the eyes of her mentor, Lady Demici but one - she wasn't here and two - Laila was a mothafrikin' princess. A dangerously wholesome combination if there ever was one.

"Knight-Instructor Mellonia." Rhia dipped her head respectfully, after arriving. "Squire Din." Doing the same, but with a playful wink, slipped just out of sight of the older lady.

@lizziie

 

[Laila Din]

"Delevigne?" Why did that sound familiar? Laila wouldn't have to wait much longer to get her answer because Rhia marched not long after her name was mentioned. Upon seeing the other squire, Laila's eyes sparkled in recognition. "Oooh!" She remembered her. They'd met a while ago when Rhia appeared from above her, doing some sort of acrobatic shit.

"Wonderful." If she remembered correctly, Rhia wasn't a loser. It would make this mission much less of a bore to deal with if she could at least enjoy someone's company on this. She turned Rhia's wink with a toothy grin, then turned back to look at Knight-Instructor Mellonia with a hand on her hip.

"Alright. Now that you're both here, I will begin." The knight then began to go over their assignment. Essentially, it seemed, they were going out on patrol in an area where there had been rumors about something - likely raiders or pirates - that had been terrorizing a local spaceport the Empire used to manage shipments of raw materials off-world. Sometimes the materials were stolen; otherwise, they were destroyed.

"So, like, we’re going to- what, scare off some thieves if they happen to show their faces while we’re there?” Laila summarized with a bored look on her pink face.

”We will stay as long as necessary in order to find the root of the issue and rid of it,” Knight-Instructor Mellonia corrected with a hard look in Laila’s direction. ”This mission will teach the two of you patience, I hope, as well as how to deal with situations such as these. Now, I expect the both of you to be ready and waiting in the hanger in exactly one hour. Pack for a week. Dismissed.”

@Xorism

 

[Rhiannon]

Patience was something that Rhia had in spades, especially after the lengthy lessons Lady Demici had drilled into her and the insistence on a strict meditation schedule. (@LadyRen) The Laila she knew from earlier was more likely to have a spade itself and judging by the bored glare she held, that didn't seem to have changed over the past year.

"Yes, Knight-Instructor. We will." She answered matter-of-factly, with a cheerful disposition. The Knight was simply overjoyed about this mission and fully preferred the option of staying home and being some bourbon deep by nightfall. Departing in short measure, leaving both squires up to their own devices, Rhia smirked.

"Mellonia seems to like you already, Laila." Tracing her hand over her cute belt that she had bought from weeks of saving. "Have you lost your touch? The princess I remember would have her eating out of your palms already." She said with a playful tease as they departed to pack.

Rhia had always been on her best behaviour and an exemplary student. But now? This was her chance to have some proper fun.

@lizziie