Cold... this place was ALWAYS cold, Aishou decided as she walked down the hall from the central laboratory area in Solaris. The lab techs claimed it kept them more alert, but it felt to her far too much like the cryo storage tanks she had been spending far too much time in of late...

With an unconscious gesture, she cradled the duffel pack with its cargo of Drive under her arm. A week's supply for her at normal usage... less than a day if she had to go into combat. The Ministry had obviously gotten nervous about her pervious absence.

So preoccupied, she continued to wander away from the main lab complex, lost more in her thoughts than in watching where she was going. As such, she didn't notice Myaru until she almost ran over the other woman.

Myaru's eyes rose from the clipboard just in time to allow her to jerk back and avoid a collision. The metallic board slipped from her hands and connected to the floor with a clang; she bent down swiftly to retrieve it, hardly able to restrain herself from striking the insolent child for her lack of attention.

Yet after a moment, recognition set in... and her eyes narrowed, ever so slightly. //The day just keeps getting better.// Victoria, Mordon, Victoria again... and now Mordon's insane charge. If things kept going the way they were...

"Watch where you're going, girl." She clipped the words, tone only barely bordering the bounds of civility.

Aishou stiffened as she recognized Myaru. "Where I'm going, hag? As I recall, military personnel have the right of way in this base." She knew that it was her last Drive infusion talking at the moment, but she really couldn't seem to muster the will to stop herself from continuing.

"Just what ARE you doing down here, anyways? Lurking about, crashing into people. Shouldn't you be doing something constructive? Like leaping off the side of Solaris?" Aishou demanded.

"Such poor manners..." Myaru arched an eyebrow, again struggling to contain her annoyance. Abrasive was more like it... "It's no wonder you're still considered a Lamb. It does seem that Ariath's policies are a little lax where civilizing you children is concerned.

"As you well know, lab personnel supercede your kind, here... and as I am on lab business, I'm sure the staff will appreciate some show of respect for their work, on your part." Myaru tilted her head to the side just slightly, studying Aishou intently behind her lashes. //Elly...// She bit back a smirk, eyes traveling over the girl's face, uniform, and cargo as if examining her for market. //How many look-alikes will we find in our search?//

Yet interestingly enough... it was rare to find so many. It had to be significant somehow, though she could not at the moment see why.

"I was not aware that Solaris' policies were so changed that camp followers were allowed into important positions." Aishou retorted, her eyes glittering dangerously as she stared at Myaru. //Why did I have to run into HER right now? Of all the people on Solaris, I have to run into the one who did... something... took... someone...//

She pressed her hand to her forehead for a moment, trying to clear the ever present fog out of her head and focus her attention on Myaru.

"We all do what we are trained to do, isn't that so?" Myaru graced her with a small, tight smile. "My position on Mordon's staff has nothing to do with our dear Ariath. He is, I suppose you could say..." She paused, as if searching for the appropriate word, though there was really no need. Studying the girl and her reactions, however, was fascinating. "... One of the perks of rank..."

Aishou bit her lip to try to keep the obvious reply from bursting out... much harder than she intended, so that the coppery tang of blood filled her mouth. No matter... the pain kept her going, the rage made her heart feel alive, burnt aside the fog in her memory.

"I wasn't aware that lab techs were allowed to accompany the Solaris Commander down to the surface as part of his personal entourage... only the ranking Elements are allowed to do that." Aishou lifted her chin slightly... despite having most of her actual authority stripped away, she still held THAT title at least.

"/Really/..." Myaru shook her head, an unreadable glitter coloring her eyes like amethyst. "Well... I won't get into a rank war with you, Aishou... My life is really none of your business, and as I outrank you by far, I have no reason to change that." She straightened, fingers toying with the ring hanging from her neck.

//Don't you ever get tired of cruelty? She's such a mistreated little girl, if your memories...//

//That isn't your concern, now is it, Faith? If you offered to take her confession, she'd likely take your head in exchange. Go to sleep, and be a good Sister, now...// Sighing, Myaru's eyes flickered back to Aishou, losing some of their edge. "You'd do best to forget Ariath, girl. He's far beyond you."

//I never did want to admit what a bitch you are, Myaru. God forgive me for it...//

Myaru didn't really have time to notice it. All Aishou did was twitch an eyebrow, and then the world exploded. The force of the blow sent her crashing against the wall, the back of her head cracking against it rather painfully. What had that girl HIT her with, Myaru wondered as the stars that were floating about in front of her eyes began to fade... it wasn't Ether, and her whole FACE shouldn't hurt like this if she'd punched her.

"Well then... I guess I'll have to sink down to your level to get him back, won't I Miss Myaru? If you've pulled him down so far that I can't even reach him anymore..." Aishou replied, digging through her duffel bag as she did so. She retracted it, picking up a thin, cracked crystal tube from its recesses. "Damn, cracked one."

With a practiced motion, she took the cork off of the vial, ignoring the thin scores the glass cut in her palm as she did so. The Drive vanished down her throat with a speed that was almost... dizzying to watch.

Rising to her feet with a sigh, Myaru rubbed her cheek with a slender hand, looking anything but put out. Her mind was stunned just enough that loosing her tight control over her senses was fairly easy; it slipped from her iron grip to fill her very veins with ether, chilling her with icy fire.

But the power was wild, pure... and it writhed like a living thing under her mental touch, trying to break free much as Elanore's had. With a stab of annoyance, she seized it, channeling it through her hand toward the pain in her head; it disappeared immediately, and again the energy tried to writhe out of her grasp, as if consciously attempting to get free.

It was always like this, when she drew upon her link to Har... she would have to do something with it, and soon, or it would explode. And while she wouldn't mind vaporizing the child in front of her, it might turn the tables and cause /her/ to look unruly in Ariath's eyes, rather than Aishou. And she couldn't allow that, now could she?

"Well then, if you'll pardon me, MISS Myaru..." Aishou said with infinite sweetness, ignoring the thin line of blood that dribbled out the side of her mouth, "...I have some important business that I need to take care of. If you want to take your vastly superior rank down to the labs, that is quite fine by me..." The bow she gave Myaru was perfectly deferential, and as mocking as she could make it.

"How... disappointing..." Myaru shrugged, raising an eyebrow and waiting for Aishou to pass, quite unwilling to turn her back on the girl. "Do clean yourself up..."

With a quick motion Aishou wiped the blood off of her chin with her fingers, pausing only long enough to lick them to remove the blood. The overall result was that all of the fingers of her left hand were covered in blood. With a smile, she walked past Myaru, just barely letting her hand brush along her sleeve as she passed and walked towards the end of the hallway.

"Oh yes..." Myaru said, pitching her voice to a level she knew Aishou would hear. She gave the blood a cursory glance, using the opportunity to seize her power again and burn it out of the fabric. The threads fused together, but only a touch of heat reached her arm. "Ariath asked me to thank you for aiding in Elanore's rescue in Bledavik. Such a kind, /selfless/ gesture deserved thanks."

"He had taken a fancy to the girl for some reason." Aishou replied over her shoulder. "Reason enough."

"Indeed..." The whisper was soft, almost amused, though Myaru had taken no pains to conceal it. Amazing, how blind people could be, when they didn't want to acknowledge the facts of life. Surely she had to see, in Elanore, something familiar... It wasn't every day you met someone with your own face... or close enough.

(Summary: Aishou and Myaru meet in the halls of Mordon's lab for a not-so-pleasant interlude.)