Chief Financial Officer's Office

When he interaction with Franz earns a faint smile, the first hint of the Franz she knew to peek from beneath his otherwise silent and stoic demeanor thusfar, Elikapeka shrugs with an innocent grin, telling him, "No one told me the rules," in an amused tone.

Laughing when Lily replies to her comment about being bad, Elika smiles as she nods and agrees, "I'll concede both points counselor," and then pats her arm as the turbolift begins to descend. Leaning back against the wall, Elika adjusts the set of her backpack purse as Crystal mentions something about a date to Lily, trying not to laugh once she realizes what is being discussed since it reveals that, not entirely unpredictably given how long she and Crystal have been living together, Elika is in sync with her friend. Keeping the thought to herself since it is not likely to be a conversation Franz would want to be present for, Elika tries to remember the bits of music she had composed in her head to regain her composure moments before, thinking that some of what she came up with is worth pursuing when she has the time to do so.

When Crystal asks whether her first choice of restaurants is agreeable, or if TaSpa! would be preferable, Elika purses her lips in thought and then suggests, "Garden for today, maybe do TaSpa! tomorrow? Make a day of it?" As she finishes asking the question, the turbolift arrives on the ground floor, the doors opening with a ping! Waiting for the others to step out before following them, Elika buttons her trench coat as they step out into the mists outside, joining the other pedestrians that look, in the distance, like shadows moving until they are near enough to be seen clearly.

Elika is silent for the walk, not in an unsociable way, rather simply enjoying the companionable silence that accompanies the brief trip to the restaurant . . .

While not even the unanticipated and wholly unwelcome tension that had arisen between her and Franz earlier in the day cannot dampen her eagerness to see Delaana and spend time with her, Elikapeka still, after sending a holonet message to Delaana to say that she will meet her in the Chief Financial Officer's office, spends the entire speeder trip from her office to the Mist Government Building sulking in silence; all the while cursing herself for not just saying something to try and restore the broken peace between her and Franz since it is not his fault that he has been asked to act as her bodyguard, an arrangement that Elika finds both unnecessary and increasingly uncomfortable for a variety of reasons.

As she and Franz make their way towards the Chief Financial Officer's office, Elika mentally facepalms as she realizes that her sulking had prevented her from asking that Franz stop at a florist as she had planned after receiving Delaana's message inviting her to lunch, and so is now arriving empty handed. Tugging the left sleeve of her trench coat down compulsively, and then her right before a final tug at the left sleeve as she nearly trips over her own feet as they round a corner in the bustling hallway, Elika tries to keep the oversight from blossoming into an obsession that will allow her anxiety to increase beyond its usual levels, and tells herself that she can always just have Franz stop on the way to the restaurant.

As she steps into the office after security admits her and Franz from outside in the hall after the routine checks, Elika smiles to try and conceal her discomfort, an effort made easier by the fact that the mere sight of Delaana still has a heady effect on her, and waves a bit awkwardly as she begins debating how she should greet Delaana in light of the fact she is currently at work and might not appreciate having Elika's presence or behavior reveal anything about her personal life. Clearing her throat and, having decided to err on the side of caution, Elika walks closer to the desk while reminding herself not to use her petname for Delaana or look as enamored as she truly is, and tries to sound professionally warm and no more as she says, "Um, hi. Tugging at her sleeves again, Elika is silent for a beat too long as she tries to think of something to say next, and finally, mentally facepalming once more, settles on asking, Ready for lunch?"

Her discomfort and concern about how free she can be with her affections, which are more likely than not apparent to any observers anyway from the goofy, smitten smile Elikapeka can feel surfacing on her lips after Delaana kisses her on the cheek, abating almost entirely, Elika keeps hold of Delaana's hand as she unconsciously steps closer to her and says in a playfully flirtatious tone, "Well, my Ceesi, if you insist on buying, then I'm afraid I simply must insist that you also choose the place where we'll be doing it. Blushing as she realizes that what she's said may not have come out sounding as innocent as it what is intended, Elika hastily clarifies, Eating out I mean. Wincing as she replays that in her head and decides she could have chosen a better phrase, Elika amends her choice of words quickly once more, Where you want to have lunch, that is the thing I insist that you pick since you insist on buying."

Eager to move along metaphorically as well as physically, Elika tugs Delaana along as she begins to make her way from the office and to the turbolift as she asks with excessive cheerfullness, "So, how has your day been so far, my Ceesi?"

After visiting the site of her future office while her Ceesi, Lily and Crystal had gone off to attend to the arrangements they needed to make in order to prepare for the trip to Hapes, Elikapeka makes her way to Crystal's office since that is where they all decided to meet once they had done what they had come to do. Looking up from the notes she is making on her datapad about the ideas she has for how she wants to decorate and furnish her office, Elika smiles shyly at the guards stationed outside of Crystal's office and then steps inside after they open the doors for her.

Sitting on the edge of Delaana's desk, Elika smiles lovingly as she shuts her datapad off and leans over to kiss her girlfriend's cheek tenderly, "Hello again, my Ceesi, I've missed you terribly, and then slides her backpack purse off her shoulder to put her datapad inside it. Dangling her feet from side to side to side as she pulls her backpack purse back up onto her shoulder, Elika tells Delaana, I love my office space, excitedly and then adds, I can't wait for you to see it when I have it all furnished and decorated," trying to sound upbeat even though there is the possibility that whatever happens on Hapes will prevent her girlfriend from returning to Umgul and will mean Elika only sees her office when making the trip from Hapes to attend to her projects on Umgul. That would, however, be the worst case scenario as far as Elika can imagine, and so she reminds herself of all the friends she and Delaana will have with them when they go to deal with the Queen Mother, deciding to ignore her worries and focus instead on how so long as she and her Ceesi are together it does not really matter what world they call home.

After separating from Luce and Forcias, Horsea did return to HQ and took a shower. Back in her office she noticed who exactly where in the government building, and the most important people were always categorized into another section on her terminal. Smiling slightly, she was content that it seemed to be in her favor, and also to have Major Wan here, well . . . Fortuitous.

Finally stepping into the financial department’s floor, Horsea who often had gloved hands for reasons that to a lot she never needed to explain, but surely it was still surprising for a lot back at UDF, or even here in the government itself. Horsea was glad for one thing, even if she had been the most sociable one of the Kiffars, she was glad that people didn’t really bar her in her movements, and sometimes from the looks of it people avoided her . . .

Inclining her head to the guards, Horsea stepped inside to where the offices of Delaana Wan, and Crystal Kayne were, and looked on her side seeing that Elikapeka was here there, and from the looks of it so was Ljiljana was in Crystal’s office. Certain though that the Chief Financial Officer had felt some disturbances in the Force recently, Horsea just caught Crystal’s eyes and smiled to at least let her know that nothing dire had happened as a whole and she was not here to drop some regrettable news to the CFO.

Instead . . .

“Miss Hekekia, Miss Wan.” Horsea greeted the both of them with a warm smile before asking for them both to follow her actually since what she was about to share, or talk about was a better conversation to be had in Crystal’s office who had the ability to shut off all listening devices, but also security feeds. And they were all friends, and Horsea knew that certainly there were no longer any secrets between all of them which was the reason why she closed the door of Crystal’s office and killed the security feed here.

“Forgive me for dropping in unannounced, but I needed to speak with Major Wan.” Obviously that told them all that Horsea was aware on who was Delaana, and that she had been sworn to a certain secrecy as well. “The Vice Governor has asked me to find more information about the Chume'doro that visited you, were you given something, or she only spoke to you?” Asked Horsea thoughtfully, and after being informed of that said scroll, she asked the Hapan, “May I please see it?”

Removing her gloves, Horsea who was handed the scroll, it wasn’t for her to read the content, and she was certain it was in Hapan, a dialect unknown to her, it was just for her to see the face on who handed this scroll to Lana . . .

Closing her eyes and focusing, Horsea relieved the scroll’s story ever since it got to Umgul, she did not need to go further than that, for that was of no interest to her, nor to Andros, but finally, it was that exchange she was looking for, and putting a face on the person that had approached Lana. Almond shaped eyes and dark haired Chume'doro of the Purity Division. Horsea finally opened her eyes and looked at Delaana. “Thank you.” Handing the scroll back to the Hapan and looking at the women, maybe all of them would be surprised, and perhaps not Crystal honestly.

Though she did not utter a single word about what she saw, or what the Chume'doro had said to Lana, because she was very certain it would draw some ire from the friends here ergo why Horsea just looked at Lana knowingly ”Avo turjeo erenedi.” That would probably clue in the Hapan at least.

Before leaving though, Horsea looked at Crystal to inform her. “They are all fine, no one was injured.” Smiling to everyone Horsea inclined her head. “I believe I have what I do need for Andros.” Finally reactivating the security feeds in the office, Horsea stepped out and headed back to UDF with the woman’s face in her mind to do some facial recognition in their system . . .