[Shards of Immortality] Illyasviel, Aurelia - Winter Rhapsody

[Tabby]

"Still not seein' the point of this," the smaller occupant of the tent grumbled as she adjusted the fur covering her shoulders, against both the cold and the feeling of being sullied in the wake of the examination. "We're immortal. I'm not going to get tetanus and die because she-hulk got a bit overzealous with the poking stick." The words came out caustic, sarcastic; not aimed at her companion, but an airing of general frustration. To be fair there had been a fair bit of blood earlier, but it had healed up just fine!


Illyasviel sighed, pondering meditating under a frozen waterfall for a month to cleanse the stain from her soul. Why had the examination been so... thorough? She supposed that she should make a token effort to be polite, though, if only to avoid starting more trouble when someone else inevitably assumed that she was enfuriated with them rather than circumstance, as seemed completely obvious to her. "But thanks. I guess. You're just doing your job, I know."


There was a momentary pause as she glanced around the room, another thought coming to mind as Illya's curiosity bubbled to life in the wake of the desperate desire to get the hell out of there melting away. "...What exactly do you do, anyways?" It seemed like a perfectly good question; she had never really spent much time anywhere near the Tower, outside of visits to the Cathedral and receiving orders from the Overlord or his mouthpieces. "I mean, I get the medic thing, but for an army of dudes who never die..." She trailed off for a moment, then continued, another thought striking her. "Are you a dentist too? Is it bad teeth? Do we even have a dental plan?"


Illya had clearly missed her calling as the Overlord's chief interrogator.

 

[Doctor Calgori]

Aurelia had already prepared herself for the most important part of every examination, the 'Okay, get out, I'm going back to sleep' tradition. It had been a usual sort of examination, with the same old, same old checking, poking, and prodding that had become part of serving the Overlord. Conducted in complete silence, of course, for concentration. Medicine was much more complicated, after all, when half of the treated population was capable of creating nasty curses, hexes, and poisons. Besides, medicine medicine medicine sleepy times fndfnnnnnnnnnnn-


Suddenly, questions.


With the look of a cat, having just been poked squarely in the nose after having its food taken away mid-dinner, Aurelia lifted her head from her small table. "...what?" She demanded, grumbling that more attention was being demanded of her. Probably some kind of weird request to get this done, or to clean this up, or to prepare another live victim for...oh. Weird. These weren't any of those, these were...curiosity things.


"Oh...didn't know...performance reviews were here already." The dazed doctor only managed something sarcastic as an afterthought. How embarrassing. Where was that famous sharp tongue, those rapier wits? General here's going to think you've gone soft. That's no good. Get it together. She sighed, throwing her medical hat back onto her head. With effort that nearly matched that of the Overlord's great power, Aurelia dragged herself upright, or at least, tried to, before giving up half way and flopping back down to the table with a loud thump.


"Awfully curious aren't we? Last time anybody asked me things like that, found myself stuck up a tree miles from home. This had better not be something like that" Aurelia sent a skeptical eye towards her patient, who was indeed showing an alarming degree of curiosity. This could mean no good. Nobody just asked questions like that. Might as well be a little tough, most Generals could take it anyways. "Or else..." Aurelia hoped that such a threat would be enough. This looked like one of those crazy magical ones, with all the powers and stuff. Come to think of it, quipping off at this one was probably a bad idea. Oh well, good show all around. Aurelia let her head thump back down into the table, awaiting what she took to be another verbal beating. "But feel free to ignore me, you know..." She mumbled, hopefully.

 

[Tabby]

"...What?"


Illyasviel stared blankly at the good doctor, hand gradually and unwittingly sliding down from its place in her furs as she struggled to incorporate this curious individual into her worldview, and maybe comprehend the situation while she was at it. "Performance - I was just -" Nevertheless, the Hammer was not known for indecisiveness nor allowing herself to be entirely consumed by confusion, so she forced herself to rally in the face of a very strange situation.


-Which was mostly accomplished by letting out a long sigh as she considered introducing the palm of her hand to the nearest available face. Probably hers. A snorted chuckle interrupted it as Illya realized just how odd the situation was, the look of confusion transforming into a quirk at the edges of her lips that she successfully held back from turning into a full-on smile. "I-" There was a moment of hesitation before she forced herself forwards, regardless of how distasteful the words might be. "-must apologize. I was merely interested in your work; no offense was intended, nor have I nefarious plans involving trees."


Okay, that was definitely a smile, albeit more mischievous than giddy. "...No further away than a kilometer, anyways." Illyasviel raised both hands pre-emptively, not entirely sure how this strange girl was going to respond, but not particularly fond of the idea of another miscommunication. "My intentions are as pure as the driven snow."


A voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like Nar'Tae mentioned yellow snow, but was ruthlessly crushed under the iron heel of progress.


"If you need accomplish aught else I will oblige. No imposition was meant. I am oft away from the Tower by the Overlord's will, and so find myself curious to the workings of a system I knew not existed." Fuck! Too formal. Her smile cracked a bit as Illya swore mutinously at herself, conditioned by years in the Sororitas to meet stress and questioning with formality and poise, but not entirely happy about it. "And you - are a very curious sort of woman. That arouses my interest as well."

 

[Doctor Calgori]

"And now I'm getting complimented. This must be some kind of trick." Aurelia shook her head in mild disbelief - that last one had been completely void of sarcasm! Alarming! She threw a hand back towards the rest of the tent, feeling her examination glove fly off in the process. Oh well. "Not really much of a party in here, as you can see." Hmph. Looks like this would be a battle of...decent conversation. Huh. "Or even in the Tower for that matter...you have it lucky, you know. Getting to see the world, adventure, freedom..." Aurelia decided that there was no returning from this one, and so, ceased her efforts to cease her effort. Finally managing to crank herself up to a sitting position, she again shot Illya her annoyed cat face, but even then she gave up on that, and instead adopted a look of simple, slight bother.


"I do actually get people in here, believe it or not. This is an abnormally quiet day...you're the first to visit me." Whether this was a compliment or an insult was unclear, but Aurelia's slowly growing confidence (As she had been neither insulted nor attacked yet) was starting to spark up further expression. What was clear, however, was that Illya would get no more without any further confirmation of benign intentions, or at least, similar apathy to the world's events. To simply waltz in and demand the greatest secrets of a medic, who's very survival depends on the purity of her work? Unacceptable. Only the highest standards, and most sophisticated of mannerism, would pass this test of wits! Only the most verbose of prose, the most eloquent of speeches! To arms!


"You can stop with the fancy talk..." Aurelia finally graced Illya with her full, undivided attention, deciding that nap time could wait. Picking up on the strangulated formalities of Illya's speech, she turned her eye to her cold patient: the calculating targeting sight of the guns of apathy. "We're strictly casual in here. Party tent. Wooo." With a half-dead hand, Aurelia indicated the party of which she was talking. A medicine party. In short, a terrible party. "I'm already half deaf from silence... don't need any big words breaking my eardrums. You'll be sick of them anyways, if we're going to talk about all this stuff." Aurelia indicated the menagerie of surgical items that had somehow been crammed into the small room that was the tent. For good measure, she began to fiddle around with a scalpel she snatched up from the desk.

 

[Tabby]

"I would make a poor trickster, I fear," Illya said with the smile still threatening to grow larger. "Honesty and misdirection ill combine." At least this... strange woman didn't seem to be entirely disgusted by her presence? Illyasviel was not entirely sure how to read the situation, but she thought that Aurelia might be inviting her to stay, or at least tolerating it, so it seemed that discretion was the better part of valor.


"I understand. I - tend to react formally as a default." When lost, confused, or threatened was left unsaid; she had no intention of spilling her life story to anyone in the immediate future, much less to explain a verbal tic. "Though I'll admit, I never realized scalpels were confirmed party gear. Should I have brought a bonesaw to cut the cake?"


...She decided to stop trying to make jokes.


Seeking refuge from the consequences of a joke that awkwardly forced, Illya moved on quickly, striking on a subject of conversation that seemed more promising that continuing to trip over her own tongue, at least. "The freedom to share the Overlord's dream with those bereft of it is a privilege indeed. Getting shot and stabbed on a regular basis is a..." Illya nodded her head to the side, breathing out in a quiet snort of amusement at the thought, "-little less uplifting, but the price we must pay."


Not that she was exactly trying to convince Aurelia of anything, but Illyasviel saw no harm in being frank about her feelings on following the Overlord. She did see it as an honor to lead his armies and serve him, after all, even if she could do without the people trying to kill her bit. Not that that was anything she hadn't been prepared for during her stint in Granorg. ...Or was Aurelia fishing for stories? Just jealous? It seemed odd that any General would admit to being displeased with their placement in the army. "You seem - displeased with your station. Why is that?"

 

[Doctor Calgori]

"...you really are new around here, aren't you." Aurelia shrugged, and this was more of an observation than an insult. She sighed, more out of thinking than out of exasperation, and a look of thought came across her face: how best to handle things from here? Well, when in doubt, a diagram always helps..."Here, this might help" Reaching into her can of scalpels, Aurelia extracted a handful of them, showing little to no regard for the myriad of cuts inflicted into her skin, or for that matter, the fact that half of them were completely rusty, or still had bits of somebody on them. Arranging them on her desk like a pyramid, Aurelia sent her gaze back to Illyasviel, now looking ( and sounding! ) neutral again. "Pay attention, this is important."


Aurelia prodded the top of the pyramid with her finger, leaving a bloody fingerprint in the wood. "This is the big guy. He's in charge of all this stuff. You probably know that. These-" Here, a few smears of blood in the middle section, "-Are all his advisers. I don't think you're one of them, because you'd be out of here by now if you were. I think you're one of these," and a large smear down the middle, below the advisers, "These are all of the Generals and stuff. You're in charge of these guys down here, who are all of the soldiers and stuff."


Aurelia paused for a moment, somewhat proud of her little explanation, before continuing. "Aaaaand then we have this part." She picked up a scalpel, then dropped it, letting it fall down to the ground with a small thunk. "Who do you think that was?" She asked, flatly.

 

[Tabby]

Illyasviel bridled, ready to snap back at the damn medic for assuming she was inexperienced - but held her emotions in check, determined to retain control, to ruin this as well. After dealing with Nar'Tae and having her temper flare earlier, it was as much a stubborn insistence that she was capable of emotional control as an attempt to actually save Aurelia's feeling from verbal savaging, but while the observation wasinaccurate, it was - reasonable. She supposed. Illya let out a long breath, willing the annoyance to melt away, then responded a few moments later. "I serve as the hammer and the scalpel alike of the Overlord's will, always at the forefront of the war. He sees fit to place me there time after time, and therefore I see it fit to perform to the best of my ability. If that means I spend very little time at the Tower, so be it."


The truth was - slightly more complicated, in that Illya had been beginning to wonder if perhaps she did not enjoy her work as much for the sake of it and the ability to improve her own tactical acumen as for anyone else's benefit, but admitting to just being another run-of-the-mill psychopath who liked killing people did not sit well with her. And it wasn't like she had been lying - Illyasviel truly did believe that she was doing the right thing in aiding the Overlord, that his rule would usher in a new golden age for all peoples, that he could perhaps help her save her kingdom, and she did care for him as much as a stern father as a model of strength.


But then Auralia didn't really need to know any of that, so Illya didn't bother explaining her circuitous thought process or hesitant answers on the matter. She would figure that out later - on her own, the same damn way she solved everything. Also, apparently her input was needed in the conversation. who would have thought? It took two people talking to have a proper dialogue!


Auralia's explanation - bothered her somewhat, though. While most generals were obnoxious morons, at least most of them were relatively satisfied with how they were used, or at least willing to deal with their current circumstances as a stepping-stone to ultimate power, or whatever the more unrealistically ambitious sorts were biding their time for. The medic, on the other hand, seemed to be far from satisfied, perhaps even bitter. Masochistic also came to mind, given how she handed the scalpels, but Illya quickly decided she did not want to go any further down that rabbit hole.


Besides, figuring out how not to be completely insensitive in responding to the medic's lifeless response would be a challenge worth accepting!


It did seem odd, though. The Overlord had always seemed to tacitly approve of meritocracy, of rewarding and promoting those who deserved it. Unless there was another far better medic around, Aurelia certainly seemed to be... about the most used, at least from what Illya had gathered, and she had certainly seemed professional and competent enough during the examination. Perhaps that was what was bugging her, Illya decided; it almost seemed out of character for the Overlord to allow this to happen, unless he had some... convoluted plan to accomplish... something?


That all said, guessing at the intentions of someone who had never even showed his face, much less his innermost thoughts, seemed fruitless. Illya gave it up as a bad job and focused on the present. "Hm. You weren't joking about the tree incident, were you?" It was more of a statement than a question as she hesitantly pondered what Aurelia was saying, not entirely sure how she was supposed to react. Curiosity won out over empathy, though there was more to her words than a simple question as she leaned forwards and spoke. "Why are you still here, then?"


It was a question for both of their benefit rather than merely her own curiosity.

 

[Doctor Calgori]

Well.


Very well.


Well played.


The bright glint of a scalpel, flitting back and forth through the air. Oddly interesting. Interestingly hypnotizing. Hypnotizingly odd. And, for some time, the only thing happening in the tent. Aurelia's grasp on the implement threatened to send the instrument flying through the nearest wall, and yet, it remained firmly in her grasp, never seeming to be able to make up its mind. The twirler, meanwhile, gradually forgot about the instrument, her eyes slipping up and away from the show to stare off into nothingness, leaving Illyasviel to keep the scalpel company. Twirl, twirl, twirl.


Tap, tap, tap. The device sunk itself firmly into Aurelia's forehead, again and again, as she tilted her head forward, and closed her eyes, evidently in the middle of some great decision. A percussive beat, striking up a tempo of urgent necessity. A decision had to be made, that much was clear, and Aurelia was quite aware of this, gradually picking up the tempo of her forehead taps until finally, extracting the small blade and setting it on the table in front of her. Yes. This would do. Concise. Decisive. Clear and formal. Happy with her answer, Aurelia turned to regard her guest, letting her other thoughts trickle down her head in a crimson river of rejected answers.


“I have no idea.”


Aurelia was not finished talking. The silence that followed the blank statement was rich with subtle hints: there was more to the story than this pathetic attempt at further apathy. But of course...to address that turmoil, would be to open a whole new scab. The twirling had resumed at a frantic pace, flicking the medic's thoughts all about the room. Aurelia paid no heed to the crimson streaks now dotting herself and most of the objects on the table, instead worried about...


“What's it matter to you, anyways?”


A gentle trickle of rejected subject matter reached Aurelia's chin, as she pondered the significance of insignificance. A quick taste of bad idea gave her new courage to speak.


“And it's not as if I had any choice in this matter.”


The medic was finding new ground in old ground, quickly returning to her apathetic state of the beginning pleasantries. This conversation had veered uncomfortably close to something almost cordial in nature! To think that the medic of the Overlord was finding comfort in comfort! Simply unacceptable, of course. Cease all communication. Now.


“If I was one of those philosophical types, I'd probably ask you the same thing,” she reflected, dully. “Thank fate that I'm not. Nevertheless...” The medic took a deep look into a droplet of her own thought process.


“I can't help but wonder why somebody as grand as yourself would be concerned with such matters.”


Aurelia's tone had almost shifted to mirror Illyasviel's, rivaling the magi for stiff formality. But there was a flaw in the shield: Aurelia's general demeanor had become oddly defensive.

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OOC: I changed my train of thought like fourteen times during this so it's probably the most broken narrative in the history of things...sorry D:

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