Day 052: Lake Musicals And Other Strange Skainess
Summary: Kai interrupts Britt helping Lionel launder blood from his clothes and the archer gets treated to a snippet of Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Date: Day Month Year
Lake Audo/Arkadia
Lionel has watched a lot of old Earth TV shows and movies in his near three decades of life. It has given him a unique perspective, particularly on how to survive and handle various situations, as long as they remain in the confines of the carefully contained Hollywood set. Life on the ground is not so nicely confined. So, here's Lionel, trying to figure out how to wash his clothes in the lake. He has waded in to his calves, squatted down, and is trying the dunk-and-swish method to get some blood out of his light gray uniform shirt. He keeps teetering and tottering, unaccustomed to the slick rocks under his feet, nor the lazy lap of the lake.
Britt is on her way to the lake to refill the empty waterskin hanging on a strap from her shoulder. There's a faint frown on her face, which can be attributed to the cane she's using. A pronounced limp marks the leg that got smacked by a Reaper axe during the scouting engagement. As she approaches the lakefront, she peers at the figure crouching down there. Is that… yes, it is. Then she squints some more, puzzlement written all over her face. She alters her path to come within conversation range. "What are you doing?" she asks, befuddled.
Lionel looks up and over his shoulder at the familiar voice, and he starts to stand in a precarious roll. He shakes out his shirt — which lacks all matter of suds, which means he isn't using soap. He was told not to use soap. He thought that was the stupidest advice. He holds out the shirt for examination, frowning. "Cleaning… my shirt." He then smiles broadly, looking back over at her. "Not well… the water situation in Jaha is… well… it has not improved. I was trying to be resourceful." He starts to fold up the shirt, wringing it out roughly. "But…
Britt tilts her head, brows knitting when she realizes there are no suds. "Do you Skaikru not use soap when you wash your clothes?" There are a lot of strange things she's learned about the Skaikru, but that one? That one really throws her for a loop.
"Uh, well…" Lionel actually looks embarrassed — a rare expression for the guard. "We don't wash our clothes like this… not usually. We have big machines, and it uses very little water, and… yes… a soap, but the agro-techs flipped their lids when I suggested using soap in the lake…" He might actually be blushing a bit. "So, I was trying without…" He starts to turn, sloshing forward several steps as he continues to wring out the clothes.
Britt ahs, not terribly surprised to learn that they have technology for that too. "You have a machine for everything it seems." She scoffs a bit when he mentions the agro-techs. "We use soap in the lake every day. Your techs will have to get over it." She looks back over her shoulder towards the camp, frowning at the distance between them and her personal tent. No way in hell she's going all the way back there for soap. But, lo, there's another Trikru warrior she recognizes walking past the outskirts of camp a short distance away. Britt calls to him, and there's a brief exchange in Triglaseng. At first the other warrior looks at Britt like she's crazy, then she says something with a smirk, and then he laughs, nods, and walks off to the tents. "He's getting some soap," she explains matter-of-factly, then looks him up and down. "Kai told me you were friends on the Alpha Station, yes?"
"Hey, don't dig it until you use it, Britt kom Trikru," Lionel says, though the words are delivered with a grin. He wades forward, still teetering unevenly on the equally uneven ground. He tromps up onto the shore, soaked from the knees down. He is not wearing his boots or socks, which is probably a relief. His bare toes wriggle in the summer warmth. He watches the exchange between Britt and the other Trikru, ears perked to the language. He picks up maybe a word. He's been studying, but he's not sure the entire context. Until she clarifies, and Lionel grins. "Ah, well… I shouldn't accept such a gift. What should we exchange for it?" He even delivers the line without daring that boyish grin. Probably because he knows Britt could kick the snot out of him. When she speaks of Kai, the guard nods solemnly. "Friends…" He actually flashes an easy grin then. "She's my sister." He holds up a hand. "Not by blood. That was against our laws… one child per family… but, well… Keke — I mean, Kai — she's the closest I have to a little sister."
Britt arches her eyebrows at his insistence on exchange. "Do you even have anything to trade?" she wonders idly, before shaking her head. "I have soap to spare, don't trouble yourself over it." She nods when he explains about Kai, and smiles faintly. "I know what it is to have someone who is a sister, though not of blood." Her lips press consideringly for a moment, and then she declares. "I consider Kai a friend."
"That's a tough question, Britt kom Trikru… because I don't know what is it that a Trikru would value." Lionel shrugs a shoulder as he collects his jacket. But then he nods and grins. "I'll accept the soap… thank you." His gaze drops as she talks about Kai, and he flings his jacket over one shoulder. He starts to shake out his shirt, waving it a bit to let it air. He glances up at Britt, bushy eyebrows furrowed down. "Kai's dad gave me a second chance… you see… I was a bad kid. I got into trouble… all the time… got into fights, almost got boxed like Kai did." He starts to rub at his head, ruffling up his hair as he does. "Her dad was the one who found me, all bloodied and pissed off and ready to go for this other kid's throat. He made me a cadet, turned me into a guard… totally turned my life around. I would have probably been floated before I was eighteen otherwise." He grins a bit toward Britt. "Spent a lot of time Kai and her family."
Britt shakes her head. "I don't know enough about your ways to say. It seems like so many of your treasures revolve around your technology." There's a light shrug. "Anyway, I have all I need, really. The clan provides for us, and the rest I provide for myself." Her head tilts a little when she listens to his story. "So your people are not without mercy. I had wondered." Though it may sound like a criticism, there's actually a note of respect in her voice when she says it. "She does not speak much of her family." At that point, the other warrior jogs back with a block of soap in hand. Britt thanks him, and he gives Lionel an odd look before moving off. Britt holds out her hand, apparently expecting him to give her the dirty shirt.
"Well… in all fairness… technology kept us alive while we were in Space… so, I suppose it is our literal life blood." He looks around, marveling a moment. "Just like the lack of technology seems to have kept you alive…" He then looks up to the warrior coming in with soap, and Lionel has the decency to look thankful and a bit sheepish when he is handed it. He looks over the soap, rubbing at the block curiously. He holds it up in thanks to Britt. Then he shrugs his shoulders a bit. "Kai and I have different perspectives of her dad… which I guess is pretty common. He treated us differently, looked at us differently… I was a pet project, but Kai… Kai was supposed to be his successor, his grandest achievement." He bounces the soap a few times in his hands. "What kid can really live up to that?"
Lionel and Britt are near the lake, where Lionel looks like he went traipsing around like a two year old at the beach. He isn't soaked, but his shoes are missing and his pantlegs are soaked to the knees. Britt just had someone fetch the poor boy a bar of soap.
Britt looks a little confused when Lionel takes the bar of soap. Miscommunication. "Oh, no, I wanted you to give me the shirt. I'll show you how - you'll never get anything clean dabbing it in the water the way you were doing it." Yes, Lionel has apparently become the latest victim of Britt's mother-henning. She frowns a touch at Lionel's explanation. "Seems a strange way to view a child." Britt is leaning on a cane, it should be noted, very obviously keeping weight off of her right leg.
Kai's been resting. Doctors and several other people's orders. In the tent by the hothouse sort of between the gates and the Trikru camp. Eli's tent. Ahem. Maybe it's the sound of her name, or some other thing that rouses her from slumber. She collects a canteen for a sip from the seat of one of the chairs set up out front as she looks around, and then barefoot in her Starling-made shirt and light pants elects to head towards the lake, Britt, and Lionel,"Hei Britt, hei Leo."
Lionel then blinks at the correction. "Oh, ah…" He grins slightly, and then offers out the shirt and the soap. "Sorry… but, uh, I'm willing to learn, Teach." He then shrugs slightly at her comment. "I'm sure it isn't just the Skaikru who look at a child and want them to continue their own legacy." He then glances over toward Kai when she approaches. Speak of the littlest Devil. He tries to not look like he was just talking about Kai, but fails horribly. "Hi there, toadstool. You're looking chipper."
"Of course. But there is a difference between carrying on a tradition and an 'achievement'," Britt reasons. Taking back the shirt and the soap, she tucks the cane under her arm and demonstrates. "Only takes a little bit, like so. And then you find a rock, one that isn't too jagged or it'll rip the clothes." She spies one near the water's edge and points it out to Lionel. "Like that one there." Hearing Lionel's greeting, she turns to look, and smiles. "Kai. It is good to see you up. I stopped by to check on you before but the healers said you were resting."
Kai can't help but eye Lionel suspiciously, yeh, he might not look that suspicious, but there's the whole 'chipper' thing, and with the shade of a little sister can't help but give him her best withering look before nodding at Britt,"How is your leg?" there's a vague smile at the instructions she hears, though she elects to stop outside the water for now at least.
Lionel has been chilling in Kai's shade for years. He actually rather likes it… like getting the best spot on a busy beach. He just beams at Kai, dimples and all. He then resumes proving how much of an ADHD student he is, trying to pay attention. He glances at the rock and then back to Britt. "And then we become washerwomen." Beat pause. "People. Washerpeople." He then starts to edge toward Kai in an obvious sideways crab walk. Nothing suspicious about that.
Lionel's remark gets a bit of an odd look, but then Britt looks to Kai. "I've had worse. Trying to rest it as much as I can before the strike, which is why I have this damn thing." She holds up the cane with an irritated look, then uses it to limp out into the water to the aforementioned rock. Crouching down is not gonna happen, so she ends up just sitting down next to it with her leg stretched out. She doesn't seem to mind her pants getting wet in the shallow water. She then demonstrates scrubbing Lionel's shirt against the rock, working up a soapy lather. "How are you feeling?" she asks Kai.
"I dunno Leo, put a pretty dress on you, no-one will notice the difference." Kai grunts and nods for Britt's words, electing to wade out there with the other two because, well, why not,"I'm not seeing stars any longer. I think that the fingers are going to make it, and my head's not going to fall off.. it's not as bad as the chest wound I got at Coesbur, at least. I'll be ready to march in time." at least, come hell or high water she'll make damned sure she is.
"Have you seen my shoulders? These are not shoulders for a dress, nor my hips… I have skinny hips. Stop trying to change me, Kai. Love me for who I am!" Lionel's voice is a bit dramatic there at the end, but he is grinning broadly. Then he sobers a bit, offering to put some brute labor behind cleaning his shirt so Mother Hen Britt doesn't end up washing all his clothes. Lionel hesitates then, looking at Kai. "So… uh… I've actually been asking around… I'll be coming with you." He waits for it… eyes carefully watching Kai…
"Good," is Britt's quiet response to Kai's status report. "You fought well, Kai. It's not really my place to be proud of you, but.. I am." So there! "Did Wren give you the mark you earned?" Lionel's news gets a brief look and a nod, but she doesn't comment. The fact that she is neither scowling nor marching off to register a formal protest is probably a mark in his favor, despite the apparent lack of enthusiasm. When he comes to help, she hands the shirt over and then leans back on her hands to supervise.
"Yuh-huh.. you're just a sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania.. and the reason why the image of Tim Curry in a corset and fish nets is indeliably seared into my mind." Kai grunts, wriggling her feet in the silty bottom of the lake rather than get her bandages too wet. The roll of her eyes for Lionel's words no doubt betrays her youth,"You know Leo, I don't need a babysitter." she shakes her head at him before turning to Britt with a smile,"I.. thank you. That means a lot. And yes, he did. It's on my shoulder, like yours, but well.." between bandages and shirt she's so not playing show and tell.
Britt likes me, she really likes me! Lionel does seem to puff his chest up a bit at the silent acquiesce from Britt. It is acceptance by default. Which is probably about to go out the door when Lionel starts bobbing his head like he might start singing. "Let me show you around, maybe play you a sound," he starts to croon, but stops before he gets too far. He then snorts slightly at the babysitting thing. "You haven't needed a babysitter since you were like three… but this isn't about babysitting… this is about… helping."
Britt smiles faintly at Kai. "On the front?" she wonders idly, not sure which Kai means since Britt sort of split her Skaikru ones apart from the others. The exchange between the two Skaikru gets a puzzled look. "I hear the words, but it is like you are speaking another language," she observes wryly. And she doesn't seem to mind Lionel singing. If anything, it makes her look more amused.
"You look like you're both pretty groovy, or if you want something visual that's not too abysmal.." Kai sing-songs with a slide of her eyes in Leo's direction,"Right.. just so we're clear about it, then." she smirks at Leo, before shaking her head at Britt,"Not those one's." she specify's, then clears her throat,"It's.. a movie.. I don't know if it survived?" she looks towards Leo,"But.. ah, yeh. It's about an alien that likes to dress in women's clothing who makes himself the perfect man and traumatizes a straight-laced couple into going full kink." pause,"And wow that explains so much of my life." for all that there's amusement in the squint she gives Leo.
"It's a musical… a pretty bad one… but also a very good one." Just to be completely confusing. "The more drunk you are, the better it is, because you then don't notice that there's a lot of evidence everyone on set was pretty baked by the end." A very intellectual examination of the slow story unraveling that is Rocky Horror Picture Show. He then flashes a grin to Kai. "I felt it was my civic duty to grab as many movies I could off the database before we came down. Who you talkin' to?" Then he just crosses his arms, looking amused. He doesn't linger much longer. "I should go see to this, and get back into camp. I got duty in an hour."
Their explanation does little to ease Britt's confusion. She actually squints a little at them, as if trying to figure out if they're serious. They seem to be. Strange. She just gives a befuddled headshake and points to Lionel's shirt. "Blood is hard to get out. You can try alcohol, or juice." While she's down there in the water, Britt refills the waterskin she came here with in the first place. Then she awkwardly tries to get back to her feet without bending or putting weight on her one leg. Yeah, that doesn't work great. There's some wincing involved.
Kai reaches a hand to help Britt up,"It is pretty bad. Leo knows all the worst movies." she grunts,"But cool, movies are probably the only thing that I miss about not having a dataslate. Not that it would survive on the road likely." when they start moving, so does she, to head back to Eli's camp so she can sit down again,"Just not warm water, Leo, you use warm water.. you'll never get the stain out." the teen chimes in helpfully before turning towards her current 'home' once more.
"Juice," Lionel repeats, sounding doubtful. "I've never even drank juice, let alone used it to get stains out before. But, uh… thanks, Britt kom Trikru. I appreciate it." He then begins to wander back toward the Sky Palace. Kai's advice gets another nod, and he frowns at the state of the t-shirt. He will give anything a try! He flashes a wave over his shoulder. "See you later, Britt… toadstool…"
Britt mumbles a soft thanks as Kai helps her up, trying not to pull too heavily on the girl since she's also injured. "No juice?" What a horrible deprived life these kids have had. Tsk. Then she shakes her head. "These movies of yours sound strange," she muses, as she too starts moving off back to her camp.
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