"Come on, come on! I'm not letting you drag us down again!"
Ritsuka and Rika raced off to the Command Room, sweat beading on their foreheads & their breath heavy with panting, their white uniforms slowly getting inundated with sweat, as they pushed themselves to their destination.
Sometime after the incident in the previous Singularity, the two had resolved to prepare themselves for what would come next, and as such were up bright & early for the next one they would have to go through, hoping to put their best foot forward. Unfortunately, seeing as they had roughly a couple of weeks worth of time actually being trained and were considered to be amongst the… most lacking and least aware of the moonlit world than most of the candidates initially brought on board, not to mention their comparatively young ages to most of the candidates, there was much trepidation amongst most of the staff as to even send them out.
Upon their arrival, they were immediately greeted by Keziah, Olga Marie, da Vinci, and the multiple, countless other personnel who were on duty, some suppressing snickers at the spectacle of watching the two catch their breaths to their high-stakes, heartpumping race to absolutely nowhere. Alas, it was a race that… was ultimately unnecessary in the grand scheme of things.
'We're… on.. Time…" Rika sputtered out, her face and uniform sweaty, the exhaustion on her face clearly evident. "Only took us…. 40 minutes…." she panted, her voice a mix of tiredness and embarrassment at the time wasted.
"Of course you have to come earlier than I'd like…" Olga Marie muttered, rolling her eyes in annoyance. "And how did you manage 40 minutes out of a less than 10 minute trip?!"
"Sorry… uh, I kind of got us lost…" Rika muttered in English, her face sheepish as she caught her breath, averting her eyes to take in the command room, a look of self-consciousness overtaking her face before slowly focusing on the beleaguered British woman scowling at both of them.
"It was easy for you to sneak in here last time, but now you're struggling to even find the Command Room?" Olga sucked in a breath, genuinely unamused as she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Out of all the…. I'm surprised the third member of your little comedy group didn't manage to confound you lot even further…" She shook her head as she nursed a cup full of Earl Grey tea.
"Ignore her, she's very excited to see you." da Vinci said, her smile not faltering.
"Are we intruding? We wanted to give a good impression this time around." Ritsuka asked, also in English, a fatigued and embarrassed look on his face. "But now… I don't think we did, uh, as good as we'd've liked…"
'I'd say you're about a good 30 minutes earlier than would be good. In the meantime, try catching your breath and prepping yourselves emotionally. Everyone else is about to finish warming up." da Vinci replied.
The two slumped over, feeling exhausted and slightly embarrassed for making fools of themselves in their efforts to be present, dry chuckles exiting some of the mission control's lips as they watched the two embarrass themselves, da Vinci and Keziah included, both women chuckling slightly at their antics, a thoughtful yet serious look on the latter's face as a realization crossed her mind.
"Should I get my Contractor after both the operatives and he are done with preparations?" Keziah asked.
"I suppose if he's not sleeping in, that should be alright. I get the impression that he's on his way anyway." da Vinci nodded, taking a sip of her coffee as Keziah nodded in turn.
Keziah marched off, the same thoughtful look transforming into a determined one as she ventured off to get her Master, strutting forwards as if she were a woman on a mission (which she was).
She finally found her quarry, already making his way to the Command Room, walking somewhat languidly, but not leisurely, a feigned assuredness that was in his shoulders as he walked forwards, his own brown eyes making contact with his Servant's own red.
"Keziah, is it–"
A hand went around his arm as she pulled him in, and then another arm went around his waist, and suddenly Irenaeus found his feet in the air as he was hauled off by his Servant, lifted over her head, with none of the strain that would've been expected from carrying a young adult male.
After the technical crew had completed, Keziah had walked back in… and returned effortlessly carrying Irenaeus over her head like a sack of potatoes, causing quite a few snickers to come out of some people, even the two other Masters present, much to the annoyance of the beleaguered Irenaeus, having been made a spectacle of without his permission.
"...I take it that we're heading out now?" Irenaeus asked, fairly deadpan in his tone, an eyebrow raised as he sighed at everyone else's reaction, just trying to go with the flow, as Keziah delicately set him down (once again getting some suppressed snickers from certain segments of the impromptu audience)
"Yes. Your first major destination is Versailles, during the late 1600s." da Vinci spoke
"Versailles…. Versailles…. That name feels familiar…." Irenaeus started, "We're going to France, aren't we?"
"You'd be correct. Specifically during the time of Louis XIV."
"Louis XIV…. Also known as the Sun King… He ruled as an absolute monarch and was the longest confirmed ruling monarch in history…" Mash said, in an attempt to fill in any details for Rika and Ritsuka, so as to not leave them completely in the dark, the two absorbing the knowledge with a slight sense of awe, the name alone conveying a sense of majesty and grandeur that even lofty epithets such as "The Great" couldn't even come close to holding a candle to in sheer ostentatiousness.
"Wait, wait… Sun King?" Irenaeus yawned, snapping his fingers as if to recall something. "...I remember that name. He was the King of France that brought the Ancien Regime to its absolute height…. And probably one of the reasons why France, as a kingdom, was doomed to fail. I learned in school that his centralization of power basically made him too indispensable to the throne and afterwards… his grandkids ended up basically ruining it all. Mainly, uh, Louis XV if I'm not mistaken."
Ritsuka nodded, seeming to take in all the new information given by the two. "So…. is it likely that the Sun King would be one of our enemies?"
Da Vinci essentially shrugged, "That's not something we can confirm or deny right now just from observing. You'll have to go there and see."
Olga grimaced, but tried to suppress it and other opinions that she held as the five prepared themselves for the Rayshift, not wanting to both break morale or rock the boat any further.
Soon enough, once again, all five of them all got in their coffins and readied themselves to go to a different place, and a different time….