revivalproject | [Open] A Gladatorial Queen

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[Open] A Gladatorial Queen

WHO: Lauri-Ell, Tony Stark, OTA
WHERE: Ul'Dah
WHAT: Coliseum Fun, Alchemy Lessons, Lamenting Beautiful Women
WHEN: During Event
WARNINGS: CW: Alcohol Consumption in last prompt
NOTE: In Coliseum threads Lauri-Ell will be wearing This armor. In other prompts Lauri-Ell will be clad in these clothes.

I - To Fight Together | Ul'dah Coliseum | Open

Perhaps it was not the best for them to be making names for themselves. The Agrii had said to keep secrets, and that was one of the best things they could do. However the idea was to find answers for the Agrii, and when it came down to it, there was one way in which Lauri-Ell was very talented. One way in which she was good at getting to what she needed.

Combat.

She had been made for it, after all, and that was why Lauri-Ell had gravitated toward the Coliseum. What was more, there were so many people around. Surely if there were secrets to be found, she could find those capable of talking about them here. It even seemed this place had more active people of the species she was often mistaken for. So she had chosen to linger here, gathering funds with which to help supply the ships, but also to try and form connections to hear more information.

Of course some of it was fun, including now, when Lauri-Ell was being randomly paired with another gladiator to challenge a larger beast within the Coliseum. And when she found it was another He Row, she smiled.

"We shall win the day, my friend," she assured them with a nod. "Are you prepared?"

II - Agent To The Stars | Ul'Dah Coliseum | Closed to Tony Stark

Okay, so maybe her not-quite-but-mostly-Roegadyn looks were a bit more commented upon than expected. After a particularly intense fight in the Coliseum, Lauri-Ell had been coming out, still in her armor, to catch her breath, maybe even go find a meal. That meant going through some interior corridors, which normally wasn't a problem. Except... Except she found herself being stopped by a Hum- Hyur, who looked up at her intently.

"Hey you. You're the new Sea Wolf fighter. I got some questions for you. You've clearly got a different skin-care routine going on, how do you keep your skin so brightly blue?"

"What?" Lauri-Ell asked, quite clearly confused by what was going on now.

III - Alchemical Creations | Ul'Dah Alchemist's Guild | Open

While combat was the life she had been created for, healing was the life she was choosing. Learning from Billy and anyone else was something she was glad to do. And to find there was something here that she could learn which might allow her to feel on par with the others was wonderful.

Chemistry wasn't that bad, she thought. This? This wasn't entirely chemistry. Learning was an experience, with each little potion, with each little careful measurement and brew. None of which was easy with hands as big as hers. But they were easy.

"Could you pass me the red landtrap leaves?" she asked, gesturing to the basket of supplies she had set out. She had sensed someone was close to her, and she didn't mind using their hands.

IV - Surrounded By Beauties | Ul'Dah - The Quicksand | Open

It was nice, getting off of Agra-10 once in a while, getting to see life in a populous place, enjoying the rush of people around. Lauri-Ell was liking it, the reminder that there were places out there that people just... well, were.

Of course with that there was also more people. Specifically, more women. And oh, what an experience it was. That was in part why Lauri-Ell was at The Quicksand right now, sitting at a table, sipping at a drink. And oh boy she's sighing deeply as another woman walks past the table.

"We need more female He Rows," she mumbles to herself.

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Keith was definitely ready to go. He nodded at Lauri's question.

"Ready as I'll ever be." He gave her a small smirk, and then drew his weapons, ready to go.

"You are skilled with this weapon?" she asked, picking up the massive maul that she had taken up to replace her hammer. "And are you the quick sort of fighter, or the hard hitter?"

She needs to understand how they will work together.

Tony's staggeringly normal looks were not being commented on nearly enough. Everyone here seemed to be extraordinary in some way, and if they weren't, they wore enough fabric and hardware to distract the eye. Tony wasn't about to start wearing frills, so he was really going to need more cash in hand to afford the jewellery, or at least a dermatologist appointment. He didn't expect that to be anyone else's concern down in these halls, where he was flashing the few coins he did have and goading particularly volatile-looking individuals into making the bets, or insisting they had the finest weaponry in the region and showing it off.

On a whole new planet, it should have been easy enough to avoid Lauri-Ell. Instead, now he was standing a few feet in front of her, looking over the shoulder of someone else who's body language suggested they also had their problems with her, had personal skin concerns, and probably also wouldn't look twice at Tony. Tony raised his eyebrows inquisitively at Lauri-Ell, not sure what he had just walked into, one hand up like he was in the midst of offering someone the money there, the other slowly bringing his sunglasses up to cover his eyes. This was probably fine, right? She was the one in armor, he'd barely gotten himself a proper shirt.

Maybe his looks are too beautiful to be commented on. Maybe one had to bask in silence. Who knew.

As for Lauri-Ell, she was frozen, nervous. What was even going on here?

"I said what's up with your skin? You got a condition?" the Hyur said.

"It's just the way I am," she said, fingers coming up nervously to toy with her hair.

The only one who seemed to have a good idea of what was going on here was the person who was taking a very aggressive posture against people with skin conditions. That didn't seem very fair. Tony's eyebrows crept up higher, really not sure what to make of Lauri-Ell's meek response, and with a quick glance from side to side found that they were otherwise being ignored which meant what was to be made was that he was the one to intervene. His shoulders dropped briefly, looking put out and irritated, then just as rapidly he was squaring up and beaming as he swept toward Lauri-Ell, crowding the person who was getting in her face. "There you are, beautiful, we've been looking for you everywhere, the photographers have been waiting," he announced loudly, juggling the coins still in his hand to make a distracting chime.

The voice was a familiar one for Lauri-Ell, even if the Hyur flinched to hear it. For once, Lauri looked almost relieved to have Tony approaching. Even if she didn't understand what was going on.

"Photographers. Yes. They are waiting. I can't keep people waiting," Lauri-Ell said to the Hyur, before looking to Tony, half of a plea on her face. She doesn't understand, and she is trying to stay secret.

The anxiety rather than enthusiasm in Lauri-Ell's expression for her wonderful opportunity almost had Tony breaking enough to laugh, and he briefly tucked his chin in to bite his tongue and catch Lauri-Ell's eye over the frame of his glasses. Try to be cool. "Can't have that," he agreed, "Terribly unprofessional behaviour. Who's your friend?" He finally turned enough to acknowledge the existence of the other person, only for his eye to immediately skip over them and back to Lauri-Ell as he continued, "You know you can't be bringing random people with you to these things, the director is aesthetically sensitive, it can throw off his whole day."

"Regin," the Hyur says, given Lauri-Ell doesn't know his name.

"Just a fan," she decides to say. A fan of her fighting. But she wants to move with Tony. "Yes, I'm aware. I shall respect the director's desires. Will you help me get to the meeting?"

The other guy speaking up got Tony's full attention then, for a baffled stare at being provided this information that he clearly did not actually care for, letting his glasses slide down his nose to deliver the full force of his unimpressed squint. Hopefully that was still effectively chilling on this planet, even if Tony's other charms had so far been tempered. Maybe he was out of practice, because no one on Agra 10 seemed to find him particularly charming, either, and when he impulsively reached for Lauri-Ell's hand to deliver that help, the contact left him briefly blue-screened. Long enough for Regin to open his mouth again, so Tony had to talk loudly over him, "Of course, sweetheart, that's what I'm for, my hourly didn't get this high just because I'm so pretty." That was time enough for Tony to reboot, at least, pulling Lauri-Ell's arm through his properly to guide her away down the hall at a very confident saunter for someone who didn't know where this hall went.

Well that look has the Hyur flinching away a little. And Lauri-Ell gives her hand so Tony can lead her away.

It helped to move away, though. To walk away from the awkwardness of this moment. While they walk away she whispers.

"He made me feel uncomfortable. Thank you."

That hadn't been Tony's most dramatic extraction, he'd taken too many punches to the face to claim that, so he flapped his free hand dismissively for the thanks before patting Lauri-Ell's arm. "You know how a lady is supposed to be treated," he pointed out. "If you wouldn't let it happen to Rachel S., it shouldn't happen to you, either." Not that Tony had a good word for what was happening exactly.

"We are supposed to be keeping 'seek rat'. And I think Rachel S would know how to extract herself," she said with a sigh.

Yes, Rachel S had possessed a LOT of confidence and no patience for other people bothering her.

"Gal like you is very difficult to keep secret," Tony pointed out, veering with unearned confidence around a corner when they came to a crossroads. It had them going through a set of double doors that opened when Tony pushed them, so they must have been allowed here, as long as they looked like they did. "I don't know if you've noticed, but you kind of stand out. I don't think you'll be breaking any rules by leaning into that, it's a gift."

Once they were through Lauri breathed a sigh of relief.

"I am aware that I do. I look quite a bit like these 'Roegadyn' Sea Wolves. But my skin, it is more vivid. And my nose is wrong."

And it's frustrating.

Tony's confident stride slowed with that pressure release, until he had drawn them to a stop with the sink of Lauri-Ell's shoulders, arm still around hers and looking up at her inquisitively like she had just asked him something personal. A few more people came clattering through the door in a group that brushed by him, a current that carried him around in front of her as he announced, "I couldn't have designed a better one."

"It is wrong," she notes. "For their opinions. It makes me odd here."

Maybe she should go back to her ship.

It was no surprise that Lauri-Ell valued Tony's opinion somewhere below the entirety of a planet that wasn't supposed to know anything about her, so he tossed his head and tried a glance over his shoulder again to see if there was anyone else around that would be better suited for this project. Still no. There was another large, blue person stripping very confidently naked out of their armor, making Tony quickly snap his attention back to Lauri-Ell.

"Alright," he accepted the premise. "What do we do about that? Say, we're still here tomorrow, you've still got your nose that nobody else has." He opened his hand, less willing to accept that as a problem, shoulders up. "There's probably a surgeon around here who specializes in that kind of thing. Big swing to take for a vacation you didn't even ask for, can't say I would do it myself, I've got this face insured, it's a work of art, if anybody else had it that would only bring the value down."

It's not that she finds him wrong, it's that she is hurting from how that man acted.

"I don't know how to hide better, Tony. What if I cause everyone else problems by looking as I do?"

Maybe a helmet?

This was all seeming like the opposite of a problem to Tony, who would have gladly traded blending in to anything for some attention right now, no matter the polarity. He knew what to do with that. And maybe a little bit of that was because he knew he could handle it when public opinion turned against him, or at least he preferred that to anyone else having to face the brunt of it and looking as wounded as Lauri-Ell did. He looked briefly frustrated, completely unfit for telling someone how to hide, then released it with a contemplative sigh.

"Is that really the problem, Caesar?," he asked. "You're worried about everyone else? Because I guarantee you, we can all get into plenty of trouble without your help. I'd bet you this Monopoly money that Steve's got himself sitting in jail right now." He jangled the coins he had left in his hand, then clutched them tighter with a frown. The Steve that was his friend would have been, anyway--maybe this Steve wasn't so impulsive. Rapidly, Tony continued, "And you walking in there looking radiantly beautiful is going to go a lot further toward busting him out than hiding any of it."

But they were in hiding, Tony! And this was strange for her. An experience she knew not how to deal with.

"One of our companions in jail? Surely we must try and help them."

No, that wasn't the conversation. But she looks relieved to be called attractive at the moment.

"I just worry. This is the first place I have seen so many people since Coruscant. And there I was not remarkable. Here..."

Here there were people. Beautiful women. People they needed to hide from. ANd she's worried.

"No--Focus," Tony tried to interrupt, hand up to bat away the hypothetical before they got any more entrenched. They could save that energy for when they knew Steve was booked. Right now, they were overdressed in a locker room because Lauri-Ell was feeling self-conscious.

"Sweetheart, you're remarkable anywhere you go, that's something you're going to have to come around to. It's not something to worry about, you're the one in control there, you're the fulcrum. You just gotta know what impression you want to leave them with," Tony advised. "If it's not 'an invader from a UFO', don't do that. Done deal."

Focus? Wasn't she focused on something very much now?

"I don't understand," she says with a sigh. "I don't know how to 'don't do that'. You make it sound simple."

There might have been a good way to explain how to not do something, but Tony realized too late that he was not equipped for that and had to let out his breath with a sigh and click of his teeth. He had better success with forward momentum. Step one of this process was easy, though; he plucked off his glasses and rocked up on his toes to hook them over Lauri-Ell's ears instead so she had the necessarily shielding for success. "Who do you think is incredibly cool?" he prompted, falling back on his heels with his hands still up, ready to craft whatever answer she gave him.

The glasses were surprisingly suited to the size of her face. How strange. But yeah, it worked pretty well on her. Of course she couldn't see that.

"I suppose there are mages here who use ice magic. They would be cool."

Clearly not what he would have wanted her to say.

There was no way that no one had said cool to Lauri-Ell yet, so Tony narrowed his eyes with a pout, dropping his hands to his hips. "No. Mages are never cool. They are always a little bit lame, and can't respect physics enough to be rewarded with thermodynamics. Tepid," he said. "You don't want to be a mage, trust me. Someone cooler."

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[Open] A Gladatorial Queen

I - Coliseum

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II hello I am finally here

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