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RESPITE BARRACKS - MORNING
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Vandal is totally completely awake at the reception desk in the barracks, leaning against the front of it with a broom that will be moving quite convincingly if the porcupine hears any footfalls or dragging scales approaching. He wobbles a little bit, stifling a yawn as he starts to just rest his completely awake eyes for a moment.
Florian steps into the barracks, having been directed that way for any inquiries regarding the guards in any capacity. He looks around a bit, still feeling rather uncertain though he knows this is the right place to go. He notices the porcupine at the front desk and moves forward to try and catch the person's attention. "Uh... excuse me...? Er... sir?"
Vandal starts awake, worried he'd been caught out by someone a bit quieter like Victoria. He blinks a few times, the broom moving side to side, dragging the wrong end on stone tiles before he realizes the person in front of him isn't anyone he recognizes... Though they're quite familiar. Blushing a bit out of embarrassment, he nods to Florian. "Ah, good morning miss! How can I help you?"
Florian blushes a little in embarrassment at being addressed as 'miss', but it's not exactly the first time it's happened. "Ah... I was told this was where I should go with inquiries about the town guards? I'm not... interrupting anything, am I?"
Vandal thinks for a few moments as his near-nap fog clears. Hearing the broom handle clunking on the floor, he tries to casually turn it over with a chuckle. "Uhh... No! Not at all, just ah... Testing how tough the... Floor is. Perfectly tough. What sort of query do ya have?"
Florian tilts his head a bit as he watches Vandal messing with the broom in some weird fashion, but just shrugs at the question posed to him. "Well... I'm here because I heard that there was someone fitting the description of my sister, here in town, and that she works for the guards. You seem like you'd know her if she's here... so do you happen to know a Victoria Swinder?"
Vandal pauses, glancing Florian over for a moment. "Oh yea, you do look a lot like Victoria! I didn't know her last name... She and I never really got on. She scares me a bit, honestly, but she also can't sneak-attack me on patrol, so it's kinda a stalemate." He scratches his chin a bit. "She's pretty, but you're much cuter." He blushes, realizing he'd let some in words out.
Florian laughs a little nervously as he takes a moment to scratch the side of his head. "Ah hah... uh... thank you, sir. I'm glad to know my sister's really here in town. Do you know where she is now?" He pauses, then dips his head respectfully, "Also... er... b-before you get the wrong idea, sir... I'm a boy. S-sorry for the confusion..."
Louma is coiled up in her office, though she's turned away from her desk to watch the scant clouds drift by, daydreaming a little in the sun through her window. Florian's knocking shakes her out of it, her mildly annoyed sigh coming before she responds; "It is unlocked, enter." She turns back toward her desk of half finished paperwork to watch the door.
Florian hears the sigh, as well as the summons, and peeks in moments later. He opens the door a little further and steps in a little uncertainly, though he casts Vandal another look before he steps fully over the threshold, just sort of seeking a little encouragement. "Ah, sorry if I'm interrupting anything, but, uh..." He dips into a small bow, "I was directed here to talk to you about anything guard-related."
Louma blinks at Florian as he enters, immediately thinking 'Oh no, now what's happened?' but thankfully his politeness immediately relieves her of the thought that Victoria somehow changed into this softer looking leopard. "Mh, Vandal is supposed too be answering most inquiries right now, but since you're here already... How may I help you?"
Florian chuckles a bit. "Well... ah, Vandal, if he's the porcupine out by the receptionist desk, was very good at answering most of my questions, though he said one in particular was best answered by you." He sighs a bit, taking a moment to gather his thoughts, "As for what I'm hoping you could help me with... I've heard that a snow leopard like myself works in the guards in this town, by the name of Victoria. She's my sister, and I've been searching around for her a lot this past year."
Louma hums, nodding a little. "I see. I can not simply give you information about the guards under my watch, not without making sure you're privy to any of it. I would prefer to make sure they would be alright with it." Again, Vandal should have come to me, not sent him in here. She will have a chat with the guard later. "Introductions, then. I am Captain Louma, and you are..?"
Florian smiles a bit. "Ah, right... good to meet you, Captain Louma. I'm Florian Swinder, Victoria's brother."
Louma hums. "Her brother. A lot of siblings showing up recently. Some less invited than others." She pauses. "Not that you are uninvited. Nevermind. You say you have been looking for her for a while?"
Florian nods, though he seems uncertain how to take that little bit of news. "For about the last year, yes, once I'd gotten enough funds from my work to afford consistent, long-term travel out of Vamas."
Louma hums again, nodding a bit as she slithers over to the wall of filing cabinets, reaching up to one drawer, flitting through the folders within as she continues the conversation. "Oh? What did you do to earn such a long time of travel? I assume you did not come directly from Vamas to Aephix, unless our rumors have grown quite interesting."
Florian chuckles and shakes his head. "Hardly straight to Aephix... Bairnell's Foothold was one of my last stops in the search, until I heard one of the guards there talking about a snow leopard with a rough streak a mile wide. Before I heard that, I'd been to a lot of major ports in Orela, Vamas and Sarn, along with some of the more prominent towns." He sighs a bit, "As for how I earned the money for all that travel, I'm a woodcarver by trade. I take my business with me wherever I go."
Louma ahhs, nodding as she pulls a file up to open it on top of the drawer, perusing the pages. "A good craft, quite respectable. I would say you'll find a decent amount of customers here while you are visiting Respite in search of your sister." She hums, nodding to herself as she thinks, 'Surname is the same, but of course she gave us very little other information.'
Florian hums, nodding. "I do have to ply my trade, at least. I'm pretty good at intricate carvings to change any bit of regular old wood into something fit for nobility." He waves a hand a bit, "But... that's still secondary to finding Victoria. If she's here, there are a lot of questions I need to ask her."
Louma closes the folder, slipping it back into the right place and closing the drawer. "Well then. The leopard I know is quite private, to the point that none of her family is mentioned in her file. All I will confirm is that we have a snow leopard named Victoria in our ranks. She does patrol, so you may find her fairly easily, but I can not give you anything more specific than that."
Florian seems a little perturbed at the fact that Victoria didn't give much info about herself. "...She didn't even mention anything about her family? Father, brother? Nothing at all?" He frowns a bit as he pats at the case he's toting at his side, "Then I guess it wouldn't really matter if I showed documentation proving I'm her brother?"
Louma sees Florian's dejected expression, sighing a bit. "Well, let's see what you have. Perhaps I can help you more with better proof."
Florian moves forward and sets the case on the desk, and deftly opens it, revealing a folder of documentation, which he pulls out and passes to Louma. Underneath the folder is a very well-kept set of woodcarving tools, all nestled securely within their spots in the case. There isn't much time to look at the tools, though, as he snaps the case shut again rather quickly once the folder is out. "Vandal mentioned you liked paperwork, so this should hopefully satisfy any doubts as to my relation to Victoria."
Louma grunts, accepting the folder. "He did, did he? We will see." She opens the folder, flipping through the pages. Travel documents tell her his path to Aephix in good detail, leading back to Vamas. The consistent information helps as well. Near the back she finds an old portrait of two young snow leopards, humming a bit. "Impressively organized and detailed. Are you sure you've trailed the correct Victoria here?"
Florian shrugs and shakes his head. "There were a couple of false leads when I was asking around in Vamas, but those made me figure to ask about "Victoria Swinder" in particular, instead of just Victoria. Our last name isn't exactly common, even back home." He leans a bit against the case as he looks at the picture in the folder, one he'd taken from home when he'd told his father about his plan to try and find Victoria, "Considering this is the only place I've not checked around yet, either she's hiding really well, or she's just... gone for good." He refuses to voice the concern that his sister might have just gotten abducted and killed.
Louma sets the photo back into the folder, picking up the official looking Vamese documentation that as below it. "Hm. These are your birth registries?" She pauses. "Well, they are great confirmation but ah... Well it is a little bit too late to advise not travelling abroad with them." She squints, "Unless they are incredibly detailed copies."
Florian squints back at Louma, now feeling perhaps a little annoyed at the seemingly needless obstruction as his fingers flex just a little on his case. "I'm aware it's not smart, Captain Louma. That's how much I want to find my sister, though." He fixes her with a look that's simultaneously alarmingly familiar to anyone that knows Victoria, but also quite unexpected for someone like himself, "I've not seen her for 8 years, after she vanished from our hometown. I've been holding onto the hope that she's still out there in the world somewhere since then and not... and not dead in some ditch in a big city back alley."
Louma looks up and catches that familiar look, chuckling despite his clear annoyance. "You can leave that look for when you actually need it, Mr. Swinder. I have already told you we have someone matching her description here, that should have been enough to give you hope. Despite that glare, your documents are very helpful. As long as it isn't our Victoria that is lying about who she is, you'll find her patrolling the East streets near the marketplace and park today and tomorrow." She sets the documents back together neatly in the folder, pushing it across the desk to Florian.
Florian holds the look for several seconds in displeasure, before he nods and picks up the folder, then goes about getting it tucked away back in the case again. "You'll have to forgive me, Captain, for responding like that when someone throws unnecessary suspicion on me after I've done everything in my power to keep things orderly." His expression clears as he talks, but his movements as he closes up his case again are still rather snappy, "But thank you for helping me, nonetheless."
Louma blinks, tilting her head a little. "Unnecessary suspicion? My job is to protect the guards under my command as much as it is to direct them. A lot of people arrived here on the frontier trying to get away from something. When another person arrives in search of someone specific, that raises suspicion." She shrugs. "And if you meant that about the comment on if the documents were copies, I meant it as a compliment for thinking to bring copies, not the originals."
Florian furrows his brow a bit as he blinks at the misunderstanding. "...Ah, I'm sorry, then. I thought you were saying they could have been forgeries." He draws a breath and heaves a sigh again, letting the last of the annoyance drain from his attitude again, "Sorry, it's been a long road to this point. Stressful, as you can probably guess."
Louma offers Florian a kind smile, nodding. "I do understand. I do not blame you at all. Beside that, I can't be angry with you. The Victoria I know can handle herself, so if you are lying or unwelcome, you will only be bringing your own doom."
Florian straps the case back to his shoulder and makes sure it's secure, though he snorts quietly, his gaze angled low and away, "I dare her to say I'm unwelcome after I spent eight years worrying about her, and one of those eight traveling to find her..." There's a fair bit of hurt in his voice.
Louma sighs, shaking her head a little. "I didn't mean... I wish you luck with reuniting with her, Mr. Swinder, truly. Take care."
Florian nods at Louma, and turns to take his leave, his tail betraying a bit of the agitation that's still stewing in the back of his mind. "Thank you for your help, Captain. Good day to you."
Louma nods to him, watching the leopard leave. "And to you." She thinks a bit after he heads out, wondering if any of her family would have seeked her out if she'd simply vanished and never sent any letters home. She shrugs to herself, not that it mattered, one managed to stumble across her either way.