Woah, My First Coworker! [Irina, Siegfried]

[Irina Davayte]

OOC: This thread will be Irina's interactions with Siegfried. Irina is training for CTP.

After her morning engineering classes and routine afternoon workout, Irina headed toward the office. She checked her phone as she walked to see when her next calculus assignments were due. They were due the day after tomorrow, so naturally, she would complete them tonight. Provided, of course, that nothing disrupted her routine this afternoon and evening. She mentally went over her to-do list for the day. Write a lab report for physics class, buy more pens, make flashcards for chemistry. Check, check, check. Calculus problems, find an article for her research writing class: will be done tonight. She was satisfied with her plan by the time she arrived on the proper floor and exited the elevator in the UE building.

"Why is it always so warm in here?" she pondered. She checked the thermostat: a balmy 73 degrees. Bleh. Irina wasn't sure who had set the thermostat to this sticky-warm temperature, but she was sure it must have been an accident. How on earth was anyone thinking clearly in this environment? She turned it down just a few clicks to 68 degrees, just to help everyone out, and removed her jacket. She sat down at her desk as she quickly found the temperature becoming better suited to clear thinking.

Irina placed her backpack under her desk, put on her reading glasses, and started pouring over some documents regarding suspicious activity in the region. She sorted them into 3 piles labeled with the following sticky notes: needs to be investigated, everything is probably okay, and will have someone else decide if this needs to be investigated. After a couple of hours, she reached the bottom of the pile of documents, so she went to the break room to get her fruit salad for a snack. Unfortunately, it was not where she left it, and some suspicious-looking food that might have been tuna was in its place. She made a face. Maybe someone just moved it? Nope. The fruit salad was no where to be found.

"Excuse me," she said to a couple of people sitting at a small round table by the refrigerator. "Have you seen a fruit salad? It's in a clear container with a blue lid. It has my name on the lid, and a little doodle of two people fighting with swords. My best friend made it for me. The drawing I mean, not the fruit salad. I made that myself." She winced. She was talking a lot again. At age eighteen, she was just starting to grow out of saying everything that popped into her head, but she regressed at times. Especially when her yummy and nutritious snack was at stake.

[Deleted]

Beep beep....beep beep.....beep beep.

Once again his eyes opened up and his mind snatched away from his slumber. Once more he grumbled at the sound of that infernal box that never allowed him to rest. It beeped constantly without yielding the only thing that ever brought the end to this torment in the morning was to toss it against a wall and smash it open. While this did end it's beeping he knew that the very next morning it would return as if new. This constant struggle to find a way to keep such a device from torturing him each morning caused him much much stress and discomfort. At the very least this allowed for him to have anger to vent into his own physical training, which was something he did each morning.

Gathering his clothing and his fullbring he made his way down the elevator into the basement to train and to focus more on becoming stronger like he once was before that incident. He had gotten use to the magic of this era and how it helped move things around. At first he wasn't sure as to what caused this metal box to move up and down in this large castle that his king called a skyscraper, however now he was a bit more use to it. Again it was due to the strange magic called electricity that seemed to power everything that was new to him. It seemed very convenient, yet he hadn't learned how to use it himself, being able so would offer him some unique options in battle.

It would be hours later when he finished his training, the training hall would be covered in his sweat and broken bits of training dummies all over. At the end of it all he had a smile across his face as he had himself a very vigorous workout. By the time it was all over it was already mid day and he felt a soft rumble in his stomach, he was hungry. It wasn't like it was strange for him to feel some sort of hunger after training, however for some strange reason he was especially hungry this time. Was it due to him missing something to eat last night? Or was it due to him training for an hour longer than normal? Either way he was rather hungry and he needed something to eat.

Upon entering the elevator his stomach rumbled once more and with the hunger clouding his judgment somewhat he accidentally pressed the wrong button on the elevator and ended up on a floor that he had never been on before. This seemed to be one of those odd office floors that he was told to keep out of, however by the time he had come to understand this he had become lost and ended up in a very strange room. Confused he stumbled upon a large white box with two handles. With his curiosity at what laid inside of the box he opened it to see that that it not only held food inside, but was cold as well. “Dost my hunger fool my senses? A box with food that has a chill to it?”

However before he could think more about the strange box that was in-front of him he saw something inside of the strange ice box that drew his attention to it. It was a small container holding bits of fruit in it, however upon the lid there was a crude drawing of two people holding swords. To his mind this was meant for him, a message sent to him by his king as this was food for a knight and him being a knight, in fact the only real knight it meant that this food was for him. Without giving it a second thought he grabbed the small container and exited the room shortly before Irina entered the room.

When Irina asked if they had seen where the salad had gone one of them did see what Siegfried had taken. “Yea... you can't miss him. He's dressed in like armor, he went out that door.” By the time the person sitting down had given Irina an answer however he was already sitting down in the middle of a hallway scarfing down the food that he had taken from the refrigerator without knowing that it belonged to someone else.

[Irina Davayte]

“Yea... you can't miss him. He's dressed in like armor, he went out that door.” Urgh, what? Armor? Irina certainly wasn't going to fight anyone over a snack, although she would be interested to know why they though it was okay to take someone else's food. Not to mention, if someone was showing up in an office building in a strange costume, she was interested in meeting the strange person inside it. Perhaps not cautious enough, she decided to investigate. She thanked her informant, and followed the direction that they pointed.

Irina made a puzzled face with her mouth pulled slightly to the side when she found Siegfried sitting in a hallway, gobbling down the fruit she had carefully cubed the night before. She hesitated. "Hi, I'm Irina," she said, trying to be polite and not say the first things that popped in her mind. "I don't want to be rude, but why are you eating my fruit salad? It clearly has my name written on the lid, right there." She winced. She had said the first thing that popped into her head, anyway.

[Deleted]

Siegfried was simply enjoying the small fruit salad that he had taken from the ice box, lost in his own little world wondering why someone would take the time to slice so many different fruit like that. To him it made more sense for them to simply put the whole fruit in the cold box instead of doing what they did. Being in his own little world he didn't hear the footsteps of someone approaching him from where he once was. As the last bit of fruit passed his lips and down his throat he heard a voice call out to him asking him why he thought it was ok to steal her fruit salad. Those words caused him to retract from his own thoughts and look up at her.

“Dost thee take I for a fool? If thee gaze upon the top of what was once holding this food had an image of two knights. Tho doesn't appear to be a knight like I.” Truth be told Siegfried believed that he was in the right on this one mostly because he couldn't read so he had no idea that her name was actually was on the lid of the fruit salad. “I hath not a clue as to why thee would state such a lie towards I. This meal was crafted for a knight by the king.” His eyes would look up to meet her's as he held an expression of anger towards her for hearing such a vile lie come from her towards him.

[Irina Davayte]

Irina raised her eyebrows. Had she forgotten to add her name in Japanese characters alongside the Russian ones again? She took a look at the lid, and sure enough, she had written her name in Japanese next to the Russian characters. “Where are you from?” she asked politely, trying to figure out if there was a reason he was ignoring her clearly-written label. She happened to be wearing pants instead of a skirt that day, so she carefully sat down with Siegfried so she was no longer looking down at him. As for the bit about “The King”, she was stumped. She decided that he might just be crazy, so she put aside her annoyance at being without a snack and decided to just get something from the vending machine later.

But first, she could at least talk to the crazy knight. ”Let me start over. Hi, I’m Irina. Can I have that empty bowl? She tried frantically to think of a reason that would compel the man to give her Tupperware back, even if he didn’t believe that it was hers to begin with. ”It would really help me out,” she added, hoping to appeal to his sense of chivalry. She flashed a smile in Siegfried’s direction to hopefully soften his anger that had appeared out of the blue. Irina, generally very straightforward in her communication, wasn’t one to flatter people to get her way, but if that’s what it took to get her stuff back, she was willing to try it. As much as she hated to admit it, she missed her friend Altan, and would hate to lose the doodle he had scrawled of the two of them.

She eyed his sword, wondering why the security staff had allowed such an object in the building. Her curiosity got the better of her. ”What kind of sword is that? I am a bit of a sword practitioner myself, but I just fence; I don’t use any real swords.” This question seemed more important to her than vetting the building’s security.

[Deleted]

This girl once more asked more questions, this time trying to inquire as to where he was from. The answer was obvious given the language that he was speaking. Was she uneducated in the tongue of the king? He would have to educate this poor girl in more things than one. She lacked manors when it came talking to a knight as well as basic manors when talking with others. At the very least she had the manors to finally introduce herself to him. Even if it was rather late in the introduction and with another question as well.

“Tho asketh me from what land I hath come from? Dost tho not know of the great kingdom of England? The proud and honorable land from whence kings and knights like I cometh from. I pity thee for thy lack of education and understanding.” He stood up before her still holing the container that held the fruit salad . “Before thee stand the proud knight Siegfried Hoffman, former knight of the king of England and current knight of Kazura. Dost my words answer thy question?” However his introduction was delivered after the fact that she commented on the blade that he was carrying on his person at this moment.

“This blade that I carry is nothing more than a prop, if tho art really someone who is trained with a sword come follow me. If tho aren't lying I shall return this container to thee.” With those words said he pressed on the elevator button and waited for it to open for him and her. If she would follow he would take it down to the lower levels of the tower, to the training hall under the building the very same ones that he had just come from a few hours ago.

[Irina Davayte]

Irina resisted rolling her eyes. Either this man was crazy and truly believed his weird knight backstory, or he was running around just messing with people. Or, he was part of some sort of improv group. As an Army brat, she knew that he certainly wasn't part of any real military. Whatever the case, she supposed she'd better be kind. After all, delusional people have feelings, too. And he seemed to know Kazura, so it appeared that he belonged in the building, somehow. But oh no, he was British. While from the European side of Russia herself, there was something that bugged her about the British. "No wonder he thinks he knows everything," she thought silently, but internally chided herself for her judgement. "Dost my words answer thy question?" "Yes," she answered crisply, torn between frustration with, or pity for the Brit. Naturally, he had confirmed the stereotype of the English that she tried to keep out of her mind.

She visibly lit up when Siegfried seemingly challenged her to some sort of a duel over her plastic container. Sure, she hesitated to follow a strange man anywhere, but now that she was developing her powers as a fullbringer, she felt like she could defend herself in an emergency. So she said "Sure!" and bounced off the floor, following Siegfried to the elevator. She felt awkward standing silently beside him, listening to the elevator music. She twirled a strand of hair that had fallen from her ponytail in her fingers before slipping it back into her barrette. It smelled like her shampoo: a mix of mint and citrus.

Irina was relieved when the bell rang and the elevator opened, before realizing with horror that the person who summoned the elevator was her neighbor, Marlene. They both lived in the intern housing for Uzaki Enterprises, and Irina avoided her at all costs. Marlene was a redhead, loud, and entirely too friendly: the opposite of the generally reserved Irina. In her thick English accent, she began her verbal barrage before even entering the elevator car. "Irina! Hi! I haven't seen you in days! Have you seen the new pictures of my cat? Who's your friend?" Irina considered claiming not to know Siegfried, but was afraid she would get caught in her lie.

"This is Siegfried," she said without any explanation of how she knew him. "This is Marlene. She works in HR. She is also English." She couldn't wait to get out of the elevator. Marlene, she knew, would get off at the first floor. Irina have to come up with some reason to not get off at that point with her. "Aren't you coming, Irina? Marlene asked a bit too perkily. "Can't, I have to go downstairs and get...a mop. Someone threw up on my floor." What kind of a lie was that? She needed to work on coming up with better excuses. When the elevator door closed, Irina swiped her ID card to allow her to get to the floor of the basement dojo. At least, that's where she hoped Siegfried was planning to go. She couldn't explain away sparring with this strangely-dressed man out in the open.

She went directly to a cabinet that she knew held various swords. "Do you fence? What kind of weapons should I be looking for?" she asked, rifling through the cabinet, discarding the more dangerous-looking swords.

[Deleted]

He simply renamed silent in the elevator as it descended , not having anything more really to say to Irina at the moment. In a few short moments they would be fighting against one another, not in a duel to the death, but one for a simple plastic container. This was more or less a means to an end, one to see the strength of someone who claimed to know an art of swordsmanship in order to get an idea at the strength of those of this era. While he had seen many with blessings here and there in this new strange time he hadn't seen the strength of the common folk nor the strength of the normal knights of this era.

However his attention from fighting quickly turned as the female that Irian knew entered the elevator. She had a accent on her words that he couldn't yet understand where it came from, but it felt familiar. Then Irina spoke up and told him that this girl was also from England, this made him smile, it seemed as if there was at least one other person in this building that came from the same land as he did, even if it was from the modern era and not his time period, however he wasn't about to start a conversation with the young lady given that at the moment he had a few more important things to do. Later on he would ask Irian to introduce him properly to her. So for now he simply smiled at her and waited in silence for the elevator to open for them.

That was the plan, however after hearing the lie that Irina had said he was rather annoyed at her. It was an honor to train with a knight, something to brag about to not say that she was about to train with a knight, let alone the knight that worked directly for her king Kazura was a dishonor. This wasn't something that he would let slip. “Dost not believe her lies, this maiden here shall duel me for both honor and this.” He said holding up the plastic container that was the start of their whole meeting. He gave Irina a glare as Marlene stepped off of the elevator and it closed and descended to the floor that they were getting off at.

Without saying a word he stepped out and headed past the swords. Not needing one and furthermore not being really trained in them like he was with his own weapon. The only words Irina would hear would be him telling her to grab whatever she felt would be best. It wouldn't matter, he wasn't about to lose a fight like this to a simple peasant woman. He would wait in the middle of the wide open room standing tall and ready. Only when Irina would come and join him would he talk. “Ist tho ready? Thee lacks a blessing as well as training of a knight, I for this shall use my hands. Tho may hath the first strike.”

Seigfried would stand there and wait for her to attack. This would be so he could see what sort of strength she had and what he should respond with. While he was a bit upset at her dismissing the honor of dueling a knight he wasn't going to take out his rage on her, no he was more civilized than that. He didn't want to hurt her for her actions and words, he simply wanted her to learn that she shouldn't underestimate a knight in the least bit. His entire body would face her and he would remain with his arms by his side, totally ungraded.

[Irina Davayte]

“Dost not believe her lies, this maiden here shall duel me for both honor and this.” All Irina could do was put her face in her palm. "Oooh, I see. Well, you two lovebirds have fun! Don't worry Irina, I won't tell anyone what you're really up to," Marlene said with a wink, popping her gum loudly. Irina sincerely doubted that. Marlene loved to talk. Never in her life had Irina been more happy to hear elevator doors close. She wouldn't call herself a liar per se, she was simply willing to use lying as a means to a more important end: in this case, maintaining the secret of her fullbringer powers from her neighbor. And from everyone in her school. Incidentally, she had told several of her classmates that she was an EMT, thus necessitating her sometimes running off when her phone rang, when she was really going to chase a Hollow. Maybe she was getting to be just a little bit of a liar.

Siegfried seemed (for a reason she could not identify) irritated with Irina, and held an air of superiority. This somewhat annoyed Irina, but as a recent high school graduate, she was unfazed by his attitude. No one thinks they know everything quite like an eighteen-year-old boy, and she got along with them fine. At his suggestion, she selected a lightweight, blunt sword. She also took its match with her, setting both aside to choose a helmet and safety gear. Trained as a fencer, she didn't want to risk losing an eye over this match. She handed each of these items to Siegfried, flatly saying "I'm not going to have a fist fight with you." She wouldn't mind if he didn't take them; that was up to him. She had at least given him the option. She just felt uncomfortable attacking an unarmed person, even if he could take care of himself.

The man was bigger and probably stronger than her, so she wasn't convinced that she would win this duel. She was more interested in practicing her swordsmanship. She was no longer formally competing as she did in high school, and she didn't want to get rusty. Her fullbring was a sword, so she really needed to keep sharp with those skills. Additionally, it felt somewhat foreign to her; fencing swords were lighter, and fencing had all sorts of rules that were not a factor when fighting Hollows. When he looked ready, she started by aiming a slash to his right side, testing his reaction time while hopefully staying far enough back to stay safe. "How did you meet Kazura-- er, the King?" she asked casually, trying to get along with him. It seemed that "the king" was one of his favorite things to talk about.

[Johnwaluigi]

+150 CTP to Irina Davayte