Talent Search [Lacria]

[Jess]

Surrender yourself for my love~

What a way to spend a day off, hm? Polished nails seeming to dance on the ivory surface of wood which had been painted white to match the pristine image of the organization she represented, Claudia Carbone drew a fresh cigarette from her pack and slid one of its stubby ends between her lips as she spent part of her off duty dressed in ravishing red and waiting upon a young man, though in no way in which she would usually prefer.
I haven't been to the salon all week… Well, if that's what one can call them all the way out here, anyway? Not wholly opposed to having something youthful and enthusiastic or even older and experienced waiting for her when she visited port, or entirely against putting some of her weighty wardrobe to good use for that matter either, the young woman was certainly happy for the sweet release which tobacco offered her as she hung around an office looking like a billion beri in spite of the absence of a beautician in her life, and waited on something other than flowers and the sweetness of sentiment. Administration was the order of the day, in fact, and the man in charge of it in this neck of the woods.

"H-Here are the files…
All the new recruits, and their performance scores and conduct reviews?"

Found loitering in expectation not for the usual type of strapping figure she usually tended to like fawning over her but someone with a little more of a mind for statistics over the numbers she tended to flaunt herself in, the slip of silky scarlet in which she had surrounded herself so inadequately was merely an excuse for the both of them to give policy only a passing and polite glance on the way to the purpose for which the woman was here, and as the bespectacled face on whom she was counting returned the plan of the woman was in part revealed.
“Excellent. Your haste, and discretion, is appreciated~?” Giving up a day away from the rolling tide and the briskness from the wind in order to look over paperwork in order to bolster the units who were fortunate enough to find themselves underneath her, while she was proud to show off the bars of command with which her recent escapades had managed to afford her the dark dish had to admit that she had quickly discovered her endowment in this area had not provided her with the brightest pearls on the sea, and as such she was looking for an injection of talent to make up for that fact. Especially when the pettiness of her rivals seemed to have made them so reluctant to let her poach a face or two from more prominent teams, but then, small individuals always were dominated by their envy, weren't they?

"Is there… Anything else I can do for you, Miss Claudia…?"

Ultimately this meaning that the minx was forced to make do with what she had and add only those few rough gems she could poach straight from the recruitment program until the swell of her sway was enough she could overrule such jealous and zealous hoarding, this meant that Claudia was forced to put the work in perusing files which she could sweet talk from more agreeable allies, even if it wasn't exactly standard procedure. Though, a woman with her talents had little need for antiquated methodology, now did she?

“A Coffee and some cake wouldn't go amiss?” More the sort who was happy to bend the odd principle here and there to get what she wanted, this was the reason for the redness and radiance she wore today, and she hoped it wouldn't go to waste. Though even if it did, at least she could rest safe in the knowledge that she had at least one man in the western sea wrapped around her little finger? Now, if only he looked like he might be a little more use snagging her pirates and promotions, eh?

	Claudia Carbone	### words
	@tag, Ravaging Rouge,

[Fox]

Lacria took a deep breath as she looked at the main Marine Base in the West Blue, B-4. This was it! She was going to join the Marines today! Or at least, she was going to keep pestering the Marines of this particular base until they let her join. Lacria glanced down at herself. She was wearing a white shirt with the Marine symbol embroidered on it. She wasn’t sure if this was proper attire for requesting to join the Marines, but she figured it couldn’t hurt to show her spirit. She was in her wheelchair again. After breaking off from her class, she’d had to carry it all of the way to Ilisia herself, not that it had been too much trouble. She was a Mermaid after all!

Which… did lead her to double check the blanket that she’d wrapped fastidiously around her tail for the umpteenth time that hour. It was all secured away. To be honest, Lacria wanted to do away with the deception, but it was just too risky. She had no idea what would happen to her once her race was revealed. The worst case, in her mind, would be to get kicked out of the Marine. How was she supposed to achieve her dream from the outside looking in? Lacria rubbed her hands together anxiously. Part of her ruse was that she was a wheelchair bound medical student. Being in a wheelchair had made most people just automatically disregard her, but there wasn’t another disguise that really worked, and it was her only reliable way of getting around on land.

Lacria checked her ears. Another part of her disguise was to make her rather fishy ears look like normal human ones - just with crazy earrings. They were still in place, but it made her sigh. Why did she have to be born with so many extra fishy features that wanted to betray her heritage? She had scales on certain spots on her face and chest too, but she could write those off a little more easily with make up or hand wave them away by being jewelry or something. She shook her head and gathered up her courage. No more putting it off!

With a nod, Lacria rolled through the large front gates and into the base proper. The guard at the entrance gave her a rather dubious look as she wheeled toward him. She forced a smile on her face and placed a folder filled to the brim with paperwork on the reception counter.

“H-Hello! Lacria Blood! Here to apply to join the Marines!”

Her words were awfully stinted, but she managed through the worst of it. Excitement bubbled over her anxiety, making her eyes shine brightly despite the guard’s tired look. He seemed to be internally debating whether he should tell her to just go home, but that wasn’t gonna work this time! This time she was gonna do it! For sure!

“Miss, you do realize that you are…”

“Handicapped! Yes!”

“...sure. And that your disability hampers your chances of joining the Marines greatly?”

“You’ll find I’m just as capable as any other Seaman Recruit! Put me to the test and you’ll see!”

The guard shot her a very tired look before gesturing at the seating area.

“Alright. Wait here until your name is called.”

“Yessir!”

With a little salute, Lacria rolled over into the waiting area where other hopeful recruits sat in the provided seating. Some of them look at her. Some of them stared at her wheelchair, but after a few minutes, their interest in her waned to her great relief. Lacria took a deep breath. The only thing that she couldn’t have done was the physical. She’d provided ample paperwork about her medical history, so hopefully that could bypass an actual physical. She’d just have to make up some excuse for why she couldn’t do a physical.

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Lacria | #7fff00 | Post Count: 1

[Jess]

Surrender yourself for my love~

Marines really don't know how to make good coffee, do they~? Sighing softly as she drained the dregs that were left in her cup more for the sake of something similar to completion than enjoyment, Miss Carbone stood up from the seat she had assumed in a little nook behind the recruitment desk and scooped a large stack of papers into one of her hands, and a far scanter allotment into her other palm afterward.
Oh? Someone's sister, maybe? Leaving her seat and the coffee cup as well as a plate with a half-touched cake behind as she made her way back to the desk of the office's administrator with a slow and perhaps more purposeful sway in her hips than she might ever care to admit, as she sashayed her way through the sable siren found her sapphire stare settling on the shape of someone who looked a little out of place when it came to the usual array of muscle heads and farmboys, and muscle-headed farm boys, and so she offered up a wry smirk as she moved past the mob and returned to the place from which she had acquired her now separated pack of reports.

“These are promising, well not terrible, and these not so much…” Not dawdling for too long however as a busy woman like her had little time to be tossing smiles and winks toward women no matter how pretty they seemed, she marched back to the desk and flicked her hair a little as she did so for the benefit of her apparent 'audience', and then divided the men from the boys as she presented the comparisons she had made on the persons she had described in the pages she held onto.
“So I think I'll nab these ones for my crew, then~” Certainly seeming to show far more interest in the more modest pile and even demandingly so in fact, Claudia smirked as she moved to steal away some able hands for the team she had been assigned, which seemed to leave a lot to be desired in truth. However, it seemed that this would be no mere candy from a baby moment, unfortunately.

"N-Nab? Just a moment…
All you wanted to do was look over their files?
T-These recruits are already in the process of being assigned, there's…"

The sizeable sway which the enterprising enchantress seemed to hold over the base's administrator enough that she could sweet talk him into a little violation of data protection but crew assignments another issue, the mere suggestion seemed to have him gulping and stammering and fixing the position of his glasses, and seemed as if there was anyone other than a pretty woman in a red dress asking then would have drawn no shortage of annoyance and anger as well. Lucky for her she knew how to evade those kind of reactions, eh? At least when she wanted to.

“Well, they're not on their ships yet, are they?” Practiced in the delicate art that was knowing just when to flutter those long and dark lashes of hers and when to lean just far enough over the table which separated them to also provide a rather distracting view as well, for the moment Miss Carbone opted for the former as she pointed out the fact that the challenge here was not one of terrestrial locale but rather clerical amendment, and ran her long and nimble fingers back through that shimmering mane of hers as she did so for a bit of extra oomph as well. After all, when she had come in on a day off to take care of this she wasn't about to give up on her interest without a fight, at least figuratively speaking, of course.

“Surely it wouldn't be tooooo hard for someone with your expertise to redirect the paperwork, right?” On this occasion the battle armour she wore made of silky scarlet over a push up bra and her weapons the smooth skin which lay beneath that, she knew just how to put them to good use as the temptress tightened her gaze and offered a sultry smile, opting to play up to the ego of the man as well as other sources of inertia as she dipped forward and took her shot, and hoped to walk away from the encounter better armed than ever even if she did have to compromise a little decency to do so. Though really, given how some people had seemed to rise to the challenge of command, a little seduction here and there was practically the definition of wholesomeness, right~?

	Claudia Carbone	### words
	@tag, Ravaging Rouge,

[Fox]

Lacria tapped her hands on her lap idly while she waited. She was increasingly cognizant of some of the other hopeful recruits’ stares, but she ignored them by and large. She did perk up when someone tapped out from behind the recruitment desk. A woman who by most people’s reckoning would be considered exceedingly beautiful gave her a look as she walked by. Lacria immediately felt a little flustered, wondering what it might mean.

Was she laughing at her? Looking down on her? Encouraging her? Lacria couldn’t really tell. Her eyes followed the woman with curiosity and just a pinch of hope. She leaned over in her wheelchair to listen in a little better, though the woman - or marine officer, Lacria supposed - seemed to be aware of her rather attentive audience. Lacria was sure the boys were interested for other reasons, but her primary goal was figuring out what was going on in the recruiters’ brains.

What she did hear made her face go a little red. Wh-what? Was this how female Marine Officers got their way? Would she have to do that? Lacria hunkered down in her wheelchair and swallowed hard. Was that appropriate? She wasn’t sure if she could do that. Definitely not get the same reactions as the older woman. Humans treated her as if she were invisible or they stared - and not in a flattering way.

Still, like someone watching a ship sink or some great disaster, Lacria couldn’t help but sneak a peek back at the woman and the administrator. What would happen next? Would he do it? Was her name in that stack? Or would she be left in the waiting room as everyone else filed out to start their careers in the Marines. She wanted to be a Marine so badly…

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Lacria | #adff2f | Post Count: 2