Chapter Text
Marianne sunk into her chair, groaning as she lifted her feet. It felt like all her muscles had lead weights attached to them, but that was nothing compared to the numbness in her feet. She reached back to rub at her neck, hissing at the ache. Not even steady pressure would make it disappear.
She dropped her hand back down, letting it dangle over the arm of the chair. What she really needed was a long, hot bath. Soaking would work out most of the kinks and the rest could be taken care of with pain killers. Marianne was sure that everything would go back to the same burning ache come morning, but she couldn’t stop now, not when they were so close.
Marianne listed to the side in her chair, staring at the hallway that led to the bathroom before groaning and sinking back. Movement didn’t seem like a good idea, even though she knew she had to do something before she locked up. Going back into the science division and trying to work the Ganymede apparatus when any movement was painful would be impossible and disappointing in the face of all the successes they had had over the past two weeks.
It might be the time to ask them to figure out how to lighten the limbs of the apparatus. If they were going to have soldiers using it, they would have to. Battles rarely lasted a few minutes and the aching started after using the apparatus for ten minutes. If they wanted the control mechanism to work, they would have to find a way to make it easier on the pilots.
Marianne shifted in her chair, intending to scoot to the end and crawl to the bathroom. She must have made another painful noise because there was a grumble from down the hall.
A shoe soared through the door to her bedroom, clattering down the hallway. Marianne leaned further out of her chair, raising an eyebrow as C.C. stumbled out of her room.
The woman looked like she had just woken up. She was wearing one of Marianne’s nightdresses, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. C.C. slumped against the doorframe, glaring at her through bleary eyes. “If you’re going to die, do it quietly.”
Marianne flopped backwards into the chair. She groaned again, mostly just to annoy C.C. When the sound didn’t get C.C. to comment, she laughed and tipped her head back. “I thought you cherished me.”
“You’re right below sleep and food.”
“Top three, that’s impressive.” Marianne closed her eyes, letting herself sink further into the chair. “Is there a chance that I could make it to top one?”
C.C. hummed, Marianne hearing her walk down the hallway. She turned her head, watching as C.C. came around the edge of the chair. The woman perched on the arm, knocking Marianne’s arm off the armrest. Marianne whimpered, C.C. rolling her eyes before pulling Marianne around.
Marianne went willingly, carefully sliding her legs over the other armrest. She sighed when C.C. started messaging her neck and shoulders. Marianne’s eyes fluttered closed, letting C.C. work through the knotted muscles.
She heard C.C. make a disgusted sound. “Taking it easy, my ass. I thought you had the emperor’s favor.”
“Oh, that I have.” Marianne opened her eyes. She thought she saw something flicker across C.C’s face, but her usual expression was back just was quickly. Marianne sighed and closed her eyes again. “He’s been courting me when I’m not locked up in the lab.”
“I guess the courtship hasn’t gone well then.”
“C.C!” She reached up to slap at her friend’s arm. “It’s going fine. He invited me to one of the state events later this week.”
“Will you go?”
“If I can move.” Marianne shifted so C.C. could work further down her back. “It’s getting rough now that the raptors are expecting it. Some of the others can’t even make the link because they’re fighting it.” Marianne paused, turning her head so she could see C.C’s face. “I don’t have the same problem as the others. It’s never hard to get inside of VB-KR06-TRCA and I suspect that you have something to do with it.”
C.C. huffed. “I have better things to do than to tell lizards to listen to you.”
“No. The geass.” She reached up to rub underneath her eye.
“It only works on humans.”
“But mine has never worked.”
C.C. was silent for a moment, Marianne waiting for an answer. Instead, she just got a shrug as C.C. went back to work. “Each geass is different, even I don’t know what it is when I seal a contract. I won’t know until it activates.”
“C.C-”
“It may work like that, or you may just be better at telling a lizard what to do.”
Marianne huffed and turned her head again. It wasn’t an answer, but Marianne knew her well enough to know that C.C. would never give her a straight answer. C.C. probably didn’t have an answer for her, which was alright. As long as she was able to use the Ganymede apparatus and continue her work as a Knight of the Round, Marianne didn’t care. What she wanted more than an answer was a bath, and food.
She gently detached C.C’s hand, levering herself up from the chair. Marianne shuffled forward a few steps, turning around in time to see C.C. flop down into the chair that she had just vacated.
C.C. sunk into the chair, waving her off with a hand. “I’m going to make up lost time. Wake me up for dinner.”
“Why should I?”
C.C. didn’t answer, looking like she had fallen asleep already. Marianne rolled her eyes and started towards the bathroom. She would probably end up waking C.C. anyway. The woman would probably try to steal bits of whatever Marianne cooked, not that it would bother her. She had learned to live with C.C. in every aspect in her life. She would just have to learn to fit Charles into that equation, which wouldn’t be too hard.
Marianne rubbed at her left eye, blinking it quickly before giving up. There were other things that called for her attention. A mythical power that never worked was not one of them, not when everything else was falling neatly into place.