No witty remarks or rants today! Hope everyone is still enjoying the story!
Chapter 4: Enough is Enough
Larmina stormed down the hall towards her Aunt's office. Outwardly she was trying to project a façade of calm indifference but failing miserably! Anyone within ten feet of Lady Larmina could tell that she was upset. The staff had learned long ago, to keep heads down and get out of the way when Lady Larmina was in one of her moods. The result was a lot of ducking quickly into side rooms, whether they had business there or not.
Inside Larmina was seething! It had been a week and a half since the dinner in the kitchen and in that time she and Liz had begun to spend more time together. Sometimes with the boys, other times just hanging out and talking girl talk. It was nice to have another girl, someone who was near her own age to talk to. While she loved her Aunt dearly, there were times that she was just too old fashioned.
She wasn't mad at Liz; in fact she was mad 'for' Liz. Lance was getting completely out of hand with his treatment of her new friend. She could understand that he'd been hurt by Liz's actions in the beginning, but a week was more than enough time to step back, and see that it wasn't done in spite or to be cruel.
The biggest part of the problem was since that first day; Liz had begun to simply bite her tongue every time Lance made any comments to or about her. She would simply take whatever criticizing remark Lance threw at her and merely respond with a polite 'yes sir'. This only seemed to compound the problem, for every time that Liz refused to rise to his baiting, Lance's comments would get decidedly worse. Today had been the final straw, because when even Daniel had winced at the exchange between Liz and Lance, Larmina knew that things had gone on long enough.
The boys had agreed to the point that things were getting out of hand. Vince even made a comment about talking with Pidge when they got together for one of their research projects. Daniel had shrugged and said he'd back both of them up if it came to it. Larmina had watched confused, as Daniel had turned and wandered away, an oddly thoughtful look on his face.
Despite Liz's comments that it was fine, and that she didn't want the others getting involved, Larmina had decided that it was time to put her foot down. She was going to go to someone who could do something about it!
Reaching her destination and knocking swiftly on the frame of her Aunt's open office door, Larmina breezed into the room. She watched as her aunt finished signing a paper before looking up at her.
Pacing back and forth for a moment to try and both calm down and organize her thoughts, Larmina caught the deepening look of worry on her Aunts face. She sighed heavily before she flopped into the chair in front of her Aunts desk, and growled softly.
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Hearing the swift knock, Allura finished signing the paper in front of her and raised her head to greet her guest with a smile. It faded as she took in the sight of Larmina pacing back and forth.
Watching as her niece slumped heavily in the chair across from her, Allura frowned both at her niece's posture, and also at the frustration rolling off Larmina in huge waves.
"What's wrong Larmina?"
Allura mentally braced herself; she had a feeling she knew exactly what was wrong and where this conversation was headed. The fact that Lance had been in her office early in the morning ranting about Cadet Kemuri had been the start of a long day. Though she cared for Lance dearly, she'd never been happier to see him leave her office to go teach his self defense class.
"Wrong? Oh nothing's wrong, at least if you don't consider someone who's supposed to be an adult, and someone we're supposed to look up to making comments about someone's lack of family, wrong!"
Allura winced at both the tone and subject of Larmina's rant. She couldn't believe that Lance would go far enough to make cracks of that nature, and she was waiting for Larmina to pause so she could clear the matter up.
"I mean I get the fact that he's still ticked off over that first day, fine he's entitled to be upset. But really? Shot's at family? Come on, I mean even Daniel agreed he was way out of line and we all know Daniel's emotional range is well below average."
"Alright, why don't you tell me what was said. It's possible that you misunderstood….."
"How can you misunderstand and I quote, 'obviously your family didn't care enough to teach you basic survival skills'? He knows she's an orphan, that comment was just beyond … beyond…aaagh!"
Watching as Larmina threw her hands in the air and started pacing again, Allura sighed softly. She had hoped that time would cool Lance's temper, but it seemed there was no middle ground for him.
"Aunt Allura, I know that Liz didn't start on the right foot. And I know she's got ground to make up, but frankly it's difficult to sit back and watch her be put down. I mean, Lance went all off on respect, but isn't respect a two way deal? He's not even giving her a chance! He keeps picking at her, and waiting for her to blow up so that he can ship her back to earth. I want to kick his butt so bad, and I can't, but I…"
"Larmina, sit! " Waiting until Larmina was once again sitting across from her. Allura sighed and folded her hands on top of her desk, as she leaned forward "I promise I will speak to Lance! But…I can't promise that it will make a difference."
Watching as Larmina sighed and nodded, Allura smiled softly. She knew that Larmina and the boys had begun to see Liz as a part of their own special little group. She was curious to hear more about the dynamics between the four young people.
"Now…why don't you tell me how all four of you are getting along, and what sorts of things you've been up to when not in class?"
Un-noticed by the two women in the office, Lance McClain stood just outside the door. He'd arrived, planning on ranting to Allura about Kemuri's lack of ability in Martial arts, only to stop short of entering the office when he'd heard Larmina speaking. Pulling back from the door and feeling much like he'd been sucker punched in the stomach, Lance mentally looked back over class and winced. Turning on his heel and marching down the hall towards castle control, he decided he needed a fly with red to get his thoughts straightened out.
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Vincent Reese wandered down the hall towards the Tech Bay, where he and Pidge had been spending a lot of time lately. They'd been studying haggarium, and trying to find a way to shield against it. They were also experimenting to see if it had any other properties they could use.
Shaking his head, Vince groaned softly as he thought back over the day. He hadn't really been surprised at the harsh way Lance was dealing with Liz. In a lot of ways Liz had ended up taking what was once Daniels place at the bottom of the pack. He did think though, that Daniel's agreeing something was not right, was a sign that maybe his friend was starting to grow up. He also agreed with Larmina that enough was enough, and it was time to go for advice or outside help.
Moving into the Tech Bay, and over to one of the tables Vince picked up a tablet. Finding it to be one he'd worked on last time, he started to read through his notes only to find himself not really seeing the information. Sighing and setting the tablet back down, Vince grabbed a stool and sat, closing his eyes and drumming his fingers lightly on the table.
Something in the back of his mind was nagging at him, but for the life of him he couldn't understand what it was. The last few nights he'd found it hard to sleep and last night had even taken a walk down to King Alfor's tomb. The king had never appeared, and there'd been no conversations, but Vince had felt a general sense of un-ease in the air which had done little to help him sleep.
Bringing his attention back to the present and opening his eyes, Vince frowned. There was still no sign of Pidge, and he was quite certain they'd agreed to meet to go over research. Just as he was about to call Pidge on his voltcom the man in question came hurrying into the room.
"Sorry Vince. Hunk had some upgrades he wanted to show me and I lost track of time."
Smiling slightly Vince shook his head. The only way to get Hunk and Pidge away from upgrades to the Lions was to offer food and another problem to be solved respectively.
"It's alright, I was thinking about other things anyway."
"Anything you need to talk about?"
Vince couldn't help but grin! Pidge was always willing to listen to him ramble about his thoughts whether they pertained to work, or just odd random bits of information. Shaking his head Vince sighed.
"Well, there's Lance and Liz and their inability to get along. Then there's the haggarium problem, and there's this…this weird feeling that I should know something, but no clue as to what it is I should know." Taking in the thoughtful look on Pidge's face, Vince shrugged his shoulders, "Take your pick!"
Watching as Pidge grabbed a stool and sat across from him, Vince caught the fleeting looks of upset, confusion, and resignation that flowed across his face. Then they settled into the usual mask of determined genius that Pidge always seemed to wear.
"You know that Lance and Liz are going to have to work things out on their own."
Shaking his head, Vince groaned softly and caught Pidge's questioning look.
"We've left them to work it out for the last week Pidge, it's not going anywhere. And today….well Daniel even commented that Lance's statement was out of line. Larmina's gone to talk to Allura, so I guess that's okay, it's just aggravating not to be able to do anything."
"Daniel commented on something being out of line?" The look of utter surprise on Pidge's face had Vince wanting to laugh, and he bit the inside of his cheek to stop the feeling before making his reply.
"Yeah! Apparently comments about family not caring enough to teach basic survival skills, when someone is an orphan, is enough to make Daniel act at least a little grown up."
Seeing the wince and narrowed eyes from his mentor told Vince all he needed to know about Pidge's thoughts on the 'family' comment.
"Ouch! You said Larmina was going to Allura about this?"
Nodding Vince watched as Pidge seemed to be processing the information before saying anything else. That was one of the things Vince admired so much about Pidge. He didn't just make statements he thought about them and tried to reach a logical conclusion before sharing his opinion. Pulling his thoughts back to the present Vince realized Pidge was speaking again.
"Okay, I think it's best to leave that with Allura for now, she'll speak to Lance. Going on to the haggarium problems, you know as well as I do that you can't expect results immediately. It's going to take time. So that leaves this 'feeling' of yours, can you explain it to me?"
Sighing heavily Vince saw the concerned look on Pidge's face, and he tried to martial his thoughts into some type of order. Shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders he opened his mouth to try and explain when the blaring of the castle alarms sounded! He and Pidge raced for the door.
As they ran for castle control, Vince found himself mentally wondering how you explained a feeling to someone that you couldn't even explain to yourself. Wondering if he'd ever figure it out, Vince grit his teeth as the cold tendrils of unease wrapped more tightly around him sending a shiver down his spine.
Thanks again to SallyOn and WhiteTiger for their patience and advice. And Myra for poking at me to find the next chapter...LOL.