Leave and Vacation Office

[Aesha]

The small office was a single, one roomed building in the cluster of buildings in the district that made up the Base Headquarters. This was located fairly near to the gates of the base itself, and contained the Commander's office, among other things. The office was probably one of the most frequented on the base, since all soldiers were required to go there if they wanted time off, be they either a private or the Commander himself.

It had been built of stone, as most of the buildings in the district were, and had a very square and boxy like appearance. The one window the building sported had a very small window box under it, stained a dark green colour. In the spring, it would often holding simple, yet colourful flowers such as pansies. In the winter months, the box would contain nothing but neatly raked over soil.

As usual, the door to the office had been propped open for easy access, and inside the place looked surprisingly homey. A few chairs had been lined up along the wall for people who were waiting to be served, each with a comfy padded seat and a ladder back. There was also one in front of the desk itself, naturally, because everyone was required to fill out a form when applying for leave, and that was hard to do standing up.

The desk itself was made out of the same wood as the chairs, and was fairly small, and, surprisingly, free of paperwork. In the right hand corner towards the back of the room stood a small wooden cabinet, were all applications for leave were filed once they had been either approved or rejected.

The uniform of the clerk behind the desk depicted him as a Corporal of the military. The leave officer was human, and probably somewhere in his late sixties. Overall, he was quite reputed as a kindly soul, and quite enjoyed his job behind the desk. Not being as young as he used to be, Corporal Jones preferred it to being out on patrol all the time. He hair was a dark grey colour, through age, and his eyes were blue. He always had a ready smile available for any visitors to the office.

"Serale. Are you here to apply for leave? Or are you reporting back after a period of absence?"

OOC1: Originally by Daniel, edited by Aesha.

OOC2: Don't forget to timestamp your post! Lichen's Guide/The Kalendryan System/The Current Season

[Keeva Kaldres]

Timestamp: Srennia, 7th brightening of the 2nd cycle of Ioannes, Summer of Era X in the Age of Darkening

Grey eyes glanced over the equally lackluster exterior of the building, even as the girl trailed one hand idly over the surface of the stone wall outside it as she entered the office proper. It had been a long time in coming, but this brightening, this Srennia, she would be taking her first step to leaving the army, to putting the life of the military behind her once and for all. She needed some degree of freedom, the ability to travel to other cities and provinces without being bound to return to the gates of Abestat within a set amount of time. She still was not sure how she’d make a living for herself once she had left, the only fact she had dredged out from amidst the chaos of her mind being that she would head out for the Sodality of Carmelyn first. Perhaps after that she would revert to her art, try to make a living as a painter. Still, after so long focusing on the more fighting-related side of things, such a feat was likely to prove much more difficult to achieve than she thought now.

Drawing her gaze once across the coziness of the room that she was greeted with, the woman would remain standing for as long as it took for her to reach the head of the queue, offering Corporal Jones a bland, lifeless smile before deigning to reply to his query.

“Serale. I’m not sure whether this is the correct place to do so, but…I’d like to file my retirement from the Abestatian army. I’ve served here for about an era and a half now, so there shouldn’t be any problems doing that, right?”

She hoped not. Much as a part of her regretted her actions now, she wanted the process of her resignation to go through as smoothly as possible, without strifes or quandaries to trouble her mind any more than it already was.

[Dragontooth]

OOC: Sorry for taking so long to post. Anyway, here goes.

IC: The leave officer's warming smile faded from his face slowly and twisted its way gradually down to a frown, setting many wrinkles upon his old face. "Sad to hear that. Most upsetting, it is. We're always sad to see the good ones go." He gave a long, laboured sigh. "That's anybody in the army, though, I suppose. But anyway..."

He paused, tapping his fingers lightly. "Very well, then." He wandered over slowly to the cabinet, where he removed a single sheet of paper. Returning to his desk, he slid it over to the waiting woman there. "Fill out this form, there. And no, there shouldn't be any problems."

Retirement Form for the Abestat Military
Name:
Rank:
Company/Platoon:
Service Period:

"If there are any problems there, just let me know. I couldn't imagine there would be. Thank you for serving in the Abestat military." He gave a curteous bow, and handed her a quill to fill the form out.

[Keeva Kaldres]

OOC: No worries.

IC:

The leave officer’s sudden frown only worked to fuel the Sergeant’s despondence even more. Whilst it was good enough to put on a brave face in anticipation of the despair and anguish that was to come, within the very depths of her being lay the heartache and sorrow of being parted from the life she had lived here, the friends she had made, the memories she would hold dear for the remainder of her life on Telath. A subdued sigh left the woman’s lips as she reached out for the slip of paper that she would have to fill in, taking up the quill with a look that crossed the boundaries between gratefulness and outright regret.

“Thank you.”

Turning her gaze downwards to the parchment held firmly under the fingers of her left hand, the woman then began to fill in the necessary details with the quill clutched in the grasp of her right.

Retirement Form for the Abestat Military
Name: Keeva Lasant Kaldres
Rank: Sergeant
Company/Platoon: Delta Company, 2nd Platoon (Hellbear Squad)
Service Period: 1 Era, 6 months.

Once finished, she would hand the finished form back to the other soldier with a weak smile fleeting across her wan features. It had taken her a while to come to a solid conclusion as to her retirement from the army, but now at least her plans had been realised. It was almost as though some onerous weight that she had not known to exist had suddenly been lifted from her shoulders. Surely, this was the start of something new for her. She would finally be able to see the rest of the world without being hauled back by her duty to this city.

“On the contrary, it’s been a pleasure to serve here.”

Inclining her head politely towards the man, her smile broadened for a few scant moments, before another thought deigned to strike out at her mind.

“What will happen now? How long will it be before my retirement from the army is finalised?”

She was not too experienced with the vagaries of how long it took paperwork like this to be processed, and she was curious to know how much longer it would be before she was kicked out of her room in the military barracks and had to find shelter for herself for a change.

[Dragontooth]

OOC: Sorry if this does not make sense, I'm extremely tired right now.

IC:He took the form slowly in his hands and after taking a few short moments to look it over and to make sure everything was all in order, he stood up and gradually made his way to the cabinet and back once again.

"There you have it, it's all filed. With regards to the wait before you are...'officially' retired from service, I assure you it won't take long. Some places here you get a wait of many brightenings; but no, it won't take long at all." He let out another heaving sigh, glaring out the small, lonely window of the room for a minute, then returning his gaze to rest upon the young woman. "I would think about three brightenings at most for it all to be processed. Is that all then, Sargeant Kaldres?"

[Keeva Kaldres]

Tilting her head idly to one side as the Corporal considered the form she had just filled out, she watched him file the flimsy piece of paper away with a doleful look etched on her wan face. So, that was it. It would all be over very soon. The sigh that escaped her lips almost echoed the leave officer’s own, although it was soon stifled. Gloomy and despondent she might have been, but she had no wish to show those emotions to this man for too long a moment. Whilst she was not overly proud of her apparent callousness and indifference, it was something that she had lived with much too long to simply give up on now. A resolute change of heart, and she was trying to maintain a calculated look that said nothing of the anguish and stabbing pain lurking within. The result was not entirely as she had expected- a light frown had always lain just beyond the borders of her nonchalance- but, for the time being, it would do.

Following his gaze towards the lone window that allowed light to permeate the confines of the room, her frown deepened as she wondered, not for the first time, whether she had made the right decision in coming here this brightening. That thought was soon pushed back into submissiveness, however, as she reasserted her gaze on that of the Corporal’s in order to address him once more.

“Three brightenings? That will be fine. I’ll hand over my uniforms and the things I received on enrolling back to you then. I trust you’ll inform me when everything’s been made official?”

She did not think there was anything else to be said. The paperwork had been filled out, and all she had to do now was wait. Wait for three excruciating brightenings to pass before she was finally free of the military life.

Inclining her head towards Corporal Jones in genial acknowledgement of what he had done for her, she allowed herself the liberty of one more, brief smile, before turning on her heel and making to leave for the neat little haven of her barracks room once more. It would not be long before she would have to remove herself from the grounds of the military base, and she still had quite a bit of leave-taking to do before she was forced to go.

[Agaenos Phidion]

OOC: Post authorized by GM Aesha.

IC:

Timestamp:
Mid-Morning, Srennia, 17th of Ioannes,
Summer, Telath is in the Age of Darkening,
Era I of the Celestine Mandate,
Era III in the Mageocracy of Julos "The Mad",
Era X Post-Fractum.
Paradigm: The Truce of Demios and the Merfolk.
Some moments after Keeva left the Leave and Vacation Office

He was still mulling over her words along the way. She was not going to Archadoon alone - no, she would have some company. The best company she could ask for within the Material Plane.


His slow, languids steps bought him closer and closer to the Leave and Vacation office with each stride. He made a mental note to himself to check the map when he was done to see how far Archadoon was. From his hazy memory and poor knowledge in geography, the Carmelyn city should not be too far away, and besides, if he really did plain forget where Archadoon was, he might just be able to seek help from other people, or even his dearest - although he just had to wonder asking help from Keeva when it was her much-deserved retirement from the army would be a truly good idea...

He brought himself within the confines of the office, queuing up at the back, before offering a smile and a nod at Corporal Jones in front of him - with a striking similarity to the one Keeva gave him only some moments before.

"Serale, I am here to request a leave for two Cycles to Archadoon. There shouldn't be any problems, right?"

Their speech just happened to exactly match.

Old Corporal Jones, however, did not seem to really notice that as of yet, and went to process his application as normal. "Well, let's see here... Corporal Phidion? Yes - you hve been serving here for quite a long time now, and you deserve a break. Just fill out this form for me..."

He handed him a form - a familiar form, for he had filled it once before in his life. Scanning over it, he was now able to fill in the gaps which he was unable to fill in at the time before he ventured forth for the Candaceburg contest...

Name: Agaenos Phidion
Rank: Corporal
Company or Platoon: Delta Company, Second Platoon (second-in-command of Hellbear Squad)
Requested Vacation City: Archadoon
Estimated Time Off: Two Cycles

"I must say, though," he said, whilst handing the form back to the officer, "it had been a pleasure working here, even if there were a few... Erm, close encounters, so to say."

"Glad you are," he nodded, smiling at the other Corporal, "You will be free to go onto your leave next Brightening, earliest. Just make sure you notify me the Brightening before you officially go onto your leave, alright?"

Nodding in acknowledgement, Aganeos smiled to him once more, before leaving the office, in just as sombre a mood when he first came in.

The sitting officer stared, wondering what was with people these times...