"Modern Relations"

Argan Diplomats (AI)

**"Modern Relations"** is the 7th episode of the 1st season of Alternate Void: The Five Pillars. The episode focuses around Olivia's desire to mend international relations with her mother's old allies, while the other group members live their lives in Analeasia.

## Episode Guide

*Olivia reaches out to the ambassadors of allied nations to try and meet with the nation's leaders. Selena and Camus adapt to life living in Analeasia, while Xander attempts to figure out how Olivia has gained her inhuman strength.*

## Sypnosis

A man storms out of an office in Windaguard palace, shouting profanties on his way out. Olivia can be seen yelling back, telling the man Analeas doesn't need them anyway. A frustrated Olivia sits slumped in her chair, both both and frustrated with the state of her ruling. She reveals that the Clarific Council has both strongely urged her and- in a way- demanded that she step up her political game with foreign ambassadors. Despite this, Olivia is learning that she is terrible at keeping good relations with others.

On her few days off, Selena tours the city and takes the time to go to the library and take photos of different areas. She can be seen walking around with her camera and a book en route to whatever destination is next.

Camus walks out of a butchers with a variety of cuts in hand. He looks over a shopping list again and begins to walk around. Xander approaches him and asks what he was doing in this part of town. Camus tells him that he was going to have a cook out with some friends from the academy who are also in Analeasia during the break periods. He asks Xander why he has a bale of hay, where he tells Camus that hes convinced that Olivia might be a horse. Not wanting to understand the complex and odd nature of his head, Camus tells him that he believes in him, and the Xander runs off ahead.

James and Gunther sit in his study, where the two go over different policies for the royal guard. James decides to talk about the recent meeting the Clarific Council had, and asked Gunther about Olivia's abilities to both lead, and to gain the favor of the international community. Gunther first answers by stating divine rule, but quickly backpeddles when he sees an irritated James. Gunther tells him that while she does have the divinity behind her, her leadership role will be tested by her charisma and ability to relate to an older crowd of leaders. Especially with her being the first of her generation. James overlooks the list of ambassadors scheduled to meet her, and he shakes his head, stating that all of these countries have called out and condemned Olivia for her decision to leave Bastille. Gunther looks over the list and laughs at a certain candidate.

Olivia, enraged by the accusations of the Ambassador of Nalacia, yells and tells the man that she will not be visiting Nalacia until they lift their ban on beanbag chairs from Analeasian factories, proclaiming that it is ridiculous to hold a grudge against an entire market because of their hate for the Queen. The man also gets up but not before trying to insult the Queen. Olivia gets up, and tells her secretary that she was going to go to the kitchen to eat something before her next appointment. As she makes her way to the kitchen, she sees a bale of hay at her seat before yelling to whoever decided to put hay on her table to get it out of there. She takes a deep breath and grabs a thing of snacks before heading back up to the top to see Henry in the hallway. Henry tells Olivia that he's worried for her and that she shouldn't stress out so much about these meetings. Olivia can only sigh and tell him that she has no choice, and that she must try her best for the sake of international partnerships. She embraces Henry before heading back up to her study, where a worried Henry oversees the Queen, and a frustrated Xander grabs his hay.

Selena sits quietly and sets up her tripod overlooking the plaza of Analeasia. She admires the angles and can't help but laugh at the different activites going on around her. A child runs, but trips and scrapes their knee in the process, but before they could truly have a moment of panic, Selena swoops in and bandages up the knee to the amazement of the child's parents, who ask about her profession. She tells them that she is a doctor, but for today, she is a photographer, taking pictures of Analeasia's finest attractions and cultural spots. The mother of the child offers some tips, to Selena's amazement.

With his remaining groceries in hand, Camus begins to walk back to the Palace Plaza. He gets a call on his big phone to a dissapointing set of news: one of his army friends won't be able to make his barbecue later. Camus sighs but tells them that it's fine before he trots on.

A nervous ambassador of Anastasia tells Olivia that she doesn't seem to value the basic joys in life, while she would argue different, he feels as though Olivia is trying too hard to be a queen, and is neglecting her natural self. Olivia tells him that simply isn't true, but the man mentions how despite the contreversies her mother would get in, she remained true to herself, and valued that honesty above all else. Olivia pointed to the Bastille pull out, but the ambassador told her that was simply an ill-advised decision, and not a passsionate break off from public opinion. Still, he wished that Olivia would change her mind on that much. He mentioned that Anastasia wouldn't sever ties with Analeas, however the deals and relationship the old administration had with the country would not be in effect. The ambassador would excuse himself as Xander would greet him as he left the door. Olivia's brother offered her a drink with some snacks as well, and left catnip on the side to see if he could catch his sister slip up, and admit that she was a cat. He sat in the back of her study, as she drank the stuff, realizing how gross it was, and asked Xander what on earth was on the plate and the smoothie. After revealing his intentions, he told Olivia that he saw what she did to those guys in the alleyway. Embarrassed, Olivia told him not to worry about that. Xander pestered again, and wanted to know who those people were, and how she did what she did. Olivia shrugged and told Xander while she didn't know those guys, people wanting her dead is not a new concept, and so she was taught by their late mother some ancient techniques known as Spirit Arts. While she didn't know much about them, she knew if she did them right, she could really knock out some serious threats. Xander looked in awe before Olivia told him to take this disgusting crap out of her study and get her something half decent if he was going to screw around like that.

James remains in his study reading before he is interuppted with a message from the Department of Foreign Affairs. He is told he needs to give the message to the queen and that it holds serious importants for the future of an alliance.

With Selena packing up her stuff for the day, she continues to look around the city and the life that everyone is creating, and she is interupted by a phone call on her cell. As she picks it up, she responds saying that she'll be over there immediantly. As she begins looking for the route to the castle.

As Camus stands by his grill with his hands up, Xander begins to wander out and asks what he was doing grilling all alone. Hearing that his friends flaked, Xander asked to hand around with him, in which Camus shrugged and agreed, stating that the coals were already hot anyway, and he didn't want the food to go to waste. Henry would join them, with the man telling Camus that the food smelled good and asked if he could help. Camus' bothered look started to look happier as the boys started up the grill and threw stuff on it.

A concerned Selena looked at the patient in the Harmon Section of Windaguard Castle, and she exclaimed that he shouldn't have tried to do any walking and now the wound would be unmendable by the form of stitches, and she would have to grab some stuff from the kitchen to help it. As she walked into the kitchen, she of course ran into Olivia, who was trying to answer her hunger craves from earlier. Instead, Selena invited Olivia to help her, despite her reluctant reaction to do so. As Selena grabbed what she needed, Olivia helped her out with the patient in the Harmon Sector, and the two were able to patch them up just in time. As the two began to bond over it, Vincent came and told them that they should head to the garden, as there was a little event going on with some of their "friends". Curious, the two went outside.

The Five Friends stood outside the grill and all of them began to enjoy the moment. With Camus exclaiming that although all of his army friends bailed out, it was still nice to be able to cook with all of them, and that they could at least have that much. The group shared the events of their day, with success and defeat, and the party began to die down.

In the evening, as everyone left to their own houses, Olivia remained in the castle, determined to finish up otehr pieces of work for the day, before being notified of an urgent request. With notice that the Duke of Everettia had received an official invite for the Queen to meet with a world leader. After reading the note, she wouldn't just be meeting with any leader, she would be meeting with the leader of the world's 3rd highest AVS country: Anastasia. Overjoyed, Olivia laughed and began to cry, and told the attendant that this was the start of something really special.

The final cut shows the Five people looking content for their days activities, and a brief cut to a man's desk can be seen, as he puts out a cigarette, declaring today a "good day" for everyone.