2022-01-25: A Bridge To Somewhere Else

From Super Robot Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search


<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.


The Ra Mari's hangar currently contains certain mecha that need repairs, and the Ra Mari itself turns out to be a rather large ship, with corridors and rooms enough for hundreds of people. There's a lot of white--a lot of crew filing here and around, especially on the way to the hangar to make said repairs--and it could be kind of overwhelming to people not used to battleships.

Through the twists and turns though, the Gridman Alliance have been led to a moderately-sized lounge area complete with a few couches to sit on, and a view of the world outside from a reinforced window. Refreshments are available! A crewman will have things brought up from the kitchens if asked. But there's not a lot of time to wait around and get things, because in short order, Captain York steps through a sliding door into the room and looks to the three of them with a nod and a small smile. "Sorry to keep you waiting--I had to take care of a few things before I could come down to talk."

She doesn't expect military precision or salutes out of a bunch of civilians, and doesn't have a particularly stiff manner about her--but the strange thing might not be that, but the fact that she's only a few years older than they are, to look at her.

"You might be interested to know that the evacuees arrived at the shelter safely."

<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.

"t-thank you very...much..." Samurai Calibur murmurs quietly, before Yuta nods his head with an empathetic bob. The teenager seems to wilt slightly, out of the nervousness with actually being onboard such a large Federation vessel - the apprehensiveness of the Neon Genesis Highschoolers had left him a bit on edge too, he realized.

Vit, to the surprise of none, has made no time making his seating arrangements and deciding upon a couch as his new home. With a yawn, "Yep~ that's nice...fuu..." he leans back.

Borr's eye twitches, but he doesn't acknowledge the lazybones otherwise. " - right. About that .. eh .. nah, nevermind. It's not worth bringing up. We appreciate your help in bringing those guys out of the fire. People killed by kaiju get a fate worse than death, y'know."

Yuta, shuffling next to Rikka and Sho, folds one hand over the opposing elbow with an unsteady 'Aha..'

" - yeah. Gridman fights as hard as he can for the city, but even he can't do everything by himself ... but, uhm ... well. It's not easy to say this without looking ungrateful, but ..."

    Max clears his throat.

It's odd how clearly he can speak through the apparatus covering the lower half of his brick-like face, "Maybe we should get introductions out of the way, first? My name is - Max."

Yuta nods, his blue eyes crinkling with laugh lines, "Yeah! I'm Yuta. Yuta Hibiki; I attend highschool in the city. It's nice to meet you."

". . . samurai calibur is my name . . - " Calibur says, just as quietly as before.

"You can call me Borr; I'm top dog around here!"

There's a brief and awkward period of silence, before Vit's loud and poignant yawn breaks it, as he realizes the rest of the team was staring his way. "Eh~? Oh. Yo~. I'm Vit."

Borr squints, "...that's it? Ugh. Well, anyway ..."

<Pose Tracker> Sho Utsumi has posed.

Sho Utsumi has never been on a battleship, nor has he even seen one outside of the movies. The whole trip to the lounge has had his eyes open, as he only asked for 'soda, any kind but diet'. He really needed the sugar and caffeine.

As Eight arrives, though, Sho is sitting up straight - there's zero military precision out of him, but he's as respectful as he can be on a couch. Eight's words of being busy get a nod - he can imagine she's a busy person - but she's younger than he thought. Like Bright Noa was...

"Thanks for the repairs...and for saving those people. I'm surprised it took the Federation so long to take a look at Tsutsujidai and help us..." His mouth is just open. He is not thinking about what he's saying. "Or that you guys came at all, but we definitely appreciate it."

Sitting next to Yuta and Rikka, HOPEFULLY DRINKING A SODA, he glances at Vit and his couch resting and near-sleeping, sighing, before he responds.

"I'm Sho. Uh, Sho Utsumi. Sixteen."

A pause, and a squint at Borr.

"Since when are you 'top dog'?"

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Rikka can sense everyone's uneasiness. She feels the same way too, frankly. She never thought she'd see the day where she was walking through the halls of a battleship... With that and her general exhaustion, she's pretty quiet as she walks alongside the others, having only spoken to make a drink request - nothing specific, just something non-carbonated.

She seats herself in the lounge with Yuta and Sho, her eyes tracking to Eight as she makes her return. ...She really hadn't expected the Captain to be so young. ...There's a clear weight removed from Rikka's shoulders with a sigh, though, as Eight informs them that the evacuees made it to the shelter safely.

"...That's good. Thank you." Rikka replies. She's still apprehensive, but... Max wisely decides they should probably start with introductions.

"...I'm Rikka. Rikka Takarada." She introduces herself, once the others have gone.

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.


Eight sees that at least a number of them have made themselves comfortable. That's good! She approves. ...But it's nice to be acknowledged, too.

"Of course," Captain York says at the matter of helping, but she tilts her head a little at the matter of kaiju deaths. "Do they?" she wonders. She's not sure what he means.

"Max," Eight acknowledges. She thinks introductions are a good idea, actually. "Yuta... Mr. Calibur, Vit, Borr..." She has the social graces not to grin or laugh about the top dog comment, "Sho, and..." Sixteen.

Incidentally he totally has a soda. It's not even diet! It's a design he wouldn't recognize, though--very recent advertising for this particular brand.

"...Rikka," Eight confirms, catching each name, with an extra nod towards Rikka's thanks. "I'm Eight York," she introduces herself in turn, since they already know her rank but not her first name.

"High schoolers and already fighting kaiju, huh?" she asks. "That's heavy." She looks to Sho next, "So this happens a lot here?" she wonders. "Honestly we're pretty far outside my usual patrol grounds; I was only here picking up a pilot in the first place. But I can't imagine NERV would let kaiju roam freely in Tokyo..." It's a puzzle.

"...Sorry, you don't need me speculating about why we haven't helped you. I'm sorry for that. But the strange thing is..."

"...I've never heard of an ongoing kaiju problem in this part of Tokyo. For that matter, I'm not entirely sure where 'here' is; our navigation logs are showing a blank on the time before we showed up; none of us can remember exactly how we got here."

<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.

Sho Utsumi is a lucky lad, because he's sitting down when Borr's well polished shoe strikes his shin. There's no further elaboration.

Eight York is, despite being young for her station, a perceptive and capable person - that's why it might seem like such a sharp contrast, the difference in how Vit, Borr, Calibur and Max seem to be taking this information compared to Yuta and his cohorts, even when that difference is as subtle as the way their eyes hardly tinge.

    Like it's not an entirely unexpected thing to have heard.

"Uhm. Is that so? ....that's very strange, but - " Yuta says, touching a finger to his chin. He hadn't asked for a drink, probably because he'd been too busy mulling things over in his head.

"Well. It makes sense if you think about it, right, you two?" he prompts Rikka and Sho.

No one in Tsutsujidai could recognize the kaiju in the horizon nor did they remember the city being attacked. The people killed during the attacks were not recalled either, nor were they restored when the city is repaired overnight.

Only Gridman and his allies could perceive these things - from that perspective, it should make complete sense that until now, no one had helped them. There was not a local garrison in the city, after all.

Yes, until now - so why was the pattern being broken? Eight York and presumably, everyone on her ship could not only perceive the kaiju like they could now, but also was capable of remembering the fact that the battle happened at all.

Thus, the connundrum. What had changed to make this the case? It certainly wasn't Gridman's doing. He hadn't had the opportunity to ask over Junk, but - some kind of instinct told him he already knew what Gridman would say, and that asking was a fruitless endeavor.

Calibur has a thoughtful, conspiring look on his face while Yuta touches his fingertips together, " - well, er .. I guess you could say kaiju attacks are common, though. Excuse me, but, about that .. you mentioned 'NERV' just now, like those red and purple giants from before .. can you explain that? Is it a new Federation division, or something along those lines? I can tell their specialty is probably kaiju, but I've never heard of them before."

<Pose Tracker> Sho Utsumi has posed.

Sho recoils immediately and almost spills his soda (fast typing hands catch it) when he gets shinkicked. This does not appear to be a random assault, especially since no one else cared.

But when prompted, he straightens up. "Yeah, you're right." Instead of elaborating right this second, he turns the can in his hands. "This new design's pretty cool. Was it just released?"

And then, when Eight mentions the pilot, he nods. "I wasn't aware mobile suits were getting so advanced. I mean, I guess you guys would always be advancing in case of another war like in back in the seventies, but still. Aren't all these guns a little overkill?"

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

It's true - Rikka doesn't react at all to that kick sent Sho's way. This is, indeed, pretty routine, it seems.

"...I guess so." Rikka replies with a nod toward Yuta. It's a little over her head. But she's making sense of it the best she can.

Eight observes, then, that they're only high schoolers and already fighting kaiju.

"...You don't look like you've been out of high school that long, either." Rikka points out, and her gaze falls toward her drink. "It's just... Gridman was fighting them, all on his own, for our sake... It didn't feel right."

She goes quiet for a moment, letting the others speak and ask questions. 'NERV', and this advanced battleship... Yeah, she's curious about that, too.

"...You don't? How are you missing an entire city?" Rikka asks, an eyebrow raised, looking briefly toward the others and then back to Eight. "This is Tsutsujidai."

...She can't explain why all of Eight's systems might be missing the same data at once, though. That's unusual!

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.


Eight sure notices it. The way the others don't react the same way--but also the shinkick. ...The shinkick isn't so much her business, but the four of them...

Does it make sense? It doesn't make much sense to Captain York so far. Something regardless is giving her a little of a headache--it's like a noise in her ear, that she's noticing more and more now. ...Well, she can deal; she's used to things like that.

Rikka points out that she isn't much older, and Eight nods. "That's true. It feels like longer with all that's happened, but it hasn't been that long." A pause. "...I can understand that." About Gridman fighting alone.

NERV is an easier matter; that shows in Eight's face. "New...? They're not really 'new'." Hm. "But yeah, they're Federation-backed, so close enough. They're an anti-alien task force. Angels, Dinosaur Empire, stuff like that."

"In... 'case of' another war?" the Captain asks, visibly a little thrown. This is not usual for her at all. But the way it all adds up, and that noise, this surprises her. Her eyebrow rises; she half-lifts a hand. But before she can address that completely there's the matter of missing an entire city. "...Never heard of it," Eight answers Rikka. "I just chalked that up to me not knowing Tokyo very well," she admits, "If not for the data issue."

SHe looks back to Sho. "Anyway, we've been at war for a long time now. Honestly, I feel like the Ra Mari's not heavily armed enough if we're going to keep facing the sort of things we are. Even with all this armament, we've taken heavy casualties lately. The last Captain died not more than a month or so ago."

He said it was a 'new design', before, and that sticks in her mind. "...This ship's only five or so years old. And I guess the Eva units are pretty advanced. But..." She frowns. "Something just doesn't add up."

She looks thoughtfully at Max, in this strange mask. "...And that's another thing. You have so few shelters. The evacuation was barely started when we got here."

<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.

Yuta nods mildly in Sho's direction, " ... yeah. I mean ... using this in the city is - " he stops, frowning, " .. not that I think you'd be careless with your ship, Captain York. But the kind of energy needed for these weapons systems would have a serious issue in any metro area because of the minovsky scatter .."

Rikka's mention of Gridman fighting alone brings his mind back to the earlier battle. He'd in all truthfulness been initially reticent about the idea of Sho and Rikka fighting alongside him; but the time spent toiling into the creation of Phormocannon and Synchrotank had endeared him to it. And if not for their assistance, then he surely would have been overwhelmed well before more help had arrived.

Yuta, who wears his heart on his sleeve, has a flattened and mildly guilty expression. If these people didn't come that day - they both would have died .. because I wasn't strong enough. No - it's not about power .. Gridman has plenty of that. I just wasn't up to snuff.

He'd have to fix that; there was no doubt in his mind that things would only get tougher and tougher from here on out.

"Oh? I see .. well .. I - .. actually, I guess I wouldn't know if I should have known about them or not, huh?" he realizes with a chuckle, rapping the side of his head.

But Rikka and Sho hadn't, either, Yuta thinks to himself.

Borr crosses his arms, having preferred to stay standing. " . . . "

Suspiciously, most of the Neon Genesis Highschoolers had taken a backseat in the past few minutes. Yuta startles in his seat, leaning forward, "Uhm?! You're - are you saying there's been a war going on? Isn't..shouldn't something like that be common knowledge, then? Did you two know?" Yuta asks, flitting back and forth between his friends.

Some part of him knew that Utsumi already told him the answer to that question, so it was really just his shock speaking for itself.

Max, having been addressed directly, dips his head down to look at Eight directly.

" . . . the others have not mentioned this yet, but it is most likely what Yuta wanted to say before."

Yuta, still reeling a little, places his hands in his lap. "I .. uh - I'm still, I need a second to .. take what was just said in. I'm sorry."

Calibur places a tentative, but re-assuring hand on his shoulder from behind the couch, before shooting Rikka and Sho a small look, " .. e-excuse me .. i'll be right back .. " he murmurs to excuse himself, and leaves the room if not stopped.

Max puts the attention back on himself, "Tsutsujidai's situation is peculiar ... in geneal." he says, with some air of vagueness. Max felt a little bad for being misleading, knowing that this was not per se what Yuta had been about to bring up.

"The citizens memories are reset when disaster strikes .. in other words, if you were to go out and ask someone on the street about what happened just a short while ago .. no one would have any idea what you were talking about. As far as the people are concerned, there was no battle in this city."

Borr nods his head, twintails bobbing, " - yeah. And as for anyone who dies in one of these attacks .. they're forgotten, along with the incident. Like they never existed at all .. "

<Pose Tracker> Sho Utsumi has posed.

Utsumi takes in Eight's responses. About NERV, about Angels, Dinosaur Empires, the war being fought. His eyes widen, and he actually does spill his soda. But it's because he realized something that masks his complete shock and fear.

"This is like Tarabaman Flash! Eps 14-18."

"It's like we've met people from a parallel universe...but that's not possible. Maybe..."

His eyes glint, and his expression goes cold. "Maybe this ship is a kaiju? Are we in a trap?"

Pending possible second shinkick and also him shaking it off naturally, Sho moves to add on to Borr. "Or like they've been dead for years. It's..."

Sho frowns, sharply, the gravity of the situation reaching him. Then he sits up straight, and looks Eight in the eyes.

"I was gonna ask to be let off back in Tsutsujidai after our repairs...but perhaps...no, that's foolish. This is a military vessel, we can't ask to hitch a ride for a minute. Sorry."

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Yuta raises the point about the dangers of minovsky scatter in a place like this - and it's that that causes Rikka to look at him in time to see that guilty expression cross his face. She sends him a sympathetic look, shaking her head briefly. She can hazard a guess on what he's thinking, even if she can't comment on it aloud at the moment.

...But, Eight has a lot of things to say, and a lot of it goes right over Rikka's head. Angels? Dinosaur empires? Other wars? What was she talking about? Yuta understandably doesn't know any of this... but shouldn't she?

"...No, I haven't heard of any of this, either. Not about another war, or... any of that." Rikka replies to Yuta, shaking her head. ...It's weird. She looks back to Eight, massaging her forehead. "You've been pretty on the level with us so far, so I'm going to guess you're not just screwing with us, but... this is all a little hard to believe."

Utsumi, meanwhile, has a theory of his own! ...At which Rikka sends him a flat look.

"...Tarabaman again...?" She murmurs, before looking back to Calibur as he gives them a look. Rikka nods in response before looking back to Borr and Utsumi as they explain what happens to those who die.

"Forgotten... except by us." Rikka murmurs. Maybe that's tipping their hand a little, but... it's something of a sticking point for her.

She pauses, though, as Eight speaks. ...Shelters? Rikka frowns, her brow furrowed. That's... that is strange, come to think of it. She hadn't thought about that. Even if they don't know about the kaiju, what about all of the other disasters?

...But then again, she can't remember the last time there was a non-kaiju related disaster in Tsutsujidai.

"That's actually... the first time that happened." Rikka admits. "They've never done that before... that's another reason we made those mobile suits, to help with evacuation.

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.


"Oh, absolutely," Eight agrees. "I wanted to stay out of the fight, but when that third kaiju showed up... I didn't have much choice. Even then, I tried to avoid using more firepower than I had to."

A pause. "...Hm?" He wouldn't know regardless...?

When Yuta startles, Captain York focuses on him. "...I would assume it usually would be," she answers him. Though, Yuta seems to need some privacy--all the same, Eight can't have him just wandering off into the ship. So she says, "There's a restroom right through that door," and points to it. "Take the time you need." It's not as ideal as giving him his own quarters, but she hadn't expected them to need that kind of accomodation at the time she'd picked them up. It at least has a sink and a mirror; maybe some cold water will help him feel better.

But Rikka hasn't heard of it either, she says. Any of this. "...There's been a lot of wars since the 70s," Eight admits, and then, "Yeah--I'm being honest with you, as best I can. And I don't think you're lying, either. We knew something strange was going on. ...We're just finding out what."

Max takes the attention back, and Eight is more than willing to give it; he seems to know a lot of what's going on, more than the others do. She listens. "...So they're not going to remember this. I guess they haven't remembered the other attacks you mentioned either?" But Rikka points it out. "But you do. For whatever reason. ...I've never heard of anything like this. You're sure there's no... Well no, if it were something in the water, you wouldn't remember either..."

"Hm!" Eight... does not know Tarabaman very well. She definitely couldn't identify arcs by episode number. So she doesn't try. Instead, she finds--"Hence the extinguishing tools. I guess that makes sense, though. If they don't remember the attacks, they wouldn't prepare. But it's so strange--look at any other part of Tokyo, and you'll find plenty of shelters for things like that. It's been the norm since--I mean, since the Second Impact, at least. Certainly as long as I can remember."

Captain York is willing to take a lot of things at face value, but this is stranger still than most of those. However, when Sho moves to make eye contact, Eight meets his gaze and looks right back, unflinching. There is a sense that she can see something in there, because maybe she can. "...You can ask," she says after a moment. "I still have to pick up my pilot in another part of Tokyo. It would be trivial to bring you guys along."

"...Hrm." She pauses, and frowns. "...I believe you," she says. "That you don't know these things, though I can't explain how you don't. Or anything else about this. People dying, disappearing? Incidents being forgotten?"

"Well, if nothing else, I'm going to deliver a report about this. We'll see if we can't get you some backup if this happens again."

<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.

Samurai Calibur excuses himself to the restroom while Yuta marinates in this new information. It almost felt like a gutpunch - and it was hard to roll with, but ..

He knew he had to. He couldn't help but resent that every time he seemed to slowly come to grips with the situations he found himself in, some new development would happen to completely upturn his worldview.

"They didn't," Max confirms Eight's question. If he was upset that Rikka tipped their hand, he doesn't necessarily show it - but knowing Max, he most likely just accepted it and moved on. Of the personalities that were Gridman's support group, he was easily the most level-headed.

"I'm...thank you for being understanding. Everything you're saying's just a big shock to me .. " But .. Rikka and Sho are both taking this in much better stride than I am. So I need to suck it up - !

Yuta brings both of his hands up and brings them to his face with a mild slapping sound, leaving his cheeks rosy red. "Etetete ... okay, I'm with the program now, I think. I don't know what 'Second Impact' is, but it must've affected a lot, from the way you're talking .."

Yuta says nothing about Tarabaman. He moves right past it without saying anything, feeling that the looks Borr and Rikka have given him have said enough about bringing up a television show as if it were real life. Though, that Tarabaman knowledge had been helpful for pointing out kaiju weakspots..

"We're grateful for your cooperation, Captain." Max says to Eight. " ... yeah," Yuta affirms. "If there's somewhere you want to go, it looks like the Captain is willing to take us." he smiles, ribbing Sho a little.

In the meantime, Samurai Calibur returns from the bathroom without washing his hands - granted it was because he wasn't using the toilet, but it's not like anyone else knew that. Yuta's eyebrows raise as he looks over the sofa at him.

    " ..w-what?" Calibur wonders.

<Pose Tracker> Sho Utsumi has posed.

"No, hear me out." Sho suddenly says, seriously, at the weird looks and after Eight says he can ask.

"Let's say she is from a parallel universe. Her and her crew. If she tries and goes back to where she last was...maybe she can take us with her. And we can find out what's going on. And if not, well..." He doesn't actually have a follow-up. He simply can't think of other explanations for an entire ship's crew having an entirely different view of history from them, and he believes Eight.

Finally, Sho settles. "Otherwise, you can't pick up your pilot and you're trapped here. And I'm not sure *our* Federation - presuming you are a parallel alien - would be able to deal with you well in that case."

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

A lot of wars since the 70s... There's something sad about that, actually. Yuta's the one that points it out - the presence of something like that would affect a lot. It's a lot to take in for her.

Sho makes a serious statement, then, and Rikka turns her attention to him. As much as she likes to give him flak, his enthusiasm about kaiju has been indispensible in the past... If he's being serious about this, she'll listen. And what he says...

...Actually makes a lot of sense?? Rikka massages her forehead.

"I guess... at this point, I'm not sure how else to explain it..." She admits reluctantly. "...Good thinking, Utsumi."

She looks toward Eight, then and offers her a nod of thanks as well.

"...If it's not too much trouble...?" She adds. She doesn't draw attention to Calibur out of politeness.

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.


That is, Eight can't really have any of them just wandering the ship. But Calibur is willing enough to be guided to appropriate places, so it's fine that he needs a minute. "Being cruel about it won't make it any less shocking, Eight answers Yuta's thanks. "You're welcome." She pauses, thinking about it. Sometimes you have to slap yourself some sense, she guesses! And... he really seems to be doing his best, as far as she can tell; her expression softens a little. "It did. I'm not a historian or anything but.." She gestures. She's not really a teacher, either. Some of this stuff was on tests just a few years ago for her.

"You're welcome," Eight says to Max. Then she ndos; she is willing to take them somewhere. And Calibur...

"Welcome back."

Eight appreciates that Sho doesn't seem to actually believe she's some kind of trick kaiju; she sort of stepped right past that when he said it for lack of anything better to say. But when he asks them all to hear him out--well, he has her attention in any case. She isn't expecting much out of the Tarabaman theory, but when he mentions parallel universes again, and how that would look...

"Hmmm," Captain York answers. "Well, I can't rule it out!" She is remarkably chill about this possibility. She nods to Rikka. She doesn't have any other explanation, either, after all. "As long as none of you start teleporting around on me or something," she says, "That sounds just fine. ...I think I'd rather not meet your Federation if I can help it, so we'll probably want to leave soon."

She considers something, and then she grins. "Ever been on the bridge of a battleship? You can watch us go if you want."

<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.

Borr squints, "Go wash your hands, stupid." to Calibur, who seems to realize his faux-pas a little too late. " ... oh ... right."

It was unfortunate for him that Borr was much more outspoken than the others. And so, back he is sent, to scrub his hands thoroughly.

Yuta turns back around, "Ha ha ... well - uhm. I'm not really sure wha to think about that theory ... but anything's possible, I think."

Yuta is glad that Eight is such an understanding person. But, something was bothering him now. If what Sho said is true, then Max and the others were spot on about it causing issues if the beans got spilled about Gridman .. thankfully that's a topic we've avoided. But does that mean that Max, Vit, Calibur and Borr actually knew if this was the case?

Stealing a look out of the side of his eyes at the others - Max standing tall, Vit being an askew beanpole lounging on his own couch, and Borr leaning against the couch arm next to Utsumi - Yuta frown.

Then he rubs the back of his head, "That actually sounds .. pretty cool, Captain. If you're sure it wouldn't cause any problems, then I'd like to take you up on that. What about you guys?"

<Pose Tracker> Sho Utsumi has posed.

"Well, Tarabaman Flash had a teleporting ar-" Sho cuts himself off only after he realizes no one cares, dejected. He perks back up at the mention of the bridge ride.

That'd be cool. Thank you, Captain." A nod towards Yuta. "We'll probably never be on a ship like this again, so it's a once in a lifetime opportunity. Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth."

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

They all seem to be in agreement, at least. Rikka raises her eyebrow at 'teleporting', but decides not to question it - because Eight has made a very interesting offer! She looks toward Yuta and Sho both.

"If it has a good view of the surroundings, it might help us get our bearings on where we end up, too... Yeah, I think I'd like that." Rikka agrees with a nod.

...Of course, while that's a legitimate benefit this is all just to mask that... she thinks it sounds pretty cool, too. She's just sad she'd never be able to tell Hass and Namiko about it...