2022-02-21: In the Dark of the Night
- Log: 2022-02-21: In the Dark of the Night
- Cast: Riika Sheder
- Where: Riika's Quarters, ZAFT Forward Base, North Africa
- Date: February 21, 2022
- Summary: Riika makes a big decision.
Riika got back from her scouting trip early at night. After reporting in, she'd gone back to her quarters; she got her own, the perks of being a red-suited pilot, though it wasn't a whole lot bigger than a bunk and a tiny desk that mostly supported a computer when she needed it. She was sure she was expected to get right to sleep, but she couldn't. She had things to think about.
She'd given a full report, except for one thing: she hadn't said anything about the man - being, really - who had appeared out of nowhere. Nor about the things he'd given her. She didn't feel right keeping secrets, but Riika was pretty sure things wouldn't have gone well if she'd admitted everything they'd talked about, either.
Once she was back in her quarters, Riika delicately set the model down on the desk, next to the device (face-down, just in case). Both had been... gifts, from that man, or at least offerings.
It was an unassuming thing. It looked like clay to her, not that she'd ever worked much with clay; a stocky thing standing up on its back legs, a blank dome over its eyes, short arms, ridges and nodules all over it. Honestly, it wasn't the kind of model she'd normally make. She liked more mechanical things, but her model collection wasn't here. No room for that on a warship. There was exactly one model here besides this clay one, and she'd bought it in Tsutsujidai, as much to see if she could bring it out as any other reason. (It remained in her luggage, unassembled. She might be able to put it together here, but she'd never be able to paint it.)
She tapped the model with one finger, clicking the back of her nail against it. Nothing happened. She prodded it with a pin: nothing happened then either. She wasn't going to try to really damage it, so that was as far as she'd gone. It really didn't look like much. But if that seijin was telling the truth, it was a way to fight without putting a pilot at risk. And while Riika didn't mind putting herself at risk - she'd joined ZAFT, after all - surely it would be better with less loss of life.
She didn't know why he'd come to see her, but then again she didn't know how she'd gotten into Tsutsujidai either, or why it was there in the first place, or really anything else about it. She'd just gone to Junius Seven, and found herself there. Perhaps it wasn't a surprise that Tsutsujidai had visited her, afterwards. They were linked, somehow, and she couldn't tell how or why. That was something she needed to find out, but she wouldn't be able to solve that mystery herself. She didn't trust him, and she doubted he trusted her, but if she played along with him, maybe he'd let slip some information. More than he already had, which was certainly more than he had meant.
Riika picked up the model, then. She turned it around in her hand, rubbing her thumb along the side. She could get rid of it if she wanted to. She could just put it in the trash. If she really wanted to get rid of it in a hurry, she could put it and the device in a bag and wreck it with some of the tools the mechanics used. Or step on it in a mobile suit, for that matter. But instead, after a moment of hesitation, she tucked it in the back of one of her clothes drawers, arranging a spare folded skirt overtop of it. It looked lumpy. She'd have to find somewhere better to put it, but she wasn't very used to hiding things in her drawers and her first instinct was just to get it out of sight.
Maybe she'd figure out what he wanted from her. He'd called the model a way to make dreams a reality. A way to make Riika's dreams, specifically, come true - the reason she'd chosen to fight and come to Earth in the first place. There could never be another Junius Seven. Which was all well and good, but she couldn't figure out his rationale for offering it to her. Maybe he was just bored. Maybe he actually had been completely up front with her. But despite the lack of trust - despite everything - she was willing to test it, risky as it was. Beyond the actual results, she might indirectly answer ZAFT's questions about Tsutsujidai, if she could get the information out of him.
But given all that, she couldn't just go to ZAFT command and tell them right now. No, she'd have to test it herself first, or get something concrete, because nobody can argue with results. She was in and out often enough on missions that she thought she might be able to slip away for long enough to try it. But where...? She needed a plan. One test, to make sure it worked, and to best determine how to use it; she was always more comfortable with practice. And then...
Riika pulled her tablet over to her and pored over maps and reports that weren't hers, long into the night.