2022-03-19: A Box Full of Flags
- Log: 2022-03-19: A Box Full of Flags
- Cast: Mitsuba Greyvalley, Mayvy Hawkins
- Where: Dreisstrager - Medical
- OOC - IC Date: 0096-03-19
- Summary: Mitsuba and Mayvy discuss the results of a routine exam.
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed.
The Dreisstrager has been stopped for five straight days at a small shoal zone between the Orbital Ring and L4 -- a place where a colony drop was averted during Zeon's last desperate push during the One Year War. Strictly speaking, according to the data, this makes sense as a thing to be doing. Indeed, Mayvy even knows *why* -- there's supposedly a unique dimensional signature drifting toward the zone.
Mitsuba is being a little intransigent about it, though. Despite the fact that there are a lot of small blips in the data here and there, Mitsuba has decided this one is most important and has decided to sit on it until it drifts into their sensor radius.
It's come. It's gone. There wasn't *nothing* -- a modest supply of rare earth metals necessary for some of the Dreisstrager's mobile weapons, and a remarkably well-preserved... guide to dating, presumably from colonial wreckage -- but it's a lot of time and waiting for something small.
And just like that, they're back underway. It's an unusual way to get resupplied.
Mitsuba, for her part, has come to Medical for the results of relatively routine bloodwork. As far as anyone knows: nothing's out of the ordinary. She is exactly who she has presented as for the last three years. Her response to everything is within normal parameters.
<Pose Tracker> Mayvy Hawkins has posed.
Another weird stop in a long series of weird stops. Unusual on its own--a yellow flag, as it were. Unusual, but not enough to base anything on.
But each one's been its own yellow flag. Each one tossed into a box that's rapidly piling up with them.
Mayvy's about ready to start upgrading some of these to red.
She spins around in the infirmary's spinny office-chair to face Mitsuba, clipboard in hand. "So, captain. Mitsuba. Mitsubabe. Your bloodwork's looking just fine. Couple of miiiinor vitamin deficiencies, but you're well within the margin of error there, so we won't worry about it. Your physicals are totally normal, really, basically nothing I wouldn't expect there."
"But I have a few questions, based on my *very* close observations of you since we first came on board." (Was that an eyebrow-waggle?) "First off--Have you noticed any odd fluctuations in your mental state lately? Especially with regard to the bridge, or the ship as a whole?"
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed.
"Hm... I suppose I'm not eating as consistently as I usually do," Mitsuba muses, as she sits on the bed. She isn't *expecting* an examination, but she knows these things sometimes get followups -- and Mayvy's a person who's a little on the abrupt side. "My sunlight exposure probably isn't very consistent either." On this front, at least, Mitsuba presents... about how you'd expect!
If there's something behind 'very close observations,' Mitsuba either lets it skate or isn't ready for it. Either way: she goes to the fore of the issue. "... I have," Mitsuba concedes. "I shouldn't be so... inconsistent in the captain's seat. At first I thought it was just new captain jitters, but..."
Her lips purse. "I'm worried I'm not cut out for this. Last time we docked for repairs, I considered resigning my commission. ... my head's cleared since, mind you. There's no path forward for the Earth Sphere but the one the Dreisstrager is carving."
She takes a breath, and then says, gently, "Mayvy, if you're going to suggest I'm having some sort of -- aversive reaction to my position, please don't. I just need to be stronger."
<Pose Tracker> Mayvy Hawkins has posed.
There's nothing behind the remark, really. At least, nothing she isn't putting on the table. She's a flirt--incorrigible sometimes, honestly--but she's a fair bit less... daring than the flirting might make one imagine.
She ticks something on her clipboard, and nods with a small sigh. "Well, first off," she gestures toward Mitsuba with her pen, "You *are* cut out for this. But you can't work yourself to the bone! We've been over this."
She bites her lip, giving it a couple of good chews as she thinks. "So when you're off of the ship... how do things change? What sort of differences do you notice in how you feel?"
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed.
Everyone keeps telling Mitsuba that -- but she can *swear* she can feel every incomplete task, every dimensional distortion. Just being able to see the tactical map seems to put everything on it in her brain. "I know," Mitsuba says.
Her brow furrows a bit as she's asked about what sorts of differences she feels between when she's on the ship and off it. "I'm more aware of my responsibilities," comes her answer, and it's simple enough. "I... this is going to sound silly," she eventually adds, as a follow-up. "... I think it's easier for me to talk to children off of the ship. I was definitely more anxious around Ruri before escorting her back to the Nadesico than after."
There's a beat, before she appends, "... She is *so cute* and I can't stand it! I just want to pick her up and hug her and tell her things are going to be okay!!" There are... few people Mitsuba lets see her cuteness-addict side. This is probably the most reassuring thing she has had to say in weeks.
<Pose Tracker> Mayvy Hawkins has posed.
Now, if only Mitsuba would tell her things like *that*, it'd help things along. It'd be concerning, but helpful. She rubs her chin. "More aware of your responsibilities..."
And she can't help but grin as the captain gushes to her. "I know, right? And if you didn't see her or hear her, you'd have no idea. Did you know I met her *months* before I had any idea how old she was? I first saw her for real at that Yumi Foundation party, actually. That was a hell of a night." She grins.
"--oh, right, how did that go, by the way? I wish I'd have been around for it... I was wondering how she got along with the AOS, but she sorta skipped over that part of the tour." She furrows her brow, tapping her pen to her lips. "Which was *weird*, actually. Usually she's telling me all about the machines she meets..."
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed.
"Oh, really? She does present herself as very mature... Nergal invested a lot in her." There's something about *that* that doesn't feel good to think about, so Mitsuba moves along in short order.
The hard question comes. "... She was actually quite shaken by it. The AOS -- rejects things like her, that engage with computers on a different level from the usual. We actually had to get off the ship entirely to talk about it, at her insistence." She brings an arm around to rub at her opposite elbow, glancing to one side a little.
"I promised her I'd talk to Commodore Fikes about it, and I did. He explained that it's a necessary precaution with something like the AOS, which effectively serves as an entire CIC suite -- including the personnel. Normally, both hacking and psychic interference would miss half of the picture; with an all-in-one solution like the AOS, someone who gets in has the full run of it." With a sigh, she says, "I made plans to discuss it with her, but... I think it has her scared of me. Or for me."
She's a little cold as she says, "... It's kind of childish," but quickly pivots back with, "but I suppose I don't see the world the way she does, so I don't think any less of her for it."
<Pose Tracker> Mayvy Hawkins has posed.
Mayvy's shoulders set, her brow dropping as Mitsuba describes Ruri's reaction. "... I think I'll have to have a talk with her about it, too," she replies, sounding unsettled. "I mean... the Commodore isn't *wrong*, and that sort of explains why it's such a black box, but..."
%She shakes her head, jotting something down on her clipboard. "I mean... hm. I suppose if the security interface were malformed, or *specifically* targeted against someone like her... but that seems oddly hostile, especially because... I mean, expect *some* sort of communication about it. Some sort of warning for one of the company's shining stars that one of the other flagships has a security measure specifically against people like her." Another shake of her head. She bites the end of her pen. "Mitshuba, what did she say? How did she deshcribe it?"
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed.
Mitsuba does her best to think back on the conversation. "She said it felt -- hollow. It performs all the tasks you'd expect of a computer, but without a computer's heart. 'It isn't.'" She can dredge a lot out of her memory with effort. "It was as though, for someone like her, there simply wasn't anything to talk to."
The fact that there's no communication about it, even within Nergal, sits uneasily for *her*, too. Then, abruptly, it doesn't. "This would be *much* easier if I could just get ahold of Nergal's elusive CEO, but I'm sure he has his reasons for obscuring his movements."
After a second, that sticks for her. "Oh -- of course. No wonder we didn't know. Nergal has so little internal communication *the captains of its most extravagant projects* do not know *the name and contact information of the CEO*." It actually gets her to start laughing a bit. "So much secrecy, and for what?"
<Pose Tracker> Mayvy Hawkins has posed.
Mayvy groans. "Ugh. *God*, you're right," She tilts her head back in exasperation. "This is normal for Nergal. Guess we're spoiled over on the academic server," she remarks.
But she's unsettled. *legitimately* uncomfortable. "... I don't know what they're hiding here, but I'm feeling a bit creeped out just from hearing that. I can see why she's so unsettled... I get the impression she's never felt anything like that from a machine before."
She notes something else down on the clipboard. "Okay. Mitsu, I'm gonna level with you. Before I came in here, I had, like, as a weird conspiracy-ass bullshit theory off to the side," she gestures off vaguely to the right, "the possibility the ship had something to do with these mood shifts I've been seeing from you on and off-ship. Now I'm *actually a little fucking worried about that*, as crazy as it is."
"But! Still just a hypothesis, and it's still a lot more likely that it's just... how these spaces make you feel. Psychology bullshit. I just wanted to lay out what I'm thinking. Wanna be honest with you, even if it's a little batshit."
A beat. "... Incidentally, I've got something that *might* help. How do you feel about hypnotherapy?"
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed.
"It makes sense. The development of armor moves in parallel with the development of weapons. If someone... 'develops' a being that can interact with computers like this," Mitsuba thinks aloud, "it's as natural as the development toward -- and then away from -- plate armor. Ruri is a low-velocity firearm pointed at the Dreisstrager's base concept -- it makes sense to move to thicker armor."
Mayvy offers her 'ridiculous opinion,' and Mitsuba... closes off a bit on reflex. "I -- you're being ridiculous." A pause. "You're *not* being ridiculous." A beat passes, and then Mitsuba takes the offramp. "... The first seems improbable. Given we all piled into the ship in an emergency, and it's only happening to me, it requires too many things to be... contrived. I think it's more likely that I'm more affected by the circumstances of our launch than I like admitting."
Mayvy's personal device beeps once. She receives a message:
'It's Reynold. I'm standing outside with the maintenance panel open. I can hear you. Do not press her on this. We can talk more later.'
Mitsuba asks, a little teasingly, "Is that Ruri? Maybe she's got a sixth sense for these things." Then she finally gets around to the last question. "I'm not... *opposed*. I have concerns about needing to get back to my post and remain alert..."
<Pose Tracker> Mayvy Hawkins has posed.
"Mmm." Mayvy's clearly pretty uncomfortable hearing Ruri referred to as a weapon, but she nods slowly. "You're probably right, on both counts." She lets out a breath, and is about to lean back again when her pad beeps.
She pulls it out with a look of annoyance, which grows to something close to actual anger as she reads the message. She waves it off dismissively to Mitsuba. "Nope, it's Em. We've been running a project for the last day and a half, they say it just crashed. Took the backup saves with it." She makes a sound.
'How long have you been out there???' she replies to the message.
"Well, we wouldn't start right now. Time's running a little short. But I assure you, you'll feel perfectly fine afterward. I'd like to see if we can ease your nerves a bit, or at least extract a bit more about *why* you're feeling this way. It'd be just you and me. *Nobody else.*" The last bit is particularly pointed, for some reason.
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed.
'The first words I heard were 'aversive reaction to my position.' Why?'
It takes Mitsuba a few moments to consider this possibility. "... All right," she says, a little hesitantly. "I'll trust you on this." She wants to ask why nobody else ought to be involved, but it doesn't take her long to arrive at it. The Dreisstrager's crew consists of a variety of people with... complex pasts, to put it lightly; uncovering such things by accident would be -- problematic.
She takes a slow breath in. Breathes out. Tension lowers. It's fine. Mayvy has shared a concern with her, that's all -- nothing to worry about. Standing up, she asks, "How much time should I expect to budget...?"
<Pose Tracker> Mayvy Hawkins has posed.
'Because medical shit is SUPPOSED to be confidential, you loon!! get out of here, we'll talk later'
If Reynold's outside when she steps out of the room, she's going to kick his ass.
She nods to Mitsuba. "Excellent. Uh, about an hour? Maybe a little more, it'll help to have a bit of wiggle room. I'd like to get us started sometime in the next week, if we can manage it."
"For now, though, I think it'd be healthy to get you off the ship for a bit whenever we can. I'll take you out for lunch next time we hit dock, okay?"
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed.
'Right. Of course.'
"I'll assume two," Mitsuba answers, with a nod. "And... yes, that sounds like a good idea. I come to a lot of these things with a clearer head after a good meal off-ship." She nods firmly to Mayvy, saying, "Thank you. I know this is a bit far afield from your usual tasks, so the fact that you're stepping up in this role is appreciated."
Mitsuba takes a moment to collect herself. "If there's nothing else, I suppose I should get going. Thank you for the check-in, Mayvy. I'm glad I have such a robust crew helping me. I'm not sure we're ready for this, but... thank you, regardless."
<Pose Tracker> Mayvy Hawkins has posed.
Mayvy smiles. "A doctor--sorry, a *medical auxiliary's*--job is to tend to the crew's well-being. You're part of the crew, and my best friend besides." She stands up, notes something down on her clipboard, and opens the door for Mitsuba. She takes a quick, discreet peek to make sure she doesn't need to kick an ass as she does, then holds it open like a gentlewoman.
"Anytime. Real sysadmins don't sleep, after all." She winks.
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed.
Reynold has slipped away from wherever he was. The maintenance panel is a hair ajar in a way Mayvy would notice but Mitsuba probably wouldn't; evidently, he was, in fact, completely serious about the thing he said he was doing.
Mitsuba gives Mayvy a warm, thoughtful smile. "Thank you -- really. But... *please* sleep," she says, before she sets on her way.