2022-05-30: Rena Lancaster Dies of Overwork and Becomes a Horrible Ghost
- Cast: Rena Lancaster, Anita Rosetta
- Where: Ra Mari
- Date: U.C. 0096 05 30
- Summary: Rena hasn't slept in hours. She might be DEAD. Anita stages an intervention.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
It's break time on the Ra Mari!
For some people. For instance, Anita has a lounge to herself in her off-hours; no duties are pressing, it's a lovely time to get in some rest and relaxation, and--
And there's a spooky voice, echoing down the hallway.
"AaaAAAAnnnnnNNNNNiiiiiiIIIIIIeeeeEEEE~"
The automated door to the lounge opens up. And there, perhaps, is a ghost -- well, her ash blue hair looks a little more white and she's wearing a white bandana, a smock, rolled up sleeves on her white button-down, and dark grey work pants. And her brown eyes have bags under them. Rena Lancaster stands there with two mops, two buckets, and an exhausted look.
"We have to literally swab the deeeecks, Annie~"
She might not have slept in the last twenty-four hours. Or she may actually be a ghost, now. Rena is doing Rena things again.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Ahh. Peace and quiet. Nothing to do but sit back and relax. Break time is truly the best time of day. Anita, with the lounge to herself, and currently be found draping across a couch, arms folded underneath her head to prop it up, with her legs propped up by the arm of the couch. She's catching a quick nap.
...Or, at least, that was the plan, until a spooky voice catches her ear. Anita cracks one eye open as the door opens to reveal a ghost. She blinks and stares for a moment. Her eye tracks to Rena, and then to the mops and buckets, and then back to Rena herself. Both eyes open now, as the ghost of Rena intones her bidding. And to that, Anita responds...
"...Yyyeah, no." Anita replies, swinging her legs off the couch and standing up, taking a brief moment to stretch before jabbing her thumb over toward the couch. "We aren't doing anything. You are gonna go sit your butt over on that couch before I march you there myself."
Anita raises an eyebrow, then.
"...What's the count up to this time?" She asks. ...She wonders if she's going to end up hearing rumors about spirits haunting the Ra Mari after this.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Rena stares, unblinking, at Anita as one eye -- then two eyes -- open and meet hers. She continues to not blink as she sees Anita's thumb direct her to a sofa. She looks at it for a second.
"But the decks have to be swaaaaaabbed..."
She tries to stick with that for a few seconds more, before her shoulders slump and her head hangs down. The buckets drop down to the floor with a clatter; a little soapy water splashes out from them onto the floor. Her eyes close, then.
"...the count of hours since I've slept, of rooms cleaned, or coffees consumed?" she asks. She doesn't quite march over to the sofa. But she isn't pretending to be a ghost, at least.
Unless, of course, she is already a ghost.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"I think they'll be fine going without for a bit longer." Anita replies. She watches as the buckets clatter to the floor, and then looks back up to Rena herself as her eyelids start to droop.
"Do you actually - no, never mind, dumb question." Anita starts. She was going to ask if she actually remembered the exact numbers... But this is Rena she's talking to. If anyone would be able to keep track, it'd be her. "Thaaat tells me everything I need to know."
She walks over to Rena, positioning herself behind her and resting her hands on her shoulders.
"Come on, let's get you sat down before I have to pick you up off the floor, yeah? You look half-dead." Anita says. She'll pilot her over to the couch, if necessary.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Rena nods her head to Anita's unasked question.
She absolutely has the count on all of those. She has the count without even trying to; even with no sleep, fueled solely by caffeine, and overworked, she can keep track of this sort of information. She sighs, and her shoulders slump a little when Anita puts her hands on them.
She does require piloting. But once she gets to the sofa, she slumps into it -- melts into it, practically -- and she sighs loudly.
"Aaaaah, comfy..."
Then one brown eye opens, slowly, and she looks up at Anita. "...m-maybe I shouldn't have taken extra chores on," she says. A beat. "I feel like maybe I didn't learn my lesson..."
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Rena nods, confirming Anita's suspicions. ...It's unsurprising. Fortunately, she doesn't have to make her sit down, at least. She's pleased to see her melt into the sofa, at least.
"Yeah, probably not." Anita replies, with a shake of her head. As for whether or not Rena has learned her lesson... Anita massages the back of her neck briefly.
"...Yeah, well..." Anita starts, taking a seat next to Rena once she's settled in. "Sometimes it takes a while for things to sink in. You just have to keep at it, you know? No one learns everything perfectly the first time."
Anita shrugs.
"Next time you find yourself taking on a bunch of task, just try to stop and ask yourself, 'wait, do I need to this myself or can I delegate to someone else'?" She suggests. "You're not alone here, you know?"
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"I sort of thought about it... after I'd started..." Rena admits.
This may be why Rena, as a ghost, tried to recruit Anita. She may also not be thinking clearly. She looks sideways over at Anita for a second longer, and then she smiles a little bit. "I should just think of it earlier, next time! Like before I start doing it!"
This makes sense in her head, at the moment.
"I'll get it right eventually, Annie," she promises with a sigh.
Then, she widens the one eye she has open as she takes in Anita. "Hey, did I interrupt you doing something?" she asks. "I know you were in here, and you were... probably using the lounge for its intended purpose..."
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"That... explains a lot." Anita replies consideringly, and then chuckles as Rena comes to a conclusion. "Yeah, there you go. That's how you do it."
Rena promises she'll get it right eventually, and Anita offers her a smile.
"I know you will. And I'll keep reminding you as many times as it takes until you do. I've got all the patience in the world, you know." Anita replies. Rena seems to realise something, then, and Anita looks her way as Rena cracks an eye open.
"Nah, I wasn't doing anything. Nothing except 'nothing'." Anita replies with a shrug. Of course, she does enjoy doing nothing. It's one of her favorite things to do. She nods, then. "Yup, that's right. The lounge is great for lounging - you should try it sometime."
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"I'll hold you to that... because I'll probably have to," Rena sighs to Anita.
She smiles at Anita -- then she tilts her head to the side. She thinks, for just a second, that this might be shade being thrown at her. If so, it is shade she deserves. "I don't think I've ever considered just lounging in a lounge," Rena says, a finger resting on her lip for a moment. Her nose wrinkles for a second.
"Maybe I should take a page from your book," she says. She scratches at her cheek for a second, and then she peers at Annie for a moment. "It did feel nice to do some work, though. Well... for the first few hours. It's a good way to get my mind off things, so I can think?"
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"That's what I'm here for." Anita replies, and then smiles. If it is shade, she's not about to tell... but it's assuredly well-meaning. As for taking a page from her book, Anita chuckles.
"You should! I'm a wellspring of information when it comes to the art of relaxing." She agrees with a self-satisfied nod. Rena looks her way, and Anita looks back as Rena admits that it did feel nice for the first few hours.
"Yeah, I can understand that. We've all got things we like to do to get away from everything for a while. You like to work, I like to tinker..." Anita replies with a nod. "...You just really need to learn when it's time to take a break."
She pauses for a moment then, frowning as she thinks about this.
"...Have you had a lot on your mind lately?" Anita asks.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"Lots of experience with relaxing, hm?" Rena asks, and she grins at Anita. She is absolutely teasing her, just a little. She smiles at Anita, and then she looks down for a moment. She nods. She should take a break that isn't working; this is a problem she has always had.
It just changed, after she joined Londo Bell.
"Mm," she agrees.
She is quiet for a second. "Some of... what happened at that party. And talking to Eight." Rena hesitates for a second. "I was thinking about the Federation. Both of us were. I'm not saying what we're doing isn't important, but sometimes I feel like we're putting out fires and not making things better."
She frowns. "Which I think the Federation should be doing. And I know there's only so much I can do, but... I've been trying to think about what I can do."
She frowns. "I don't know if I'm making sense."
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"You know it!" Anita replies with a grin of her own, taking the teasing in stride. She relaxes, though, listening quietly as Rena puts her thought in order and explains.
"That lady's still buggin' you, huh...?" Anita murmurs, thinking back. She's not too surprised. Both Rena and Arriety had gotten pretty heated there, in their own ways. And then, there's the matter of the Federation...
"...Does feel like we're cleaning up after their messes a lot of the time." Anita admits with a shrug. "You're not wrong, though."
With that, though, she shakes her head.
"Nah, don't worry, I getcha. You've always been the type to think ahead like this." She says. "...Have you made any decisions yet?"
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Rena nods. Yuliana Dispersal remains in her head -- even if she doubts she registered on the REA officer's radar.
"Cleaning up their messes... and trying to fix things like when they decide to fight each other. Or when Britannia..."
Rena trails off. She doesn't know how to finish that. Britannia does a lot of things; she approves of almost none of them. This borders on treasonous talk, but only Anita is here, and she doesn't have any concern that it would be a problem. She frowns, though, because it feels dangerous to go against authority like that -- it goes against something deep within her.
"Thanks, Annie," she says, after a moment's pause. "Eight and I are talking about getting Londo Bell resources to do a charity. Maybe... try to help the colonists, instead of just putting out fires and solving problems. We're still figuring the specifics out, but... maybe that would help."
She hesitates. "You think I'm reaching above my station? Or my abilities? I'm not sure."
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Anita nods in agreement. 'When Britannia' is probably a good enough conclusion for that sentence, anyway. It'd be hard to pick just one thing, after all. She listens, then, as Rena explains that she's thinking about a charity. At that, Anita offers a smile.
"Not at all, I think that's a great idea." She replies. "Someone has to reach out. Station don't matter - if anything, you're more qualified than most, I bet. And abilities... if anyone can do it, it'd be you and Eight."
She thinks on that for a moment longer.
"...And, hey, if there's anything I can do to help, let me know, alright?" Anita offers. "I wanna help out, if I can."
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"Thanks, Annie," Rena says. "I'm glad you think so. It's...you know how it is, sometimes something in your head starts to sound like it's too complicated or it's not enough..." Or maybe that's because, sometimes, Rena doesn't have that much confidence in herself. But, somehow, her friends make up for that.
She smiles, then, and nods. "I will. There's... probably gonna be a lot to do. We're figuring out what it'll look like--and we'll probably need to raise funds, somehow."
She hesitates, for a second.
"Thanks for the boost, too," she says. "I know, um... I kind of put a lot of my insecurities on you, sometimes."
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"Yeah, I know that feeling..." Anita confirms with a nod, massaging the back of her neck. As much as she seems to take everything in stride, even she has those moments, too.
"Yeah... it's probably gonna be a lot of work." She comments... and then frowns a little, too. "...You might receive some pushback, too. But that's all the more reason to try and go through with it - you might be able to open up some eyes."
Rena offers her thanks and Anita hesitates for a moment, taken a bit aback, before offering her a smile.
"Hey, no problem." She replies. "You've got a lot of weight on your shoulders... Least I can do is try and support you where I can."
*** Redirecting connection to new port ***
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"You can always let me know," Rena says, after just a moment's hesitation. "If you need someone to listen."
She sits up straighter and smiles at that, leaning just a little closer to Anita. She keeps smiling, some of her ash-colored hair slipping down in front of her face. Then, she closes her eyes for a second, and she nods. "I know. People... some of them think we shouldn't help. Like if we do, we make the colonists expect something they don't deserve. But I don't think it's like that."
She hesitates. "But... I think the world has to be kinder than that. The Federation should," she says. "And maybe we can't change their minds from up top. But... maybe we can change what we do from here."
Her eyes open again.
Rena blinks, when Anita hesitates -- then smiles. Her own smile comes back in just a moment. "Thanks, Annie... I appreciate it. I don't know what I'd do without you." A beat. "Okay, I might literally never sleep without you, but besides that."
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"Thanks. I've been thinking about things a bit, too... I'll let you know if it starts bugging me again." Anita replies with a nod. She might have to put her thoughts together sometime...
She listens, then, as Rena speaks. ...It's thinking like that that makes her put so much trust in her. A kinder world, and a kinder Federation...
"Wish more people thought like you did." Anita replies. "But this'll be a good step toward that."
Anita chuckles as Rena thanks her again.
"Well, thankfully, I'm not plannin' on going anywhere, so we don't have to worry about that." She replies, with a confident nod.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"Just let me know, okay?" Rena says, with a smile.
But she won't belabor the point. That's for Anita to share, when and if she wants to. Then, she looks down, and she smiles a little bit. "Me, too. But... maybe it'll catch on. Who knows?"
She can only hope. Rena hesitates for a moment, as she thinks about it -- but she smiles when Anita says she isn't going anywhere. "I'll hold you to that!" she says. "For my sleep schedule's sake. And a lot of other good reasons, too!"
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"All's you can do is try, right?" Anita replies with a nod and a smile of her own. "And maybe you can touch some hearts in the process. It's not gonna be quick or easy, but nothing worth trying ever is."
This means a lot coming from noted enjoyer of quick and easy things, Anita Rosetta.
She grins, then.
"You got that right." She says.