2022-06-04: A Force For Good
- Log: A Force For Good
- Cast: Ryoko Subaru, Eight York
- Where: Nadesico, Exercise Rooms
- Date: June 05, 2022
- Summary: Eight York gets a chance to explore the Nadesico a little, and admires the exercise facilities. Ryoko has some things to say to the friendly Captain.
<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.
Buddhist bot is having a day, here in wooden slatted floor room set up for both workout and meditation on the observation deck. Prospector once explained this room was part of the setup wherein Nergal complies with current corporate standards for the mental health and physical well-being of its employees.
"Cast aside extraneous thoughts."
"That's what I'm here for!"
Ryoko has stuck the stick wielding meditation enforcement bot right behind a heavy punching bag, where it's stuck in a cycle of trying to whack her ineffectually as it can't reach, its weight stabilizing the bag. She's currently pounding the bag with bare knuckles, repeatedly. There's a sweat sheen across her toned muscles already, as it drips down the side of her simple tank top and workout pants.
"Cast aside extraneous thoughts." Buddhist bot keeps trying to move forward and whack, stuck against the bag.
Ryoko keeps pounding it as hard as she can. Her callused knuckles are only just lightly abrased despite the furious combination.
Her thoughts are on his face, it's not a face she'd soon forget. He saw right through her.
Eventually Ryoko slams the bag as hard as she can with her foot. "Damnit!"
The bot, despite the stable position offered by its tank treads is suddenly flipped on its back by the sudden motion of the bag.
"Cast aside extraneous thoughts." It beeps ineffectually at her.
"Easy for you to say..." She huffs.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
A whistle comes from the entryway of the exercise room, after the ineffectual beeps of buddhist bot. "They really don't spare expense on the health stuf, huh...?"
She has already had the opportunity to look over Ryoko; she knows a fellow exerciser when she sees one, and that's without the sweat on her muscles. For her part, Eight's in uniform at the moment, her hair down, but just the regular uniform--no fancy Captain's hat this time. "...Sorry if I'm interrupting!" she says brightly.
"I was just kinda curious about these facilities... I wonder if I can get Londo Bell to give us an exercise room like this?" A beat, "But either way your robot buddy is having some real trouble, huh?"
"I could hold the bag for you instead. I'm a little more stable than the robot."
<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.
The whistle suddenly perks up her attention, expecting it perhaps to be Hikaru and Izumi - Ryoko is a predictable creature, so they always know they can find her someplace like this in general off duty hours. As she glances though it is an entirely unfamiliar person, in a Federation uniform. Though on quick inspection she works it out through context clues that it's the Captain of the Ra Mari.
There's a little spike of tension that Eight might feel - before it eases off. Easily mistakable as just it being someone unfamiliar.
"You're not! It's fine! Ah..." Ryoko moves over to Buddhist Bot, deftly dodging the stick, and clicks it off mid sentence, "Cast off extrane~" Bzzt as it shuts down and she hauls it back to an upright position.
Ryoko had been avoiding Callisto, however she was never hostile to her, quite the opposite in fact... Eight doesn't feel hostility off Ryoko perhaps for that reason. She's fine with people who give ex-Zeon a chance at a life.
"Might be a stretch. The way I hear it's all about budget budget budget aboard Londo Bell ships." Ryoko gives her this grin, "But you could always clear out some space you're not utilizing. Bet there's someplace that's not packed like a sardine can aboard a Clop... though then you'd have to solve the gravity problem."
She offers to hold the bag, and Ryoko barks out this small laugh, "You sure? Figured a Federation Captain would have better things to do than to spot for for a grunt like me. But hey, I don't mind... the name's Subaru by the way. Ryoko Subaru."
She does actually put out her hand for her to shake it, if she wants.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Tension that eases off. No hostility. It's a good first impression, Eight thinks; she can't help but laugh softly at the bot trying its phrase again, though. "That's good," she says. "Poor guy. But I wouln't want to interfere with somebody in the zone, right?"
Eight certainly does give ex-Zeon types a chance--she is one! ...But that's not really publically known; she doesn't make it obvious at all, doesn't advertise it in the least. She's from 'Winter Wonderland', and that's good enough. But when Ryoko plays along with the matter of the ship...
"Ahaha, right? It's always like that. I had to shake somebody down for a new coffee machine the other day."
The blonde smiles at Ryoko's response though, and does walk up, reaching out when Ryoko puts out her hand to shake it. Her grip is firm without being overbearing, solid and straightforward like her general demeanor. "I mean, I could get back to my paperwork instead, but..." A grin back.
"Eight York. 'Eight' is fine. It's good to meet you!"
<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.
"It's not what he's designed for, but I'm not a meditative kind of gal." Ryoko says almost apologetically, as if she knows full well what her strengths and weaknesses are. "I repurposed him because he was available."
A shake of her sweat matted green hair, and she keeps up the grin, "I can see that Ms. Howmei wouldn't survive on a Federation ship - if you're having that much trouble over something so simple. She'd be real quick to bash in a pencil pusher's head with her frying pan the moment her ingredient budget got denied."
Ryoko does take her hand, and her grip is quite strong, though there's this subtle awkwardness to it, like despite its firmness she's trying to gauge how much strength is proper when it's another woman.
"Now it all makes sense." Ryoko says with a wider grin, "I can see how this would be preferable to any amount of paperwork." Ryoko hates paperwork, thankfully she's an Aesti pilot so the majority of her paperwork is handled by Uribatake.
"And yeah I know. You've had crew aboard, so I've done my homework on the Ra Mari. Good to meet you in person though."
Ryoko sets up near the bag, taking up a stance and waiting for Eight to hold the bag, before she asks, "Anything you're looking to learn in particular about the ship? I'm not the person to ask about anything technical... but I definitely know my way around..."
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"Me, either," Eight answers, and the way she says it it's less an admission and more an invitation to a conspiracy. "It's supposed to be great for you but I prefer to keep active."
"Ahahah. I can see that. Our cook does pretty well with what he's got, but 'what he's got' is definitely nothing like the Nadesico's."
Hmmm. Eight notices the bit of awkwardness and doesn't push it, doesn't bring it up. She probably deals with a lot of men in these positions.
When Ryoko grins wider, Eight nods along gamely. "Right?" The paperwork is definitely not her favorite part of the job--there's a whole lot of it.
"Cool. That makes sense. Most of what I know of the Nadesico I know from Ruri, crew included. It's nice to get to meet some more of you. I'm pretty curious what life is like on a civilian vessel like this. It definitely seems to have its upsides."
Not just the ingredient list or the exercise rooms, either.
Eight rolls her shoulders, limbering up a little to absorb impacts before she takes hold of the bag after walking over to it. "Hmm," she answers to the question. "The technical stuff's all really cool, but also kinda over my head anyway. I'm a people person; it's the crew that really interests me. What makes you tick, what you're after out here."
"My best friend's a pilot, so it's nice to get to talk to somebody she might fly with, too."
<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.
"That so?" Ryoko seems only mildly surprised, "I figured the Captain types were like..." Ryoko cants her head to the side, then up... "... well maybe my view of what makes a Captain is changing lately." She decides, as if that says it all. It is a surprise to her most of all that Yurika had replaced her image of what a Captain is in her mind - given all of her prior experiences. Perhaps that says a lot of how much she likes it here.
"Hope he's not having to make a gourmet meal out of nutrient paste. That seems like it'd get old fast with any real cook."
Though then she brings up Ruri, and Ryoko's smile becomes a touch more subdued. "Our little Ruri is so popular. Figures you'd already know her." A girl like her shines so bright after all. She's eager to shift off that topic "It has its perks. Has its downsides too." Ryoko's eyes wander upwards, "We're pretty full up on weirdos here who probably wouldn't last a week in the Federation."
Ouch. Yet also not untrue. She knows she wouldn't last a day.
As Eight gets to it, Ryoko starts punching the bag again in an even rhythm to get the blood pumping again, just a quick one-two jab of leftright, leftright. If Eight looks closely on the back of her right hand she'll see the tell tale sign of an Aesti pilot.
"Yeah? Well I'm pretty ordinary all things considered. Not much good at anything other than piloting." Ryoko says that so casually that it might not seem like self-deprecation and more an honest evaluation of her talents...
... it is absolutely self-deprecation though. "The way I see it... if your friend flies with me - she's signing on to working together as part of our team. So long as she know what she's doing and works with us we'll get her home. She does something stupid or reckless that endangers herself or the people around her - I'll chew them out and haul their ass back - doesn't matter what kind of scrap we're in at the time."
Suddenly she starts punching harder and faster in the rhythm. "If she abides by that we'll get along just fine."
Well... fine by Ryoko standards perhaps. She's gonna chew her out anyway, let's be real.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"I might get boring when I've been at it longer," Eight jokes, "But right now that's just how it is. ...You've got a pretty interesting Captain yourself, though. I like her."
"Nah, it's not that bad. We do have real food. Just not as fancy as you guys get.
Hmmm... Eight notices that about Ryoko and Ruri. It's not weird, though; there's any number of reasons that someone could be more subdued about her. She's happy to move topics if that's more comfortable for Ryoko, though. "Heh. You do get a bigger variety of people."
Eight holds the bag; she is adept at matching Ryoko's movements with it, keeping the bag and herself stable while she does. It's not totally obvious, but Eight does it like she's done this before. And she does notice the sign on her hand!
It does sound casual enough not to elicit immediate concern. But Eight can see it for what it is without too much difficulty. She doens't press on it; they're basically strangers at this point.
"That..." The way Ryoko describes it. Eight keeps holding onto the bag, arms up, hands relaxed against the impacts. "Yeah, that sounds good. You won't have to worry about her, I think. But that's a fair shake of an approach, too."
"Took me a while to find what I was good at, myself. Oh, I had a lot of stuff I could do, but nothing you could really make a living at, you know? Unless I wanted to go pro at hockey." Thud. Thud-thud. "...Not likely. But I really found a place when I joined up with Londo Bell. Especially when I got onto ships. I wasn't much of a pilot, but... I admit, I feel more at home on the Ra Mari than I ever do on leave planetside."
<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.
"Really?" Ryoko seems surprised a Fed Captain is taking to her, "She's the type that takes a little getting used to I feel... she's unconventional." Though at the same time, none of them are anything close to conventional here. Ryoko doesn't say much more about the food other than, "How about that?" There's a hint of derision there, though it's not directed at Eight certainly...
"Takes all kinds on this ship. And they've picked up some more along the way." Ryoko's fist lands with a bit harder of an impact at that moment, "I'm one of them. Who'd have thought that a bunch of Earthside folks would welcome a Spacenoid roughneck like me?"
Though they're not all Earthside she knows. Yurika and Akito originally came from Mars after all, as did Lucine... though Yurika and Akito have certain privileges she figures by Yurika's silver spoon and Akito's mere presence on Earth... not many people who go to space ever get to set foot on Earth.
Ryoko keeps moving in that one-two one-two one-two rhythm. A little faster and harder, though she's not trying to make it tough for Eight here...
"Heh, forgive me if I don't just take your word on that." Ryoko says a bit brusquely though she's not trying to sound dismissive, it just might come out that way, "I'll judge that for myself when I fly with her."
It's not long before her heart rate is back up and the sweat is beading up again. "Hockey huh?" Not the sport she would have figured, but then again Eight mentioned she was more physically active, "I liked Rugby as a kid." While she doesn't say though, that one ran into a separate snag... there were no girls Rugby teams where she grew up. The moment she hit middle school that avenue was wholly closed for her.
She never did really fit among other girls, when it came to the things she had even a passing interest in.
"But yeah, no way I could have gone pro." Is what she says rather than explaining any of that. As she listens to Eight on how she found a place where she belongs after joining up with Londo Bell, "And how did that happen? You just wake up one day and think 'Gee - I really want to be special forces.'?" Ryoko asks, a bit curious... though there might be a subtle edge to it, since the topic is Londo Bell. Perhaps that kind of answer is important to her when it comes to whether to interact with someone in the Federation or not.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"That's why I like her. She's willing to do her own thing. She might not get away for that long in the Federation, but I admire somebody who can follow her heart."
Eight doesn't have much more to say about the food herself. Instead she notices Ryoko hit harder as she mentions she's a Spacenoid, a roughneck both. "Yeah, you can never tell, huh?"
One-two, one-two. Even if it is a harder rhythm, Eight doesn't show much trouble with it; it's not just like she's done this before, but like she's gotten a sense of Ryoko's rhythm already.
"Oh, no offense taken. You can't take something like that on somebody else's word, not when lives are on the line." She brushes it off; brusque or dismissive, neither gets to Eight that much. But as they keep talking...
"Rugby's fun too, but we were mostly winter sports in our colony. So that's what I played."
Eight... had less trouble fitting in, by the time she was that age. But there are reasons for that.
"Me, either. It was a nice daydream, but that's all." And the question? Eight actually laughs faintly at the hypothetical. "That'd be a thing, huh?" But she's not going to leave Ryoko hanging on the answer for too long. She relaxes a little at the shoulders and looks past the bag, remembering. "...Actually," she says, "I joined up for a friend. She was going to sign up and I didn't have anything better to do, but I didn't want to leave her alone out there in space..."
She smiles at the memory. "And then I found I was pretty good at it. I made Comms officer on the Ra Mari..." She tilts her head back and forth as if to indicate time passing, "Found I liked being part of the team. Then when I became Captain, I didn't have any choice but to shape up. Too many people were counting on me."
"...in the colonies I didn't exactly grow up expecting to have much to do with the Federation. It seemed more like an Earth thing, and we were sort of just there. But in Londo Bell, I can look out for the colonies people forget about."
<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.
"Oh she'd make it anyway if she'd joined the Federation - easily even." Ryoko says with a casual assurance, "Her father's some bigshot admiral. I admire that she didn't take the easy route and lean on nepotism to find her way though."
In a way Ryoko finds herself... envious of Yurika... for many reasons.
"Winter sports? That's an unusual Colony... I hear the Macross Colonies have snow every now and then but you wouldn't think enough that winter sports would catch on."
Ryoko doesn't respond when she says it was a nice daydream other than a grunt as her fists make contact again. It's not even a daydream for her that there was something she could have done - other than what she's doing. She's still searching for her star after all, and it keeps eluding her.
And then Eight reveals that she joined up for a friend. 'I didn't have anything better to do, but I didn't want her to leave her alone out there in space...'
With one last hit, Ryoko stops for a moment, putting her hands behind her head. Letting herself breathe. As she paces around, listening to Eight's tale... and when she's done. "Nothing better to do so you followed a friend eh?" The air around Ryoko changes slightly as she takes a few deep breaths, she doesn't seem too winded though - she's still speaking in complete sentences after all. "Nothing better to do but you found out you were good at it. And how's that working out for you right now-? Fighting a prolonged war against Colony folks whose only crime was not wanting to starve to death."
She's definitely simmering beneath the surface, maybe she wants a fight over this.
"Must be tough, real tough being such a force for good..."
And she's not even sure WHY she wants this fight, because she knows that this Captain has given someone ex-Zeon a place in her ranks. Leave it to her to be stupid and pick it anyway.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"Ahhh, yeah." Eight can't argue the factor of nepotism in the least. "Another mark for her," she agrees.
But she nods about the winter sports. "We're a resort colony. Santa Claus and hot cocoa all year round. So of course we had hockey." Eight, though, has not had that problem in a long time--searching for her 'star' is just not her quest. Not these days. But Ryoko stops, breathes... and paces around. The air changes, and Eight feels the simmering.
She thinks about it for a minute. Not a whole minute, really more like a few seconds, but it feels like a minute, as she listens to Ryoko's complete sentences. She could make it a fight. She could take off her jacket right now, offer to turn it into a sparring match, or just a shouting match. There's no rank that matters here; Ryoko is a civilian. ...But no, that isn't Eight's style.
Her expression is a little... blank. She doesn't really show much of her emtions at first, other than being thoughtful. And then she says, "Yeah, fighting ZAFT sucks. But the Federation gave me something I never had growing up."
"...You know my name's Eight? It's not just a cute moniker, it's not a nickname. It's because I was test subject number eight. I didn't have another name. I was just another pilot in one of Zeon's special programs. They actually had to custom-make the cockpit, so that I could reach the pedals."
"...So yeah, I'm sympathetic to the PLANTs. Junius Seven was an atrocity. But the Federation gave me a chance to live my own life, as a real person, instead of a tool. And that's worth trying to find a way to make things better instead of giving up and throwing in my lot with the kind of people who are still doing what they did to me to new kids, to this day."
"I'm 'Number Eight'. And I'll be damned if I let Zeon destroy more lives if I can help it."
<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.
"Should have figured." She responds on the Resort Colony. She's... honestly not sure how she feels about such things. They seem like havens for the rich, places where the poor are made to work to serve them... but she doesn't know that for a fact, so she doesn't bring it up.
And Eight can see her heating up, "'It sucks'? Is that really all you're going to sa- like what?"
She's going to listen, but then it's gonna be a fight, she's sure of it, because she won't let what Eight say slide.
She never does.
However... then she begins, and Ryoko's face screws up in consternation when she says she was test subject number eight, as her ruddy skin becomes a shade paler as she invokes Zeon.
'custom-make the cockpit so that I could reach the pedals.'
Eight gets a flash, just a quick one, of a green-haired girl with twintails who couldn't be older than thirteen. It's unfocused, dreamlike.
Who's that girl he's with?
Ryoko takes a deep breath, feeling ill. Here she was face to face with the kind of person she once envied - and still does on days where she's being honest with herself. Someone special, someone talented, someone who shines. Except their talent was seized and used and squandered for the aims of men in power who didn't mind dimming that star if it meant they had an extra weapon in their arsenal.
She wants to throw up.
It takes her a while to get her footing, the ground is uneven everywhere, and she feels like she's sinking. She can't... let herself touch that. She just can't.
She doesn't deserve to.
"And just how far does that loyalty go? Because they gave you a new lease on life?" She asks Eight, still feeling ill - because Nergal gave her a similar new lease on life. This isn't about Eight anymore. It's about her projecting her own self-loathing onto her. "If they ordered you to go back to the frontline tomorrow and blow up some GINNS - would you be able to look Riika in the eye and tell her you're shipping out to fight her people?"
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight wouldn't even entirely disagree with that assessment. Rich tourists were a regular part of her life. But she didn't have it so bad; not in Winter Wonderland, anyway. Zeon... is another matter.
It might still be a fight. Eight can't say. But she sees that flash for an instant, that girl with the green twintails. She's used to these visions by now, so there's only an instant where her eyes are unfocused. And then Ryoko takes her deep breath, and... Well. Eight's calm, but not happy; she's not furious, but she's not untouched. She doesn't go into all the little details of her 'condition'. She just notices Ryoko takes a while, and....
The question? Eight lets it happen. She looks, just as calm, just as controlled, at Ryoko, and that might be troublesome on its own. She doesn't feel ill; she feels... strong. This is the bedrock on which she's built her life. Nevertheless, Ryoko's question is one she doesn't have an easy answer for.
"It goes a while," Eight says. "Maybe not forever. But a while. And as long as her people are attacking innocent colonists themselves, yeah, I can fight them. But I'll tell you one thing. One thing." Eight lets go the bag, and shrugs her shoulders, shaking her head. "...I'm glad she's here instead of on that Britannian ship. Or on mine."
"You can do what you want with knowing that. But I have a feeling it'll get exactly as much airtime as the fact that the Admiral got stuck in his room the other day."
"...There's no 'good' side in this war. The Federation commits atrocities, and the PLANTs work with Zeon ghosts and attack poor colonists because they can't get to the real perpetrators of the Federations excesses. But without people on both sides who want to see it come to an end... it never will."
"If you find the answer--if you find the 'force for good' that does no evil--let me know. Maybe we can go there together. But I don't see it today. ...Thanks for the talk, Subaru."
<Pose Tracker> Ryoko Subaru has posed.
'It goes a while. Maybe not forever. But a while.'
That's a courage she'd never have ascribed to a Federation admiral. She knows that ZAFT attacks innocent colonists too, but she also knows that innocent is relative - and many colonists would have happily thrown stones at a Coordinator passing by for the sake of a Blue Earth.
Does that make it right? No. It just makes there no good answers to their situation. When you're cornered by everyone and faced with annihilation, you have to be a rabid animal and fight, and fight until you're out of the corner. It's just some people will get bitten along the way.
'I'm glad she's here instead of on that Britannian ship. Or on mine.'
Ryoko doesn't say anything, expression pensive yet still intense at the same time. This is how it always is. She snaps like she's a rabid animal too, and someone she never wanted to hurt got bit. Someone who'd have been on her side, or understood.
"Good thing... huh?" Ryoko says, it would be easy to press her on the idea of whether she'd hand Riika over, or do what her heart tells her...
... she doesn't have the stomach for that kind of question for her anymore.
"Don't know what you're talking about. Total freak accident."
Though it's said in such a tone that she obviously does, and she knows that Eight knows what's up, so she's not going to insult her intelligence - she's just not gonna admit it on camera.
'But without people on both sides who want to see it come to an end... it never will.'
'If you find an answer--if you find the 'force for good' that does no evil--let me know.'
She knows she won't. She knows she doesn't belong on either side. She can't make anything better. All she ever does is make things worse.
In the end, all she's does is kill people.
'... Thanks for the talk, Subaru.'
She can feel the distance as Eight uses her family name. A name Zinnerman invoked when he told her to call her Father. A name she doesn't deserve - that Nergal made her own anyway - to attach to her like some Scarlet Letter.
"Yeah good talk... eight." It's said with a similar distance in that moment. Like she's putting up walls, to keep herself from hurting her more - and failing miserably. The way she says it... she might as well have added 'test subject number' before it...
... like with Ruri before, this was not what she ever would have wanted. She'd want to get closer to both of them, to protect what they have. And she doesn't. She's no good at that either.
"Think I'll hit the showers..."
It's going to be a long one, but first she has to go throw up where noone can see her.