2022-06-21: Friends (Present)

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<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.


Ranka's been fretting over this ever since the plan to get Emilia into space began. She's not the type to be confrontational, challenge someone, to have them make hard decisions. She doesn't want to make waves, she doesn't want to start conflict, she doesn't want to hurt anybody. Especially not someone she's close to.

When it happens, while they're all on their way to the space port, it feels like its happening on impulse - but no, she's been winding herself up in knots about this for days. "Um. Emilia... before we get there... can I speak to you in private about something...?" As she nervously looks to Milly and Kallen, "Promise- I won't hold you all up too long."

Assuming Emilia agrees, she takes her off to the side into a park. And sits her down on a bench. There's many wonderful eavesdropping locations around. A large marble pedestal of what was likely a former monument during the OYW, a line of bushes right behind the bench with plenty of room behind them. Several trees!

Though noone would ever eavesdrop on their private conversation right? Once both have seated down on the bench, and it looks once again like her courage is faltering her, before she balls up both hands into fists and closes her eyes like she's forcing it out through her teeth.

"Emilia. I was thinking..." Then the words rush out, "... what if you just stayed in space?" Now that she's gotten that out, it comes easier, as she looks Emilia right in the eyes, "My brother... if we explain your situation. He'd- figure something out!" She says, a note of desperation in her voice, "He knows someone high up in the Federation. Howard Glass' daughter! She could help! Get you papers, a new identity - a new life!"

She's trying her best not to overwhelm her, but Ranka herself is overwhelmed right now, "I... I don't want you to go back to him. I don't..."

Her voice just drops into a whisper, "I... just don't."

<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.


        

        Emilia has been a little pensive all day. She did go somewhere off by herself earlier in the day and it seemed to leave her... Conflicted. Complicated. Ranka's sudden nervousness and asking her to talk pulls her back into the world. "O-oh. I d-don't mind." She responds. It must be important.

        So Emmy follows through the park, and is sat down when instructed. Still... "R-Ranka? W-W-What's wr-wrong?" The quarter Zentradi is, well... pretty obvious about her emotions right now. And it's enough to think there's a problem-

        And Emilia's green eyes widen as Ranka just tells her what she wants. Her heart feels like it stops for a second. Ranka's putting so much on the line. Not six months ago, that would have been an offer she took in a heartbeat. In a moment. A part of her wants to. Disappear. Live that little dream she's had so long. In the world her father lived in.

        ...but that world has made it's opinions known on the family she never knew.

        Emilia smiles, equal parts elation at the offer and sadness. "...I... I c-can't. I-I-I'm s-sorry." She starts to divert her eyes from Ranka. She put so much on the line for this. Emilia feels like she's betraying her faith a little. "Th-thank you... b-b-but..."

<Pose Tracker> Milly Ashford has posed.

Milly is someone who likes to have data on things. She likes to have data on things rather a lot, in fact, and Emilia... is a little delicate. (More than that: she's Student Council business twice over, because she's both Student Council Business(tm) and, herself, Student Council.)

"Take your time," Milly says, when Ranka asks to pull Emilia aside for a second.

Then she immediately turns to Kallen once they're out of earshot and says, "You know, I want to get some interesting shots of this park. Did you know the nice camera attachment for my phone has a directional microphone?"

That's our Milly!

She actually does want those pictures, but... she's not above eavesdropping in the *least*. She scoots around a corner, peeks out a liiiiittle bit, and starts taking pictures.

She can do two things at once. It's fine. 

<Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.

Kallen's condition has... definitely improved since the concert night. She needed time to pull herself back together, but she's more or less as normal for now. A bit quieter, but close enough? "Y-yeah. There's no rush. Go ahead."

Ah, but Milly has her own interests as well. Somebody should keep an eye on that girl. Make sure her camera doesn't capture anything TOO private by accident. "It's hard to find peaceful parks like this back home... isn't it?"

Surely being 'alone' with a curious, multitasking Milly won't come back to bite her in some way. 

<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.


As Emilia smiles, and offers an answer that she can feel that complex mix of emotions, Ranka's own eyes just quaver as Emilia tears her own gaze from hers- her heart breaks just a little. Not because of the rejection of her offer on its face, but just the idea that she might very well go back to that life - running around, taking off the books jobs just to have even the smallest amount of pocket money.

Being hated by a man for the crime of being born. "But why?" She whispers with a certain kind of soft desperation, "Please... tell me why. If it's... because... because you're scared of him. What do I need to do... so you can feel less afraid about... getting him out of your life?"

Her eyes mist up a bit, she doesn't mean to try and pressure her into this, but she kind of is despite her intentions. She can't help it, "I'm scared Emilia. Scared for what might happen to you if you go back... I know Milly and Kallen and Nunnally are looking out for you... but... but..."

Ranka looks back down at the bench, quiet, but her voice crystal clear in Milly's directional microphone, "...what if it gets worse?"

<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.



        Despite expecting it, Emilia feels no less awful for it. She doesn't want Ranka to feel this way over her. Over anything. But Emmy's own hands are shaking, desperately. Someone coming, and whisking her away to the stars. She dreamed about it ever since she was a child.

        "...I-i-it's not. That." She pauses. "I-I-I-I a-am afraid of h-him... H-he. Only l-l-let's g-go if..." A pang of hate and despair fills her heart. "H-H-He can't... m-m-make a p-p-profit." That's not going to help Ranka's mood. But it's why he didn't save her mother, right? "He. W-w-would k-keep. Looking and." She stops. 'Recoup his costs' would be too much to say. Too raw to Ranka's heart. It sounds like the Macross fleets are far, *far* kinder than Britannia.

        She doesn't want that cruelty to hurt Ranka.

        "B-b-but... that's n-not w-w-why." Another pause. Another, deep long breath. "I m-made p-promises th-that I d-don't w-w-want to w-w-walk away f-from." Another pause. "Th-there's a p-p-place th-that wants m-me. P-people I c-c-care about. Who. C--are about m-m-me. I kn-know you." Breathe. Steady. Don't mind the shaking hands. "C-care. Or you. W-w-w-wouldn't. B-b-b-b-be t-trying." It's getting hard to talk. So hard. She needs to say it though. She needs to, so it's real.

        "F-f-f-for the f-f-first t-time s-s--ince Mom was k-k-killed... I h-h-h-have a p-place I. W-want to s-stay. I d-d-d-don't. I don't." Her mouth is locking up. Why? Why can't she talk?

        "I d-d-don't... w-want to l-l-lose my f-f-first ever f-f-friends. I-i-including y-you..."

<Pose Tracker> Milly Ashford has posed.

It'd be one thing if this was a confession; Milly might actually drop the camera at that point. As it is, though... she keeps looking, keeping her camera steady and doing her best to keep the microphone on the one talking from moment to moment.

She feels *very faintly* bad about this as she peeks into a crying Ranka's emotional moment; with a glance to Kallen, she agrees, "It is. It's not impossible, but... nothing quite like this."

The offer Ranka's making... it's an interesting prompt, Milly realizes. The answer is something that'll tell her a lot about Emilia -- and how Ranka takes it, in turn, will tell her a lot about *her*.

While she keeps one hand on her phone, the other reaches out for *Kallen's* hand as Emilia admits she has somewhere she wants to stay now, somewhere she'd give up a chance at total escape over. "... I think it's time we 'check up' on them," she says, starting to walk.

She's pretty casual about it, though; she *does* want to give Ranka a chance to respond to that.
Euphemia_li_Britannia teleports in. 

<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.


Ranka just listens, trying her best not to interrupt Emilia. She knows how hard it is talking for her. She feels a little bad about putting her in a position where she'll have to talk a lot, about this serious a subject. Because she's demanding answers. Yet it's been done, and all she can do is listen.

Hearing that he's all about profit definitely causes her heart to fall - and two tears finally do. She's more than willing to accept the risk though that he'll keep looking.

Her eyes only find their way back up to her after she starts saying the real reason. That she made promises that she wouldn't walk away from people who want her. People who care about her. There's a lump in Ranka's throat. Because she wants to say, what happens when Milly and Kallen and Nunnally reach the end of what they can do.

However, she can finds she can't argue with Emilia saying this is the place she wants to stay. She can't. It's getting harder and harder for her to talk. And eventually Ranka lays one of her hands on hers. And presses her fingers into her palm in a gesture as if to say she doesn't need to say more. "You won't. Lose me. Promise." Ranka says after a moment. "If Ashford... with them is where you feel you belong. I won't... I won't tell you you're wrong. I know how much they mean to you. And if you did this... it would have been harder to see them again." As she admits... the one major downside. She would have wanted to find a way around that, but... there it is.

"If you ever change your mind... just because it becomes harder once you're back at Ashford - doesn't mean this is off the table. And-"

Ranka does spy Milly walking up at this moment, and she starts, her hair actually rising up on both sides. "Oh-! Milly! Kallen! It..." Her voice falters, "...it's such a small park, isn't it?"

<Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.

Truthfully, Kallen's actually trying her best not to listen in too hard. What she's already figured out isn't her secret to share after all. But really it's impossible not to hear bits and pieces even so. Thankfully, there's not much she can stew on it. It's just what happens, really. And she has an odd question come to mind... not really relevant to anything? Just a curiosity on the spur of the moment. "Which do you prefer? Places like this, or something closer to home?"

She's not in any position to resist when Milly grabs her hand. Or starts walking out into the open. She just looks... sheepish? About it. Embarrassed they'd been spying. "It seems so..." Though it also reminds her a little of a park she used to enjoy going to... about ten years ago. A park that of course, has long been destroyed to make way for one Britannian project or another. Probably one of Clovis's vanity schemes, left abandoned and unfinished forever at this point. 

<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.



        Emmy's used up her words for the moment, and Ranka's not the only one tearing up. Ranka puts her hand, and Emmy realizes how tightly held hers are, and she releases them to let Ranka's fingers round her hand. Quietly, she flicks her eyes to the seat beside her, and nods, indicating Ranka should sit too. She's expecting a quiet moment for them both to recover.

        Except Ranka sees Milly and Kallen coming? Were they worried? Emilia looks away a bit, before looking up. Her mouth may not be working right now, but honestly... Ranka probably needs more help than she does.

<Pose Tracker> Milly Ashford has posed.

The question actually startles Milly out of her 'find information and respond to problems' brain track, a tiny bit; she doesn't lose too much speed, but it does get her to stutter-step a bit. "Huh?" She pauses, and then answers, "... I like this place a little better, if I'm being honest. It reminds me of the parts of Pendragon I liked without some of what I didn't..."

As they arrive at the other half of the conversation, Milly gives a pleasant wave. "It was taking a little while, so I thought I might need to check in." She glances between Ranka and Emilia, considering whether to let them in on the fact she was eavesdropping...

... but decides it might be a little much. "It's not *that* small, but you can definitely tell it's on a colony," she says, making a bit of small talk. "Everything okay with you two? I understand that the Republic of Zeon is a little... confronting, as tourist destinations go." She gives the warmest smile she can. 

<Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.

She gets an honest answer to her question it seems... and one that brightens her face. Just a little. She'd love to get a longer listing of the parts Milly does and doesn't like, but... another day. Right now there are sad girls in need of help. ...Need might be a strong word for this, actually.

Still, she fumbles around in her pockets... Given the amount she'd cried herself, she had the impulse to tuck away something to dry her eyes with. So she pulls out a little package, offering it to the both of them. Her smiles are a little more shaky right now, but they're no less genuine for it. She's not really sure how to get either of these two cheered up, but maybe she'll strike on something as they go.

<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.


Ranka's fingers shift into Emilia's hand as she frees it up more. Taking a seat soon after. Ranka, despite being validating of Emilia's decision is just... well she's an emotional wreck right now and trying not to show it. Torn between sadness and resignation and despair.

She understands this is Emilia's decision but she just can't feel good about the idea of her going back to her Grandfather.

When Milly approaches and replies to her talk on the park, Ranka lets out a little laugh, "Y-Yeah... Zeon is so different from the Frontier Colony in how they have it set up."

Milly though asks if everything's okay... and her body language just droops as Milly says the Republic of Zeon is a 'little confronting'. It's perhaps one of the few times anyone has seen her expressive hair fall that flat on each side of her head, so much so that it extends down to her neck. It's not that she suspects eavesdropping, but it still cuts to the core of what just happened.

She's a non-confrontational person by nature, and this took all that she had, she doesn't really want to risk upsetting Milly or Kallen here but...

Kallen hands over tissues with that shaky smile, and Ranka's takes them, "Is it... that obvious?" After a moment she takes one, and dabs her eyes, the idea that it was that obvious causing a few more tears to fall, as she sniffles lightly, "I g-guess it was." Next line. While still dabbing her eyes, she looks Emilia's way as if to ask, 'Is it okay???' And when she gives her the goahead, Ranka inhales a bit messily through her nostriles... and forces herself to say.

"I was offering... that, maybe it'd be better if she didn't go back. That we make a new life for her in the colonies. And... she turned me down."

Ranka exhales, "For the best of reasons..." Even if Emilia is having trouble speaking, it seems wrong to just... say why, "...I'm just, scared for her. That's all. If things get worse... and all of you reach the limit of... what you can do to help her..."

She lets that trail off... she doesn't REALLY want to think about the worst case scenario.

<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.



        Kallen and Milly arrive, and Milly just says it outright. She was getting worried. Not unfair, they did have a ship to catch. The Republic of Zeon is confronting, huh? If she only knew how much. A dream filled for a moment, then... not crushed but certaintly deflated. She opens her mouth to speak, but nothing comes out yet, and she shakes her head to 'Everything okay'. It clearly isn't.

        Ranka gives her a look, and Emmy nods quietly. And then she moves her free hand to the one Ranka as holding, and gently slips her fingers in so she can change hands. Then, her inner arm moves to wrap around Ranka's shoulders, lightly not to pull her in too tight. But to be a presence, like Ranka was for her.

        If only she could sing that song back. But Emilia's mouth is one that won't let a song out. It can barely handle words. 

<Pose Tracker> Milly Ashford has posed.

Milly decides to scoot over toward Emilia, while Kallen does her best to help Ranka out. Giving Ranka time to find her words to explain what, exactly, happened... it's a little nervewracking -- more than she'd think it would be, and certainly more than she's willing to admit -- as Ranka spells everything out. Sure, she'd already listened in on most of the conversation, but... actually having those words all in that order, one after another, with no doubt as to what transpired...

Milly notices that, despite the pain, Emmy's reaching out to Ranka -- to try to return that kindness, even if she can't quite *accept* it, in the state it's presently in. ... Maybe she'd been underestimating Miss Eschonbach after all.

"I think Emilia can make her own decisions," she eventually says. "But once she makes those decisions -- and it sounds like she has -- I'm not inclined to let her twist in the wind over them. Ashford's still my stomping grounds for another year, at this rate... and I don't mind leaning on my grandfather to keep things steady after I graduate, either."

... For the moment, at least, Milly's pretty happy with the decision she made to stay. If she hadn't, she wouldn't have been able to help with this, after all. There's a twinkle in her eye as she says, "I think we've got a pretty strong treasurer for the foreseeable future... and maybe President, next year. Maybe Ashford can be *your* unassailable domain, next!" It might sound like she's being frivolous with heavy subject matter, but...

She knows there's a little pressure in that. She thinks she sees the diamond it can make, too.

<Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.

Between the two of them, the odds look perfectly reasonable for lifting a pair of troubled spirits. It's.. not perfect of course. Few things are. Still... "I think it was brave, to ask her." She nearly calls it fighting back, but... those words seem wrong for Ranka. It's definitely not even a question. While this might not be a girl who would ever fight... She has her own way of handling a problem. She's got spirit and a strong heart... even if it's buried and hard to spot usually.

That's enough to make her feel a little more confident too. "You're a great friend. One of the best kinds somebody can have." After all, being willing to break so many laws just to protect one friend... that's when you know you've found somebody you can rely on. Though she's admittedly unsure how Ranka actually reacts to being praised. "So how about we work together to make sure we never see that limit?" 

<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.


Ranka lets Emilia slip the hand out, so they can change hands, same with the tissue package, the hug from the side encircling around her and after a moment, it feels like Emilia might have a new threat as she leans her head against her. That of having a few tearstains being present on her blouse by the time they get to the spaceport. She's a bit surprised by Emilia reaching out to her in this state - but only a little. She feels a bit embarrassed that she's forcing her to comfort her right now when she can barely talk. It feels good though.

She uses her other hand to try to dab at her eyes every now and then, as she listens to Milly speak. She makes a small sound of agreement that Emilia can, "Mm." She tries to focus on Milly, worrying that Ranka indeed IS upsetting Emilia now by just not... letting this go immediately.

It's not so simple though, given how much this sucks. As Milly though promises the pressure she'll apply to her Grandfather - and how she can keep going after she graduates... Ranka tries her best to smile at her a bit. She's still worried, but... "I have... every confidence in... what you can do for her..." She's not blowing smoke there either. It's just she has every confidence in how her Grandfather will try to make Emilia's life miserable too.

She does give Emilia a look of wonder though when Milly says maybe she'll be President next year. Dabbing at her eyes again, she says, "I'd vote for her..." She notes, quietly, a smile forming despite wet eyes.

Kallen then says it was brave, and Ranka makes a little shake of her head, she doesn't FEEL brave, she fretted for so long. She almost didn't do it. She had to do this in private - away from the others.

Kallen isn't finished though, and Ranka despite not feeling brave gives her a smile, "T-That's... I'm glad... you think so... I'm glad. It's... what I strive to be." Despite dismissing that she was brave, she tries to be brave now, and after a moment lifts her cheek away from Emilia as she says, "I'm..."

She stops, starts again, "A-Alright." She then repeats again, "Alright. Let's work together, for her sake. It's a little harder for me, because... I can't be at Ashford all the time." She inhales sharply and dabs at her eyes, and tries to smile, "... but that doesn't mean I'm helpless either. There are things I can do, even when I'm not."

<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.



        If they could just talk about it. If Emmy could tell her how she's feeling, if Emmy could tell the way Ranka is feeling the way Ranka seems to with her, it would be so much for easier for both of them. One day, she'll be able to do it on her own. Escape, and go to space on her own terms. One day she'll be able to be her parent's daughter instead of her Grandfather's shameful mistake.

        She wants to say that one day she'll travel the galaxy on a Macross, spreading joy like Ranka did. She can help people with kindness, like Milly. She can fight cruelty, like Kallen. One day, she can be like all of them, and she'll be safe, and happy, and free.

        For the first time in her life, she's genuinely started to think that's an option.

        But she's not there yet. And to have to walk away from the place, the people who got her to where is now. The people she'll still need to keep her standing, for the next time her Grandfather tries to take her legs out from under her. Who'll pick her up. She doesn't mind tearstains on her shirt. They'll wash. She doesn't mind Ranka leaning on her. Kallen telling Ranka the truth- that she is a wonderful friend, is appreciated. Milly, telling her about her unassailable fortress... one that she would hand the keys to, if Emmy could handle it. It's pressure, and it's faith. And that fortress is where she wants to be. That fortress is the first home she's had since New Yark was lost, and maybe the warmest.

        She wants it to be a fortress Ranka can retreat to, too, when it's all too much. One day, maybe she will have to flee- and knowing that Ranka will be there when she does means so much. But she doesn't want to flee before her Grandfather's forces have even been mustered. Before the walls have even been tested.

        But she can't say that. The words won't come. So she smiles. She smiles as earnestly as she can to Ranka. "Th. Th-th-th-th-th." Trying to force them isn't working. She takes a breath. "Th-th. Th-th-thank. Y-y-y-y-y-you."

        With that her mouth locks up again. She actually looks a little... fatigued from the effort to say that little. But it was worth it. She needed them all to hear it. Milly, Kallen and Ranka most of all.

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