2022-06-23: Guardians (Future)

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<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.

The ship commissioned to shuttle the Ashford Sheryl Nome Appreciation Squad back to Earth is... not exactly a luxury liner. A rounded trapezoid painted olive green, the Garencieres is a freighter contracted to 'Rivacona Cargo', with something of an idiosyncratic crew. The captain, a heavy-set and much older man (with excellent facial hair) in a brown greatcoat and a pilot jumpsuit matching his ship's livery, was there to welcome the girls aboard, accompanied by a stern-looking young lady who can't be much older than them (excepting Milly of course), with red hair and keen blue eyes, who the captain, one Suberoa Zinnerman, introduced as "Marida Cruz" and charged with making sure the girls got to their assigned quarters comfortably. The captain's eyes lingered a little on Emilia with a furrowed brow, but he said nothing about whatever thoughts might cross his mind and simply proceeded with the job at hand.

Travel has been quiet and uneventful, with the girls allowed more-or-less free roam of the ship, save for the cargo bay, which has been very clearly defined as off-limits to the group.

<Pose Tracker> Milly Ashford has posed.

Part of the fun of this experience, even if Milly wouldn't admit it, is doing something a little sketchy. She's taking her first step into a decidedly... bigger world than she started in, and she *likes* that she's doing that; Ashford is nice, but it's not the only place in the world by a long shot.

She's perfectly respectful to Marida; she has no particular prejudices against spacenoids or anything! Once they have free run of the place, Milly... actually considers whether she wants to ask about that meaningful look.

"... Are you holding up okay?" she asks Emmy, first; she doesn't want to aggressively interrupt the captain of their ride home and put Emilia on the spot without at least knowing she can handle what might come of that.

<Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.

The cargo ship seems so comfortable and home-like. Like all those days and nights spent with Naoto and his friends. But then, why is Kallen feeling ill-at-ease? The question answers itself really... because those friends are all people who became founding members of what is now the Black Knights. And she didn't miss the captain's look either... After all. She already knows Emmy's secret. Exactly why somebody might double-take at her hair for a moment.

Still, that on its own doesn't mean anything. It'd be easy to just be a former soldier who knew that guy, and retired to a civilian life. She wouldn't begrudge anyone for that. Or for fighting to be independent of the Federation, for that matter. After all, the Federation's never done a damn thing to help Japan be free of Britannia's steel boot. But she doesn't really know what his deal might be. It merely makes her curious to look around.

She'll take care of that later. For now she's spending a little time with her friends. "It's pretty exciting, being out here. Hitching a ride with a cargo ship none of us know... feels like the kind of adventure a kid might dream up, before their imagination wanders to more fantastical places." She looks more alive and cheerful too. Still obviously a bit weighed down, but... not despondent or quite so distant now. 

<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.


        Emilia has had a mix of a lot of fun and a lot to process this trip. The two are balancing out to a net 'Good but Complicated'. But she's still a bit heavy from what Ranka asked her... and having to say no. So she's still been quiet.

        She looked up at Captain Zinnerman, but didn't make eye contact. She's not sure what he'd be looking for. After all, Zeon has said it's piece on the Zabi Family, and the things they did. But was it... really worse than Britannia and the Federation? There's so much more she needs to know.

        When Milly asks, Emmy gives a few nods after a pause. Tentatively, she decides to try something she'd been too scared to on the elevator, and a bit too cramped on Ozma's Destroid. Her long hair has hardly been staying down, forcing her to tie it up into a long ponytail with a couple of ribbons. It's still waving, but...

        She pushes so gently off the floor, to see if it will work. And then she's floating freely in their little quarters, with a yelp that starts startled but stops, and there's a moment of wonder. Actually floating. Actual 0G, as it was meant to be experienced. She clearly doesn't have a lot of control but...

        Well, it might be an adventure a little kid dreams up, but an adventure that a teen girl is having right now with just as much wonder. 

<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.

Marida Cruz drifts in to the room where the girls are hanging out, moving in Zero G with long-practiced ease. "Is there anything you need?" She asks, with a distinct lack of emotional timbre, as though this is just a Task to be Performed. Her blue eyes are tracking Emilia enjoying the experience of weightlessness, however.

Up on the bridge, Captain Zinnerman motions to Gilboa Sant, who hops out of the pilot seat and drifts over next to his chair. "What's up, boss?"

"It's about our passengers. Specifically, miss Emilia."

Gilboa grins. "Oho? You adopting more sad kids, boss?"

Zinnerman gloweres. "Stow it, Sant. Just... She goes to school in Area 11, right?"

"That's what our documentation says, yeah."

"Can we put someone there?"

"We can probably spare Kwani again. He definitely took to the intelligence gathering on Junius Four with aplomb. Why the curiosity?"

"I have a feeling she's someone we need to keep an eye on. That girl is going to need people in her corner sooner rather than later."

"... Is she that important?" Gilboa frowns seriously and Zinnerman nods. "You know who our ward is. Yes, she is." 

<Pose Tracker> Milly Ashford has posed.

Milly notices Kallen's mild exhaustion, too; she does her best to check in on her without too much fuss -- just a quick scoot toward her, a once-over, a quick check of her facial expression. "Space is kind of romantic," she agrees with Kallen, brightly. "I haven't been out here much, but I kind of like it. It's a little nicer than the PLANT colonies... that wasn't bad, but it was more industrial than I like."

Emmy decides to try something -- and Milly giggles as she sees how Emilia's tracking. "Ooh! Now *that* looks like fun." She gives a firm tap of the floor with her foot, hops up a bit --

-- and hits her head promptly, because she's never actually done this before. "Aha... I think my height might make this a bit difficult," she concedes, rubbing at the back of her head. Seeing both Emmy and Kallen trying new things has her starting to loop back to that earlier thought...

Conveniently, someone arrives. (*She's* looking at Emilia extra-closely, too, Milly notices.) "... There is, but it's a little complicated," Milly admits. "Everyone on the ship seems interested in Emilia... now, I know she's cute, but most of you are a little old for her, she's off limits~." At this stage? Best to play it casual.

<Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.

Emmy's cheer is a little infectious. Kallen can't help giving it a little try herself. Taking a little hop, holding up a hand to brush the ceiling and keep her from smacking it on the way up. This comes with a whole new flaw however. She's accidentally sent herself spinning in 0G, something certain to wreak havoc upon a delicate constitution.

And as she's giving her stomach a poor turn, she can't help seeing the way Milly is playing it. She's getting a little used to how the Prez operates at this point... Calling out an interest even she noticed, but playing it off? So Kallen isn't completely paranoid. That's... probably the better result? "Uwooagh... I think I shouldn't have done thaaat..." Her voice has a slight whining tone in it. "Y-you were at the PLANT colonies recently?" She may have known that but forgotten, honestly. Sometimes things slip through... Was she trying to expand GUTS into the colonies, maybe? ...Admittedly, that would be an interesting idea. Just very difficult. 

<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.


        Sadly, Emmy had noticed the Captain's look, but not the rest of them except for Marida's now. They're all floating, but she's the one she's looking at. And Kallen spinning and Milly bonking her head it's all a little funny, enough that a small giggle escapes Emmy.

        Marida asks if they need anything, and she looks around the room. "I-I-I-" but Milly starts taking over, so Emmy doesn't have to. She grabs onto a handle on the wall, and experimentally uses them to pull herself around- catching her foot in the handle when she overshoots, and pushing around as she works her way toward Kallen.

        To reach her just in time for Milly to state everything outright. And blush more than a little when Milly calls her cute. That's a new habit too. 

<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.

Marida blinks at Milly's provocation - she can watch it simply bounce off the redhead spacenoid's psyche and drift into the void with no effect - and shakes her head. "It's the zero-G. I remember learning how, myself. I can teach you, if you like." Her delivery is very matter-of-fact, but the offer is certainly genuine. She pushes herself gently off the deck of the ship, floating up to join Emilia and bracing herself against the ceiling bulkhead to arrest her own motion - and grabbing onto Kallen on the way up to help the other redhead reorient herself. "Don't push against the surface when you approach it, relax your muscles and let physics do the work on slowing you down. Grip, if you have to - it's important to remember that nothing else is going to stop you or slow you down once you start moving, you have to provide the counterforce yourself." A deft twist and push of her hand pressed against metal and she pirouettes from one side of Emilia to the other, again casually slowing her own movement by touching the wall of the room. "The trick is to move from surface to surface and slow your momentum by using the surface you're travelling towards." The freighter is absolutely festooned with handrails for exactly this purpose, in fact.

From her position against the ceiling, Marida looks down at Milly. "What did you need?"

Meanwhile on the bridge, Zinnerman and Gilboa come to a conclusion together and the freighter's ace returns to his console to double-check the route the Garencieres is taking. Zinnerman rubs his chin thoughtfully. "Any problems with our approach?" Gilboa shakes his head. "Nah, the legitimate nature of our cover is doing the work for us."

<Pose Tracker> Milly Ashford has posed.

"I was -- my family had a small business deal with them that we needed to untangle," Milly answers. "We were kind of hoping the war would end before it came up again, but..." She glances off, and shrugs. "Sometimes things don't line up the way you want."

She makes a mental note of the advice Marida gives on moving in zero G; she needs it, too, after all.

Well -- Marida, at least, doesn't seem to have any untoward intentions... but she definitely notices that she doesn't get an answer. Spacenoid freighter, no answer, fixed on Emilia... hm.

She tries to figure out how to get what she needs to know, but she can't -- not from the position she's in. So instead, she asks, "Can I talk to the Captain, too? I like to get to know people, and the Ashfords could use a long-term cargo shipping partner with a little discretion." 

<Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.

Having two sets of hands ease her out of her ill-considered spin is a blessing like no other. Thankfully it's soon enough to spare her, and all of them, the worst possible aftereffects. Still, she takes the advice and grasps it within her heart. Not that she expects to spend much time in space in the near future... but who knows what could happen, right?

"Thank you... Emmy, Miss Marida." Marida may not be much older than they are, but clearly she's at least not a high schooler, since she's part of the crew here. That's Kallen's best guess anyway... Who knows, maybe she's studying independently. Hmm... if Milly is going to have the captain and this girl presumably preoccupied soon, it might be about time to go take a look around. Settle this feeling of unease that's pounding away inside her. Maybe she could rope Emmy into helping... but she's having so much fun. Kallen can't help wanting to let her just enjoy herself right now. Free from the worries of back home, in all the forms those take. So she'll have to slip away. Maybe by going to get a drink and some rest to play off having just quite sincerely made herself dizzy? ...Yeah, that might work. Even if she is already feeling steadily better, thanks to how often she's been rocked around the pilot block of a Glasgow or her Guren. 

<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.


        Emmy nods enthusiastically when Marida offers to teach her. She follows the instructions, watching a little awed as Marida practically dances through the air, wondering how long before she could do something like that. Probably a while, she didn't get much opportunities like this.

        Emmy's in a complicated space right now. This is a new experience with friends that she never thought she'd have. And Marida reminds her of Sousuke... a bit weird but ultimately harmless. Or at least not dangerous in a way that scares Emmy. And as much as she feels she should be more alert... Milly said she'd keep her safe. Is it wrong to count on her, for now?

        Kallen seems a little more settled now, and Emmy gently taps her shoulder to check she's recovering, her eyes asking 'You okay?' while her mouth can't.

        Besides, if Milly's got the captain, that means Emilia will keep Marida occupied. Though for what the Garencieres may have twigged to her as, she comes out still clearly inexperienced. And sometimes a girl is allowed to enjoy just being fifteen years old for a few more days.

<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.

Marida purses her lips and nods, touching a communication bud in her ear. "Captain? Miss Ashford wants to talk to you."

Zinnerman nods. "I'll be down in a moment." He looks at Gilboa. "Take over for me, Sant." With that, he pulls himself out of his seat and leaves the bridge.

Marida pushes herself back down to the deck and settles into a seat, her own ponytail drifting above her. "It takes a lot of practice to move like that, but if you want to learn more before we're back in Earth's gravity well, let me know, okay?"

After a moment, the door slides open and Zinnerman pushes his way into the room. "Is there something you need, miss Ashford?" 

<Pose Tracker> Milly Ashford has posed.

Taking a moment to reorient herself once she's got her feet fully back on the ground and the Captain arrives, Milly gives the other girls a small smile and a nod. "Don't worry. This should be just a minute, but it's business talk," she says, starting to scoot toward the door. "And -- yes, but it's a little sensitive."

She kicks off the ground a little more gracefully this time, moving toward the Captain and then doing her best to slip past him, if he'll let her; her *ideal* approach is to get a little way down the hallway with him.

"So," she starts. "The Garancieres has some interesting 'cargo hatch' positioning, for a ship that's capable of operating in atmosphere *and* in space! I'd expect them to hinge... pretty much any way *except* the one it looks like they do, for that. And you seemed a little too interested in Emilia when we got on."

... bluffing time? Bluffing time. "Now, if this is a kidnapping, I don't actually mind in principle, but her grandfather won't actually pay." She's skipping several steps, and she *knows* she is -- because hammering down a specific choice out of many will get more honest answers than just probing.

<Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.

Kallen nods to Emmy as Milly makes her own play. "I-I'm alright... I'm just going to get some water and lie down for a bit." She feels horrible for lying to her friend. Which in a way makes her sell it better. She looks pained... "You keep enjoying yourself, okay? You deserve to have a good time out here." And slowly she starts making her way back to the quarters they've been given to rest in.

Long enough to lose any suspicion and tailers... before she starts her way to that forbidden cargo hold. What could be so secret as to make it off-limits to a set of students? ...A lot, really. And it could also just be to cover themselves against a Britannian Lawsuit. But given everything else... this young terrorist has a hunch. 

<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.


        It's pretty clear that a lot is going on at once, and it wraps around Emmy. She's suddenly a little nervous. And Kallen's feeling unwell... not surprising with her illness but that's upsetting too. She gets a little uneasy when she's on her own with a stranger. Even if Marida seems... fine.

        It's still hard to talk. "U-um..." She tries to get Marida's attention. She wants to learn more about 0G movement. This may be her last chance for a while. She indicates the path the spacenoid took around the, with a quizzical expression and then, fumbling with her hands for a second, tries to indicate a bigger area.

        It's tricky, to communicate like this. It just feels like it's worth trying. 

<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.

Zinnerman follows Milly out into the hallway, listening to her approach. When she's done, she is rewarded with... an amused grunt. "Really? If this were a kidnapping, it'd be a really bad and obvious one. The contract says we make sure all of you get back to Earth, and we don't break contracts." Because it'd be really bad if a covert operation sabotaged its own cover, he doesn't say. "As for the hatch positioning, I'm not sure I see your point. It's designed so you can efficiently load the ship from any orientation. The stern hatch can swing out from any corner and the side hatches can either swing open or slide open depending on how much clearance you need."

Once Kallen's waited it out and begun her investigation, she'll find the hall with the access bulkhead to the cargo hold briefly unguarded. The hatch is, of course, sealed, but there's no sign or sound of someone else moving in the vicinity.

Marida manages a thin smile - thin in the sense that it's about the most emotive she can be at present. "You want to know how to move like that over a bigger area? If you weren't looking closely you'd have missed it, but I was actually moving in straight lines - I just made contact with the ceiling repeatedly to alter my vector. It takes a lot of practice to do that quickly." She has an advantage in that she was learning this movement from a very small age. As well as how to fly a Qubeley, but never mind that. 

<Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.

Kallen is a great deal many things. A friend. A pretty good pilot. A minor star in the underground wanzer/knightmare battle circuit, though admittedly one who hasn't had a match in a long while due to being busy on other angles. What Kallen most decidedly is NOT, is an... electronics warfare specialist. And even if she was, she doesn't have tools for getting into a system of electronic locks anyway. Still, it's unguarded, and she does have some skills relating to engineering. Just a few useful tricks really.

And that's how she came to be crouching by the access panel, trying to hotwire the door open, just enough to squeeze herself through. Realistically she'd probably have an easier time knocking out a member of the crew and stealing a key... But frankly, these guys have been nothing but nice to all of them. She doesn't want to hurt anybody. And frankly, there are only a couple possible outcomes that would change that. She's got no room to judge somebody who wants freedom against the people who have continuously kicked them to the ground and spat on them. The worst cases, well, she's already crossed those off as impossible. Ruthless space pirates are definitely not something these guys could be. MAYBE aliens wearing human disguises. But that wouldn't automatically make them bad either. Kallen wipes a line of sweat from her hair, which is now jutting out in a few directions and generally just terribly out of place. "...Just a little more. I hope." 

<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.


        Emmy can deal with a thin smile. She's only learning how again herself. But Emmy nods at the question, and listens intently. Cautiously, she pushes herself up so she can reach the ceiling. A big push for her, given she's not very tall. And then, slowly, she pushes off the wall, then tests how long it takes herself to slow when she touches the ceiling.

        It turns out not long, as she strands herself about halfway from the wall. But if it doesn't take much to arrest momentum...

        She touches the tips of her fingers to the ceiling, and pushes backward. It sort of works- she does move slowly backwards, but also slowly rotates clockwise. She stretches out to stop, but it's clumsy, and she's like to bonk her own head at this rate. 

<Pose Tracker> Milly Ashford has posed.

"Hmmm... kind of unusual for an atmospheric-capable ship, even one that does business in space," Milly counters. "It'd be unusual for you to need multiple landing orientation options... even Zeon HLVs didn't spring for that." She notices he didn't dispute that he looked at Emilia a little over-long, and makes a note of that too. "Now, I can think of an occasion where you *would* need that."

She's still confident -- and still pleasant. "Opening out in all directions... you'd only do that if you wanted the option to leave the cargo bay in a *safe* way."

She realizes this might be a hair aggressive, and decides to shift. "I don't care what you do outside of the context of our flight home," she says, and it's firm enough that she sounds like she means it. "... Since I noticed you didn't contest any of the parts about Emilia, I'd like to know if there's some context I'm missing. Don't worry -- I'm discreet. I'm responsible for a lot of Area 11 border crossings lately, and I don't want to jeopardize that... that's all." Be polite, be professional.

(Milly does not have the rest of the planning steps down, though. She's too nice.) 

<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.

Marida watches Emilia closely, nodding as she watches the other girl experiment with moving like this, and as soon as she comprehends that Emilia's about to hurt herself she moves. Turning her seat and pushing off she glides easily through the air to intercept the younger girl, the combination of their vectors translating into a diagonal drift where Marida's back is what takes the thump against the wall rather than Emilia's head. "Are you okay?"

It takes too long to crack the bulkhead. For a moment, there is this certainty of immediate discovery - and then the hotwiring results in a beep and the door obligingly slides open, revealing... the interior of an airlock. Up in the cockpit, Alec, in the portside navigation seat, notices a red light blinking on the console and opens the intercom. "Hey, Tomura, heads-up. Cargo hold entrance airlock just lit up. Looks like forced entry."

Tomura, currently on the opposite side of the airlock to Kallen, doing maintenance on Gilboa's Geara Zulu, sighs in that way a long-suffering mechanic sighs. "Great. More work. One of the kids, you reckon?"

Alec nods. "Almost certainly."

"Alright, I'll go easy on her." Setting 'down' his tools (or rather securely fastening them to their maglocked toolbox) Tomura kicks off the wall, drifting over to rest against the wall next to the airlock.

Zinnerman takes in Milly's followup statements, and an eyebrow arches. "So what you're saying is you have no idea who your friend is - or, rather, who her family is." 

<Pose Tracker> Milly Ashford has posed.

"Obviously I know who her grandfather is, given I just mentioned him -- so I..." She pauses. Raises a hand, one finger raised. "... Hold on." A late June birthday suggests -- September? Icelina Eschonbach, September 0079 --

Milly thinks back to the picture she showed Kallen when outlining exactly why Joseph Eschonbach would be such a petty, impotent man. She opens her mouth, brings a hand to it, and announces through her hand:

"I think I know *now*."

She is distinctly uncertain how she manages to spell her own name with any consistency let alone do anything else, for a second. 

<Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.

Should Kallen be concerned by how kindly the door opened up? Probably. Is she? Absolutely. She scampers through the door in a crouch, little pouch-purse brought into hand. She's not planning on knifing anybody... no, she actually has some leftover glowsticks from the concert in there. At worst she might hit somebody over the head with it. Of course, she's expecting the cargo area to have a few people working in it. Making sure everything is secured still, and maybe doing maintenance on things like refrigerators that need tuning up, to keep the crew living healthily between stops.

She's NOT especially expecting anyone to be right there by the doorway. But given the double life she's been living for some time... That just means she'll be on the back foot for a moment if she's attacked. But really, worst case situation. What's most likely is if somebody notices her, she'll just be given a stern lecture and asked to go back to her own business. It's not like she's going to see a visible and easy to identify mobile suit the moment she drifts through the airlock, and comes out the other side.

That's exactly what happens, actually. A Geara Zulu with distinct markings on it. In plain sight. On the other side of the room. Oops. "Oh." 

<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.

There it is. Zinnerman grunts as Milly admits she just noticed. "I served on the African front under Colonel Neuen Bitter. I never met her father personally, but everyone knew what the Zabis looked like."

"You understand - if I can recognise her heritage, others will have. Especially on the Side Three colonies."

Kallen moves through the airlock door and spots the Geara Zulu, and a friendly voice greets her from behind and to her left. "'Sup. You see why we wanted you kids to steer clear, huh?" Once she turns around, Tomura, still leaning against the bulkhead, offers her a lazy wave. "'Course, if any one of you was gonna break in, makes sense it'd be you." 

<Pose Tracker> Milly Ashford has posed.

"... Mmmhm." Milly feels something shift in the pit of her stomach -- as she realizes that fulfilling Emmy's dream may have also put her at considerable risk. Well -- there's a world she's living in now and she'd better do her level best to live in it.

"I'm not worried about your past, or what else this ship might be doing," she affirms, when Suberoa admits who he served under. "I just don't want her shoved around the board like..." She thinks of a half-spacenoid, half-Britannian with similarly-intense purple in his eyes, rather than his hair. "... usually happens. And if it *does*, use your power to keep her safe."

Milly walks through the rest of it in her head. "She's spent enough time carrying the burden of someone else's unmanaged feelings." 

<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.


        Emmy let's out a gasp when Marida catches her, more out of being startled than anything else. There's a momentary flinch, but it's not like she can jump away. The bump is gentle. "Y-y-y-yeah." She responds, the most she's said since boarding.

        She's not sure what to do *now* though. It seems rude to just push off someone else, and it's awkward to reach the wall. "U-u-u-" Nope, can't even work out a little 'um' at the moment, so she tries to look to Marida to ask silently for advice or help.

<Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.

It certainly does nothing for this situation that the moment a voice comes from BEHIND her, she pivots into a low, combative stance. One meant for mobility and weaving past somebody. Not that it'll be seeing any use, but... initial instincts are a whole other beast. "Yeah, I get it. Explains a lot." She doesn't know for an absolute fact... but all the evidence is just so overwhelming. "So none of this leaves the hangar, that right?" 

<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.

"I've already decided to put one of us on the ground where we can keep an eye on her and protect her if someone does try and move her like a chess piece," Zinnerman says bluntly to Milly. "It sounds like you would be the perfect person to help us make that happen." That might also mean smuggling a mobile suit into Area Eleven, but that's a bridge to cross in the future.

Tomura, meanwhile, grins at Kallen. "More or less. I'm gonna have to tell the Captain, but it won't be anything he hadn't already guessed." He sizes the girl up, noting her stance. "Let's see. You're going to Ashford Academy, so presumably you live in Area 11, and you move not just like a fighter but like someone who is alert to being discovered. Black Knights, am I right?"

Marida helps Emilia to her feet, standing up and carefully stretching to make sure she hasn't done any real damage to herself. "You don't have to be nervous," she says gently. "The Captain's a good man. He protected me... If anything happens, he'll protect you too." A quiet, genuine confidence radiates from her. "And so will I." 

<Pose Tracker> Milly Ashford has posed.

"The Ashfords are... nobility until someone decides they're upset, at best, but we can get things moved around." Milly considers whether she's about to take a huge risk -- and decides that, yeah, she is. She usually acts on the world to see what type of people she's dealing with.

Now the world's acting on her. Better show the kind of person she is. "... things and people. We used to be in KMF and MS development. 'Rivacona' could do a lot for us without raising any eyebrows." She extends a hand to shake. 

<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.

Zinnerman nods and shakes Milly's hand. "We'll try and keep from causing you too much trouble." A contact on Earth will help him pursue some of his own suspicions unrelated to the girl who is the direct topic of their conversation. Milly might claim to not have much in the way of leverage, but the big man has a feeling that their scion is a deft hand at digging up information that others want kept hidden. "I'll be in touch over some other matters later." 

<Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.

No real reason to hide it. Not like they haven't pinned her down already. And... who are they going to tell? That would just be mutually assured destruction, since somebody could reveal them, if they went after her. So she straightens up, and closes distance to shake his hand. "Yeah, got it in one. But really... It's still Japan. And we're still Japanese... no matter what they want to say about it." There's no malice there. Just the suffering tone of somebody entirely too used to hearing those words, and giving that response. "I'd appreciate it if the Prez doesn't find out though. She doesn't know any of this about me... Rather not put her in that hard position if I don't have to."

There's no doubt a good bit about this they find familiar... and even more, if they got her to talking or found her on a Sad Night. Change out a few specifics... and she might even fit in well-enough with the crew. "Surprised you've heard of the Knights though. Figured they wouldn't be on most people's radar." After all, they don't have too much widespread influence.

<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.

Tomura ducks his head abashedly. "Yeah, sorry, Japan. My bad. And, well, obviously we're not just an ordinary freighter. It's a great cover to keep us moving between Earth and the Colonies, though, and we keep our ears to the ground. You might not think so, but - one covert operative to another - " he winks, at this point - "you've been making waves down there that our people have noticed. So, obviously, your secret's safe with us."

He pushes off the wall, turning to face the airlock. "So I think the least you can do is help me fix the damage you did to my bulkheads, huh?"

<Pose Tracker> Milly Ashford has posed.

"Perfect," Milly affirms. "... Thank you." This is... a lot *bigger* movement than she's used to -- but she can't say she feels bad about making it, either. Ashford Academy is her responsibility -- and if protecting the happiness people have found there requires a couple of big moves, so be it.

<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.


        As she's set down, checked... Emilia is a little thrown off. Marida had seemed rather... distant? So this gentleness surprises her. It's not unwelcome but it is a surprise nonetheless. And then she gets nervous mainly because she was told not to be. Concern crosses her face. "Wh-wh-wh-wh-why...?" What does the Captain know that she doesn't? What does Marida know?

        She knows why she came to Side 3. But she can't make herself believe a complete stranger, someone without any responsibility for her, some source of connection, would care about her.

        Despite all the evidences to the contrary.

<Pose Tracker> Kallen Kozuki has posed.

It is, as a matter of fact, the absolute least she could do to help. "More surprised it worked at all if you want me to be honest. And yeah, I'll do that to help." Her knowledge about Knightmare repair probably wouldn't translate well to anything else they have in here. But hey, now they can pass the time while they work by trading stories. And knowing they're catching more notice... that's important. Most important of all... She knows her friends will be safe with these people. 

<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.

Marida blinks again at Emilia as she gets even more flustered. "You're a passenger on the Garencieres. It's our responsibility to keep you safe." There is, somehow, negative guile about this woman, she just... seems to have a sense for Emilia's distress. "I promise: You're safe here. Anyone else on the crew will tell you the same thing." 

<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.

<poem> 

       Marida seems to be able to read Emmy's questions, or at least her mood. Like Ranka can, and Nunnally. And she is guileless, in a way that someone raised in Britannia can't be. Is this the freedom of being a spacenoid? ...No, that's wrong. Captain Zinnerman didn't seem so free. Maybe Marida's just too good a person to lie.

       She seems to calm down, when it's not just her. It's all of them. That makes more sense.

       Emmy, after a moment, gives a nod to Marida. Maybe she can start believing it, when people tell her she's safe.
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