2022-07-14: Time With You is Enough
- Cast: Eight York, Rena Lancaster
- Where: Ra Mari
- Date: U.C. 0096 07 14
- Summary: Rena drops by Eight's room when they're off duty. They take the time they can get together, when things are busy.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Rena knocks on Eight's cabin door, sometime after dinner.
Technically, yes, they are off duty; after a run-in with Anti in Tsutsujidai, Rena has spent some amount of time monitoring for an attack that Anti knew would come. She has her other duties on top of that -- for instance, all of her usual training, personnel reports, and the rest that come with being a commander of a squadron. She also tends to work late, as a rule. But Rena promised she could come see Eight, and so...
She stands outside her door, still in her uniform. The coat is open, though, so the white T-shirt under it is visible. She looks tired; she adjusts her data tablet, which has a few reports she should ostensibly go over with Eight.
But really, she mostly just wants to talk.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight tends to work late, herself; the work doesn't end just because her shift does, and she has a whole ship to keep track of, especially now that they're back. But today she is working at least at her own pace, going over another report as she sits down. But as the door gets a knock...
"Rena!" Eight calls from within, because of course she knows it's her. She smiles, and stands up from her couch, coming around to press the button to open the door. She looks a lot less tired than she did before; the sling and brace are both gone.
"C'mon in." She steps back to let Rena do exactly that.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"Octo," Rena says, with a smile. She lifts a hand, waving at her. It comes easy enough -- really, she knew that Eight had sensed her a moment ago. That comes part and parcel with being two Newtypes. They tend to sense each other and communicate well before they even run into each other.
She looks Eight over; she looks relieved to see the lack of the sling and brace. "I'm glad that they got the brace off," she says. "It looks like the refit is almost done?"
She tosses the datapad to the bed, then she walks over closer to Eight, and pulls her into a hug. She sighs, after she does, and relaxes; her shoulders lose some tension that she almost forgot was there.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight in fact looks pretty good! ...Granted, some of that is the makeup, but Rena can 'feel' that Eight is feeling better anyway. Eight smiles back at her. "Me, too," she says of the brace. "Yep! We'll be getting back to it pretty soon now. They've sent me a readout on the new specs; it's... pretty interesting."
But then Rena comes closer and suddenly--hug!!
Eight is a little surprised... but she smiles more gently after a moment and wraps her arms around Rena. "...Yeah," she says.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"Yeah, I know you don't like to be cooped up," Rena says, with a tilt of her head. And other things, that she doesn't say aloud; she knows Eight is pain-averse. Much less so than she used to be -- they have sparring matches, sometimes, to keep their hand-to-hand skills short -- but it wasn't like that could be erased. Her arms loop around the taller woman's shoulders, then she nods.
"Yeah," she agrees. "I can't way to see all the specs. Then probably start making adjustments to things, since..."
Since Rena is pretty good with computers and does that, sometimes.
Rena blinks her eyes once, then she smiles. She leans forward, her head against Eight's shoulders. "...mm. Glad you're here and we're done for the day, Octo."
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"I really don't!" Eight replies cheerfully--though some of this is putting on a good front, since Rena knows full well it wasn't just being cooped up. Eight's usually on painkillers to begin with, let alone when she's injured. But as her arms loop around Eight's shoulders, Eight finds that feeling is pretty far off.
"Of course! It'll only be better when you do," she says. "Some of the computer stuff they're upgrading is pretty complicated... But I bet it's no problem for you." She knows how smart Rena is.
But as she leans forward, Eight holds REna a little closer. "Me, too," she says. "...You want to sit down? I bet you've been on your feet a lot already." Pause. "Though I'm OK staying like this for a while..."
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"Oh... you know. Just little improvements."
This is a lie. Rena wrote a combat operating system -- well, modified, but it boiled down to a large-scale rewrite -- to make a machine use AMBAC movement when it didn't. This is the sort of thing that most people cannot do. Her head tilts to the side, as she looks at her. "But I'll feel better if I go over them. In case we face those Vajra again."
Rena sighs, then she nods. "Yeah, let's sit down. I've been running around since morning," she says. She starts towards the bed, then sits down on it. Her eyes are on Eight. "Do you feel better, now? I've been a little worried..."
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"Sure, sure." Eight grins. It is definitely a lie. They both know it. ...The grin fades at the mention of the Vajra, though. Eight's front of cheer akes a bit of a hit then, and she looks more serious. "I appreciate it, then. We're going to need all the edges we can get if we do."
Eight moves with Rena to join her, taking a seat next to her, and when she asks, "I'm OK. ...It was pretty hard. All that happened, filling out the reports... writing letters. The injuries were basically easy mode by comparison." And that's taking into account her difficulty with pain. "But I feel better. I feel like... I'm prepared, to keep going. We have too much to do to just dwell on what's already happened."
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"Yeah. I talked to some people from the Frontier fleet," Rena says. "It... sounds like they're not going anywhere, so we should be ready."
Rena leans back against her on the bed, then she frowns. It brought back memories to see the Ra Mari so badly damaged; having people killed, too, brought those memories of the battle against a kaiju back. She sighs, softly, and then her brown eyes look up to meet Eight's red. "Yeah. It... it was a lot. I'm glad, though."
She hesitates for a second more. "We'll keep going. We got a lot to handle, still." She hesitates. "And there's... that charity concert, that we were talking about. We should make that happen, too."
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"Mm. But now the Federation is going to hav to acknowledge it, too. ...They gave us bigger guns," she says. "Bigger guns... I mean, they'll help, but that's not gonna work if it's the only thing they do about it, you know? We need a real plan."
It brought back memories for Eight, too. But this time she's the Captain, and se was in the first place. "...Yeah," she agrees. A lot.
She smiles back. "Yeah!" Eight says. "We will. That's the path we chose. And we're still on it."
"I was thinking about that... Annie said she'd help if we had something she could help with. We should definitely make that happen. That idol Kaworu mentioned--Ranka? I got to hear her the other day. She's really good! If we could get her..."
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"I'm not sure if they will," Rena admits. "I think... they're going to be focused on the war with ZAFT. Not to say they'll ignore them, but... I don't think they're the Federation's priority."
She shakes her head as she leans against Eight, head on her shoulder still. She leans against her. "Maybe we can make one. And make sure Londo Bell is ready, at least... to the extent that we can do that." They have more pull in Londo Bell, besides.
She smiles, eyes drifting up.
"Annie told me the same," Rena says. She hesitates for a second. "I met Ranka Lee, actually. She said she'd sing for me. Maybe... we can reach out to her, soon. We could go visit the Frontier fleet? I saw Frontier City, the other day--I met a few people, actually... including her! So maybe she'd listen, if we asked. And it's an excuse to visit Frontier City, too."
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"...Probably," Eight admits with a sigh. "What good does protecting people do if you can't stay in charge of them?" Pause. "...Sorry, I'm trying not to be cynical like that. It's not a good look for me."
Eight wraps an arm around Rena, supporting her there. "True. Londo Bell will listen to us, at least. We can make a plan, have that ready."
But she peers down at Rena and smiles. "Oh, yeah?" she asks. "Great! Then if we can reach out to her..." A pause, and then, "That'd be nice, actually. I'd love an excuse to go visit, see what it's like."
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"It's hard to not be cynical," Rena says. She sighs. "I wish our faith was rewarded, for a change." She shakes her head. "We can... we'll just have to work at changing things. One step at a time, from within."
The alternatives are worse, as far as she can see. She leans against Eight, and looks up at her for a moment. Then she tilts her head to the side, and smiles a little bit more. "Yeah. They're--I wonder why they attacked ZAFT and us. We'll need to see if we can figure out what they're after..."
Rena trails off.
Then, she beams up at her, with a grin on her face. "We could go on a date there," she says. "There is a shopping district up at the top of the dome, that some of them took me to." She is holding back a little of who was there. "So we could see that. And some of the rest. But... meet with Ranka, too. We'll need to figure out a venue and some of the logistics, still, too..."
But maybe get their singer first.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"It will be," Eight answers. "Eventually. That's what it's about, right? The long term. We'll just have to make sure there is a long term."
"I wonder that, too. What are they after? Why'd they show up there? What do they even want? Everything alive wants something. I don't believe they're just random monsters who hurt people for no reason. ...But I don't know how to figure out what their deal is, either."
Eight beams back. "That's a great idea," she says. "I'd like that. We don't get to go a lot of places, for people who live on a starship..." A beat, "...Probably yeah, you're right," she says, reading Rena's intent, "We should see Ranka first. But after that, totally!"
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"Mm. Yeah," Rena agrees, quietly. "We can't lose sight of that."
She frowns -- then she nods. "They were... angry. There was a strong hostility, from them--and it wasn't... quite like a human emotion. It's a little hard to describe," Rena admits. "But I think you're right. Living things are hostile and angry for a reason. We'll just have to figure out what that reason is."
She looks up at Eight, then, and she cracks a smile. "Yeah, we don't get to go out much, do we?" She reaches a finger up, poking Eight in the cheek. "We should. But after, we can take some time for ourselves."
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"Right."
"Hm... And there was that 'other' thing there, too. I don't know what was up with that, but I could sense it. I couldn't get as good a read on them, since..." She gestures. She had the whole ship around her, and the people on the other ships, and...
"But that's it, I think. Just the little matter of figuring out how to communicate with an alien species that wants to kill us! ...Well, humans have done that before, right?"
But she smiles back. "We don't." Eight feigns shock at the poke. "Oh!"
Then she laughs. "Cool. ...You've been there before, so.. I'll let you make the plans?"
She leans into Rena a little. "I like time with you."
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
A battlefield can be a noisy place for a Newtype. Eight is more sensitive than Rena -- though that's also because Rena has a way of holding herself back, of making sure she doesn't take in too much. A defense mechanism, ever since she was younger. She looks up at Eight, then she nods.
"We have," she says. "I hope we can. Or... if they can be reasoned with, then at least if we know what they want, we can defend ourselves better."
She smiles at Eight, then, and smiles a little bit wider. "I can take care of the plans. I'll--" She shivers, when Eight leans into her. Rena's arms squeeze a bit tighter around her shoulders. "I like time with you, too. I-I mean."
She flushes. "You know that."