2023-01-21: Let Us Help You
- Log: Let Us Help You
- Cast: Naoko Suzuki, Anita Rosetta, Eight York
- Where: Hangar Bay, Ra Mari
- OOC - IC Date: 0097-01-21
- Summary: Having gotten caught up in the battle for Orb while a guest on the Ra Mari, Naoko must make a decision on where to go from here. Anita and Eight help her to make that decision.
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
This is a busy time in the Ra Mari's hangar, to put it mildly. Between repairs following the battle at Orb and various equipment transfers over to the Ra Mari II, much is being done all at once, and much coming and going is happening. But not everything in the hangar has been part of either of these activities. One thing that hasn't is the NS-1 Sukeban, the oppressively purple Arm Slave of... unique design, belonging to one Naoko Suzuki. Or Nova Stellar, rather, as she introduced herself. Who is currently standing beside the machine, looking up at the open cockpit entrance, mulling over the circumstances she finds herself in.
Things have well and truly spiraled out of control, haven't they? It was a gamble to begin with, using an emergency signal in hopes of attracting the right kind of attention to get her out of a low energy jam. Things were looking up when she was able to secure way more assistance than she would have dared hope for. But then the Ra Mari was directed to participate in the battle at Orb, one thing led to another, and suddenly she was a temporary part of the bridge crew. Repayment for Eight's kindness, that's all it was. She hasn't agreed to anything more. If she's going to leave, now would be the time, wouldn't it...?
The 'friends' who are always with her, and she thought only she could hear until being proven wrong on this very ship... they've made their position clear on this. They think she should go. And she understands their point of view. Things have gotten dangerous, and there's... really very little she knows of the big picture. And she shouldn't need to know. She isn't military. She doesn't have any training. She'd never claim to be qualified to solve the world's problems. She can't even solve her own problems.
So why is she still standing here? Normally, she'd follow the advice of her 'friends' without question. It should be easy. All she has to do is climb into her cockpit and she can be on her way. Eight said she's free to leave whenever she wants, so she's pretty sure no one would stop her. And yet... she's still here. Just... staring at her waiting machine.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Anita has had some time to rest, since the battle. But, there's still work to be done... especially with the future so uncertain. They'll need to be ready to go at any time, just in case. There's no telling how long it'll be before they need to deploy again. So, now in a mechanic's jump suit rather than her pilot suit, she heads out to the hangar to give her VF-25 some much needed love and attention.
...At least, that was the plan, but as she makes her way through the hangar, she spots an unfamiliar face. ...Well, actually, she has seen her - once before, during the fight. She gave some much-needed formation data. And given how she's looking at that Arm Slave... Anita diverts her course. She walks up behind Naoko, stopping to give just enough room that she isn't intruding on her space.
"Hey there. Nova Stellar, right? Thanks for helping out back there, you were a big help." Anita greets, drawing her left hand out of the pockets of her jump suit and offering a wave. Her left hand is made of metal - a cybernetic prosthetic. If her eyes keen enough, Anita's eyes are cybernetic, too. "Anita Rosetta. Nice to meet you."
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
The hangar is perhaps one of the busiest areas on the Ra Mari at the moment, but not the only one. The Ra Mari II was occupied for some time with the refugees and rescuees from Orb, but there were still preparations to make on the Clop. Eight herself has been very scarce--she's been meeting with Orb officials, for one. But she can get away eventually, at least for a little while.
That is, Eight managed to get Enba Rezza to cover the rest, and now she's on foot looking for...
Ah.
"I was wondering if I'd find you here," the Captain says as she looks over Nova still standing there. She waves, next, to Anita. "Hey, Annie. Nice to see you safe. I know I've been hard to pin down--that's not gonna change anytime soon."
She looks back to Naoko. "Annie here's one of our best, and a great friend, too. ...So what are you thinking, Nova?"
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
One thing you might not have known about 'Nova Stellar': she can jump higher when she isn't trying. As evidenced right now, when Anita speaks to her while she's deep in thought, and she just -leaps- straight up. "Waaah!"
Landing without incident, she whirls about, only getting out "Who, wha--?", before taking in the one who spoke to her just now. Wonder happens long before recognition does - it's plain to see that she's never seen anybody who's cybernetically enhanced in such a way before. There's no fear there, just... fascination. She's not staring, she's studying. It's awkward, either way, since she isn't actually... saying anything in response.
That is, until Eight also arrives, snapping her out of whatever reverie that was. She blinks a few times, then clears her throat, recomposing herself. "Um, right, right, that's me, Nova Stellar!" She brandishes a quick v-sign. Not her best introduction. Realizing her mind wandered, she quickly explains herself, "Sorry about that, I just... didn't really notice the cybernetics earlier." She smiles, assuring that she concluded, "They're really cool! Nice to meet you too, Anita!" Her eyes avert themselves briefly when she muses, "A big help, huh..."
She glances back to her machine, before looking towards Eight. Well... she asked, but, it's likely obvious, isn't it? No point in denying what she was thinking. "I was... considering what to do next. Seeing as how I... don't really belong here and all. You've been very nice to me, but..." She looks back over to Anita, "...Was I really a big help...?"
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"Hahah, sorry, sorry. Didn't mean to scare ya." Anita comments with a chuckle as Naoko jumps. Anita watches her as she watches back. Not staring, but... studying. Well, it's a better reaction than outright fear or judgment.
Anita's attention is drawn away from Naoko briefly, though, as Eight enters the hangar. A grin crosses her face. It's good to see her - she hasn't had many chances to see her since the battle ended. She's glad to get the chance here and now.
"Hey there, Eight. Good seein' you, too." Anita greets, offering her a wave, too. She nods, as Eight says that she's not going to be any easier to find any time soon. She understands - she's got a lot more on her plate, now. "Yeah, I getcha. Still, all those meetings aren't wearing you down too much, right?"
Her attention returns to Naoko, then, as she speaks up again at the sight of Eight. She nods, and then grins as she compliments her cybernetics. Briefly, she pulls up her left sleeve just slightly. It looks like it goes up the entire arm...
"Thanks. It's not just the arm or the eyes, either." She says. She nods, as Naoko returns the greeting, then watches as her attention returns to her machine.
"Well... an' I'm sure Eight'll say the same, what you do next is up to you. We're not gonna keep anyone here who doesn't want to be here - especially since things are probably gonna get rocky soon." Anita says, and then grins. "But yeah, you were. There could've been problems if our formation was off - especially with how fierce those pilots were. Not sure what was up with them... bu they were pretty strong."
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"Oh, it's fine," Eight says of the meetings. "But we're probably getting new uniforms! So look forward to that." She grins. She knows Anita isn't a huge uniform person... but that's part of the fun.
There's a tense moment where Naoko stares at Anita--but Anita doesn't take issue, so it's fine. Instead, Eight looks to Nova again, and smiles at her. She looks at her machine, and...
"Annie's right. Your choice, your life. You get to decide where you go. But you helped out my best friend, so I'm happy with you."
The pilots... "I think they were 'enhanced'," Eight says quietly. "Not quite like me. But not unlike me, either."
Then she looks back to Nova. "As for where you belong... that's up to you, too. I won't force you to stay, or force you to go. But we're a new organization now, an Alliance. And if you're looking for a place to belong... We'd be lucky to have you."
"Feel free to think about it, if you need to. We can always let you off somewhere if you don't like it."
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
A real life cyborg... that sure is just one of the many things that Naoko'd never see back home. She takes in every detail with the fascination that one might expect from someone seeing such things for the first time. If she really did build that Arm Slave, it stands to reason that she's interested in such things... and that she'd think about them in a bit of an atypical way. So it's no exaggeration, sooner an understatement when she expressed she thinks that sort of thing is cool. It also floods her mind with about a million questions, but she keeps what she actually asks Anita to the bare minimum to satisfy her curiosity, for the time being.
"So how much better does that let you see and lift things? Must be a little like having superpowers, huh?"
She briefly glances at Eight when she says this, which is no coincidence. The nature of the superpower that they share... she wonders what it could be. But, she instead she elects to focus on the answer to the question she asked earlier. "Huh... well, I was really just improvising, but I'm glad it was helpful."
No false modesty there. She's being more honest than she was before, acting supremely confident about the miracles she claimed to work. Eight reinforcing it likewise doesn't have the same effect as it had on the bridge - rather than getting a big head over it, she seems to second-guessing it all. Her choice where to go. Where she belongs. Lucky to have her...? She seems particularly surprised by that one.
"I..." she begins, but it fails to go anywhere. She needs a moment, considering. It's so difficult, making decisions by yourself. But, as she told her 'friends'... in this case, she feels that it's very important that she does so. And to do that... she shouldn't say quiet about her circumstances. With a nod, she decides to at least admit to that much.
"I'm... going to be honest with you. The reason I was running away with Sukeban is because Mother told me to, she said people were after it." She uses a very formal way of saying 'mother', which may imply something about her upbringing. "But... I don't know who those people might be, or why they want it. And I don't know what happened to my parents, after that." She does her best to keep calm, but the more she speaks, the more obvious it is how distressed she feels. "I don't know anything, not even where I'm going. I've just kept running because I don't know what else to do. So I feel like..."
She takes a breath, looking from Eight, to Anita, back to Eight. "I don't have anywhere that I belong, right now. If you're asking me if I'm looking for a place like that, then yes, but everything is so... well, 'rocky' is an understatement. I don't know anything about what's going on here, either." She pauses, looking at the ground. "It's... so hard to believe that I can be helpful, in something as big as all this."
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"New uniforms... Yeah, I guess we would need those." Anita says, massaging the back of her neck. It's true, she's not much one for uniforms. But she can understand the need for them and she can see that Eight, at least, is pleased with them.
"Enhanced, huh..." Anita murmurs, as Eight comments on the pilots. Not like her - but not unlike her, either. ...Did they have any choice in the matter?
She's taken out of it by Naoko's question. She chuckles good-naturedly.
"Well, it don't get tired, for one, so that's a plus. It is stronger than most folks... but, I usually keep the strength dialed down, 'cause it puts a lot of strain on internals and the rest of my body to use it at full strength." Anita explains. "My eyes, though, they can see pretty well. I've probably got sharper eyes than most, especially if I pair them with something like these."
She taps the goggles on her forehead by way of explanation.
"I don't know if I'd call it superpowers, though. There's a lot of folks who can do what I do just on their own." She says. ...Without all the messy drawbacks, but she doesn't want to get into those just yet. "On the plus side, I can always swap 'em out if I feel like changing up my looks. Not a lotta folks can say that."
She listens, though, as Naoko says she was just advertising. She listens quietly, too, as she tells her story.
"...Geez." Anita says, exhaling sharply. She massages the back of her neck. "...You've been through a lot, huh?"
"...I'm sorry about your folks. I hope they're okay. And..." She says, and steps forward - if Naoko doesn't flinch away from it, she'll rest her right hand on her shoulder. "If there's folks after you, we're not gonna just turn you out on the street. It's not a matter of whether or not you're useful. We'd be glad for whatever help you can give us, but it's not like there's some kinda quota you gotta meet. Just let us help you for now, and we'll figure out what you can do as we go. Sound good?"
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"Yep!" Uniforms. "We're still official here, just... we don't have a 'nation' as such. So not that different from before, I guess." But enhanced. Did they...?
'Superpowers'. Eight wouldn't really think of it that way, for either of them. But maybe compared to some people.
She can, for instance, sense Naoko's doubts without much trouble. But as she starts to explain... Anita of course can explain her cybernetics for herself, but Naoko's is news to her. The reason she was running...
"I thought you might be in trouble," Eight admits. "...That's part of why i decided to help."
She nods to Anita. "You are helpful--and I bet you could be more helpful, too, given the chance. But that's not the point, as far as we're concerned. We don't need a reason to help someone. So, if it's rocky... Share it with us. We'll do what we can. Nothing gets solved when you try to do it all by yourself. It's by relying on one another that we can do the best we really can."
"After all... This? This started with just a couple of us. A couple of us decided to do what we thought was right... and then, amazingly, more people joined us. But when it comes down to it--it's all those 'one persons' adding up together that matters."
"So let me say it plainer. I want you to stay, Nova. I want you to let us help you. And I want you on my team. How's that sound?"
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
That stuff about people being 'enhanced', that's just one of the many things that Naoko wouldn't have a clue about what it might imply. But it's also among the least of her worries, at the moment. She's too distracted by Anita's enhancements to worry about any others, anyway. You can just see her making mental notes about the capabilities that are mentioned. Hmmm, strain on the internals... "Are the actuators not up to the pressure? Maybe that's something we can work on."
Catching herself thinking out loud, she scratches her cheek sheepishly. "Er, sorry. You should probably know that whenever I see cool machines, I kinda just wanna tinker around with them and see if I can improve them somehow." Going by the design of her Arm Slave... hard to say for sure if letting her do that would be a very good idea. Though she quickly adds, "Not that I'd ever do that without asking, of course!" Shrugging a bit, she concludes, "Doesn't matter if more people can do the same stuff, if it's not something most people can do, that sounds like a superpower to me."
She then relates her story, lacking in details as it is... she genuinely doesn't know any more about what's going on than that. She's been through a lot, Anita says. 'Have I been through a lot?', you can see her thinking. Even that, she isn't sure about. There must have been more unusual circumstances, for her to be that unsure about everything.
She does start when Anita places a hand on her shoulder, not in alarm so much as she just wasn't expecting that. It certainly got all of her attention, though looking puzzled more than anything. "I... you... want to keep helping me? Even if I'm not useful?" That also seems like a completely foreign notion to her. Just what kind of life what she leading before?
Eight, however, insists that while she's already helpful, it had nothing to do with the reason for helping her. Which really just cements it even more - everything about this new situation Naoko's found herself in is new and strange to her. Even something that should be as simple as relying on one another. But, as Eight tells it, it sounds like it's worked out for them so far. Maybe, then, it's worth giving a try...?
It's the plainly stated part that really does it, though. To hear that it's something someone else wants. That she is wanted, both to help and and to allow being helped. That, and the mention of her other name... before she full well realizes it, she's slipped back into the persona she originally presented herself with, grinning broadly.
"Hoho... well, why didn't you say so? If you need me around that much, how could I refuse?" There's that v-sign again, this time presented with a great deal more confidence. "Nova Stellar, Miracle Worker, at your service!" A finger moves to tap her cheek. "But, um, about those uniforms... could I not, for now? Is that an option? That would just make it feel all so awfully... official-like." In a softer voice, she adds, "Maybe we could save that for... if and when I do feel like I belong."
The volume goes up again in short order. "Even if we do, I may need a few alterations, 'cause I'll tell you one thing, I'm gonna need a looot of pockets." With that, she slips a PaPPy stick into her mouth. Not the only things she keeps in her pockets, but the demonstration implies that being able to do that at all times is important.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"Well, when you put it like that, it makes sense." Anita admits, thinking. If they want to look official, then having uniforms would definitely help...
She nods toward Naoko, then.
"It's sorta... The energy's gotta go somewhere, right? It's hard to balance that out on any sort of budget." Anita explains. She grins, though, as Naoko apologizes. "Nah, it's cool. I'm kinda the same way. I do most of my tuning up myself, and I'm real big into the Haro modding scene. So I know how it is."
She nods... and chuckles, too, as she says she wouldn't do that without asking.
Still, when Naoko seems confused that they want to keep helping, even if she isn't useful, Anita's smile becomes just a bit softer.
"That's right. It's like she says." Anita says, with a nod toward Eight. "We don't need a reason."
Anita can't help but smile as Eight continues. She's... really good at this. She smiles, then, and nods.
"Lookin' forward to workin' with you, Nova." Anita says with a smile.