2023-05-11: Still Waters
- Cast: Marida Cruz, Suberoa Zinnerman
- Where: The Ra Mari II - Marida's Quarters
- Date: U.C. 0097 05 11
- Summary: After the battle of Seattle, Captain Zinnerman checks on Marida Cruz, and finds that she's allowing herself to develop beyond the purpose she was cloned for - and offers his blessing in the form of a question.
<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.
While the Pit on the Ra Mari II is the Garencieres Team's informal conference room while they're replacing their ship, they all, of course, have individual quarters on the Zentradi vessel.
The bell for Marida's door chimes, and her Captain's voice sounds from the com.
"Marida. May I come in?"
When the door opens, Zinnerman is standing on the other side, wearing his usual jumpsuit and overcoat. "The rest of the crew have noticed you're... not acting quite right. Is something troubling you?"
He's still standing on the threshold, waiting for her to invite him in.
<Pose Tracker> Marida Cruz has posed.
Marida is dressed casually, in a black shirt and pants, when she answers the door. She takes a step back and her eyes dart to the side. She...wasn't expecting him to approach her like this.
It was true that she had been even more standoffish than usual since Seattle. Obviously, the crew had noticed, there were few people in the Sphere who knew her better. She lets a quiet sigh escape her lips. It was probably best for her to rip the bandage off of this matter, if only to put her mind at ease for the next battle.
"...You're welcome to enter, Master." She very explicitly avoids directly answering his second question.
<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.
Zinnerman's brow furrows in concern as he steps into Marida's quarters, noting that she hasn't answered his second question. He takes in the room, attempting to ascertain something about the young woman's mental state from how the space has been treated.
He lets the door shut behind him, leaving the two of them in silence. He takes the chair at her desk and turns it towards her as he sits down.
He waits, letting the silence linger while Marida gathers her courage to broach whatever's on her mind.
He could order her to tell him.
He won't.
<Pose Tracker> Marida Cruz has posed.
Marida's room is as sparse as it always is. She was never one for personal decoration. One of the only items in the room that isn't just stock furniture is her purple Haro, sitting in a charging cradle. Marida sits down on her bed, the sheets on top having been made...and apparently made again and again and again.
The silence could be cut with a knife as the two stare each other down. Marida knows that Zinnerman isn't going to leave this room until she talks. What was that about ripping off the bandage?
"This may sound like I'm diverting the issue, but permission to ask a personal question, Captain?"
<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.
The way the corners of Zinnerman's eyes crinkle when his gaze rests on the Haro is an unusual expression on him - the stern stoicism softens, ever so slightly, and his countenance warms.
'Permission to ask a personal question, captain?'
Something chills in his spine as his focus tightens. Marida has never expressed that sort of interest, before.
"... Go ahead, Marida," he says gently.
<Pose Tracker> Marida Cruz has posed.
Marida stares down at her hands, folded in her lap. She feels a heaviness in her stomach, a mass of anxiety. She has to do this. But she doesn't want to.
But she must.
"Captain, do you love me?"
<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.
This question, of all questions, is somehow one Zinnerman never expected to be asked, particularly from Marida. It comes at him like a sledgehammer to the sternum.
The silence stretches out for what seems like eternity.
What's the right course of action here?
"Are you afraid of how I'll answer that?" It's a cautious question. Perhaps that's an answer in and of itself.
"I care about everybody on the Garencieres, even with the ship gone," he begins to reply. "You are all my crew and I know I can trust you to look after each other, and as captain I have a responsibility to you all. That said..."
He takes a deep breath.
"You are very important to me, Marida."
<Pose Tracker> Marida Cruz has posed.
She was afraid. She was downright terrified of how that question would be answered. What it would mean for their relationship. What it would mean for their ability on the battlefield.
What it would mean for the idea that Marida Cruz was not a human being.
HOLLOW HOLLOW HOLLOW HOLLOW
COMBAT UNIT
NEVER A D A U G H T E R
The words Puru-1 burrowed into her mind in Seattle bubbled up. It still stung. She should have completely agreed with what they said...
So why did they hurt?
"And you are very important to me, Master. The most important person in my life. You gave me a name, after all."
<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.
Zinnerman visibly relaxes at Marida's answer - it's progress, of a kind. "Names are very important," he agrees.
The memory of their first meeting, of him ushering her out of that room into Flaste's protection before confronting the man he'd gone there for, surfaces again.
He pushes it down, and focuses again on the present.
"You've never expressed interest in these kinds of questions before, Marida. It's not a bad thing, but it leads me to ask... what brings this on?"
<Pose Tracker> Marida Cruz has posed.
Marida lets out another heavy sigh as her hands tightly grip one another, nails digging ever so slightly in her skin.
"It's the pilot the Vist Foundation has in the Banshee. They're...remarkably good at getting into my head and pulling up these doubts I didn't know I even had."
Marida brings her head down so her locked hands can come up to her forehead. "There's something about them...they feel so familiar..."
<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.
"As I suspected," Zinnerman says quietly. "The Banshee. The pilot we only know as 'Puru-1'."
"... I doubt the Vists chose that callsign by accident," he says, darkly. "A cruel joke, as much on the pilot as it is on us."
He strokes his beard thoughtfully.
"... I think we should give that some more thought. We could use any clue we can get to fight that mobile suit, and figuring out... what they did to the pilot is one of them. Tomura and Alec are still trying to crack its communications encryption."
<Pose Tracker> Marida Cruz has posed.
"I just wonder why Puru."
Marida lowers her hands and raises her head, her grip loosening and her composure returning. "And how. For them to be able to resonate with me so strongly..."
<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.
"There is still so much we don't know... But I trust Banagher's instincts about the pilot. If that really is, somehow, Elpeo Puru brought back from the dead..."
He considers giving an order here, then shakes his head. This is about Marida's sisters, it should be her call.
"... Then what would you do?"
<Pose Tracker> Marida Cruz has posed.
Marida takes a minute. She had never been given an opportunity to meet Elpeo Puru, her template, her sister. She had only heard second hand accounts of what kind of person she was. But whoever Elpeo Puru was, she didn't deserve this.
"If this is truly Elpeo Puru...I want to save her. I want to give her the freedom to live...or die...as she chooses."
<Pose Tracker> Suberoa Zinnerman has posed.
He nods. "That's all I need to hear."
He frowns. "I don't want you to fight the Banshee, Marida. It's... much more dangerous than anything else we've gone up against before, even fighting against the Unicorn. You've been the team's saviour time and time again, and I know we would all grieve to lose you..."
"... But we would grieve to lose Banagher too, and they will send the Banshee after him again, and I know with you by his side he'll make it out. So."
He walks over to sit next to her, putting one big hand on her shoulder. "If you must confront them: Please, come back alive."
<Pose Tracker> Marida Cruz has posed.
The Captain had put his hand on Marida's shoulder countless times before. It should not have phased her. But this time...it felt better than before.
"Yes, sir. I'll do my best to support Banagher."
The slightest of smiles comes to her face.
"And when have I ever not come back alive from a battle?"