2023-05-13: Happy Mother's Day, Calas
- Log: Happy Mother's Day Calas
- Cast: Calas Zelinn, Himeyuri Oono
- Where: The Socrates, Observation Room
- OOC - IC Date: 0097 05 13
- Summary: Mrs. Zelinn and Captain Oono discuss the 'peace' that has come to PLANT, and the future.
<Pose Tracker> Calas Zelinn has posed.
Space stretches out from beyond the viewport, one of the PLANTs forming a jewel in its expanse as the Socrates remains at the ready nearby. An office off the bridge sees Calas Zelinn staring out into the distance, her uniform in perfect order, her dark eyes focused. She has a lot to think about at the moment, with the end of the war...
The current bridge crew could easily mention where she went, if someone asked; she has made no secret of being here, and this is often where she comes to brood. It's late, by the standards of the ship, and things are quiet.
But she is here. In her hand, lowered, is a datapad with some text and a couple of pictures on it.
She is not looking at it right this moment.
<Pose Tracker> Himeyuri Oono has posed.
Ever since the Socrates was given orders to withdraw when the GENESIS was fired, Himeyuri has not spent much time on the Socrates. For much of the time, the ship on it's patrols has been under Calas' command while Himeyuri was...
Elsewhere.
But now she's back. From outer space. Drifting through the hallways with a gentle smile on her face. It was not difficult to find Calas.
"Mrs Zelinn!" She calls, happily. She's not officially back on duty yet. Himeyuri drifts to a stop next to her. The PLANT shining in the distance, like a star.
"They look so small somehow from out here, don't they?" She asks, devoid of guile. "But they're so beautiful... like a precious gem made by man."
She doesn't take much time to dwell as she holds out a gift wrapped and ribboned box to Calas. "I hope you enjoy it!"
Himeyuri is doing her best not to look expectant. She is not succeeding.
<Pose Tracker> Calas Zelinn has posed.
Calas doesn't mind handling things on her own; that's part of the reason she was brought on in the first place, after all, because of the Captain's youth and apparent occasional need to disappear for a bit. ...Which makes sense, given what she knows. However... She wasn't expecting to see Himeyuri back just yet.
Nor with a present.
"Captain," Calas says, and while she's still broody--she is not a very emotive woman compared to some--she smiles lightly at the girl's return. "...They do," she agrees. "Small, and precious... and worth protecting."
They fought a war about that, after all. But then--
A present? Calas blinks, and looks down, then up at Himeyuri again. "How are... Oh! Thank you," she says, and can guess what it's for, given the approaching day. But she seems at least pleased to receive it, and then she starts to open it up. She can ask Himeyuri questions in a moment!
<Pose Tracker> Himeyuri Oono has posed.
"Indeed... And they're ever so in need of it." Her smile falters a little at the thought. "More than ever..."
She eagerly watches the gift be unwrapped and it... looks to be a semi-transparent self heating thermos, with a gap in the center to insert a capsule. The capsuale itself is refillable. There is also a single small box of a green tea. "I'm not sure it will taste the same, but you shouldn't be able to a have a proper cup of tea just because we don't have enough gravity." That smile is there, cheeful.
"And since we're both away from home, well. You've been doing a lot to look after us, I hope it doesn't feel inappropriate." Aww, she's blushing a little.
"Otherwise, I am doing well enough. Now that the war is supposedly over, I've been doing more R&D."
<Pose Tracker> Calas Zelinn has posed.
"...More than ever," Calas agrees, though it is curious to her that someone else sees it that way--that Himeyuri might. She can ask her about htat in a moment, though; for now, she is unwrapping the box, and finds it a thermos. She recognizes the mechanism well, and then the box...
"This is exactly the kind I enjoy," she comments. "And it's still hard to get, even at 'peace'." 'Peace', she says in quotes. She has her doubts. She looks it over in her hands, rolling it around so that she can see all sides, and then smiles at Himeyuri.
"Thank you," she says. "It's very nice. I appreciate it." She wonders, for a moment, where Himeyuri's mother is. But only for a moment. The blush is cute. "I'll have some shortly. I could use a good cup of tea. Thank you."
She has been doing her best to look out for them; frankly, she sees them more often than her own children. ...Who are largely doing fine, with her husband and...
"That's good," Calas says instead of brooding on that too. "I'm interested to see your work. But I caught that 'supposedly'. There are those who would say we shouldn't look the gift horse of 'peace' in the mouth."
Calas looks down to the viewport again. "...But I'm not one of them, really. I don't trust it."
She steps over to the table, to set down thermos and box of tea so that she can deal with the wrapping and ribbon, but walks slowly enough that it's not hard to keep up.
<Pose Tracker> Himeyuri Oono has posed.
"That's because I suspect this so called peace is nothing more than gathering time for their counterstrike. With the multiple threats on the Earth, they want to be able to make something that will make us kowtow to the earthlings for good. It's a stall tactic, nothing more." Hime's voice is... fiery, for once.
"We saw the containers full of corpses they left, the slave labour for that hellish weapon. This is not an enemy you can treat with, Mrs Zelinn. We need to tend to our wounded, certainly, but... These earthlings are no better than monsters- every step worse than creatures made to scare naughty children."
She wonders if the news made it back home. It was a step beyound Kyo'akk villainry-but the happy response cheers Hime again. "I'm glad. We deserve what small comforts we can have. It's straw compatible or you can squeeze out a blob in low enough gravity. Designed for space work!" She smiles, before scartching the back of her head. "My work is... still highly classified I'm afraid. I've been focused back on peacetime applications..."
Calas openness causesher to stop once again, and look determinedly out at the PLANT. "...There is only one righteous path, isn't there? We can't make peace with them. Maybe the late Creuset-san was on to something. If they are going to control our food, our lives, our children..." She looks up, and rather than fury in her eyes there's.... certainty. Calm. Determination. "Then we must take from them the means to do so. Even if it means taking those same things from them. It's the only chance they have to learn."
<Pose Tracker> Calas Zelinn has posed.
"Hmm." Calas regards Himeyuri thoughtfully as she voices that doubt about the peace. Truthfully, of course--she has similar sentiments, even if not identical. "I think they're sincere enough in that they're glad not to have to worry about us for now," she says. "...But you're right, that it's inevitable that this 'peace' ends. They just have other priorities at the moment. Good for us." She shakes her head; that is not a pleasant 'good for us'.
'Earthlings', of course. Not Earthnoids. But Calas knows better than to point that out. "...I know how you feel," she says.
But straw compatible? "That is convenient," she says. "Most of my work these days is in lower gravity." And her work... of course. "I hope that you get to use them," she says of peacekeeping applications.
"'Cooking the Earth's oceans' might be too far," Mrs. Zelinn answers. "...But waiting for them to come and take control and continue the same causes that caused us to go to war in the first place--That's not acceptable." She mentions children, and that sparks in Calas's eyes. "That's right," she says. "...Of course, we'll do as the higher-ups say," she says. "But I think it's going to come to that again. We've seen, again and again, that Earth's aggression only pauses, not stops."
"I know if it's between my family and theirs... Well. I know the decision I'd make."
<Pose Tracker> Himeyuri Oono has posed.
Hime is quiet again. "We should be working on arms development, I think. As quickly as we can while thjey're busy. A gentle flower like Shiho-chan is more suited to civilian work, maybe, but... I can't say I don't want her on my side. We should be training more soldiers too, and looking into AI. Make up for our relative imabalances. And before those priorities change... we should strike them down with a single Gekigan Flare."
Hime realises she's been carrying on them. "...oh, well, yes. That was wicked of him. But surely we can regenerate the earth after that, what with the Zentradi technologies and all that."
Hime nods. "It's not even a question. I haven't been able to see my parents in person since the war started but... they're still with me in my heart. But the Earthlings don't really value family the way we do, do they? They send them to die, while we cling to what little we have. I wonder... do the earthlings value life at all, Mrs Zelinn? If they do, how did they come to throwing their families away so they can make us feed our families on less and less." She crosses her arms. "Truly, they don't deserve this Earthsphere or ours. With the GENESIS, we at least had a deterrent..." Her voice is flattening, as she looks. A weapon that could destroy them. Her eyes glaze over slightly. She feels like it'son the tip of her tongue, or just on the edge of hearing.
<Pose Tracker> Calas Zelinn has posed.
"She does well with it," Calas agrees about Shiho. But as for Hime, it does sound like her talents are wasted on peacetime applications. Not really her XO's call, of course--but notable all the same. "If we could," Calas says, "I'd feel a lot better. But we don't have that power right now. If we could dissolve the Federation entirely..."
Maybe that would be enough. Maybe.
"We might be able to," Calas says. "But I don't think destroying the Earth itself is the way. Better to focus on the people there who are oppressing ours. If they're all forced to move to space, we might have a different problem on our hands." Or if they all die, that's not a problem! ...But Calas isn't going that far, for the moment.
Maybe ever? Maybe.
"I agree," Calas says. "Though I'm lucky enough to see my children more often than that." 'Her children', not 'her husband', notably. Or maybe not so notably. "...I couldn't say," Calas admits. "They seemed to value it well enough when I fought with them to oppose the Titans. But the people in charge don't. They just see every life as another way to feed their machine. And they see us as, at best, competition."
"I don't know that I can speak for all Naturals, or all Earthnoids, on that front. But so long as the Federation is in charge... What they want doesn't matter."
"The GENESIS was a mistake, I think. It would've served to rally the Earth Sphere against us. And the deterrent only works until we've actually used it--then it's over."
"...No, we should keep our best weapons secret," Calas reflects. "Make sure they don't know what we're capable of."
<Pose Tracker> Himeyuri Oono has posed.
Hime seems to zone out a little, as the conversation continues, but after a moment she pulls out a pen and draws a quick equation onto the back of her hand, before seeming normal again. "You're right of course, but look at Blue Cosmos... it would be like trying to dig out ticks with our bare hands when all we have are flamethrowers."
The distance between Calas and her husband clearly goes over Hime's head. Most men work away from home for long periods at time. But there's something in Calas words that... seems to cause Hime pause.
"I just... the women here are so strange, Kyoko-sama! I don't know how I am supposed to know who to trust. Michi knows, and Shiho-chan shouldn't be here at all in a kind world." She stared into the boson monitor in her workshop. The woman on the other end was wearing familiar vestments. She shook her head.
"Remember episode eight my child. When no one knew where to turn while the Professor was kidnapped, where did the holy Miss Nanako find her way?" The womans voice is slow, and forceful. A woman even a man would listen to.
"Her memories of her mother, 17:42 to 18:09, of course!"
The Pontiff nodded back to her. "She remembered her mothers strength. Moms are tough, your holiness. If you find a mother with something to protect... You have someone you can trust with all. Gekigangar will light your path from there."
%----
"...I think you are right, Mrs Zelinn. There's a secret I'd like to tell you. Would you come with me to my workshop? I need someone I can trust."
<Pose Tracker> Calas Zelinn has posed.
A quick equation... This probably isn't a rare occurence. Calas handles it patiently. But Blue Cosmos? "True," Calas admits. "And the longer we draw out finding those 'ticks', the more chance they have of hurting our families. It's a hard problem."
But Calas notices that pause, too. She waits, for her to figure out what she was going to say. And when she does...
"A secret?" Mrs. Zelinn wonders. "...All right. I'll hear you out."
"I'll do my best to be that person." She would want someone to do the same for her own child.
<Pose Tracker> Himeyuri Oono has posed.
Himeyuri's smile widens when Calas agrees. Oh thank goodness. Michi is a lovely confidant but... sometimes you need someone with a more experienced world view.
"I'm glad," She says, enthused. "It's been hard having to keep it... but with your insight and knowledge I know I can do more!"
She knows they are both the only ones here. And Himeyuri knows the socrates inside out. There's no bugs on her ship she grabs for a travel handle to take her towards the anchor, before turning back to face Calas.
"...Mrs Zelinn. Can you keep a secret about the so called Jovian Lizards?"