2023-06-07: On the 'Wing' of Fate

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<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.

        Far from the hospitable facilities of space infrastructure, in the lonely gathering point of L3, the Three Ships Alliance has docked with a La Vie en Rose-class mobile repair facility, each of the ships undergoing routine repairs at an unusual private dock in normally intensely monitored Federation space.

        There's a lot of specifics as to why! Prospector and Goat said a whole lot about how the Nadesico's been negotiating being outside the Federation's purview as of late, but-

        To Yurika, the greater thing gnawing at her is the vibes as of late. The sense of...impatience, hurry and intensity at every moment, that yet seems unfocused, aimless. She's trying to get a grasp on what that feeling is. Whether it's a collective morale drop about what exactly the Alliance has planned - or a morale twist from the exact events that have taken place, with the Vist Foundation recently mounting a bold attack on Dakar that somehow caused so much damage by harming just a handful of people.

        The urge for Yurika is to meander about in overalls and a hard hat and start applying her hammer to every stray nail - because something is breaking, and she's gotta fix it, even if it's not this specific urgent thing that is breaking.

        So that's how she's found! Impromptu meeting in the busy-busy hangars of the Nadesico. Forklifts are zooming! Mobile suits are repairing! People are huddled and sharing everything they know about the state of the world, all with the hanging question-

        ---is all this even a fire that can be put out? 

<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.

The Nadesico is haunted.

Since the battle with the wild Zero System of the Wing Gundam, the Phenex has taken shelter in the Nadesico's hangar. For those who observe her, over time, she seems to be healing. Golden armor regenerates. Dents vanish, cracks knit together. Very, very slowly.

If anyone tries, the Phenex will allow herself to be examined -- just not tampered with. Any attempt to plug machinery into her will go awry, somehow the cables being turned aside from any ports again and again. The cockpit stays resolutely shut and sealed.

Such things alone wouldn't be enough to claim a haunting. Thankfully, there is a spirit present, one very interested in communicating with the living. Rita Bernal, glowing a soft green, floats through the hangar. Only those with open hearts can see her, unfortunately, but it is easier to hear her voice, when she speaks.

"Hello, Captain Yurika!" She greets the other woman, hoping Yurika can hear her. "My name is Rita Bernal. I'm the pilot of the Phenex Gundam. Thank you for letting us visit."

Today, Rita's hair is bound up in a little ponytail. She wears a pilot's suit of white, with geometric blue lines. On what little skin is exposed, many, many scars can be seen, particularly around her head and the nape of her neck. Despite this, she smiles, her otherworldly green eyes alight.

"This ship feels so alive." Rita spins in place, taking everything in. "I really like it." Coming to a halt, she looks to Yurika again. "I need to speak with Trevor about the future, and I'd be happy to share what I know with everyone. Is there somewhere we could talk? I know it might be tough to hear me in the hangar." 

<Pose Tracker> Emalya Zamana has posed.


Emalya Zamana has come into the hangar to get repairs and she has heard DRINKS also, bringing her VF into a stop in a bay. The cockpit's hatch opens up, and out pops a woman in a blue normal suit. The SMS emblem is on the breast pocket and upper arm. As she approaches the center of the hangar to see others, she takes off her helmet, and from underneath spreads a cascade of long, blue hair. Her faintly blue-green skin and pointed ears mark her as something other than human.

"Hello!" Emalya calls, regarding the others. A meeting...

"Good day! I am Emalya Zamana, with the SMS. It is nice to be meeting you all!"

She is cheerful, and bright, and her age is pretty hard to discern right this moment. But then she stops, and squints. "Eh?" She looks to Rita and... tilts her head. "Oh! The quiet girl!" she realizes, and smiles. "You are even quiet to look at!"

"I was told that there would be drinking but perhaps talking is best first. They do not often mix well, ha ha!"

<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.

This is not the first time the Isadore has limped into the Nadesico's hangar in recent weeks. At least this time it's not missing an arm, and instead just needs to have a few (sizable) dings in its armor shored up. It's also a slightly less dire situation, all things considered. A colony was not, in this instance, just breached and rendered uninhabitable. Instead, there is simply... a ghost.

And a pirate, but he comes part and parcel with the Isadore's presence.

Truth be told, Trevor has been kind of OUT OF THE LOOP in a big way recently. He's been dedicating most of his time to trying to chase down a specific sparkly golden ghost for the past few weeks, and the full details of the Vist Foundation's misdeeds haven't reached his ears. His pursuit of the missing Phenex and the even more missing Jona have been an all-consuming, Ahabesque thing. Now that at least half of that is over, he's just... tired.

Relieved, but tired.

The Isadore is held in a gantry, its cockpit hanging open. The pirate pilot that had been within is now without, his helmet tucked lazily under one arm as he approaches. "Cap'n," Trevor chirps, signing a lazy salute, "Nice duds. I appreciate the helmet. Always good to work safe. And..."

He looks to Rita, and there's a sense that he wants to go for a full on hug, but alas his arms cannot embrace a ghost in reality. So instead he tries to hug with his brain. Such as it is. (Newtype business is a strange thing, it is.) "Rita... I'm really happy to see you're alright."

Beat.

"Oh, miss Emalya! Hi again! I thought I saw you out there!" Fancy meeting in person for the second time in almost the exact same place! Huh!

<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.

Normally Qivi would not have come here.

But her Minokawa really did take a beating from Heero and her little beater of a transport shuttle wasn't especially equipped to handle it. She'd only expected to scout; the fact that she actually deployed the Minokawa was unexpected, the fact that she'd gotten into a firefight a bit of a problem.

So, she had taken up the offer, after sending a quick message. She'll have to catch up with the shuttle pilot... later. Right now, she had a lift, at least for a bit.

And that's why there is now a Meltrandi unit in the Nadesico's hangar.

The Minokawa is a vaguely insectile suit with an awful lot of blades; claws, talons, spikes on its knees, giant wing blades like a sword or an axe. Much more of a brawler than the relatively lightweight Queadluun series, and it shows.

It also opens along the front, and a large Meltran woman - half-Meltran actually, but who's counting? - is carefully extricating herself from it. She's big even for a Meltran; Qivi must be thirty feet, dressed in a flight suit of newer design in her usual green and black. Her mane of hair is particularly messy after a long trip in microgravity and it desperately needs a brush. And probably to be about ten percent less voluminous. Unlike Emalya, she isn't green; like Emalya, she has pointed ears, but good luck finding them past the hair.

"For all the good things about that suit, it needs a better hatch," Qivi says, and because she's big it *is* loud enough to carry a ways even though she's not really raised her voice. "I always feel like I have to squeeze just to get out of it."

She does raise it afterwards. "Oi! Thanks for the pickup!" Qivi starts to walk, being careful not to get in anyone's way. It's a habit you get into pretty quickly. "And the backup, for that matter."

It takes Qivi a moment to see Rita. Not because her heart is closed (it isn't; Qivi is big-hearted) but because she wasn't looking for her, having never seen her outside a MS before. "Oh, *you're* Rita? Last time I saw you, you were in that thing getting away from the Photon Power labs. And I don't blame you, given who they brought! You doing okay?"

To the others: "Thanks again. Captain." And others. She doesn't know anyone but Yurika's rank, but let's be honest: Qivi probably wouldn't use it if she did.

<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Amano has posed.

After the battle, Ryoko promised Hikaru drinks! And while she's totally going to one-up her by going for the expensive soda later, first the Nadesico has a literal haunting to deal with.

"You!" she points, at Rita's ethereal, transcending appearance. "You're..." Hikaru struggles to find the words, comically. For all her scars, she is a beautiful woman. "...actually kinda pretty?" She asides. "But that doesn't matter right now! You're the one who tried to toast my poor Aestie!" She accuses. "And now you're haunting my very space of living... you better not use your nifty invisibility powers to steal my collector's tape of Gekiganger from the A.D. era!" Hikaru by all accounts is a cheerful girl, and this outburst is.. definitely unusual? And it's all over her beloved Aestivalis and Gekiganger tapes.

And then she pathetically turns to Yurika, in her silly hard hat and overalls. "And don't tell me you're just letting her waltz in here... she almost turned my figure collection into ashes..." She whines. Why does she keep her figures in her cockpit? And why is she more worried about this than her own life being in peril?

The Zentradi presence doesn't seem to really bother Hikaru, though. Having powers that turn you HUGE are cool! "Oh! Welcome to the Nadesico everyone! And thanks for helping us out~ I'm Hikaru, one of our pilots! And more importantly, a future mangaka!" She's not quite in the mood to do her full intro it seems.

<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.

        A menagerie of faces converges in here - fittingly for how the Wing Zero called in such a wide variety of people! A Meltrandi who is super huge! A Meltrandi who isn't! Yurika still can't quite get what exactly the deal is with flipping back and forth between sizes like that...

        So she asks! Hands waving wildly up to Qivi while looking Emalya's way. "Hey! I've always wondered what the deal is with Meltrandi flipping back and forth between sizes like that! If it's not too weird a question to ask! Which I hope it isn't because I'm pretty sure all of you were huge and invented the...shrink ray thing, to hang out with humans, right?"

        A hand falls onto Hikaru's shoulder to try and ease the near brush with the agony of destroyed collectibles. "Uh. I mean we're not really in a place to watch really weird things happening and to then turn it away at the door...besides! That's the Gundam that saved the world from the GENESIS laser, so like! Treat that with respect! I dunno if...well, I don't know the deal with those crazy new Gundams at all, so...!" Rita...is harder to observe for Yurika though - she swears she sees the spectral girl one minute, but moves her eyes and the next she's gone, every time she tries to directly give her a hard look. Spooky. Fitting!

        -And then an accusing finger points to Trevor, as Yurika belts out, "Wait wait wait, you're that space pirate we keep running into-! Uhhh. Uh!!! ...mmm. I mean. I think everyone usually speaks okay of you? I thought pirates did all sorts of keelhauling and briganding and - YOU'RE NOT HERE TO STEAL THE NADESICO RIGHT!?" It all comes together! It all adds up! Yurika's going blue with the thought of such an obvious security blunder! "...well, I'm the captain, so if that's your sneaky plan you're gonna have to go through me! ...wait, unless the sneaky plan was to lure me down here?!" (but she was already down here...)
[Entertainment] Cascade Vermilion> Jubilost, like Amiri, is actually an established character (Amiri's the example barbarian, and Jubilost pops up all over the world books). he's a gnome, and he's a jerk but in a funny way. He writes travelogues. 

<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.

Rita laughs as Emalya calls her quiet. She is, indeed, somewhat transparent -- more so than she used to be, for those who have seen her before. "I'll speak up as much as I can. I'm happy to meet you properly, Emalya. You fought with courage against the Wing Gundam."

"That's me." Rita spins in place again, as Qivi identifies her. "And you're Qivi. I'm happy to meet you, too."

Is Rita doing okay?

The beautiful smile on the blonde woman's face falters a little. "I'm... safe. I'm free again. But I'm..."

Rita doesn't know how to say she isn't okay, so she just lets the sentence trail off, restoring her smile quickly thereafter.

Trevor's appearance gives Rita an easy escape from having to answer, quickly floating over to him with a brilliant smile. "Trevor!" His warmth reaches her, and her gaze softens even further. "I'm so happy to see you, too. I had no idea you were searching all this time... I'm sorry, things have been very complicated."

Brushing a hand along his arm, she leaves him with a sense of warmth of his own -- a sensation like basking in the sunlight on a summer day.

"There's so much I need to tell you. You see--"

Hikaru shouts, points, and compliments Rita? The Heart of the Phenex ducks down, putting Trevor between herself and the other pilot. "I'm so sorry, I have no excuse. I had to burn myself up to fight the monsters, and the Phenex ran wild without me..."

Blonde hair peeks out from behind the pirate's shoulder. "I'm really thankful you're okay. Geki...ganger?" Rita glances back at Emalya, looking to see if anyone else recognizes the word. "I don't know what that is, but I'm not going to steal anything, I promise. I won't stay long."

"Do you really keep figurines in your cockpit?" Rita looks curious, now. "Have they ever crashed into your helmet?"

Yurika lists one of the Phenex's most impressive accomplishments, and Rita smiles, pride overtaking her nervousness toward Hikaru. "I also defeated the monsters at Palau..." She says, with a slight blush. What could be blush-worthy about that?

"Please don't be upset with Trevor!" Rita, now, puts herself between Trevor and someone -- Yurika. "He's not like that! He's like a prince from a fairytale! Trevor would never, uh -- keel... haul? I'm certain of it! He's a good man."

<Pose Tracker> Emalya Zamana has posed.


"I appreciate this!" Emalya says to Rita, and then nods seriously. "If one must fight, then it is important to give all!"

"Ah, hello up there!!" Emalya says, waving cheerfully to Qivi. "I would join you but my Excalibur is designed for miclones! It would be inconvenient to try to float back..."

Also there's no Macronization machine that she sees handy, but that's just beside the point. Right? Same hat!!

Then to Yurika, "It is not so weird to ask. I think questions in general are not weird! We were indeed all at larger scale before we chose to Micronize! Though I admit I spend most of my time Micronized these days, it is somewhat more convenient in dealing with humans..."

"Thank you for the welcome!!" she says to Hikaru, then pauses. She tilts her head.

"Aah..."

"Gekiganger... A rare human tape...!? I wish to see it!" Perhaps she's the thief!!!

She beams at Trevor. "Yes, it is nice." A prince from a fairy tale...?

"Ah, you see," she says, "A pirate is free! So he would never tie himself down stealing a ship. Probably. That might be how it works."

<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.

Qivi realizes that, for the first time, it is *her* being asked why she's huge.

"You're either asking exactly the wrong person or exactly the right one," Qivi says, with a snorted-back laugh. "...this is kinda awkward, huh."

Qivi shuffles around, finds a spot, and crouches down. She still feels a little silly but she's way closer now.

"I'm only half-Meltran. I actually never macronized until, like... last year? But that thing," Qivi jerks a thumb back at the Minokawa, "fits a macronized pilot. I'm actually almost too big for it, I'm pretty tall for a macronized Meltran as it turns out, even though I'm kinda short normally. Doesn't always carry over, apparently! And like she says, sometimes it's inconvenient to switch. Plus, it takes a while."

Qivi doesn't normally talk about being a (half)-Meltran, so even if Yurika and Emalya don't pick up on that, Qivi feels like she's giving secrets away. Or possibly just exposing herself a little too much. So she clears her throat. "But normally I drive a wanzer. Just... wanzers and space don't always get along."

This is an understatement.

Still crouching, Qivi looks over at Rita. She seems thoughtful. Maybe she picked up on more than she let on? "I'll tell Koji you're free, at least," she says, with a sudden grin. "He'd like to hear that, I bet. I work with him sometimes. But if you need anything..." She isn't sure how to put it, either. But the offer is there, as is the honesty of Qivi's emotions; Rita has absolutely no trouble reading her. She is a wide open book; emotionally powerful and 'loud'.

Hikaru introduces herself. "Nice t'meet you. I'm Qivi, an arena battler out of Huffman. I'd shake your hand but, uh." She looks at her hand. "Maybe not. Been doing some other stuff too, which is why I'm up *here*."

Trevor is identified as a space pirate. Qivi's gaze immediately snaps to him, and she is a lot less generous about space piracy: "Well, if he tries anything I'll just pick him up." It's pretty effective. "But if he's just called a 'pirate' because he pisses off the Federation he's fine by me."

<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.

"After the Banshee dragged you and the Phenex off, I've been worried sick," Trevor says with a relieved smile. "The vibes it was giving off... Nevermind that awful Gundam's escape with Jona! I couldn't very well leave you all alone." It's not a hug, but the warmth of her touch is very much like sitting in a sunbeam. Trevor does not know what a warm ray of light in midsummer feels like, but this is pleasant, and he welcomes it. "Yes, please! I'd love to hear how you got free--"

Yurika has an accusation on her lips, and it is one heck of an accusation indeed! Trevor is in fact That Space Pirate They Keep Running Into. More importantly, she recognizes his brigandry! His keelhaulery! Newtype auras are a strange thing, because Trevor's soon seems to sparkle. It's like he were some kind of great-winged bird preening majestically at this specific kind of attention. You can almost see the glimmering motes as he flips his hair dashingly! If only he had a rose clutched betwixed his lips--

--but Rita steps up to... defend his honor? He's not used to being stood in front of! Trevor suddenly looks so very abashed (which nets him sparkling only a little bit less). "Ahaha, that's alright Rita. She has the right of it! I am the Dread Pirate Trevor Teach, indeed, indeed! In the black void of Vesta do my crew and I ply our treacherous trade, preying upon vessels traveling hither and yon and distributing the winnings to protect the smiles of children and our own bottom line! Yahahar~*"

He, uh.

He... Might be having a bit of fun here.

Maybe just a little bit.

"But worry not, for I have no need to steal your ship," Trevor dips into a bow as theatrical as the rest of his performance, "A pirate is free to do as a pirate wishes, and there is no rule saying that a pirate cannot also be a fairytale prince. More importantly! Isadore and I are good friends with your little miss Ruri, and I can't very well make her sad by hurting her Nadesico or its precious crew."

"And it just so happens that most of the ships that go by in the Vestan area are Jovian or Energy Fleet anyway, so I don't think we've much quarrel with you all in that reg-arr-d," that may allay Qivi's concerns-- somewhat, at least.

Beat.

"Gekiganger..." Trevor... looks thoughtful. "...Hmn. I think I've seen something like that on some of our raids... Maybe...? Or was it in one of the old timers' collections...?"

<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Amano has posed.

Yurika chides Hikaru, defending Rita because of her actions in saving the world from Genesis. That was pretty good, Hikaru thinks. But still...! "Okay, fine! She has a W or two. But c'mon? How would you feel if she brushed the side of the Nadesico and knocked apart your room that has all your shoujo stuff and your Akito shrine? Pretty mad, huh?" Yes, she's pleased to embarrass Yurika a little bit.

Rita apologizes and has no excuse. "Hmmm..." Hikaru considers. "It feels like that trope's gotten real common these days, honestly? Like 'oh no, my robot's outta control and no one can stop it! you have to forget about me and shoot me down!'" Hikaru mimics. "That's pretty stupid, so I guess I can forgive you!" She exclaims as if she was never mad, but eyes the Phenex. "But if I find any of my stuff's missing, it's over for you missy."

She glares to Trevor, next. "That goes for you too, Patchy! I dunno how Yurika thinks you're gonna steal a whole ship, but you better be living up to the romantic ideal of the noble pirate genre!"

Even Emalya's interested in her stuff. But she seems like a nice lady. "I'm pretty sure it's like, a sacred treasure at this. But if we can pinky promise it, then sure!" She lifts up her own pinky. Actually, she's not sure if Zentradi culture has pinky promises.

Qivi introduces herself, and she also seems pretty nice. She laughs nervously at the offer to shake hands. "Ahaha yeah... I'm pretty tiny. I'd probably be tiny even if I could grow huge like you. But who knows! Either way, it's nice to meet'cha Qivi. I'd love to hear your arena stories!"

And Trevor's recognition of Gekiganger: "Yeah, it's preeeetty old at this point. You could probably find it as buried treasure! That's not an invitation for you to 'discover' my copy, but... it's making a huge resurgence these days! Even Akito, our resident normie, likes it." 

<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.

Yurika's hand on Hikaru's shoulder turns to wildly shaking her this way and that - the taller captain brazenly abusing either her authority, her height advantage, or some combination of the two as she puffs out, "I definitely don't have a shrine!! What the heck!? HONESTLY I am getting SO impatient that I'm close to making a move myself except I . . . except I have no idea what the heck that kind of move would even be-"

        Don't think about that too much Yurika! Just don't! Keep the brain empty before you start putting two and two together on how this realistically works.

        Yurika can't help but rub her eyes a bit at Trevor defending...there's definitely someone there! There's definitely someone talking to her! But is there!? It feels more like a constant tugging at the front of her mind to try and perceive Rita, and the captain gets a biiiiit dizzy. Using Hikaru for support just a touch. "Huuu. ...I may not be sleeping well enough these days. Right after I promised Captain York that I'd take good care of myself so that I can order everyone else to take good care of themselves too. ...but ugh, fine, I can tell! I can tell. No real pirate would puff himself up that much with an honest yar har har. I won't bully him or worry too much ESPECIALLY if he's good friends with Ruri-chan. ...Unless he's like that Alexis guy that somehow became friends with Ruri-chan. ...Okay maybe Ruri's not the best barometer for making sure people are on the up and up, now that I think about it a little..."

        From her Big Sturdy Worker Bag, Yurika tosses Emalya a handy dandy little magnetic reel system, the kind people use all the time to do inconvenient stuff in zero-gravity! "If you wanna float up there to say hi face to face, here ya go! I wasn't using it anyway." <flashback to at least four incidents of Yurika puffing and pouting while stranded in the middle of a room> "...And it sounds like Wanzers have nothing on our cute little Aestis, that can handle any terrain in the whole wide universe! ...I wonder if we launched one of the frames and tried to make it dock with a Wanzer actually...I'm gonna have to ask Uribatake if that's a good combat strategy! Lightbulb, right over my head!~"

        (it's a terrible idea)

<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.

"To give all." Rita brings her hands to her chest, clasping them together. "Yes, I understand what you mean. There are some things worth more than your life."

Lifting herself into the air, Rita hovers just before Qivi's face, looking her in the eye more easily. "Thank you. Koji is a good man, and he deserves to have some good news. But!" Rita holds up a finger. "I've already told him. He's helping me shelter someone very important to me." A frown. "And the most annoying man in the entire world."

"I will need something." Rita says, more softly. "Very soon. Bad things are coming, Qivi, scary things too. I'm going to need the heroes of the living, like you, to fight."

Rita returns to the floor of the hangar, 'standing' at Trevor's side. "The Banshee is my sister, but she's hurt very terribly. It wasn't meant to be like this. For any of us, it wasn't meant to be like this..."

"I spoke to Michele." Rita says, simply, for how she escaped. "And promised not to leave her. I guess, I'm kind of doing that right now, but I did leave a note. I think she'll understand. Together, we got rid of the Vist representatives and went into hiding. But I'm still too fragile to fight the way I need to. The people who are in need..."

The green radiance surrounding Rita's spirit flickers dimly as she lowers her gaze, shame and guilt echoing from her transparent form. "Jona and Leina both. We must save them. They're suffering." Rita raises her eyes, meeting Trevor's own. "This is why I still exist. I couldn't keep us to the one true path, but I can still fight for the people I love. I have to get stronger, somehow."

As Yurika accuses Trevor of all sorts of terrible, pirate-y things, the pirate's aura glows all the brighter. Rita, broken away from her sadness, can't help but bring a hand up to her mouth, covering a laugh. A soft flush dusts her cheeks. Trevor really is handsome, just like a prince...

"If you're sure, Trevor." Rita concedes, at his reassurance. "I don't want people to think you're a bad person. You deserve being known as your true self!"

Rita puffs up as Hikaru points out how unoriginal the Phenex's rampage was. "Hey! Some things are universal constants! Anything with a soul can lose themselves in the midst of battle. And," She says, with a bit more pride, "Nobody shot us down."

"...thank you for forgiving me though. If you want to show off your Geki-ganker items, I'd like to see them. But if they're secret, that's okay too. I won't take any! I couldn't get them into my cockpit anyway." 

<Pose Tracker> Emalya Zamana has posed.


For Rita, Emalya gives a grim but hopeful look. "It is the nature of battle. ...But I do also believe that."

"Oh!" Emalya considers. "Yes, if I consider height, you are taller than I am at natural height. That is very interesting!"

Then she nods solemnly to Hikaru. "Yes. The 'pinky promise', second-most-sacred of all human promises. I will engage in this promise with you. Your sacred 'tape' shall be safe from me." She beams. "I will look forward to it!"

Then to Yurika, "What is this move you are considering making? I know what many moves look like!" Then, she catches the magnetic reel, and she considers--"Oh! I was not being strictly literal. I am aware that it is difficult to tell." She nods. "But I will take care of this thing!"

She stows it away for now on her belt.

"An arena battler!" she says to Qivi. "Well!! How impressive. I have not done much fighting until recently since the War. It is a pleasure to meet you properly." Pause. "And all of you!" 

<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.

"Vesta?"

It takes Qivi a few moments to remember where Vesta *is*, as someone who has never had much occasion to care about the asteroid belt. "Really? That little rock? What do you even ambush out there, Energy Fleet carriers?" She's half teasing but half serious; attacking a nominally neutral force never seemed like a great plan to her. And everybody buys from them.

She remains suspicious of Trevor. It's not subtle. But as long as she's keeping an eye on him she is pretty sure that he will behave, at least. Right now he seems more interested in charming the ladies than stealing their ship.

Which is fine by Qivi. She's immune to his charms, anyway.

"Ah, I got a lot of arena stories so that might take a while," Qivi laughs. "But sure, least I could do for picking me up. Nice to meet you all too. I've got a transport shuttle, but it's pretty small and it's not really suited to pick up a damaged unit... I'll do what I can to patch things up and then bail. I won't need many parts," because they won't have them anyway, "but if I could borrow some tools that'd be great..."

She feels unsuited to comment on shrines. But she is trying not to laugh, which is a little more obvious than it would be if she was five foot four and not, say, thirty feet and a handful of inches. Somehow this is *not* what she expected from a ship and its captain... didn't this one used to be military? (Well, para-military? Qivi's a little vague.)

Of course then Rita decides to float in her face.

Qivi had picked up that there was something weird about Rita, but she hadn't figured out what it was. And then Rita just *did* that. "What the hell!" she yelps, startled. She lurches backwards, overbalances from her crouch, fails to compensate, and comes down hard, abruptly sitting instead.

"..." Qivi DEFINITELY needs to get more of the story out of someone. "I dunno who you are, saying 'heroes of the living'," Qivi says, once she's recovered from her startle. "But I'm already fighting. I came out here because of - " She waves a hand. "I don't know Jona, but I was looking for Murasame Labs. The shit they've pulled - I figured if they were hiding, maybe it was out at L3, in the back end of nowhere. Instead I found that Gundam. But."

Qivi slams her fist into her open palm. THAT is loud. "They'll get what's comin' to them. And we'll help your friends; that's what I want to do anyway. Promise." 

<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.

No 'real' pirate!? Trevor is offended! OFFENDED!! "Hmph! 'Patchy,' is it!? What a slanderous nickname! It's a much better fit for some kind of library-haunting lavender layabout than a dread pirate such as myself. Just you wait, one of these days I'll pirate a full ship and sail it right across your starboard bow just to prove the point!" But at least based on his attitude, choice in accesories and the dashing nature of his personality, Trevor seems to be very interested in fitting himself into that whole Noble Pirate Trope Schtack.

"Vesta may be small, but it's home-- and not just to me! After the Captain crash-landed that old Thuverl-Salan into the surface, we were able to expand into some better living quarters! Really let some of the old timers stretch their legs properly, too." Trevor may be suspicious, but he does nevertheless have a certain joie de vivre about him. Or maybe he just likes telling stories about himself. Hm. "A lot of our 'clientele' is Energy Fleet, sure. But we get a few others too. Sundry Jovian scouts. Some Federation ships doing exploratory stuff in the area. You know, that sort of thing. Mostly what we're after is their mobile weapons- parts are valuable- and we benefit from deterring bigger exploratory mining concerns from snooping about in our space. The last thing we need is the anyone suddenly deciding they care enough about the Belt to try and govern it."

That has, historically speaking, rarely gone well.

"It's fine, Rita," Trevor reassures her again with a roguish grin on his lips. "I will never be anything but my absolute truest self!" There's a sense that he probably couldn't not be true to himself... And there's always the fact that a person lik this could still be 'true' to himself even while telling bold-faced lies. That's the Pirate Way, after all.

"...I see. So you reconciled with that woman..." Trevor's expression clouds somewhat. He looks... conflicted. "...I'm not sure about her, to be quite honest. I said as much during the battle, but a person like that... 'Greed' is one thing, but to pursue something so obsessively that you allow yourself to disregard the lives of others is..." He shakes his head slowly. It's not something someone as 'free' as Trevor Teach can understand.

Even if he does get 'Greed' quite well.

"...You took a risk coming out to meet Zero," he says, then. "That was brave of you, and I'm glad to find out that you're alright. But the way you are now..." Trevor's expression turns-- uncharacterstically, considering his general bluster-- quite genuinely concerned, "Why don't you let Isadore and I do the fighting for you, for a little while? Even the Phenex needs to rest, especially after what you've both been through." 

<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.

Qivi meets fist to palm and Trevor's concerned reverie is shattered by a thunderclap! His hair flutters in the shockwave. "Yeah, what she said. If there's aught we can do to help, please say so. I don't... I can't approve of what these people have done to Jona and the others." 

<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Amano has posed.

Hikaru pouts, and then flusters, when Yurika starts shaking her with an intensity that might even put Ryoko to shame. Before a smug grin reaches her face, even though she's still in mid-shoulderlock. "Making a move? No way! You guys haven't even kissed yet have you? And that's like first base. I guess it's better than Ryoko like, walking backwards into the negative bases." She says with all the affection in her heart. "Dunno what you guys see in him! He's just kinda a guy."

Rita defends herself with the laws of universal constants, which Hikaru guesses she has to concede to. "A lot of people do say that art reflects the soul. And you didn't! Weren't you supposed to get a prize for that?"

"Gekiganger," Hikaru corrects quickly, before moving on. "I think I believe you! Yours hands would probably just phase through it anyways." She scans her rather ghostly visage. "Now I'm kinda wondering who your favourite of the three pilots would be..." Are Jona, Michele and Rita a Gekiganger team??? "And uh... good luck with your friends. I know it's tough to see 'em go through things." She adds, earnestly on that note.

And well, Emalya also has her trust by oath of the pinky, even if she can't recall what the FIRST most sacred promise actually is. "Deal!" Hikaru exclaims. "We'll have to start with the pilot... then the series, then the V series. Then there's the movie but I kinda hate it but I have it anyways." She explains in rapid fire. She can't actually say WHY she hates it without spoilers, but oh well.

"That's okay! I'm actually pretty patient when it comes to stories... and hearing them from actual fighters is usually really good for inspiration, if you're fine with that!" She answers Qivi. "As for the tools, just ask Uri-pea! He's our mechanic, and he's good with the model stuff and the real stuff. He told me he's actually more inclined working on transporters than weapons of war so he has that goin' for him!"

"Oh come on, Patchy! You literally have an eyepatch that screams 'arrrrr I'm a pirate'. Next you're going to tell me you lost yours in a cutlass duel and were forced to walk the plank!" She counters in a very teasing tone. Somehow, she realizes he probably isn't actually going to try to sink the Nadesico. Because he's Ruri's friend. And if he wasn't Ruri's friend, trying would probably get him vaporized by a Gravity Blast. 

<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.

        "It's about DESTINY," Yurika puffs out. "It's maybe even not about the specifics of the kind of person they are! It's about the MIRACLE, about the OBVIOUS way a bond is deep and fated when someone who should be on an entirely different planet and also dead shows up right at your doorstep just as you were about to go to that very planet!"

        The shaking of Hikaru is emphasized with each overly loud word. Yurika is starting to gradually ascend from the ground, as you do without gravity. (Height advantage growing.) "That's why I knew, on that fateful day, to test my theory and seal that destiny with a kiss, because I knew the right person would be the one to save the world from the impending doom hovering above it!"

        Please wait. Yurika.exe is compiling.

        "...uh wait uh hang on with that."

        Faint modem noises.

        The briefest of glances towards the Phenex.

        "...oh right it was that Gundam who did the big glowy miracle thing that stopped the super doom laser. ...and also Lucine but I CAN'T POSSIBLY DO THAT SHE'S TAKEN wh- WAIT WHO'S EVEN PILOTING THAT GUNDAM-"

        She's only JUST remembered that silly, off the cuff promise. Yurika maybe could've just forgotten it who knows! But she's digging her own grave here. By sheer fortune and emotional amplification and other Fuzzy Psychic Phenomena - holding so much personal investment all the sudden in the Phenex makes Rita a lot easier to directly observe. And she can observe that the illusory girl is very cozy and in sync with . . . with Trevor!

        Slowly, the captain begins to rotate mid-air. Wordlessly.

        "...Why is it IMPOSSIBLE for any of these dreamy starry encounters to not be super duper awkward?! UGH every time a miracle happens to me that miracle is TAKEN, I can't BELIEVE this aaaAAAAA-!!!" 

<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.

Something about Emalya draws Rita in. She feels safe -- perhaps this is a Newtype sensation, or perhaps Emalya's aura is just powerfully welcoming. It's an odd combination, knowing how fierce a fighter she is. But Rita has never been one to deny her psychic promptings.

"I'm not sure what you fight for, Emalya. But I hope you win." Rita says to her, smiling gently. "I have a feeling everything will work out exactly the way it should, for you."

Though she was just trying to be friendly, Rita startles Qivi into toppling over. This, in turn, startles Rita, and she lets out a high-pitched scream of surprise. For a moment, her spirit vanishes. She's quick to return, though a bit further away from Qivi this time.

"Sorry about that! I'm dead." Rita says, as if she was describing the color of her hair. "So I can float around however I want. It's fun! Are you alright Qivi? I know you're fighting. If you want revenge on the man who hurt Leina..." Rita tilts her head, eyes closed.

She stays still and quiet for a moment. "...if you go after the man who hurt Leina now, you'll die. That's the only possibility. The time isn't right yet. Please be careful, Qivi. Stay in contact with your allies. Many people want to find Murasame."

"Yes." Rita agrees with Qivi's determination. "Then I'll call on you when the time comes. And you may call on me, if you need to. I'll be listening."

Trevor, again, earns a laugh from Rita, though his conflict over Michele echoes to her, causing her to grow more serious. "Michele has done many things I can't forgive." Rita reaches out, brushing against Trevor's hand, again sharing just a fragment of her warmth. "But she's someone I treasure. Trying to save her... it's the reason I've done everything. Even if Michele is unforgivable, I want her to stay alive. She deserves to live."

"I've taken so much from her. Her and Jona both. I can at least make sure they survive." Rita's green eyes blink wide in surprise. "You would really fight for me, Trevor? And the Phenex..." She laughs again, but if Trevor looks closely, he'll see tears in Rita's eyes. "I'd like that. Being able to rest and heal her is exactly what I need. I'll be counting on you, until the end."

Rita shakes her head. "I haven't--" Then, slowly, she repeats: "Gekiganger. What is it, anyway? A group of pilots? Are they Newtypes?" A softer look. "Thank you, Hikaru. I wish you luck, too."

Yurika, finally, notices Rita! The spirit waves a little shyly. "I am. I'm the pilot of the Phenex. Can you hear my voice now?"

A moment of mutual remembrance passes between the two women, and Rita blushes -- then looks playful. With one more touch to Trevor's hand, she floats toward Yurika, moving with the captain as she rotates.

"I'm not taken, but I am a Miracle." Rita giggles. "I've never done this before, but I worked hard for this prize, like Hikaru said. So thank you, Captain Yurika. I accept your gift!"

With that, the Heart of the Phenex leans in, her eyes closing softly. Being a ghost, she can't truly make contact with Yurika's lips, but all the same, the captain of the Nadesico may feel warmth bloom across them. It's a sweet, quick thing.

Rita pulls back, gasping, her eyes open wide. With a little squeak, she flushes brilliant red and covers her face. As if overwhelmed by the experience, her spirit pops out of existence, leaving nothing but a few stray green spiritual flames behind. In the background, the Phenex glows slightly brighter. Rita isn't far. 

<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.

Being... emotionally close to a ghost is an unfair thing. The lack of touch, of solidity, is an unfair thing. Even as a Newtype, Trevor is still a living thing. Being separated by corporeality like this is... difficult. But the warmth is something he savors nevertheless. "...I see," Trevor says, quietly. Even if she did so many terrible things. So many awful things. Still, she deserves to live.

...Or so Rita says.

"Then, I'll respect your wishes," he concludes, finally. It won't be for him to decide Michele's ultimate fate. Not at the tip of his sword, at least.

Even if part of him thinks that she's-- Michele's-- taken so much more from so many others. He supposes that singularity of purpose is something Michele and Rita must have in common, and wonders briefly what that might be like.

For someone whose wings have spread so freely for so long, it's difficult to imagine.

But what isn't, is the promise he made-- or the tears in her eyes. "Of course, we'll do our best. Though Isadore can't repair himself like the Phenex can, so hopefully our best is good enough. But... It's what I can do for you, so I will."

It's a promise. Until the end.

...

And then Rita-- kisses Yurika!?

Yuri... ka??

"O-oho?" Trevor asks-- as Rita bursts into a flurry of embarassed particles. He blinks once. Twice. He touches a hand to his cheek, cants his head, and smirks mischeviously, "...Ohho, was that the first kiss she's ever given somebody else...?" Oh no, he's been given ammunition. OH NO.

Beat.

"The secret of my eyepatch," he declares to Hikaru, arms crossed smugly, "Is far too dire to hand out so easily. Comfort yourself with pale mockeries of the truth of the matter! Ahahaha! But-- Isadore does have a beam cutlass, so you're right on that count."

(It also literally has an attack called Keelhaul, and Trevor has used it several times. So, yes, he has in fact keelhauled things.) 

<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Amano has posed.

Trevor's aside about the eyepatch also gets Hikaru to laugh. "Oh I bet! Screwing up while cutting onions maybe? That sounds pretty grisly... or I know! We'll call in Izumi. I bet she'll be able to guess! I think she knows all the ways a person can get get hurt or die." She sounds dead serious at the second part. "A beam cutlass, though? Pretty cool! I wonder how it'd stack up against the Gekigan Sword." (Which is actually just an Orb Anti-Ship Sword that's several sizes too big for her Aestivalis, lest that stop her.)

Rita at the very least does seem curious about Gekiganger. "Yep! They pilot a combining robot that can transform into different modes." Which sounds seriously similar to the Getter robots of their world. "Newtypes though? I dunno! This is definitely, like.. older than that even became a word yet. They do have guts and passion and lots though!" She flexes one of her noodle arms.

Yurika does seem passionate about her destined love for Akito, too. "Okay to an extent I CAN get that?" She replies, post-shake, as she's practically carried up by Yurika's ascension for lack of choice. "But I don't know! The stuff I read's way more about defying fate and destiny and all that crap, ahahaha..."

"But uh... yeah! About that theory! She's uh..." She watches Rita's ghost, generally phasing in and out of their physical reality. "Right there! And ghostly! See?" She points.

Hikaru is surprised that Yurika's keeping her word though... she thought she'd bail the moment it wasn't Akito. Or the moment it was a literal dead person. "It's always awkward because you MAKE it awkward Yurika-chan!" Hikaru balls her fists, because she is finally free. "Just go kiss her! I'll get the camera~" Wait, how does that even work? Is it just going to snap a pic of Yurika kissing the air? That's even more embarrassing, probably.

This whole debacle leads Hikaru thinking... maybe she needs to work harder and get distracted less like Ryoko's always telling her to! Surely that's not jealousy speaking, and surely Hikaru's not the type to get motivated by girls, right?

<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.

        The smoldering wreck of Yurika is fully dizzy-eyed and trying to wrap her head around ~ideal fates~ and whether or not everything she's considered in her entire life is worth it. It's slowly blossoming into happening. The metamorphosis is beginning:

        (the metamorphosis is that she's down bad into an existential crisis)

        -but for the warmth blossming across her face. Blinky blinky. The hazy, dreamlike image of Rita locking lips with Yurika, claiming the reward for valiant efforts. There's something tingly in the base of the captain's spine - it is, after all, a rather pure, emotional sort of experience, one unmarred by preconceptions, by the barrier between physical and spiritual. It overcomes her mind like the spilling of the tides, this 'ideal' of a kiss, this irrational action that somehow, some way, has come to be the embrace by which all interpersonal connections aspire to.

        She can't help but lean into it a bit. It's everything Yurika ever could have wanted. More than that. It's partly what she assumed was impossible. Baleful blue eyes closing tight at the momentary embrace...

        ...once it parts...

        ...she's tearing up, a little bit. Sniffle. Sniffle. "...w...what in the- ...I didn't even think - that's...it was...kind of amazing...it was...really amazing, but in that...way where...is it even real, did I imagine it - could I have imagined it, I...I..."

        Dreams and ideals collide head-first with reality in a way that sends Yurika, who's always felt like they're such fundamentally different realms, toppling in more ways than one. The sheer miracle love love force reverts her gradual drift downward, and the captain's plopped over a crate, fingers over her lips. "...Aaaaaa, I didn't even know...what to do. ...I didn't even consider my...my own feelings, or your feelings, just...so much paralysis from the-"

        Sitting bolt upright suddenly. "...Hikaru-chan. I'm going to need you...to show me...this 'defying fate' thing you're talking about. Whatever I've been preoccupied with for so long, it has NOT equipped me for the special love love bubbly sparkly moment to come. A miracle happened to me and I wasn't able to grasp it. ...So...show me some time, yes!!!"

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