2023-07-10: Is It Still 'Spring Cleaning' In The Winter?
- Log: Is It Still 'Spring Cleaning' In The Winter?
- Cast: Yurika Misumaru, Ruri Hoshino
- Where: Orb Union - Port Cafe
- Date: 2023-07-10
- Summary: The Nadesico is undergoing kaiju fumigation following Chaos Jirak's rampage, and Yurika is GRUMPY. Ruri joins her for lunch, and explains a little of Chaos Jirak to her... and is forced to eat a healthy sandwich for once in her life. Cowboy Ruri gets one step closer to reality.
<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.
Needless to say, it was a lot of explaining to the port authority of Orb when two kaiju abruptly appeared in its waters, and one of them had distinct energy readings coming from within the Nadesico's hold. Yurika could explain until she was blue in the face that the wicked Alexis Kerib kidnapped the slumbering princess Ruri using her dreams, but customs is proving very adamant that they'll need to inspect the Nadesico for, you know, illegal bio-engineering vats experimenting on captive whales and all that.
So now the whole ship is undergoing thorough hazmat-suited inspections rooting through every room in the hold, much as Howmei is nearly ready to fight them off from her precious kitchen's collection of spices, which only sours the situation! Yurika's had to drag her off to a...less than hospitable section of the port, an outdoor cafe set up amidst a lot of din and industrial noises in a rather squeezed part of the city. It's the kind of place that gets business mostly from weary travelers getting the good old red tape treatment held up in port.
The Yurika, too, is grumpy, no matter how much she's dragged as many appreciated company out. Slightly disheveled hair. An old pink tank top that she hadn't had the opportunity to properly launder, and white jeans a size too small. Fingers folded under her chin. Angy.
<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.
Ruri Hoshino, who isn't a princess but did do an awful lot of slumbering, isn't keen to be alone so soon after Alexis visited. That was fine when she was on the Nadesico -- Omoikane is everywhere on the Nadesico, it's his body, after all! -- but now they've been kicked out...
She comes to the cafe hand-in-hand with Minato Haruka, given that. She's in a white sundress which she was DEFINITELY wearing on the set of Bird Human while she was technicalling their difficulties. And when she sees Captain Misumaru, Angriest Captain In The World...
"Excuse me," Ruri says, pulling away from Minato. And Minato, seeing where she's looking, doesn't put up a word of protest. She goes to intercept Ms. Howmei, instead, who looks entirely ready to go on a sneaking mission into the Nadesico to save her spice rack.
They're gonna go get a drink. It's the privilege of women. As for Ruri --
"Captain?" Ruri asks, hopping up onto the chair beside Yurika, in the cafe. A loading truck screams by, with a cacophony of industrial noise; she frowns, and doesn't bother trying to talk over it. Finally, she manages, all proper and stoic: "... I'm sorry I've caused everyone so much trouble. I'll take responsibility for it."
<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.
Howmei's thinking about it. She'd do it! She'd mount the special operation to kick interlopers from the Nadesico with her bare fists if she had to! And she's telling Minato all about it, before the discussion inevitably turns towards the subject of those spices themselves, and the paths she's taken to acquire them, and what they mean whenever she uses them. Minato Diplomacy Check: Success!
...Ruri might have her work cut out for her defusing the Grumpy Bomb, but Yurika can't really stay totally puffy and pouty for long. After all! It's Ruri! Being her usual overly diligent and responsible self! And the moment she does-
"No! You did not cause a single lick of trouble. You're the one who got abducted by that crazy kaiju! That's what should take responsibility! Who did it. Was it that Alexis jerk? Or was it some other new crazy bas-" *VRRRRMMMMMM* "-who wouldn't know a happy birthday from their own as-" *BWOOP, BWOOP, BWOOP* "-even if you throttled them over a railing and threatened to be their friend!" -The world's Ruri Profanity Censor may have missed how that's a rather unpleasant turn of words to say even if none of them are bad on their own!
Menu shoved in Ruri's face. Yurika giving a BIG ANGRY swig of her coffee - and then gagging and sputtering and squealing. Too hot too hot too hot ow ow ow tummy scalding. You hate to see it. "Needless to say you're the one going through the most here, and everything here is on Orb's expenses anyway, so you ~help yourself~, alright?!" why does she sound almost threatening
<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.
Ruri is fourteen now. You can say the big-ticket swears around her! Just look at Asuka! They let Asuka say --
(Wait, do they? Has Asuka ever actually said --)
Unfortunately, any thoughts about what words Ruri can or cannot hear these days are drowned out by ALL. THOSE. NOISES. Ruri scowls, and glances aside to the camera, muttering, "fools."
She gets a menu in the face for her trouble! "Captain, don't injure yourself," she says, stoic, as she takes the menu. "... alright," she agrees to Yurika threatening her with a mid-morning snack, and looks down the list. When a waitress comes by to -- well, firstly offer Yurika some complimentary water, it's right there ma'am, please don't choke -- but once she's done with that, and checks in with Ruri, the girl looks up and asks: "Um... can I have some pound cake? And a can of orange juice, please."
Ruri of course just had cake for her birthday, but she's a growing teenage girl. (Allegedly. Allegedly growing. She's still so short.) There's always room for second cake.
Once that's done, she puts her menu down. "Anyway, it was Mr. Kerib, I think," she says, answering Yurika's earlier rant. She was listening! "Not that he appeared on the day, or anything like that, but there's really no one else who could have done that. Well, Dr. Dorothy did send me a message, afterwards, but... it's very unlikely she put Chaos Jirak there. She's never even been in my room... Mr. Kerib has, though."
HE WAS IN HER BEDROOM?!
"I don't remember everything, entirely, but..." Ruri frowns, lightly. "... you fought very hard for me, didn't you, Captain? Um... thank you," she says, a touch awkwardly. "I wish everything weren't so complicated, now, even if it's not me that did it, but... I'm happy you'd do that for me."
<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.
"HE WAS IN YOUR WHAT!?"
Yurika's hands SLAM down on the table abruptly, eyes going totally dizzy, fingers quivering and twitching. What a thing to blurt aloud, in public, during a quiet moment in the cafe's traffic! There's a few glances her way. It's unsubtle as heck.
"I don't think it's even remotely - Ruri what did I tell you about that guy! That's it. I'm getting you a bodyguard. Or getting you another Haro. A Haro Bodyguard!? Is that a thing!?" Yurika taps her phone wildly looking for results. Alas - merely lots, and lots, and lots of pictures of people stuffing their Haros into puffy suits. "This is starting to get kind of ridiculous that he's such a problem in your - has he actually showed up since we talked about him? I'm gonna have to be proactive about this, aren't I? Oh, I'll have the BLT and some tea~" Said without missing a beat mid-ranting.
She finally, at least, takes her seat again, huffing and murmuring under her breath about how'll she even handle a mysteriously appearing devil-man, before giving a big decisive point just inches from Ruri's face. "Alright, I know you've been through a lot, but it's not complicated to ME. Someone hurt my friend, I give them the what-for! You don't need to feel all self-conscious about it. ...u...ugh..."
There's a slight stagger in Yurika's uprightness, a hand covering her face, like she's worried about hurling a bit. "...n...nn...you've...had to apologize for things that aren't your fault a lot, haven't you? ...m. How about. ...I figure out. A decisive signal for if you do ever actually get something incorrect, and we try to remind you not to apologize until you hear someone telling you that something's actually on you? That...would be nicer."
<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.
Ruri flinches, when Yurika's hands slam down. "It was a long time ago, Captain," and her voice, at least, is still mild and disaffected, even if her eyes are troubled. "Before you talked to me about him. He stopped coming to the Nadesico after that, more or less. I only met him when I was really alone after that... but I did see him a few more times." Alexis didn't want to talk to Ruri when Omoikane was there, for some reason. Strange.
(Is a Haro Bodyguard a thing? Maybe Yurika can ask Harro to do it. He is Photon-powered, these days. And he's an expert at circling!)
"Not really," Ruri demurs the point about apologising for things that aren't her fault. She doesn't think she apologises for things she doesn't share the blame for, as a rule. "But I guess I can't stop you, anyway. I'm not trying to be rude. I just get impatient about no one owning up to it... it always feels like people waste a lot of time avoiding blame."
So it's her responsibility? The buck stops with the fourteen year old girl?! Ruri's a certified genius, but she can't hear how outrageous she sounds.
<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.
"I mean, just because nobody else owns up to something doesn't mean it falls on your shoulders," Yurika crosses her arms - as a light bulb goes off. "Mainly because, especially when it comes to the Nadesico - it's...it's kind of...my entire job! To be responsible for what goes down! Yes, Ruri-chan, don't be silly and go forgetting that I'm still the captain! See! That's what the hat's for!" Pointing pointing to her own, conspicuously hatless head.
The sandwich of destiny arrives, and Yurika quickly trails her tongue over her lips and digs in. Mogu mogu. Munch munch. Umaaaiii. "Well...huh. I wonder if he left that little thing in your room months ago. ...Maybe the whole fumigation process they're doing is kind of worth it, to catch any other nasty surprises he's left behind..."
...There's a bit of a peering at Ruri's cake, and Yurika diverts into the oh so momly, oh so careful, "...You've been through a lot, and it's your birthday and all, but you knoooow...you...need to eat a bit more healthily and not just eat cake instead of food, ehehe...!" Yurika's half of the BLT is unsubtly scooted Ruri's way. The powers of adoption are mighty.
<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.
"Captain, your lack of hat," Ruri comments, deadpan, without missing a beat.
She's not wrong, though, Ruri thinks. Yurika is the Captain. Ruri wouldn't want to be the Captain... it's too troublesome, isn't it?
Ruri's cake arrives, just the same, and she slides the little spoon into it. Chomp. "It's not that he left it there," she corrects Yurika, mildly. "I've had it since before I can remember. I guess he must have done something to it, though... I hope the fish are okay." Ruri is a little sad about her whale, even if it was a vessel for Jirak, now.
... well, if she's sad about Alexis bringing about the destruction of a hanging decoration, she supposes she has nothing to complain about.
Ruri frowns, though, when Yurika pushes half a sandwich over. "I eat fine," she says, a shade petulant. "You're the one who said to help yourself." JUST LET HER EAT WHAT SHE WANTS, YURIKA!
A moment later, though, she sighs, and picks up the other half of the sandwich, and takes a bite. Just so Yurika will stop panicking, she thinks, to herself.
<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.
Good. Good. Yurika files away this successful nibble of nutritious food under Operation: We Can't Just Let Ruri Stay This Beensy Forever. (This is a topic of heated debate aboard all the Nadesico.)
"Honestly when I said 'help yourself' I thought you'd get like a Clam Brochard Fricasse with Apricot Asparagus Avocado Broucade. The triple As are because it's an A++ dish!" Yurika gives the tehepero aplenty, before scrambling her hands over her head. "...you know, sometimes I forget that I'm not always wearing that thing. I've really become a total slave to corporate fashion, have I...uuu, and here I hoped I'd be debuting in something fashionable and iconic every time I made a major international appearance..."
She has an absolute mastery of meandering from topic to topic, huh? Speaking of which, "Oh right, the hat! Did I get the hat in the right size, Ruri-ruri? If I didn't - well, we can probably sneak away from this specific little corner of the harbor, and trade it in for one that fits. Or maybe we can begin the debut of Wild West Ruri-chan! They might even have practice ranges to learn how to fire a six-shooter! ...uh, probably not real ones. Maybe!?"
<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.
Inez Fressange says that it's likely that Ruri's fragile physique is related to where she came from, and Yurika shouldn't be too surprised if her growth remains stunted. Really, it's a marvel that she's so healthy, despite everything -- she's never gotten so much as a cold!
... Yurika has probably had to make sure that Inez won't investigate this too thoroughly, given how Inez has all the warmth and bedside manner of a particularly unsympathetic rock. (The rock has an explanation painted on the side.)
"I don't want to eat fish," Ruri says, wrinkling her nose a little. "Fish are my favourites." Favourite animals, she must mean. Not that a clam is a fish, but, well -- same-same, but different. "And I don't think apricot goes with asparagus." She at least polishes off the sandwich slice.
"I don't think it matters that much," she goes on, "but you could ask Ms. Nome about it, Captain. She has to deal with fashion all the time." Asking THE GRAND SHERYL NOME for fashion advice..?! Ruri's so brave...!!!
Ruri blinks, though, and looks up at her own head. Her hand reaches up, to pat it. "Miss Langley did send me a gun so I could defend myself, or something like that," she supposes, a shade unnerved, "but I don't have it right now. Goat-san's taking care of it." Goat Hoary, their military advisor, was absolutely not letting a child run around the Nadesico unsupervised with a real sidearm.
"... I guess the hat's a little big, though. Not that I blame you. Since I'm not the Captain, I'm not fitted for hats." Ruri pauses, and looks over, to Yurika. A moment's evaluation, and... she nods! "Okay. Let's go find a hat, Captain."
This is surely not a potent for things to come.
(Next episode: Renegade Cowboy Ruri-chan..?!)