2023-07-11: Staying Afloat
- Cast: Alouette Pommier, Leina Ashta
- Where: GGG France Branch - Indoor Pool
- Date: U.C. 0097 07 11
- Summary: Following another hypnotherapy session with GGG, Leina is accompanied by Alouette to visit the indoor pool. Leina reaches a milestone in her recovery, relearning the joy she found in swimming, while for Alouette it's a new experience altogether. Alouette affirms that she'll be there for her in her recovery and doesn't hold what happened on the Garuda against her.
- CW: Light medical details and references to previous conditioning
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Three times a week, Leina was moved from the Villa to 3G France in secret, under heavy guard. Pre-medicated under anxiolytics, she entrusted herself to Hinoki for her deprogramming sessions in hypnotherapy. It was still necessary for light sedation once there to get her even in the chair, but she hasn't had a meltdown since the start.
Usually afterwards, she went straight home under the mental fog that usually followed, today however, the sedation was lighter than most. She took a nap on a stretcher in the medbay, then when she woke up, downed some very black, very stale coffee left in the pot. Taking up her bag, she changed into something she'd brought along, a simple navy blue one piece swimsuit.
Tracing a finger idly over her scar on her abdomen, she brought up the straps up and over her shoulders. Sayla had put in another request, right now Leina didn't wish to be caught outdoors just in case they were surveilling the Villa. Thus, she'd asked 3G to allow Leina to use their indoor pool. Still tossing off the cobwebs of sedation and sleep, she flung water over her eyes, rubbed it in.
Stepping out of the locker room, she crept up to the pool, her eyes idly watching the distant reflections of aquamarine rippling across the room. Her face, distorted, her face, faded, her sense of self warped and pulled and stretched and in flux. Swimming had become one of her great joys on Earth. And now, she had to struggle with the feelings of apprehension.
Of being enclosed in, deprived of stimuli other than the cool sensation of water.
Creeping up to the edge, she puts in a tow, testing the temperature. Warm, heated. The polar opposite to the room temperature water which rendered one hypothermic over time given the body's temperature being positively hot in comparison. There's no reason for her to be afraid of this water, it's not going to send her shivering. It's not going to place her in a fugue state that sends her mind elsewhere for hours to torment others.
It's just there, waiting for her to rediscover the simple elemental joy of swimming. All she needs to do is leap in. The fear, the apprehension fades, it's not like the first time Sayla taught her of the weight of a handgun. It's not like hearing the sound of that gunshot over and over again.
She just has to take the plunge.
Instead however, despite that knowledge, she slowly lowers herself down to the edge of the pool, moving one leg out to the side as if she were going to sit cross legged, the other she immerses lower into the pool. And looks upon the surface at her face, distorted, her face, faded, her sense of self warped and pulled and stretched and in flux. It's hard to say why the tears come when they do.
They just do. Seated in that position, hand dabbing at her face.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
For a couple weeks now, Alouette's returned to her post on Orbit Base. She said it herself, it's where she's meant to be. But it doesn't mean she doesn't spend plenty of time at the France office, either. Her mother's home is just a short train ride away for a reason...
Alouette informed Hinoki, who informed Leina, that she'd be coming ahead of time post-treatment. And perhaps Sayla preferred that Leina not be alone in rediscovering her love for swimming.
Alouette's not quite like Leina in that sense; the spa is one thing, but she never saw the appeal of swimming on its own. She told Sheryl that much, she doesn't even own a swimsuit. Nor have they went shopping just yet - she borrows a basic school navy one-piece much like Leina's from Jindai. It's not her style, but it's okay.
Visually, Leina might not immediately recognize her when she shows up, towel in hand. It's not the fuzziness from the conditioning - she has her hair down. Akane got to see that side of her - less guarded, precise, careful, and she thinks that Leina should get to see it, too.
She takes a seat near that edge of the pool - it's telegraphed, she doesn't wish to suddenly surprise Leina even if she knows she's coming. "Leina. It's Alouette. I came to check on you.. just like I said I would." she says, when her presence is clear. "Are you.. okay?" She immediately asks. "You're crying." She points that out a little more matter-of-fact than intended.
She feels the water against her legs, sees her own reflection against the water. "It's usually easier to take the plunge with someone else." She says quietly, as she makes herself dip lower.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Indeed, if Leina had to speculate why Alouette hadn't taken to swimming so well in the first place, she would suspect is the hair. As a practical girl living in poverty, her solution as a child to the hair question had been simply to lop it all off.
Still though, when she sees so many of her classmates, other girls defining so much of their femininity by their hair, sometimes she lingers, looking at herself in the mirror for longer.
As Alouette approaches, she feels at least the arrival of someone familiar, looking up and hastily rubbing away at her eyes.
"I-" The image of Alouette with her hair down is indeed a striking one as she sits down beside her, and one that she can't line up with her memories.
It takes a moment for it to settle in, as she sniffs and wipes away at her eyes. "Right- I- that's right. She- she told me-"
Alouette might quickly get the impression that Leina's memories of the sessions, as well as the before and after are not always the best, given the medications...
... well she's oriented now at least. "Oh God-! I didn't intend for you to..." She trails off, as if the implication of what Alouette was trying to do by putting her hair down, by being here sinks in some and she tries to smile at her, and then it wavers and fades as she takes a deep breath eyes closed, and tries to explain, "Just... a mess right now. I've been a mess since... I got back. Like... my feelings aren't quite mine, and my thoughts aren't quite either."
Perhaps that's why her reflecting face disturbed her, she'd always had a strange relationship with herself in a mirror, ever since Glemy Toto.
"Don't... feel like myself. Feel like someone else... a lot."
She inhales sharply and tries to refocus on what she was here to do, "That- that might be best, yeah um." She gives her a long look, before asking quietly, "Is it really okay? After... after everything? I still feel like..."
She shakes her head, "... I know what you said up there, that you'd never be satisfied until... but..." She looks away, guiltily, one hand rubbing her opposite arm, "... I don't know, I still feel... responsible for... what they did, to the three of you, in a lot of ways, even if I know logically..."
Again she trails off, as if trying to rein all those thoughts back in. Even knowing it's not her, she can't stop feeling, thinking that way.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Alouette waits patiently for her different look to set in for Leina. And at her panic, she simply shakes her head with a subdued smile. "Seriously, it's fine. I'm still really attached to my current hairstyle, but Akane encouraged me to go for this more often. I was... surprised that was even something she wanted to see."
Seeing Leina try to smile back, she adds, "Besides... I thought you ought to see a less guarded side of me. Show you I don't need to keep up my defenses around you." That even after everything she went through aboard the Garuda... a friendship with Leina Ashta is not something she fears.
Her smile does fade then, when Leina explains her mental state - that she feels like a mess. Alouette can certainly sympathize with the sentiment that her feelings aren't hers - it was what the majority of her own deprogramming and therapy was about.
"Mm..." She mouths, splashing a bit of the water with her hand. "I don't like saying this... but it's true that it's going to be a really long process." Even before the Garuda, Alouette still had 'bad days' every so often. She considered it the price of her memories. "Still... you're the one who decided to start on that process, and no one can take that decision away."
When Leina agrees, Alouette dips in further. It's a strange sensation, the water on her hair. Brushing it back, she glances back at Leina. "Of course it's okay. I didn't heal overnight obviously... but I want to take the step back forward. As many chances as it takes, right?"
"Y-yeah, I did say that, didn't I?" She replies, a touch embarrassed. "I don't really know how my feelings were able to reach you, but if they helped... I'm glad they did."
But Leina can't help but stay feeling responsible for her and Akane and Rikka. "I don't know if you were ever debriefed on this, but... the creep doctor never actually conditioned me, if... if you're worried about that. He put together this elaborate setup to lie to make me easier to subdue. I had no idea until Akane and I planned the escape, either." She can't actually bring herself to say the man's name right now.
"Even if he did, though? You were in the same boat as us for even longer." No pun intended... "So the least I can do is be here for you now."
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"Mmmm- I guess I can see why." Leina responds quietly after a moment's thought as if it were somehow calming to think about the subject matter, something as simple as hair, "Seeing someone like this just, feels like you're closer to them? Especially when it's someone who presents herself like you do."
Her eyes trend down and away, thinking about it, then her eyes shut, "It's... nice. It feels more fair? Right now all my defenses are just..." She gesticulates with a hand, making a motion like they're down, they've crumbled.
She means psychically, but it's more than that too, "... I kinda, overshare, because I can't trust myself to have a filter right now."
There's a slow nod as Alouette acknowledges it's going to be a long process, "Was a long process after Neo-Zeon too... almost wish... I had another scar to show for it."
Alouette might catch her hand rubbing the right side of her abdomen, right over the synthetic fabric of her swimsuit. "Feels cruel for it all to be in my head this time."
Well, not all, the swimsuit looks almost, oversized for Leina. At some points Alouette can see her ribs. She was always a healthy weight before, and not just by society's standards for what a healthy weight in young women her age are... but actually healthy.
As she sees Alouette dip in further, Leina takes the first step by simply uncrossing her other leg and letting that slide into the water too, at the liminal border where it breaks the water and the light refracts off of it, changing color, making it lighter.
"Still feel bad, since you were... reexposed to all that, for you to need another chance."
However, to her 'right?' she eventually nods slowly, and putting her hands down, slides herself into the water, up to waist deep, then lower.
Her legs start to tread, and indeed that feels emblematic of her condition as she explains, "I've always had a... long range for reaching out to people. During the War I reached out to Judau- and those with him a lot, from Earth, while they were on Side 3. Newtype technology just, amplifies that, especially when it's... resonating with other strong Newtypes."
As Alouette asks if she's been debriefed on Murasame's tactics she gives Alouette a small shake of her head, "Oh. I- no, noone ever told me." She takes a deep breath, "That's a relief... just, even so, that doesn't mean it wasn't... difficult for you, being gaslit like that. Still a form of..."
The word takes some time to roll off her tongue, like it was hard for her to accept it even now for herself, like her mind keeps transposing it with 'training', "...torture."
The same boat as them, but even longer, Leina takes some time to work through her feelings there. Because some part of her still tells her she was willing, it was training, she wanted all that to happen.
All of it.
"Well, I definitely appreciate it. You- you being here. If any of you blamed me at all... or if you didn't, and still needed some time away because it was painful... I'd... understand."
Looking at Alouette, shifting her hair in the water, she actually cracks a smile, "Especially since you're exposing yourself to looking like some Jellyfish Princess a little, for my sake."
It's just a light tease, the lightest of them perhaps, but knowing she is putting that effort out there, it does allow her to push herself to be... herself, a little more.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"Fair... that makes sense." She considers Leina's words, her own sense of defenses falling apart. "There's a certain level of trust to it. Not that I never trusted anyone before, but..." She trails off, not sure how to complete that thought.
"Sometimes it can be better to get that sort of thing out anyways... I know so many people who just, bottle in their trauma forever." Her recent conversation with Guy springs to mind.
Leina's wish that a scar came out of this experience too is complicated, to Alouette. "I get what you mean sometimes... I never had physical scars." Which shows that her defense mechanism of careful presentation is a mental one. "Doesn't mean it hurts any less. Just differently." She nods in pained understanding. She notices her weight is a lot like it was on the Garuda still, but it doesn't feel right to comment.
She also nods when Leina explains she still feels bad. "I wish I wasn't either... but Guy told me something the other day when we were talking about it. Courage isn't being strong enough to just withstand anything on your own... it's more like trusting yourself, and those around you to help you get back up after you fall." She explains. "If it has to happen at all, I'm happier taking another chance than staying on the ground forever. You helped me affirm that, after all." But Leina nods, so ultimately she hopes her point's taken.
"Mm.. I figured it was a Newtype sort of thing." She nods, at the specifics of the psychoframe resonation. "Even now.. I guess you're good at bringing people together." She's seen it on the small scale too, sparking friendships and encouraging relationships. It feels right to reinforce that for her.
"Torture." Alouette agrees, without skipping a beat. "I won't downplay that it took a bit for me to trust myself again. But now that I'm confident I can... you're not the person I blame. It's him."
She'd understand if they did blame her, but she appreciates her coming anyways. Alouette accepts that for now, and simply reinforces her feelings by staying, in the water.
And then Leina... makes a joke?! "Pfff- is that a manga or something?" She giggles, making a gentle wave, using the power of her hair. For all the heaviness that underlies it, she wants to show Leina, even show herself by doing something she normally wouldn't, that it's still okay to have fun, too.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"... but." Leina tries to finish, as Alouette trails off, "Hair can be such an intimate thing to some girls. It's a different sort of trust."
And as her eyes fall upon her, she allows a small smile, "And I appreciate that you're offering it, especially when I'm in a state where I can't even... trust myself, only the people around me."
A small tilt of her head, and then slowly she allows her hand off the wall. Her physical fitness isn't, what she'd like. They forced her to exercise even in starvation mode. Even when she couldn't.
She knows she's going to feel winded doing things which she used to do for hours without breaking a sweat.
"Yeah I- definitely know someone like that too." Her smile seems, embarrassed? To some degree, as she thinks about- "Mom for instance."
That's- something new for her, calling Sayla, Mom. Yet she tries not to make it some big thing.
As Alouette speaks on scars, Leina bobs her head, "Yeah... exactly. Prefer the physical pain. The weeks in the ICU, the physical therapy after." A shake of her head and a sigh as she treads, "There at least it felt like you could see the end point."
Alouette speaks on the nature of courage, and Leina looks momentarily embarrassed, "I'm... new to the idea. I guess I always saw myself as the one helping others back up, setting them straight. Even when I was... a kid."
A small motion, as she weaves around in a circle on the surface of the water, not even with good form on her stroke, she's still keeping her head above it. "I thought I did trust the people in my life, but I guess on some level, I didn't. Being the put together one, the responsible one, it's like I couldn't hand things off, leave them to other people..."
Ultimately the point is taken, but she does glance at Alouette out of her periphery, like she still feels a little ashamed, and can't help it, "I'm glad you were able to, affirm that. I feel like I did... very little, but I get that I'm not thinking rationally."
Again she looks a little embarrassed as she mentions how good she is at bringing people together as she thrusts her arms forward, water sloshing a bit, "Ughhhh, I wasn't even trying!" Before she lifts her hands up to her face, "It's so embarrassing- there I was shouting all this- STUFF to EVERYONE! Pushing people away- and- all along, I guess- I just wanted people to understand- to not leave me alone, no matter what I said."
She wasn't herself, but that doesn't make it any less embarrassing... rubbing her eyes she peels her hands back away from her face. And nods weakly at her statement that it was him.
"Yeah I know. Even having seen myself- what they did to me, my mind is just wired to rationalize it all that I'm- just as responsible as him. Which is-"
She makes a gesture with a hand, trailing water droplets as it leaves the water's surface, as if to say 'frustrating'. "-I hate it."
The moment of levity helps perhaps to show she's still in there, "Maybe! I just always joked with the long haired girls on my swim team that their hair looked like jellyfish on the water surface-! And you- you're gorgeous like a Princess, so it just felt like it fit!"
There is a smile there, it's clear at least that she's not really flirting with her or anything, just that she feels comfortable enough to say such a thing.
"Me on the other hand?" Leina abruptly dips her head underwater, holding for a few seconds, as if exposing herself to the feel of it again to see if it's something that will freak her out- before breaking the surface again.
Smiling at her, still dripping, hair now matted and clingy she notes, "My hair is short enough that I look like some kind of wet dog in the pool."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"I think you might be right." Alouette nods, but in the water it's kind of more of a head bob. "And... you're welcome." She smiles back, warmly.
Alouette tilts her head for a second when Leina refers to 'mom'. Right, that must be Doctor Mass. Alouette flashes a smile about that. She's.. really glad for them. They deserve that family bond more than anything.
Alouette's not sure how much her opinion on physical injuries 'counts' considering how fast they naturally heal; but she considers Leina's own position on the topic. "And when it comes to getting physically injured, it's easier to trust your own senses about it?" She posits. "Mental stuff is just a whole mess." She concludes.
"Used to be the same way." Alouette laughs a little. "I was only a kid but I was running and dragging Guy all over the place, because I thought I knew better than anyone. I got mad at him for stopping at Kitchen Hana for too long. Who needs dessert when Mikoto is still missing? I guess that all shattered when I would've never been able to stop BioNet's plan without slowing down and trusting other people, too. Or stopping to realize why the mission was important in the first place." She sighs. She's been thinking about Mikoto a lot lately.
"I'm mostly just saying that, because it isn't too late to trust other people's courage. And your own too." She means that - she's thankful for Leina for a lot, insisting on making sure she was okay after Hell and Heaven, and her general empathy to people like her, or the Purus. Even if that empathy was twisted for awhile.
Leina's embarrassment, at all the things she said to those reaching out to her, Alouette tries to understand. Gosh, imagine so many people hearing and seeing you on your worst day... that would be embarrassing! "At the very least, no matter how hard you pushed.. it wasn't enough to repel everyone. They didn't give up on you."
"It sucks," she murmurs, at Leina's conditioning that she's just as bad as Murasame. "You didn't even need to, but at least you apologized. The only thing Murasame would be sorry about was that he didn't have time to do anything worse." She scoffs, pushing some water the opposite direction.
"Hehe... something like a Princess of Braves, wouldn't you say?" She grins, at Leina's compliment, tossing her hair aside again, in a very mock princess-like gesture.
"A wet dog, huh? Well, don't let anyone tell you that tbat isn't the most adorable." She compliments in turn, with a smile. It's not quite flirting, but something along the lines of what she'd tell Hana, whose haircut also has a similar effect to Leina's in the water.
"Hmm," she considers. "Think I can reach the bottom of the pool with my hand?" She challenges herself, holding her breath.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"Yeah. Just... yeah. I could at least, see the bullet wound. Tell myself it was something I needed to let heal, address-"
Leina just lets out this exasperated sigh, and shakes her head, "-but when it came to the trauma of, my time with Neo-Zeon, I could, put it off- cope with it in ways that weren't... the healthiest."
She makes a gesture as if to indicate 'taking care of others instead' even as Alouette describes her own experiences, and there's a small laugh, "I can just see you doing that- back when I was a kid I really did go out there to try and drag Judau back home by his ear. Whenever he missed school - whenever I thought he was hanging out with the wrong crowd that were pushing him towards- a criminal life. Trying to just - get everyone there to do what they were supposed to do! Because everyone was just being so - irresponsible!"
Making another small gesture with a hand, "I even tried to handle a hostage situation once with my own plan of a chicken in a box." A small chuckle, and a shake of her head, "It - almost - worked."
There was more too of course, a lot more. In the end it amounted to the same thing, she didn't trust the people in her life - as she always felt responsible for them.
However, she echoes a certain idea in Alouette's statement, "My own courage..." And trails off, "... it's... difficult for me to trust anything about myself right now..."
She sounds, subtly shy in this moment, before her eyes flit back up to Alouette, "But... I do trust you. And if you say I have it- then I must, even if I don't feel it."
There's a groannnnnnn long, and very much like a teenager caught in a moment of embarrassment as Alouette points out it wasn't enough to repel everyone. "I was so stubborn! I always thought it was one of my better qualities- and they turned THAT completely on its head."
There is a pause, then a blink, and again she looks briefly shy in a way that seems incongruent for her, "I- I guess I can at least trust the impulse that I want to makes me- better than him. They're just, weird for me at the moment. I was always taught an apology should be an acceptance of responsibility, admitting what you did wrong, redressing that by saying how you'll do better."
A hand rubs her face, and there's a sharp, laugh that feels a touch broken, "And I can't even figure out how much wrong I did to figure out how to accept responsibility, redress things! So every apology feels- off the mark, in some key way."
As Alouette teases back about the Princess of the braves, after a moment she lets out a small giggle, and a snort, "Something like that! Better be careful with it leaving this room, or everyone saying things like 'Your Brave Highness' will be the least of it!"
And then a genuine, small laugh about her wet hair being akin to a wet dog being adorable, "Well I'm glad you think so. I've had the shortest hair in my classes for years, so it's been something I've always had to be a little defensive about... like my pride as a Colony girl, or something."
Leina blinks at her challenge then allows a tiny smile, "Course you can! Probably super easy for you-!"
But then, in that moment, she winks at her and raises on the challenge- "Bet even out of shape I can do it faster though!"
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Alouette gives Leina a sympathetic look, when she explains that even long after the bullet wound healed, she was still not coping with her time in Neo-Zeon. The way Murasame used that to his advantage... it's totally unforgiveable to Alouette.
"I've only seen Judau a few times," Alouette admits. "But gosh... somehow I can visualize all that in my head perfectly." But it also shows how Leina as she is today was shaped by these experiences.
"And oh my god... a chicken? Seriously? How does that even work?" She looks completely baffled. "You're... you're going to have to give me the full one day."
"Courage... is something that everyone can have. It belongs to all of us." Alouette affirms. "Even if you didn't swear an oath like I did, it comes from the heart. And I know you have a good heart, Leina." She splashes back up, to gesture to her own heart of course.
There's a weak smile as Leina groans about how stubborn she was. "Stubbornness can really be such a double-edged sword sometimes... and then the best shield against that is even more stubbornness from someone who cares." It sounds silly, but that's how she's seen many such things in her life go. It sounds like the same is true for the Ashta siblings.
There is a lot of weight behind an apology, as Leina says it. "It's true... the only responsibility you have right now is to heal." Alouette points out - in the same way she was told her only order was to recover. "And then you'll have all the time in the world to figure out how you feel about the rest."
She can't help but completely cringe-laugh at 'Your Brave Highness'. "Seriously... if Akane hears about that one, then it's all over..."
"Hair is very important to me!" Alouette exclaims. "And my favourite part is all the different styles and shades it can come in. You could pull off lots... but I think yours suits you just as well."
But the challenge back... that really lights Alouette's competitive spirit, and there's a certain fire in her eyes, as she grins. Even out of shape, Leina has more experience with this, so..."Challenge accepted~"
"3, 2, 1... Go!" Holding her breath after go, she dives as far as she can, trying to propel her body down as fast as she can. With the constraints of the water, she really lacks some of the grace usually present in her movement... But in the end, this is two recovering girls trying their damndest to have fun.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
It'll be totally unforgivable to her one day as well, but, for now at least, she appreciates the sympathy.
When it comes to Judau she offers a laugh, and a shake of her head, "Most people don't believe me when I say he's like that, until they meet him! Then suddenly everyone thinks I've been playing it down!"
Her disbelief on the Chicken offers a small grin, "Well, he requested a meal. So, I put a Chicken in a To-Go box. When he requested that I deliver it as I was non-threatening, I opened it in his face."
A shake of her head, a rueful look, "It almost worked, Iino was just... clumsy, getting out of the position he had him in. He got back safe by the way, just- it was harrowing for a while."
Leina's expression looks almost shy again, "The oath sworn through courage..." As she contemplates that, it feels so different than Judau and their time in the first Neo Zeon War. Her brother never lacked for courage certainly, but there was never an oath. "I try to at least. ... Or at least I di-"
She has to cut herself off, and close her eyes, as if she momentarily failed at whatever mental exercises she does to keep herself centered off those thoughts.
"I try." She reaffirms, before chuckling softly when it comes to stubbornness, "I guess that proved true this time."
She always thought her own stubbornness would outstrip Judau's, but when it comes to never giving up on her... well, Judau would beat her stubbornness every time.
Her only responsibility is to heal. For a time Leina looks, hesitant, as she can't trust her decision making then...
... but she decides in the end not to put that on Alouette too right now. The idea of the future being set in stone in some ways, it's a lot! It's a whole lot.
So instead she just winks at her, "I'll just fail to mention it to her." As she puts a finger back up to a lip. And then there's a small laugh laugh, "Oh sometimes I DO wonder, but in the end pretty sure all the maintenance would drive me nuts."
She pulls a soaked clump aside to demonstrate the length, "And it'd take FOREVER for me to grow it out!" There's other factors too, like, part of her wonders...
... was he going to force her to grow it out, to be someone's ideal child bride? Thoughts which stick with someone.
As Alouette's competitive spirit ignites, Leina gets this small close-eyed grin, as if her confidence was simply that high.
And then as she counts down, Leina just basically tips over and inverts almost immediately as her center of gravity rapidly shifts, hands moving in easy strokes as she darts swiftly to the bottom of the pool. Certainly she's not as fast as she was before, all that well earned muscle mass is gone.
But Alouette will catch her touching the bottom with one hand, and waving at her with the other before long, with that same close-eyed smile, only now, mostly upside down.
Even out of shape, it's second nature for her having been on the swim team for years. Competitive or not though, they're having fun.
And that's what she'll do with her, for a while longer in the pool. Not all parts of recovery need to be serious talks about one's feelings, sometimes it's merely recapturing the enjoyment of something meaningful.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"Apparently Guy and Akane had to brief Judau on Triple Zero before, and Akane needed to like, draw a whole cartoon chart for him." Alouette chuckles. "We still have that just in case, I think... but I'm pretty sure it's only actually been pulled out for Judau."
As for the story about the chicken, Alouette is mesmerized in its unbelievability. The Neo-Zeon War was bleak, and yet this was going on behind the scenes too? "Like a live chicken? That must have been really something... it's a good thing you were able to get out safe, though."
"The oath has a lot of mystique behind it, but between you and me, it's basically a glorified guideline to not give up hope and to never sell out your friends. Either way... we kind of take it very seriously." She at least, feels a lot of pride about it. "You do." Alouette agrees, even after Leina cuts herself off.
"Exactly," she smiles, when Leina doesn't hesitate when it comes to stubbornness. "There's a lot of overlap between the two - courage and stubbornness."
And even if Leina isn't sure about her future right now, Alouette knows the best thing she can do right now is be there in her present. Whether it's about these difficult topics, or...
She mimics Leina's lip-seal motion, saying, "It's a deal then~"
"As I've gotten used to it, I honestly don't think about the maintenance very much?" She runs a piece of hers, through her finger. "But I've worn my hair in curls since I was small, so I bet it's very very different when you're starting from scratch..." Regardless, however Leina chooses to wear her hair, she has Alouette's full support.
Alouette almost wants to just... stop, and watch Leina in motion, as even when she's not at her full speed anymore, it's very satisfying to watch her dart down like an arrow. But she does try to match her speed, even when it's at something she's woefully inexperienced at. So when Leina reaches the bottom first, she'll get a wide-eyed expression from Alouette as if to say 'how in the heck do you do that in water?', before touching down a few seconds later.
And then she swims back up to the surface, taking in a big gulp of air. "Geez... you're so fast." She mock-pouts. "Let's do another round! I'll get the hang of it this time for sure!" However much longer it is... she's glad she came by. Recapturing the joy of swimming, and finding new joy in it... they've definitely both got something worthwhile out of this.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"Oh God-! Is that what they were doing while I was developing our plan to figure out where Char took-!" Leina puts both palms over her face, "He is so embarrassing sometimes."
She loves him to death, he's the most important person in her life, but that will never not be true.
"Yep! We had a live chicken on board the Argama. It was always causing trouble, getting everywhere-! I mean, we were in microgravity most of the time!"
There's a soft, fond chuckle, "And yes, it's exactly as strange as it sounds."
The talk of the Oath's mystique being just a glorified guideline makes Leina feel more comfortable about it, strangely? Perhaps she simply can't wrap her mind too far around GGG's brand of heroism.
She tries, but her way of looking at the world just tends to feel so different. As she found out, it's much easier for Sayla to buy into that way of thinking than her. Which is... something she's still thinking about.
A deal is struck, and a competition is had, before Leina breaks the surface and in the aftermath she grins at her, "I'm out of practice, but I was the best on my school's team in Freestyle and Butterfly for years."
It's a tough thing to admit, she was worried she'd be scared of the water for a while, but in the warmth of the pool - and with someone else, all the fears of the sensory deprivation experiments just, don't come back to her.
"Another then, sure!"
Sayla always teased that she was an Aloja for a reason. In short order, she proves it. And before long she's at least teaching Alouette a few tricks to it.
If she's there to help her with her recovery, she's more than happy to help her discover some enjoyment of the water. It's not long before she tells her more stories too...
"My first escape attempt, believe it or not- trying to swim in a normal suit just like this-!"
Leina starts making ineffectual motions with her hands and legs, "Needless to say, I got nowhere, and he just- scruffed me like I was some unruly cat."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"Embarassing, sure..." Alouette giggles over Leina's double face-palm. "But with him around, it sounds like there's never a dull moment."
"Something like that happening on Orbit Base is one thing... but in Low-G? I'm impressed you were able to wrangle it in the first place!" She exclaims. It's nice seeing Leina reminisce like this, though.
And well, Alouette understands if Leina can't see the world the same way as she does. Their experiences may be different in many key ways, but it makes her no less pleased to be her friend.
That sentiment only grows stronger as they spend longer in the water. Seeing Leina regain that joy and overcome her fear of what water represents is its own joy.
And of course, Alouette is both a fast learner and Leina a good teacher. It's not long before she gets faster and faster, and more comfortable moving in the water. It helps, too, with her common frustration and understimulation that her own recovery's brought her. Swimming is both calming and exhilerating somehow! Most of all, Alouette's just happy to see that smile on Leina's face as she tells those stories about Shangri-La and the Argama.
"Gosh, that was... so much fun." Alouette smiles, after she gets out of the pool and starts drying herself off. "Can't believe I thought I would hate swimming."
"If you ever need something like this again..." She offers, as they walk towards the change stalls and she opens her bag of clothes. "I'm always open. I know we talked about how long of a process recovery is... but it's a road we can walk together. All of us."