2022-09-06: The Weapon Who Worries

• Log: 2022-09-6 - The Weapon Who Worries
• Cast: Sayla Mass, Renais Cardiff
• Where: Tokyo General Hospital
• OOC - IC Date: September 9, 0096
• Summary: At an injured Sayla's bedside, Renais wonders if caring is supposed to be so harrowing.

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<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        There's very good news for those worried about Sayla- She's only going to be in the hospital for a day or two, tops. Her injuries are rough- a couple of fractured ribs, minor whiplash, and a strain in her back- and the advantage of Sayla's wealth is she can take advantage of accelerated healing options. It's not like regrowing a limb, after all. As much as people who want her to take a break might disagree.

        They also need to make sure she's fully awake and alert, but odds are good she won't be there long.

        So it is that she starts to stir in an unfamiliar bed, with a quiet moan. Her eyes slowly flutter open. Her bed is... well, she knows a hospital bed. Private room, decent enough. She looks around, mainly for the nurse button, or her phone.

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

        "Morning," a familiar voice greets Sayla. Hoarse, roughened, but... sitting in a chair at Sayla's bedside is none other than Renais, looking up from thumbing through a TV magazine. According to the cover, there's a preview of upcoming Tarabaman merchandise inside...

        There's a small smile on her face. Warm. "Glad to see you're awake." She's happy. Relieved. A glance this way and that, before she quietly adds, "... she got away, but you didn't miss much. It was on its last legs."

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        Her eyes immediately track to Renais, bleary as they may be. "Renais...?" Her own voice isn't great at the moment, but- Well, she can feel the relief coming off the young woman. She's a little surprised, but nonetheless grateful.

        "Ah... that's what happened, then." She remembers the fight by and large, just not exactly what happened at the end. "Good work. Did everyone make it ou-" She lets out a yelp of pain from trying to sit up, and accepts the fate of having to resort to the bed. She reaches out for the controls to the bed. "Ribs. Right." She sighs.

        "So, Akane's vanished, her Kaiju is dealt with, what about the other one? STORAGE were dealing with that, right?" That's Sayla, straight to work- and straight to taking care of everything for herself. Once the top of the bed has risen to put her in a sitting position, she starts to reach for the water jug.

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

        Renais nods. "We got tagged with a cannon. Big one. Alouette went down, not as bad as you got it... my Gernsback went through a roof and lost an arm." She stands up and picks up the water jug, filling a cup for Sayla. She offers it to her with a gloved hand. "I'm not *just* here for conversation."

        "I think so, yes," she confirms to the question. "I assume they dealt with it. I haven't heard anything otherwise, and after Akane's was neutralized, my attention was..."

        "Elsewhere." She sits back down. Her thoughts seem to go... foggy, difficult to read, but before they do--before the wall goes up--a memory passes over the surface of her mind. Fear of loss. Anger. Sayla...?

        It's difficult to tell for sure.

        "Gridman... Yuta... they were worried. Let Shinjo go to try and make sure you were okay."

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        "Ah, thank you." Sayla looks a touch embarrassed. She takes it from Renais' hand, and takes a few sips before putting it back down. A little at a time. "I see... Then we did what we were supposed to." Sayla seems to ease back into her bed a bit, but how much of this is show for Renais is anyone's guess. Sayla Mass is an exceptional liar.

        The cloudy thoughts are hard to read, and at this point, she doesn't try to read them Not as she is right now. "...Akane was there? Interesting." That's a data point, too. "I didn't think she'd ever leave Tsutsujidai for any reason. And Gridman..." Hm. "...It was the right call. Assuming she still has Kerib's sick little idea of protection, we're better focused on saving our own than going after a potentially unpursuable enemy."

        She picks up the water again, and takes another sip. "...Are you alright, Renais?" She looks to the pink haired woman- the same age as Leina, accounting for time distortion. "I was hoping to check on you before... all this."

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

        Renais looks at Sayla, pouring herself some water. "I was healed enough to pilot," she replies simply. Evading the question, and she knows it. She takes a drink.

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        "Renais." Sayla's voice is firm, and directed. It's not hard at all, she's not shouting. It's a voice she used with difficult patients. Or, perhaps, a ward trying to take on everything herself. Her eyes are boring into the cyborg. But there is the ever present threat that Sayla could use Renais' middle name at any point now.

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

        "... Non." Renais' reply comes like a defeat. She sets down her cup. "It hasn't even been two weeks since Guy nearly died to that kaiju... and then you. Hell, if Alouette had taken a worse hit..."

        Things come across clearer, now. The anger, the fear of loss--both for Guy and Sayla. She presses a knuckle to her lips, and gives a grim chuckle. "Is this what it's supposed to feel like? Always worrying that the people I care about could be ripped away from me?"

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        Sayla nods, slowly, as Renais talks. And she listens, lets her get those feelings out. And a sad smile creeps onto her face. She reaches out to place her hand Renais' gloved hand. "I know how you feel. It's terrifying." If allowed she gives it a squeeze. "It's not how it's supposed to be, but it is for people like us."

        She looks up to Renais, her eyes tired and sad. "We've lost so many people, each of us. The idea of going through it again hurts so, so much." It takes her another moment to say anything else. "But would you want to be the person who didn't worry?"

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

        Renais startles as she feels Sayla's hand on hers. Her hand jolts, but... she doesn't pull it away. It's hot, even through the fabric. She looks at Sayla as she speaks.

        "... I was that." She sighs, shakily. "Things were simpler, then..." She looks down. "But that's not someone I want to be anymore. It's just.."

        "I can't lose anything else," she murmurs.

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        Sayla holds her hand there, despite the heat. She simply holds it there. "...Would you believe I was too, a long time ago?" She's quiet, bringing up memories she doesn't want to touch. "I was lonely, but it was safer than losing anyone else. Safer than opening my heart. And then..."

        Sayla pauses, thinking how much she wants to open up. How much she wants to burden Renais. "I have my regrets about my time on the White Base, but I don't regret the fact that I was there, and that I fought. Even though I lost so many friends."

        And got them killed, through hesitance and inexperience.

        "We'll always worry. It will always hurt. We'll always be scared." Her hand is still on Renais'. "But... the pain of worrying, even the pain of loss... It's worth it."

        Sayla Mass is a very good liar. She's such a good liar she can't even tell if she's lying now.