2024-01-18: Your True 'Aspirations'

• Log: Your True 'Aspirations'
• Cast: Ruri Hoshino, Ranka Lee
• Where: The Nadesico
• Date: 2024-01-18
• Summary: Ruri goes to have lunch with Ranka while she's on break, because she missed her friend while she was stuck in quarantine. They talk about Ranka's career -- and the way Ruri looks up to her -- before a more dire subject comes up: the Nadesico's labour practices. Mr. Prospector can expect an invoice for all that missing pay and hazard penalties...

---

<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.

Thanks to the Nadesico, the Vajra fleet was decimated.
I wonder why they'd all come to attack Earth?
Well, maybe it's just spite.
I guess the people of Earth haven't really been good...

        The Nadesico is docked, right now, its mysterious Y-Unit jutting through the sky like a massive set of jaws. The first thing Yurika did was lock it down with eight levels of permissions and eight levels of secrecy; it hasn't been activated, since that fateful day.

        When people ask, Ruri says it's an improvement to the engines. It's a truth in the most technical sense: the Y-Unit does increase the power of their Phase Transition Engines by a factor of two. ... that it's not the whole story is another thing entirely.

        Thanks to the Nadesico, unfortunately, Nergal has been placed in a difficult position with its fellow corporate bodies. They have a lot of negotiating to do. Ruri, who is still fourteen for a few months yet, isn't invited to the boardrooms of adults; but since Mr. Prospector needs to request the Nadesico's logs to argue his various points, and since the results are all lodged in Omoikane's system, she knows about it anyway.

        The Nadesico was created as a civilian battleship; created to go where the Federation's warships could not. There are still people who care about preserving that autonomy, as the Orbital Ring closes in.

        Well, no use worrying.

        Since they're docked and idle, there's little for Ruri to do, on the bridge. Of course she is here, with the skeleton crew still manning the place; dutiful as she is, she rarely abandons her post for whatever antics the Nadesico is up to. (Something, something, White Day...) Erina sits beside her, at the helm, too straight-backed to yawn.

        "Report, report," Ruri sing-songs, quietly, "last resort, serial port, destroyer escort... tto." She's quite bored by it all. Both she and Omoikane could do this kind of downtime in their sleep. But she is surprised out of her boredom by Omoikane flashing a message up for her:

                        < BREAK TIME >
                        < RANKA-SAN LOCATION NOW SCANNING . . . >
                        < DING! >

        That last message, of course, comes with a heavy chiming bell, as Omoikane flashes up an image of the Observation Deck.

        "I guess I don't have to work through it," Ruri says, with a gentle expression, as she picks up the Break Tanuki and places him gently in her seat. "I go and return," she says, with a little bow to Erina, before she hurries out.

        "Heh, youth..." Erina says, before -- now the bridge is hers -- she finally gets to yaaawwwwwnnnn, arms stretching up over her head. ... now no one's here to see it.

        Of course, Omoikane gave a similar heads-up display to Ranka -- so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise, when Ruri shows up at the doorway. "Hello," she says, holding up a pair of bento boxes. "Omoikane told me you were here, so I got lunch from Ms. Howmei. Do you want some?"

        Hint: she totally does. It's Ms. Howmei's bento.

<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.

It's been a strange existence for Ranka Lee for some time, in so much as that she was quarantined after her abduction by the Vajra. A full twenty one days, as Xenobiologists and infectious disase experts examined her.

Yet she was still active, during that time, on a social media account. Recounting her experiences on Gallia IV, speaking to her fans. Even singing in small livestreamed videos from her place under quarantine.

In the end, her popularity reached new heights - rather than dived from the four month hiatus.

And if said experts finally signed off to release her, it certainly wasn't due to the blood samples and imaging reports they received from Ranka Lee being switched.

Definitely not.

So she made a triumphant return to the public eye, with multiple concerts planned in the near future. A new single coming up, and an EP.

"Put a smile on your face right now! My Friend!
"Not for the sake of anyone else, but because you've decided to feel that way yourself.
"With a steady and sincere voice, Hello!
"Sing out the song you always sing, with a drop of courage in your heart, Yeah!"

Right now, she was singing to an observation deck background of Gallia IV's eternal dusk as Ai-kun plumbed the depths of an empty bag of chips, burrowing into it, and vanishing - Ranka following the whole journey on her mirror.

"Hell-

Ai-kun's head suddenly pops out of the chips, swinging sideways to look at her, with a fleck of a crumb on it. A tentacle suddenly erupting out as he begins to move like a bag based hermit crab on the bed.

"-osnrkahahahahaha! Ai-kun! I'm trying to practice!"

Omoikane's warning chimed up overhead, as her hair suddenly leapt at both sides, a smile blooming on her face. "Then I'll take a break as well!" As she picked up Ai-kun, pivoting in a turn, swinging him around happily before alighting him on her head.

"Ehehehehe-!" Ranka was giggling as Ruri arrived, if she seems in good spirits well- perhaps it's her trying to put her best face forward after all she went through.

"I'd love some! Please, come in." As she tells her, Ai-kun mimicking her hand gesture of ushering her in with a tentacle. "The rare Ruri break." She comments, still all smiles, "I'm glad you'd think to come spend it with me."

Perhaps despite all that social media attention... isolation, is still isolation...

<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.

        And Omoikane helpfully chirps,

                        < RECORDING SAVED >

        Just so Ranka doesn't have to worry about losing her practice progress.

        (He watched every single one of her livestreams, and it felt like he was always there in the chatrooms, even if he didn't say much. It's easy to be a constant presence when you're capable of so much more multitasking than a human whose brain isn't distributed over several data cores.)

        Ruri hefts one of the boxes, and says: "It's okay. I brought Ai-kun lunch, too." She'd asked Ms. Howmei to give her an extra bowl of fried rice, and it's all tied up in its own little bento cloth on top of Ranka's.

        If Ms. Howmei thought this was at all suspicious, she didn't say anything.

        "I take my breaks," Ruri says, mildly. "I just don't always bother leaving the bridge. If I'm not hungry, I may as well stay there." Which means, effectively, she's not taking her breaks, because the video games she's playing could be interrupted by a work order at any minute.

        She's going to grow up into a proper workaholic at this rate.

        "... but since you're here, I wanted to see you. You were gone for a while, Ranka-san." That's not quite saying that she missed her, but it's not not saying that, either.

        She sits down all criss-cross-legged on the fake grass of the Observation Deck, unfolding her bento. "Ms. Howmei insists I eat rice," she says, "but since this is chicken fried rice, I like it. I guess it's weird that I don't like boiled rice, but chicken fried rice is my favourite." There's also a delicious omelette in there, and a nice little side-serving of salad.

        "You've been working hard," Ruri says, looking up to the backdrop of Gallia IV. "Your next concert... what are you singing there?"

<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.

"Again!?"

Ranka startles at Omoikane's assertion, just like she does EVERY time. As Ruri arrives and states that she brought lunch for Ai-kun. "Ah! Thank you very much!"

Ranka's head bobs, as Ai-kun skitters down from Ranka over towards Ruri, climbing up the titanic (Comparatively speaking) Coordinator teen to come to rest on her shoulder as he warbles out a note.

"He definitely appreciates it."

Which he shows by immediately craning out his neck, then swiveling to look Ruri in the eye, head tilting faintly.

"Hm." Ranka nods at that but then tells her, "I get why, with your responsibilities, I find it helps to take your head out of work on your breaks. Otherwise - 'being on' like that all the time is so exhausting."

Perhaps it can be simply attributed to Ranka's more physical practice, or dealing with fans, "Do you have any hobbies for when you're off duty?" She asks, out of curiosity. Since Ruri hardly ever shares things about herself without being asked.

And indeed, she sits down beside Ruri in the fake grass. "Well... I'm glad, as I definitely missed you." She smiles warmly her way, "It wasn't easy, being so cut off except, through my phone."

Ranka does comment, "Well, it is more flavorful." She asides, "I worked at a Chinese restaurant before, and most people prefer Chicken Fried Rice - unless they have something to flavor boiled - or steamed rice with."

Ranka's head looks thoughtfully to the side, "It's sort of like life, I suppose - and spicing things up a bit."

She then laughs, rubbing the side of her face, "Um." She takes a moment to start unfolding her bento, before answering it, "Well, Nergal kinda saw that whole... Quarantine time as a break, so they want me to come right out of the gate full sprint!"

There's a sigh in that moment, "I don't think they get how tiring it was being 'on' all the time, but - you know, I don't mind too much. I was going stir crazy in there, so getting right on a new tour lets me work that out."

She tells her after a moment, "But! The Earthsphere hasn't heard 'Hello!' yet, and I have a few new songs I'm getting ready for my new Single. So- I promise, a lot of new releases for Omoikane and you to listen to together real soon!"

<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.

                        < v >

        If it's possible for a green tick to be sassy, Omoikane has managed it.

        And when Ai-kun scrambles up her shoulder -- she's still only four feet tall, but she may as well be a kaiju, from where he's standing -- Ruri actually smiles, looking over to him. "You're welcome." It's a brief smile, but it was there, everyone saw it.

        Ruri is happy that Ranka's companion trusts her enough to catch a ride, after all. She knows how important it is for him to hide away, so she must be special, if he'll venture out away from Ranka to greet her.

        (If someone comes in unannounced, he can always hide in a twintail.)

        "I guess I'm just used to it," Ruri says, as she settles down. "It's not very demanding for me. Minato-san complains of her brain hurting when she has to write too many reports, but data is familiar to me. Oh, but I do have hobbies," she says, with a gentle expression. "I'm very good at Kanji Fighter. And I'm getting better at Dozoo Degwa, too, though I still can't beat Rena-san. I do things other than play video games, too. I like to read the encylopedia, since there are a lot of things I never learned about before... and Anita-san helps me work on Archimedes and Harro, too."

        She nods, snapping her chopsticks. (And spends a moment marvelling over the fact that she managed to break them apart evenly.) "It must have been very hard to be isolated," she says. "Like being in a laboratory... except you knew what you were missing, so it's more difficult. I wish I could have attended more of your livestreams, but I was working... well, I heard Omoikane didn't miss a single one, anyway." Of course, she unwraps Ai-kun's bento for him, too. Her cover story was that she really likes this rice, so she wanted an extra helping. It's not even a lie; she does like it, even if this serving isn't for her.

        "Some spice is okay," Ruri agrees, "though I don't like things which are too spicy. Food shouldn't be too complicated." She's still young enough to be picky, apparently, even now she's getting older.

        And when Ranka shares what Nergal thinks, Ruri sighs, too. "Nergal-san can be so unreasonable. They're making a lot of demands of the Nadesico, right now, too. Well, the Captain's handling that, so I guess I shouldn't worry about it."

        Nibble nibble nom. "But that's exciting," she says, though her tone is as mild as ever. "You're catching up to Sheryl-san. We're both really happy for you, Ranka-san. There were a lot of troubles getting your music to everyone, but Omoikane and I knew you'd be successful when they got to hear you."

<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.

Omoikane MANAGES!

Ai-kun's lidless eyes close in a way akin to reptiles, letting out a sound of contement at Ruri's statement of 'You're welcome' before retracting his neck. Ranka simply allows this, because she too trusts Ruri to handle him appropriately.

"Well if it's not too demanding..." Ranka says, reluctantly, because she's always worked very demanding jobs, so she's not actually certain what a job like this is like.

When she lists her hobbies though, Ranka cracks her chopsticks apart, and-

"Oh I see! Video games." And Encyclopedias??? Ranka blinks, looking at her in wonder, "I see. I've heard some of my fans mention that 'Haro' has a really expansive community, I wasn't certain what one does there."

There's some fried rice, and every so often Ruri might see a tentacle snake down to take a hunk of fried rice from the bento Ruri unwraps for him.

It's hard to say where it GOES though. Ai-kun has no visible mouth.

"It was difficult." She admits, "It felt like - I went from one prison to another, in a way." From the Vajra to... one sponsored by humans. "I understand if you couldn't. I posted them online if you're interested in watching later."

She does look up and beam, "I appreciate that Omoikane was always there watching though. It makes me feel a lot better about it."

When Ruri mentions she doesn't like things which are too spicy, Ranka nods, "That's okay. I'm used to modifying spiciness too. We had like - a scale people could order from! From zero to five."

Indeed she smiles at that, "People should get to eat the food they enjoy, like they want it." Nergal can be unreasonable? Ranka nods sullenly, "Elmo's having a rough time, fielding their... demands." She confides, "I think it's been really rough on him."

Her cheer picks up immediately, "You really think so?" She does smile at Ruri, "Well I did promise I would, so the two of us could stand on the same stage together. If... making it as an idol was my first dream come true - then I'd like that to be my next."

Then after a long moment, she asks Ruri, "Do you have any dreams... like that? Of doing something big?"

<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.

        "Maintenance, programming, and modification," Ruri explains, when Ranka expresses a lack of knowledge over Haro. "And since Archimedes is very smart, she's always wanting new input."

        Ruri doesn't mind the tentacles. That's a normal thing for Ai-kun to do. She politely doesn't look at him while he's eating, even though he doesn't seem to have a mouth anywhere.

        (She has a sneaking suspicion he eats with those tentacles, somehow, but she's polite enough not to pry.)

        "You were cooped up," Ruri agrees. And -- "I will," she assures her, on the subject of her livestream recordings. "Are you getting a lot of views?" And Omoikane pops up, cheerfully:

                        < GAIN SUBSCRIBER >

        ... he was always posting enthusiastic emoji in the chat.

        And Ruri nods, when Ranka talks about food. "I think two is a good amount of spicy." It's more adventerous than one!

        "It's probably been hard on the Captain, too," she adds, thinking of Elmo. "Maybe they should unionise. Then Nergal-san would have to listen to them... but Mr. Prospector didn't like the Nadesico unionising, so I bet he wouldn't like that, either." Granted, the Nadesico unionised over the ridiculous right to kiss each other, but Ruri still learned a lot about labour rights that day.

        She taps her chopsticks together, with another nod, when Ranka smiles. "I think so," she says. "Sheryl-san can see how good you are, too. And she likes you, so she'll want to sing with you. I think she's just too proud to admit it instead of talking about skill and talent all the time. She's foolish... but I guess that's okay." And if Ruri sounds a little fond saying that, shut up. No she doesn't.

        She nibbles on her rice for those moments; she's tearing through it all at a good clip, because it is her favourite food. "I'd be too self-conscious to sing on a stage like you do," she admits, when she pauses in her nibbling. "You're a lot braver than I am, Ranka-san." And Ruri isn't giving her sass -- she really believes that. She pauses, reflective. "Actually, it's strange, because... when you ask me that... I'm not sure. There are things I want to do, but I never really thought about achieving something impressive myself... my job is to support other people in the spotlight. If it was me... I don't know what I'd do."

<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.

"So it's like - taking care of, and upgrading a companion." Ranka works through it, as if to get there. And nods thoughtfully, "I know a lot of classmates were into digital companions you had to take care of when I was in middle school."

Oh no, Ranka don't get Ruri into Tamagotchi.

How Ai-kun eats, he's not telling, and Ranka certainly isn't thinking about it. Food vanishes around Ai-kun, that's all that needs to be known.

But the tentacle is definitely a normal Ai-kun thing to do. Its his limb. Noone would begrudge a person for eating with their hands.

"I was! For a while I was trending number one which is - I can't believe it!" Ranka looks self-conscious, "I wasn't ever that big into doing social media stuff before, I used it mostly to follow Sheryl and a few friends."

As Omoikane pops up, Ranka puts down her chopsticks long enough to Kira pose with her fingers, smiling toothily at him.

"Thank you for your support!"

Ruri selects - 2! "I tend to go for three, anything over that is... painful." She confides to her, "I sometimes saw some Meltrandi go for five as like this - this test of womanhood and my eyes bugged out. They got so red in the face-!"

As they speak about unionizing, Ranka nods sympathetically, "Well, let them know if they want to, that I'm in support. Mister Prospector shouldn't stand in the way of their happiness. I can't really much more as my contract is pretty - limiting but..."

A beat pause.

"... I guess I'm rich? So I probably shouldn't complain too much?"

It really still hasn't sank in that she's an Earthsphere celebrity, has it?

Ranka chews on more rice, and smiles, "She is, very proud." She doesn't weigh in on foolish, even if she's sure that's true in some ways now that she knows her, "And well - we are friends - but because I'm her friend - I want to be sure I'm not only standing with her because of that, but because - I've earned that place."

As Ruri tells her she's braver, Ranka says quietly, "Ruri..."

Genuinely touched, but also not certain if she can accept that idea. "You're brave in all kind of ways I'm not though. I can't... stand fighting, like you can. I understand it's scary for you too, but you still manage to do your best. And - I'm not sure I could."

Ranka taps her chopsticks against the edge of the Bento, thinking about it and, "I don't know - I think, even if you don't know what it is yet, I think you're capable of so much more."

Ranka looks across at her, meeting her eyes as she says, "You know so many things I don't, and you can do so many things that most people can't. So, I think - even if it's not the spotlight, that you can dream big, and achieve whatever it is you dream of, Ruri."

She offers a warm smile, "You just have to figure out which dream is... right for you, that's what I think. Whichever one makes you feel good, about striving towards it."

<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.

        "Digital companions?" Ruri asks, curiosity piqued. "I didn't know so many people were friends with computers. Is that normal in school?" As far as Ruri knows, she never went to school. She just... knows things.

        But not about Tamagotchi, apparently.

        "I can," Ruri says, of Ranka's social media popularity. "Just be careful not to post anything you don't want everyone to see. Because once something's on the internet, it's there forever, even if you delete it. There are archival tools people can use to see deleted material, and a lot of people save copies for themselves, too."

        Ruri sez: respect internet safety!

        And when Ranka Kira-poses, Omoikane flashes up an image of clapping hands and confetti.

        "Three might be okay," Ruri muses. (Somewhere, Ms. Howmei looks up at the screen.) "But five is definitely too much. Trying to prove yourself like that is foolish. It's not as cool as they think it is."

        Ruri tilts her head. "I hope your contract isn't too bad. Even if they gave you a lot of money, they should still be nice to you." It's kind of like how Ruri cost a lot of money, but she doesn't bring that part up, because it tends to make people uncomfortable for some strange reason.

        "If I didn't have the IFS implant, I'd probably be just as scared as you," Ruri points out, quite logically. "As I understand it, most young ladies don't staff a warship bridge. I don't really know why I'm cool instead of hot, but it still affects how I fight, anyway."

        She smiles, though -- briefly, but it definitely happened -- when Ranka encourages her. "Then I'll have to find it," she agrees, softly. "Even if I'm just watching everyone else... I've got to catch up to you, too, don't I?" Because the shocking thing is that, as much as Ranka might look up to Sheryl as so far ahead of her --

        Ranka is ahead of Ruri, too.

<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.

"It's like a companion in a little handheld device." Is what Ranka tells her, "I know some people had it on their phones too, but sometimes people had it in separate devices so they wouldn't think of their companion as- their phone."

There's a lengthy pause, and then she considers the issue, "It's almost like, a toy fad, in a way? Kids bond over, participating in similar things. In this case, it was having companions like that."

Ruri says something disturbing in a sense, "Forever? That's - so strange, since I was having so many problems before." She considers this, "Elmo is concerned that I was so critical of Britannia while I was talking about my experiences - but Sheryl and both Alto encouraged me not to stay quiet."

Indeed, it was Mineva's speech that inspired that discussion. Ranka giggles at Omoikane with his emoji. "Ehehehe-!"

In a way, communicating with Omoikane to her is like her talking and someone replying to her by text. She doesn't tend to think of him as a machine, in that sense - but the same as a person.

"I guess it's some kind of warrior ritual? I don't know. I wasn't really raised around other Meltrandi, my big brother raised me."

The Meltrandi are certainly very welcoming on her colony, but she's DEFINITELY not someone with hot blood and warrior spirit.

"Um, well it's not like they're mean to me or anything - it's more like they're mean to Elmo, and Elmo sometimes has to tell me I can't do something- or that it might cause him problems even if I can."

Ranka chews thoughtfully on a bite of fried rice, swallowing, "Like the whole Britannia thing. Me telling everyone that they treated me badly - it makes Nergal worry about the money they can make there."

Ranka looks at Ruri thoughtfully, "I don't think it makes you any less brave even if you have an implant - helping you with it." She points out, "It's kind of like taking medication to help you do something. You're still fighting. And I- really don't think I ever could, implant or no implant."

She tells her sincerely, "I just think, there's things about what you do that are to be admired, just like you think there are things I do to be admired. We're both brave in our own way - at certain, different things."

She looks touched however, at Ruri's smile, "Well-" Even if Ruri thinks she's ahead of her, "-I always value, and treasure how much you've supported me along the way, but if you feel like you need to catch up to me."

She beams a smile at her, "Then I hope one day you'll feel like we're standing side by side." A beat, "I know you have it in you to get there."

<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.

        "If it's a fad," Ruri asks, "what happened to them?"

        OH NO.

        And she pauses, as she thinks of how to describe it. "When you're popular," she says, "a lot of people see what you post. That means more people will notice if it disappears. When the amount of people invested goes up, the likelihood someone will care enough to keep it goes up, too. And your situation was unusual," she adds, with a long blink of those too-gold eyes, "because the person who was keeping your material suppressed was very good at it. When you delete a post yourself, its data isn't expunged nearly as thoroughly."

        She pauses, and adds: "Britannia-san is a big boy. It can handle people talking about what it did. After all, it would be very weak to complain about a young woman speaking her mind." Ruri... might have a disturbingly decent grasp on authoritarianism for her age.

        Omoikane is very much like someone who prefers to text. He could talk, if he wanted to -- AI voice synthesisers are a dime a dozen -- but he likes communicating through his text boxes. It makes him feel like more of an individual; mysteriously, he values that quite highly.

        (And every member of the Nadesico is a bit quirky, getting down to it.)

        "Warrior rituals..." Ruri wonders, tilting her head. "I'll have to ask Maya-san or Lavnadim-san. I'm sure they'd know."

        Ruri frowns, though, when Ranka talks about the restrictions placed on her. "I guess that makes sense," she says, thoughtfully. "It's like how I can't really leave the Nadesico. Well, I can go on trips if we're docked, but I always have to make sure I can get back in case there's an emergency. It doesn't really bother me, but I guess I can't just go wherever I want, either." Nergal would be very grumpy if their flagship lost its operator.

        She hums, around a mouthful of rice, and nods when Ranka talks about bravery. Swallowing it down, she says: "I guess you're right. The reason I have to stay close to the Nadesico is because other people can't do the things I do, after all."

        And when Ranka says that she believes in her, Ruri nods, quite serious. "I'll catch up to you, too," she promises her, as if it were the most important thing in the world. (It might be.) "Of course, that doesn't mean I'm going to stop helping you, either. Omoikane had a lot of good ideas for stage effects for your next concert." Ruri is the littlest special effects lady.

<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.

"I don't know."

Ranka says honestly. "I just know one day they weren't carrying them around anymore." Ranka would hope that something that was such a precious thing to a child wouldn't be thrown out.

She would hope.

But she also knows that she doesn't have all the toys she used to have, either.

"I'm still confused on why they were doing that. And why they just - stopped once I made it big."

It doesn't make a lick of sense to Ranka, even thinking about it now, "Anyhow, I'll try to be careful, I don't regret what I said though."

There's a smile at what she says next on 'Britannia-san' being a big boy. "I think Britannia is all about being mad when women speak their minds." Ranka says sincerely, because she's definitely been exposed to it, "Unless they're Princesses, I suppose."

Ranka, Ranka definitely isn't the type to make an off-color joke about Bloody Euphy, does she just, LITERALLY NOT KNOW?

Omoikane is a precious individual and anyone who speaks out against their communication style will get an earful from a celebrity idol.

"I know they can get really competitive about, lots of things." Ranka says of 'warriors' in a sense. "My brother used to get the same way, before I made him quit..." Her cheeks puff up in anger, "... and he didn't because he lied."

Ranka listens to what Ruri says and frowns, "That doesn't sound right... Nergal even offered me vacation time from my job, and I was an intern." She does look sideways, "Though I guess I wasn't being paid either at the time other than- free room and board on the Nadesico."

A beat.

"And I wasn't getting any either at the Nyan-Nyan when I was a server..."

Do most jobs just not get vacation time? Ranka blinks in thought, "Either way it doesn't sound... right."

Another chewed mouthful of rice, she perhaps isn't the person who's spent the most time on class struggles and reflection upon capitalism. She just knows some people are poor, and she wants to help them.

"Shouldn't they have someone who like... alternates shifts with you? Oh and-! If I wanted to call in at my job, I'd owe Nanase a favor if she covered my shift."

She smiles warmly at her, "Thank you - both of you - I appreciate your help. I'd be happy to hear your ideas-!"

<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.

        Ruri frowns, and says: "We should help them." Does she plan... to dig every single Tomodachi out of the trash?!

        Obviously yes.

        "It was definitely personal," she agrees, on the subject of Ranka's mysterious hacker. "Maybe once you became popular, they realised they couldn't win. Both Kaworu-san and Omoikane and I were fighting against them, after all." And they're all very good at what they do, too.

        "Good," Ruri nods, when she talks about Britannia. "People should stand by what they say. But I think Britannia is very mad about the Princess, right now... well, one of them did something bad, and that's why there's martial law in Britannia now." She pauses. "Actually, there's martial law in the REA, too... I wonder if everyone is tightening their grip now the Federation is falling apart. Well, if that's what happened, the Princess was probably just an excuse the rest of the royal family was using. I don't understand royal families... you shouldn't be willing to throw your family under the bus like that."

        Ruri is so glad she isn't a princess.

        And Ranka puffs her cheeks up, and Ruri agrees, "... fool." He should be more honest with his sister!

        She shrugs, though, tapping her chopsticks on her emptying bento box. "There are other people trained in basic operations," she says, "but if anything significant happens, I'm the one who's best able to operate the Nadesico. It simply isn't possible for other people to handle the demands like I can. And other people can't work as well with Omoikane, either. That's why Nergal-san secured me for the Nadesico... I worked on practicing for a long time. Well, I guess I'm kind of like one of the Nadesico's engines, more or less. It can operate without me, but it can't reach its full potential if I'm offline."

        Is that... really okay? Ruri doesn't sound terribly bothered.

<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.

"We should." Ranka agrees, but then... "...Though I'm not sure how we'd find them." And indeed she wonders, like, how? Old era toy drive? Maybe they're collector's items? Bring them back?

"I don't... know what I could have done. The only person I know of that hates me is Yuliana. And- it's not like I've been asked out seriously and turned someone down."

Because that's definitely a concern of many women in her position, certainly, she thinks of it. "Not back then especially-! I'd never been asked out!" That's different NOW, as every like, one in ten fans shaking her hand does that.

They're lucky Brera doesn't break that hand.

"Mad about the Princess?" Ranka's hair perks up, and she looks at her phone, and checks an internet search- and... pales? "What... she actually..." In Area 11?

Ranka fires off a text to the Ashford students along the lines of 'r u ok???' and there's this flustered sound, "I had no idea! No wonder Elmo was so concerned, I just - I was stuck in that room and talking to a camera-!"

Ranka perks up and considers, "Were they filtering out those questions so... I wouldn't get upset?" Was Nergal doing a media blackout on HER?

"I don't get it either." She confides to Ruri, but it sounds like there's so much else she actually doesn't get.

Talk of Ozma fortunately, snaps her out of it, "He's the biggest fool." She agrees, and whoa-! Is that literally the greatest condemnation that Ranka has ever spoken???

"But... it sounds like they're treating you like..."

A machine.

Ranka almost says it, she ALMOST says it, but realizes how insensitive that sounds, and she- "I don't think it's good that, because they bought you, they can use you like that."

Don't people do that with machines every day?

This is a complicated subject! "You're- I know you say it's not very demanding, but when I go for so long, I have to take long breaks and get some rest. And I don't work on days after concerts other than... sometimes a quick interview."

There's a prolonged pause, and then, she asks...

"Do you even ever... clock in and out?"

It never occurred to her until now. How many hours a week does Ruri work!? How much does anyone else on the Nadesico work? They're not at war right now!

<Pose Tracker> Ruri Hoshino has posed.

        "I'll look into it," Ruri promises, and with that: the episode where they're doomed to comb through second-hand shops all day is sealed.

        Ruri doesn't know who that mystery person is (who would hate Ranka?!), but she frowns, as she thinks about it. "Maybe it wasn't you," she suggests. "Maybe someone was trying to get back at your big brother. He's a fighter, after all. There are lots of ways for pilots to upset people." It's the best guess she has, when no one has any personal motivation for hurting Ranka.

        "Probably." Her call on the media blackout is as neutral as her face; the only hint that she's bothered is a little tension at her brow. "But it's too bad you had to hear about it like this. Unfortunately, a lot happened while we were gone. The North Pole is green, now, too, and Fujinomiya City was attacked by Dr. Hell's giant Mazin. It's hard to read about some of this stuff right now, so it's okay if you didn't know." Ruri might be good at getting past internet censors, but even she's had trouble briefing herself on some of the news, lately.

        And Ruri is so proud of Ranka, for levelling up to the point that she can call Ozma a fool.

        She frowns, though, when Ranka brings up the Nadesico's work ethic. "Things are pretty casual when we're not on a mission," she says, "so it's not like I'm working very hard every day. The bridge crew gets to take a break when we're in port, and the ground crew gets a break when we're moving. And the mechanical team has plenty of people, so everyone gets enough rest. I guess that would explain why everyone on this ship is such a fool, too... they're always goofing off."

        Ruri's frown deepens. "But I don't really understand why I'd need to take a break from this. I've always done this. It's what I'm good at. I grew up learning this stuff. I guess that makes me a child soldier, but it's not like I'm unhappy. It's important to me that the Nadesico runs smoothly... I don't really think of it as being used. Though..." She sighs, looking up at Omoikane flashing up an image of a spiral spinning down. "Yeah," she says. "Maybe I should talk to Eight-san about it... since when you asked about clocking out, my first thought was, 'I don't need a clock'."

<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.

Peaceland probably has a lot of second hand shops. It'll be a good filler episode.

"Maybe. He doesn't do a lot of - fighting in war, the SMS is contracted mostly for being test pilots and special missions for Colonial Defense."

Ranka does consider it long and hard, "But he did date the daughter of a Federation Councilor once. That might make him some enemies."

Oh you know, just one or two.

"Wait, wait-" Ranka asks her to stop, "That's... not the Northern Lights?"

She's a Spacenoid, she doesn't know these things. "I thought it was - you know. The South Pole is very red?"

There's a pause, and she sucks in a breath, "Okay, a lot happened. I just need to- it'll be fine, I'm sure everyone I know at Ashford is okay."

Ruri works through the questioning that Ranka brought up, and she blinks at the assertion that she's a child soldier. "A child soldier? That's- I, is it really like that? I mean, I guess this is a battleship, but it's hard to think of..."

A few things click into place on her own ignorance, "I guess I just always thought of child soldiers as like - living on Earth and fighting... battles in jungles."

She sucks in a breath and- "I hm, well- I guess it's - if it makes you happy. It just feels wrong that - it doesn't feel like it was entirely your choice, either."

The 'I don't need a clock' comment almost goes entirely over her head, then- "Oh."

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"Do you and Omoikane keep track of your time sheets in your heads then? You must rack up a lot of overtime..."

In the other room, Mister Prospector probably gets a feeling of intense dread.

"... and on call pay? Since you're technically on duty even when you're sleeping or - off duty."

That feeling abruptly intensifies.