2024-09-12: Their Little Adventure

• Log: 2024-09-12 Their Little Adventure
• Cast: Ranka Lee, Sheryl Nome, Brera Sterne (NPCed by Ranka and Sheryl)
• Where: A hospital in the Macross Frontier (present day); the Macross Global on Gallia IV (flashback)
• OOC - IC Date: September 12, UC 0099 (present day); November 26, UC 0097 (flashback)
• Summary: Ranka and Brera come visit Sheryl while she's recuperating. As they hang out, they reminisce about a private trip they made to the Macross Global together, back during the Gallia IV expedition.

---

<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.

It's been a difficult time for Ranka Lee, mostly in the wake of the Break The World incident, she'd been appearing on news shows in the Colonies, asking people to stay calm - at times singing songs that call for love, understanding, peace.

She'd had an effect, certainly. The endorsement of a celebrity towards a political leader had helped rally support behind Chairman Durandal within the League, who preached a calm stance of diplomacy and understanding, while simultaneously encouraging a military build up just in case.

It was a wise, even-handed stance, but everyone could see it, as Earth grew more and more bellicose in it's stance against the League, against Coordinators, rejecting all evidence that might exonerate them of involvement in the Zala supporting extremists.

Despite everything, it seemed like open war seemed more and more inevitable with every passing day. This finally resulted in Grace quietly arranging with the League to smuggle Ranka out of the PLANTS 'just in case' and 'just for a while' without announcing it.

Oh she still appeared to be there, on shows and the like, but she was just no longer physically present, while Alto himself remained. It seemed, dishonest, but...

... everyone assured her it was for the best.

"How is it for the best?" She asked herself, "Aren't I supposed to be their 'Songstress of Hope'?" She didn't actually believe it, certainly. Lynn Minmay didn't become what she was by running away from danger.

Perhaps Grace had sensed her mood, or perhaps she just had her under basically constant surveillance, either way, she looked at Ranka, "Why don't you go visit Sheryl a little incognito? And take Brera with you?" She winked at her, "I'll set things up." Grace was perhaps - surprised, when Ranka hugged her on the spot, before her eyes grew more... distant.

-=-=-

"Major Brera Sterne of the Space Assembly League." He pulled out his military ID to the nurse at the station, as Ranka half hid her face behind a little server pad for writing down orders. "Here to visit Sheryl Nome." The nurse tried to peak at Ranka's face, only to see her still hiding behind it.

"And she is?"

Brera looked sideways at Ranka for several long moments to examine her 'incognito' outfit of her old Nyan-Nyan uniform, the modified Cheongsam, then at the nurse.

"Just off shift."

-=-=-

Ranka's knock was perhaps a little too fast, too enthusiastic at Sheryl's door, before she poked in her head, smiling. "Sheryl!"

Brera walked past her, perhaps to clear the room as per whatever security best practices might be within his mind, before he looks at Sheryl. His eyes perform a scan, before he slowly removes his shades.

Does some part of him not like what he sees?

He doesn't comment on it, instead saying, "It has been some time." Ranka quickly moves inside, asking, "How have you been? I'm sorry it's been so long - things are hectic, Alto's stuck right now on standby... given everything."

She smiles at her, "But me and Brera are here to keep you company... and I was hoping to get the latest scoop on your status... I hope that's fine?" After a moment's thought, it breaks into a wider grin, "Gosh... now that I think about it, the last time the three of us were together like this was back on Gallia IV..."

Gallia IV may be a somber topic in a way, but not ALL memories of it have to be bad ones...

"... remember our little adventure out to the Global?"

In a way, it was an adventure right? In the way teens have adventures, doing things they're not supposed to. They probably broke all kinds of laws and regulations but...

... it was important to them.

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        It's been just about two months since that disastrous concert the Vajra attacked. The doctors had projected that Sheryl would be able to shed her casts in that time, and happily for her, their projections are correct: her arm and leg casts have been removed as of today, to Sheryl's delight. To Sheryl's dismay, the doctors want to keep her in the hospital a little bit longer to help her get acclimated to her physical therapy and keep an eye on her condition just in case, but she's waited this long; she can be patient, however grudgingly, a little bit longer. At least now she gets to wear something other than a hospital gown--even if it's just a tank top and sports shorts.
        
        In fact, when Ranka and Brera arrive, she's working on some of those physical therapy exercises she was taught just earlier today, even though she was told to take it easy. Specifically, her hospital room has been set up with a pair of straight rods for Sheryl to use as support while she walks back and forth, forward and backward. It's hard. It's painful--especially with her leg muscles used to heels. But she pushes through it, again and again, until that knock comes rapidly at her door.
        
        "C-come in," she wheezes, too exhausted to consider that the sheer enthusiasm behind that knock means it can't be one of the nurses. Indeed, when Ranka and Brera come in, she straightens as color rises in her admittedly already pretty red face. "Ranka! Brera! You should've told me you were coming!" Reflexively, she glances behind them for another person--but while she's disappointed not to see him, she's not surprised. Alto wouldn't be in a rush to go anywhere with Brera, and Brera wouldn't be crazy about letting him tag along either.
        
        Also, apparently Grace decided to let their visit be a surprise. At least Brera's shades hide the scan his eyes run--Sheryl has never been a fan when he does that. Fortunately, right now, she's too distracted to realize he's done it.
        
        "It has been! Hold on, let me finish this set real quick," she says, before pushing herself to walk to the end of the support poles. She collapses on the chair at the end of it, huffing and puffing. She's got a towel there to wipe off with, at least--and the question about her status brings a smile to her lips.
        
        "See for yourselves!" she declares, draping out her legs and arms and wiggling her fingers and toes. "Those damn casts are finally gone! I thought it'd never end!" She smiles broadly at the two of them. She's not a fan of them coming in while she's in this state, but it's been so long since she's had any friends visit that she can't bring herself to care too much. Brera in particular--ever since he was officially assigned fully to Ranka, after Grace took over as her manager, it's like she's hardly seen him at all.
        
        ...Of course, now he's only here because Ranka is, but whatever. She'll forgive him, this time.
        
        "But yeah. I can imagine things are hectic. I heard about the Junius 7 drop," Sheryl adds, smile fading. "No wonder Alto's not with you." Her gaze flicks towards Brera as she raises an eyebrow, silently conveying her earlier thoughts. Her smile returns at the mention of their surreptitious visit to the Global--probably the last time anyone went to the Global, but still...
        
                ~ * ~
        
        On Gallia IV, two years ago...
        
        "Here we are. We don't have a lot of time before everyone notices we're gone, so let's be quick," Sheryl says briskly to her companions as they stand at the foot of the Macross Global. Then as now, she wears her custom pink flight suit--but this time, it's for practicality rather than fashion. One can tell because it's zipped all the way up and has no accessories or other pieces layered on top. She looks over at Ranka and their mutual escort/bodyguard. "Brera, make sure you escort us to the very end!"
        
        "Roger that," he replies, deadpan as always. He takes point on the approach, leaving behind his red Lucifer, which the three of them had flown in on. (Ranka may have had to sit on someone's lap.) It isn't hard; there was already an expedition a month or so ago, and greenery doesn't regrow that fast. Perhaps that's why Brera has space to interrupt their trek forward and inward with the occasional glance over his shoulder at Ranka.
        
        "I know we already brought a lot of samples and data back for Ruri and the others to analyze, and we've already learned a lot so far," Sheryl continues as they advance, "but I want to take one more look. Some of the stuff about what Mao wrote is bothering me."
        
        Like how she'd been trying to use fold waves to get in touch with her sister--wherever in the universe she may be, if she's even still alive.

<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.

The cough, the wheezing is alarming. Ranka looked it up after last time, but mostly got that 'It's not unusual for someone to be sick all the time in the hospital, given that they're exposed to people who are sick.'

"It wasn't possible at this time." Brera replies to Sheryl, "Communications are highly restricted, regarding Ranka's current location." Ranka gives her an apologetic look, "They even took my phone for a while."

Indeed, Brera doesn't comment because, he feels a tinge of worry, but indicating he scanned her would upset Sheryl, he knows that from experience.

Ranka watches Sheryl for a time, hands behind her back, on those poles, before her hair lifts as Sheryl tells her 'see for yourself'! "They're off! They're really off!" Ranka actually rushes forward to hug her in that moment, "Congratulations!" Before she tells her, emotional. "I know how hard you must have worked to get to this point, I'm so happy for you."

She'd heard that so many people COULDN'T make it through this kind of rehab, because they just - give up but - those people aren't Sheryl Nome. Part of her knew she would.

Brera doesn't shift his gaze because he already knows the status of her limbs, that wasn't what bothered him. "You've done well." He remarks, which is perhaps more of a compliment he ever gives to... well almost anyone, perhaps indicative of how close he became to Sheryl.

"It's fine. And he's fine... let's..."

-=-=-

Ranka hikes up her backpack on the back of her own green accented flight suit. (One wonders if the colors were so that VIPs might be identified in a crisis), as she gets down from the Lucifer... almost falling from being overbalanced.

Almost.

Brera puts out a hand on the backpack at the last second, steadying her before she'd topple off the ladder. It's a small gesture, even before Sheryl demands he escort them.

"We're counting on you, Brera." Ranka adds, helpfully, even as she falls into step beside Sheryl, her hands on the straps of her backpack. "It's bothering me too. It's like... it's like there's something we're missing? Something..."

Ranka stares at what's ahead for a moment, an image seared into her mind - but also an absence, like a photonegative, before shaking her head - which might look vaguely puppy like, and clapping her cheeks as if to brace her.

"I can do this. I'm ready. Maybe this time... I'll remember." She does look at Sheryl, and cups a hand to whisper and share something with her, "If I start to act all strange, maybe pinch me? I feel like I can't ask Brera to do that one."

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        It's depressingly common for Sheryl these days, the coughing and such. She'd like to chalk it up to her exertion after two months of being hopelessly sedentary, but, well. She knows better than that.
        
        She laughs as Ranka rushes forward to hug her and squeezes her back. It's painful, but this is the kind of pain she's willing to endure. "I'm happy for me too! Finally I can move around again!" She winks over at Brera, accepting his praise as if she were entitled to it. "I know, right? You should get in here too~" She crooks a finger playfully, not really expecting him to take her up on it. Friends or no, he's just so straightlaced. But maybe with Ranka here too...
        
        But there's the restricted communications, and Sheryl's smile fades as she eases back from Ranka. "Hmmm. Right, because that Kafim woman threatened you, right?" she says, looking from Brera to Ranka with a frown. "It's really disgusting. The more popular you get, the more out-there your haters and your fans can get, but she's really something else, from what I hear." She shakes her head.
        
        But then she looks at Brera and Ranka in turn. "It was a little adventure, wasn't it? I wish we could've gotten more done, but there's no changing what happened in the past." She tilts her head, considering them both. "...By the way, if you're both in here even though your schedule's so restricted, Grace must've helped set it up, right? Honestly, she could've given me some warning. I'd like to not greet my friends soaked in sweat!"
        
        Even if she did wipe most of it off just a moment ago. And up close, especially after hugging her, Ranka will be able to notice that Sheryl's lost some weight. That's what happens when your diet's restricted too.
        
        "So what've you two been doing?" Sheryl prompts. "Especially after Junius 7." A colony drop still isn't on the level of the destruction of an entire planet, but on some level, it might be worse. After all, being alive means being able to suffer.
        
                ~ * ~
        
        Brera watches Ranka longer than is strictly necessary after she nearly falls. However, once it's clear she's all right, onwards they all go. He acknowledges Ranka's trust with what just might be a smile, if that oh-so-light crinkle at the edges of his lips is any indication. Sheryl gives him a knowing look, but he doesn't return it; his neutral expression reasserts itself, and then they're heading into the long-abandoned Macross.
        
        Sheryl, for her part, looks from Brera over to Ranka as she stares at the Global. "Hey, watch your step," she chides her, offering her a hand to keep her from tripping. She knows that this place is heavily affecting her--not just her but Brera too. And there's the past of her own grandmother as well... Well, that's why she suggested/insisted the three of them come back here together. Whatever happened here so many years ago, it affected all three of them.
        
        "Right. Just focus. We don't have any distractions this time around," Sheryl replies. She smiles when Ranka leans in to whisper, and she does so in return, raising her free hand to hide her mouth. "I'll be sure to pinch you very gently, so that even Brera won't be able to complain~."
        
        A saucy wink follows. When Brera heaves a very overt sigh, because he's a cyborg and has cyborg hearing even with the two of them whispering, she can't help but break into peals of laughter.
        
        It's important to keep a sense of humor right now. Sheryl already shared her suspicions of what might lie in the past with Brera--but not yet to Ranka.
        
        At least the trip inside the overgrown Macross is easy enough. The path was already cleared by the group not too long ago. They just need to watch their steps and follow the path inside back to the bridge.

<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.

Brera stands stock still at Sheryl's request, arms crossed, when Ranka looks his way. There's a moment where his sight line drops to Ranka's level. And then - he steps closer, one at a time. Is he going to do it!?

He stops two paces from them, and crosses his arms. Apparently that is 'getting in there'.

Ranka blink blinks, then actually giggles some, grinning at him, eyeing Sheryl as if perhaps sharing the moment. Before...

"Well that but... right now it's more... right now... it's tense. Everyone's scared that a war is going to break out. The League doesn't want me on Side 2 just in case it does, but if people knew I'd left...?"

There might be a panic, she doesn't say, "I don't like it. It feels wrong to make them think I'm... still there with them. Grace says it's the best of both worlds, I'm safe, and everyone's calmer but..."

She trails off, this is weighty to her.

"... She looked like she wanted to surprise you too." Ranka lowers her voice, as if to explain, "She winked..."

It turns into a conversation of what she's been doing...

-=-=-

"Sorry." She smiles sheepishly at her, "I guess it's too much to expect that just because I'm now an expert dancer, that I'd be graceful at everything else." She does sigh at that, it would be nice if life were as easy as that? That being a pro at one thing would automatically trickle down to all other things.

"Right." She bobs her head, gaze sharpening, "Including Alto going off on his own again. Even if it was for a very good reason!" Apparently while Ranka forgives, she perhaps doesn't forget??? Ranka laughs lightly at Sheryl's assertion, having to fend off a blush at the wink - because everything Sheryl says sounds real flirtatious...

And is she flirting with her? IS SHE? ... Part of Ranka hopes so, but also thinks it's just part of how Sheryl is.

"And one-two-three one-two-three." It may sound like Ranka's marching as the three walk across the bridge, but she's watching her feet REAL carefully. Maybe it's more like she's counting it like dance steps.

"We're back." Ranka sounds once they're inside the actual frame of the ship, part of her vaguely has the sense that's not quite right though.

We're home!

It wasn't 'I'm home' after all. She and - another person were inseparable. Brera perhaps hears it too, but he doesn't react beyond a glance at Ranka.

'Home' can be full of dangers. That is something he will never forget.

"Do you want to check... her room first?" She asks Sheryl.

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        Brera approaches--is he actually going to bring it in--?!
        
        No, he stops close by and crosses his arms. Sheryl smiles in rueful amusement and catches Ranka's look. "Honestly better than I thought we'd get," she stage-whispers to her.
        
        She listens, though, at Ranka's unease about leaving Side 2. It reminds her of how she'd been evacuated and escorted in a private limo away from that fateful tour stop at Frontier. Alto had chewed her out for abandoning her fans, and at the time, Sheryl had said she was simply leaving the fighting to the professionals. She can understand how Grace must feel, but... it does feel weird that after all this time, she's doing the same thing now as she did back then, just with Ranka.
        
        She keeps those thoughts to herself, but she does glance at Brera. Just in case.
        
        "Oh, did she?" Sheryl prompts about the surprise, though. "It's a good surprise, at least. A different kind of surprise from what we found on the Global..."
        
                ~ * ~
        
        "Even a pro can trip if she isn't paying attention! Awareness of your body and the things around you are key," Sheryl says authoritatively--and on this particular matter, that's because she is an authority.
        
        She does smirk at Ranka's talk of Alto going off on his own. She, too, has forgiven that, but it'll be a while before she forgets. ...But then, there's things she hasn't said to Ranka yet, either--and that might continue for a while.
        
        Sheryl? Flirting, with Ranka? Obviously! But is she flirting as a joke, or is she flirting for real? That's the real mystery.
        
        She hums along to the three-count as they cross the bridge. Brera's already made sure any vines and wildlife that have moved back in have been cut down and/or cast aside, depending on how upset Ranka would be if he got too stabby, and he inspects the bridge quickly before gesturing Ranka and Sheryl in.
        
        There is that glance to Ranka--he remembers how jumbled his thoughts had become when Sheryl had shared her suspicions with him, and how it had overwhelmed him for a moment--but it's only suspicions right now. Brera's memories... He'd wanted to reclaim his past, and he'd gotten scraps and flashes of them then, before his rational side had taken over. (His rational side is called Grace.) Here, he'll need to be careful to keep his own control. When Ranka had been hurt and lost during that terrorist attack on the train, when he'd gone to rescue her, it had hurt so badly it threatened to overwhelm him. When Sheryl had shared her suspicions, it was like his mind wasn't his own. He can't afford to let that happen again--for his own sake, and for the sake of the women he's escorting to the end.
        
        But Sheryl isn't privy to those thoughts, and of course neither would Ranka. At the suggestion of her room, Sheryl purses her lips. "I think so," she agrees, her fold quartz earring shining on her ear. "Honestly, I don't really know what we're looking for, but that's the best place to start."
        
        Dr. Mao's room isn't far, at least. More unrefined fold quartz samples and copies of her journal entries are still there, which Brera can use his cybernetics to pull up again onto a nearby screen. In particular, there's that entry about Sara...
        
        'Perhaps the Vajra will show the way? If we can refine the ore into something purer like they do, the feelings may be stronger. There must be more to this... I need to find out where it went... Sara...'
        
        "She thought fold quartz would help her find her sister," Sheryl murmurs, looking at the screen. She traces her fingertips on one of the rough quartzes. "But she wasn't able to make it happen. I wonder what she was doing wrong?"
        
        Sheryl doesn't notice a framed photograph on a desk next to the bed. It's broken, the frame snapped, and the photo torn in half, but Mao is still definitely in it, and so is a face that might be a bit familiar...

<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.

Ranka straightens up as her Idol-Senpai speaks with the voice of authority, "Right!" Well at least she takes her advice seriously. Alto would probably mention something about how Sheryl fell or the like - that time they met.

That IS a mystery, and one she's still YET to figure out.

It would be so much easier if she were able to flirt back to figure it out, wouldn't it? But no... that would be... too much.

(I don't know, with Ranka looking at her feet Brera could probably hide the bodies in time. Sheryl wouldn't say anything, right?)

"Alright... then... here we go!" There's a dream like quality to traveling through these halls for Ranka, but she's trying to ground herself, some in the reality. That reality being this is about Sheryl... Sheryl's Grandmother.

Mao Nome.

A part she played. It's not like Ranka remembers that face...

... Ranka looks up from the search of her room to read the entry, and there's something in her that seems like she's focusing.

"Maybe she wasn't doing anything wrong." Ranka answers Sheryl after thinking about it, "Maybe there just wasn't time."

Ranka bends down to pick up the photograph off the desk, giving it a curious look, but then as she turns it around...

A kindly face
A familiar look
Why is there only this absence
Mother

The photo slips nervelessly from her hands, in that singular moment, and hits the ground with a clatter. Water blurs on the edges of her vision.

"Ah, um." Ranka quickly picks it up, "I don't know why I'm."

They're not big thinkers, flowers. They don't have anything to think with. But just because they don't, does that mean their soul is small?

What do you think, Ranka? Brera?

Ranka brings the picture over to Sheryl, "Um, well - I'm pretty sure..." Then without explaining, hands it over gently, "Here."

'I'm pretty sure this is your Grandmother'
'I'm pretty sure that I know this other woman'

How easily they blur together...

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        Maybe one day Ranka will be able to mess around and find out. But until that day comes...
        
        Well, Sheryl cares about her regardless of whether that care also comes with attraction. So that's something. (As for the bodies--it'd depend on whose they are.)
        
        In Mao's room, Sheryl considers Ranka's suggestion. "Yeah. Maybe you're right. We already know something bad happened... Maybe if it hadn't--" She cuts herself off, eyes shutting tight. Then she shakes her head. "But it's pointless to think like that," she says firmly. "We're here because we're trying to figure out how this is going to affect us today."
        
        And because maybe Ranka and Brera will both be able to connect who they were with who they are.
        
        ...And maybe so Ranka will fall for him instead of Alto. (Sheryl still does not have an inkling that Brera and Ranka might be more than childhood acquaintances or even friends.) She's still looking over one of the rough quartz samples, holding it up and rolling it between her long fingers, when Ranka turns her attention to the battered photo. It doesn't draw her attention until Ranka drops it; then she looks up.
        
        "Ranka?" She sees the tears bead up at the corners of her eyes, and she comes in a step closer, resting a concerned hand on her shoulder. "Ranka?! What's wrong?"
        
        Brera, too, approaches quickly, his regard sharp and intent on Ranka. He doesn't try to comfort her, though. He doesn't know how. This is something he can trust to Sheryl, at least, even if there's something in him that wants to do more. Just... what?
        
        Sheryl glances at him as Ranka picks up the photo, then back at her when she hands it over. She looks over the photo, and her blue eyes widen.
        
        "Grandma," she whispers. Her memories of Mao are very distant and vague, to the point that she could barely remember her face, but seeing the picture brings it all back. Sheryl's hand goes up to her earring--an heirloom from Mao, given to her mother, and then to her on her sixth birthday. The day everything went to hell...
        
        But that's not important at the moment. This picture is an incredible gift, but she has to furrow her brows at Ranka. "How did you know?"
        
        The other woman, she doesn't recognize. But when she looks again and looks closer, knowing that Ranka already doesn't know why she knows, she realizes she looks familiar. "Who is this other woman?" she wonders aloud. On a whim, she flips it over and shows it to Brera. "This doesn't happen to ring any bells for you, does it?"
        
        He doesn't reply. He only stares. But he stares far longer than is natural even for a half-robot like him.

<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.

Maybe. There's so many factors. They know something horrible befell this place. How has Ranka been here before? How has Brera?

Ranka doesn't weigh on what might have been other than to say, "Sheryl..."

Is it really pointless? To think on what might have been?

Certainly she doesn't understand her thoughts about Brera. It is strange that Ranka hasn't considered him as someone who might have feelings for her, isn't it?

It's almost like, even without understanding who he is to her...

Ranka dabs her eyes on her sleeve again, then on the palm of her glove, "I'm okay... I'm..." Momentarily overwhelmed, Ranka shakes her head, and looks away as Sheryl looks at the photograph.

"I'm not... sure?"

Ranka blinks her eyes at Sheryl, blinking away the tears, "Maybe I knew her?" Like Brera, her stare is blank, for a time.

It's like her mind is struggling to even perceive this image, or no rather - it perceives it, but it can't comprehend it. Like looking at it puts her thoughts and feelings on loop.

Then she clarifies on what she can focus in on, "Your grandmother. Maybe?" She shakes her head, looking lost. "My brother always said I had some... strange beliefs, that he didn't teach me."

Pause.

"Maybe I got them from her?" As she gestures towards the violet haired woman. "I don't know."

It's like her mind's struggling to put it together with what little logic she can string together.

The things she's always believed on souls, Mayan beliefs...

... is it possible this is ultimately why she gave in on playing her so quickly? Not even just the dynamic between herself and Sheryl and Alto...

"I wish I did." She murmurs, softly, as her eyes trace towards the floor, like she's guilty, ashamed that she can't? Or... perhaps...

... another reason. This is all her fault.

"Um. Maybe we should check somewhere else, there... there might be more?"

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        To Sheryl, it is. Thinking about what could have been is a distraction from thinking about how to make things be the way you want them to be. More importantly--what could have been, for her, is a very grim picture.
        
        "Hmmm." Sheryl gives Ranka a considering look. It turns from her to Brera. She takes in how stunned they both look, how Ranka's even on the verge of crying. But maybe it isn't about the other woman--maybe it's about her grandma. Maybe Grandma had other foster grandkids or the equivalent thereof on the side.
        
        Sheryl isn't sure how she feels about that.
        
        "Maybe. I didn't know Grandma Mao that well--she didn't have the chance to be around that often, since she was busy with her work. But if you two happened to know her when you were little... It'd almost be like fate, wouldn't it?"
        
        After all, Ranka ended up playing Mao in Bird Human. Even her song, Aimo... Is it possible it really was a song of the Mayans?
        
        Sheryl swallows a lump that's suddenly risen in her throat.
        
        "I'll just hold onto this for now, then," she says briskly, unzipping her flight suit partway and tucking the photo into an inner pocket. Not her cleavage, don't be silly--that's where she's keeping her phone. "Let's go see if we can't find where she was trying to make transmissions. Back to the lab?"
        
        "Are you going to make a transmission of your own?" Brera asks then.
        
        Sheryl pauses. It's a little surprising to her that he'd ask that--but only a little. "Yes," she decides. She regains her coquettish smile and winks. "And let's not worry about if we're caught. We're already here; we can just beg forgiveness! <3"
        
        Brera looks briefly dubious about that, but he already made his choice when he agreed to escort these two. He doesn't argue.

<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.

What could have been for Ranka Lee is a blank slate. What could have been is infinite possibility. Perhaps that's why it's so easy to allow it, even if her mind can never reach it.

Her life began with catatonia and a bad cake, otherwise.

She dabs her eyes again on the back of her sleeve of the suit, before nodding again, "It would be. I guess... I guess you could ask my brother?" Ranka suggests, "He knows more, it's just, he says every time he's tried to tell me..."

Well, Sheryl's seen what can happen. Several times over.

"... I don't know. Maybe it'd be simpler now."

Ranka nods quickly again, part of her just - she wants it, but knows she can't stand to have it. "It belongs to you. She was your Grandmother." Ranka tells her, and maybe instinctively steps closer to Brera. "So you should have it. Every connection to your family is precious."

That much she knows, Sheryl has so little left of that part of her, some earrings - Alto's gift...

"That's a great idea." She finally says, before Brera asks a question and, "Eh?" Before her head swivels towards Sheryl, "EH?" Ranka had been in on this, thinking they could leverage their status if they got caught, but she IS new to this kind of breaking the rules.

"O-Oh! Right! It's not like they'd be so mad they'd throw us in jail right? How would that look?" She seems to deescalate herself at Sheryl's words, smiling and showing her canines nervously, as she licks her lips, "It's fine anyway - I'm sure noone will even find out." As she puts a finger to her lips, as if indicating to Brera it's a secret.

Brera looks back at Ranka from Sheryl, looking even more dubious about that one.

Once they're down to the labs, Ranka looks towards a broken cylinder, that once contained... something.

"Your grandmother had to have studied them here." Ranka says quietly, "The feelings may be stronger..." She echoes, considering... was it really just the crystals, that she was talking about when it came to Vajra showing the way?

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

Sheryl has seen it. Her lips purse in thought at the suggestion. "Ozma Lee, from the SMS, right? That's a thought. If you don't mind, I'll try that when I get the chance."

~ * ~

"I didn't get a chance to ask Ozma about it," Sheryl mentions in present day. "But Alto heard about it from him, and he passed it on to me."

Her blue eyes flicker with concern. "Do you still... get those panic attacks?" (They're not quite panic attacks. But Sheryl isn't sure what exactly to call them otherwise.)

~ * ~

"You're right," Sheryl concedes of the photograph, lips curving into a smile. She does only have the earrings now, and one of them she gifted to Alto--an unspoken promise for him to come back alive. In return, he gave her the necklace charm he got from his mother, something she keeps safe even if she doesn't always wear it. (Right now, it's in another one of her inside pockets.) She didn't need Ranka's permission--but it's nice that she doesn't try to muscle in, either.

So when the three of them head onwards, that thought stays in her head. She laughs gaily at Ranka's reaction, both the 'eh??'s and the follow-up-- "That's the spirit!" --and at Brera's dubious looks at both of them. "Don't worry. If they get mad, we'll protect you, Brera. <3"

Brera gives her and Ranka, now stepping closer to him, an inscrutable look. All the same, he goes along with the two.

In the lab itself, she looks over the broken cylinder, kneeling next to it. She doesn't find anything--or if she does find something, it doesn't mean anything to her. "Yeah," she murmurs, of the stronger feelings. She reaches up and unclips her earring, then holds it up to glint in the dim light next to the cylinder. "This earring... It's fold quartz refined all the way, right? Not like those other rocks."

"Dr. Nome's notes indicate they're refined naturally inside the Vajra's bodies," Brera points out. "The quartz in your earrings could been harvested from one."

Sheryl gawks at him. "What? Are you serious? But that can't be possible! These are heirlooms from when Grandma was living on Maya Island! That would have to mean the Vajra have been invading Earth for generations!"

"That does seem unlikely," Brera admits. "But so does the idea that the Mayans happened to refine fold quartz on Earth on their own."

Sheryl doesn't have anything to say to that. She stares at the jewel dangling from her hand a moment longer; then she affixes it back to her ear and stands up. "You know," she says as she turns to face her friends, "I had a thought a little earlier when we were in Grandma's room. If both of you were here at some point when you were little, and both of you know Aimo, then maybe Aimo really was the song of the Mayans. Maybe my grandmother taught it to you two." She looks from one to the other and then takes them both in. "What do you think?"

"..." Brera is usually a silent person. But there's nuance--texture--to his silence now. Something in his chest is moving in a way it shouldn't. A pain not unlike that day--a weight far heavier than the harmonica hanging from his neck should have on its own.

It's a thought that doesn't sit quite right, but still--

<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.

"Yeah. He'll probably be hard to miss..." Ranka looks momentarily frustrated, "... from what I hear he's always giving Alto a hard time."

-=-=-

"Oh! Good! I hope it was helpful." Ranka still feels strange about it, in a sense she understands what it must be, but she still can't hear the full story.

Sheryl's concern however... Ranka hesitates, then bobs her head, "They're not quite as bad but, I still get them. It's not so much just... when there's violence. Just..."

When someone she cares about gets hurt? She doesn't want to test that...

"You know they're having me sing to help the Vajra effort? The last time near the end of it... I think I got one."

Ranka gives her an uncertain look, "It's a little different though. It's like my whole body tightens up and- I feel like I'm drowning. I'm not sure what it means."

She rubs her arms, and Brera's eyes are now on her, obviously concerned but... he also doesn't say anything.

Maybe because he can't.

-=-=-

Ranka at least gets more into the spirit of it now as Sheryl teases Brera. "It's the least we can do." Ranka tells him a little more gaily, "After everything you've done for us."

Ranka does look Sheryl's way, "It has to be. But-" She knows the origin of the earrings from before, "How did they get it on Mayan Island? If the Vajra were there... then..."

Her hair leaps in surprise, "Wait, maybe the ones that were on the island were just there! Like - it was a ways off from the real one but..."

But, how? How could there not have been Vajra attacks for generations?

"Maybe it was the song of the Mayans?" Ranka asks, in wonder, "The real one. If the Vajra left them alone then..." Before Sheryl notes, maybe Aimo really was the real one, "Wait, do you really think it could be?"

That WOULD be a coincidence, but she can't rule it out, blinking her eyes, "I..." Her eyes fall for a moment, as she tries to think about it and...

"I really wish I could confirm it, one way or the other... it would make sense..."

Ranka rubs the side of her forehead, and for a while there's distance. It's like she's trying to put it together and - her silence just speaks volumes, there's something painful she feels even trying, as she looks to Brera, and his Harmonica, pointedly, like she's trying to figure out the connection to that too.

"I don't know."

Then looks at Sheryl, then makes a little shake of her head. "I was hoping that just - something would come back, if we were on the right track but... nothing really is."

Ranka does smile a little, "It would be nice if I did, it'd almost be like - we were meant to be childhood friends or something."

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

    "That sounds awful," Sheryl says sympathetically when Ranka talks about her post-Vajra effort panic attack (or at least, that's what they're calling it at the moment). Her eyebrows furrow, though. As awful as it sounds... she says it's different from usual. And Ranka's song does have an effect on the Vajra--that's pretty clear by now. What does it mean?

    "You're really tough to push through them like that, though," she adds. "I remember when you, me, and Alto were trapped in that shelter, running out of air, and you were freaking out. Alto couldn't even bring himself to spare you a kind word or two." Sheryl gives Ranka a wry smile. "We've all come a long way since then, huh?"

    That smile soon fades, though. A long way, but... still a long way to go, too. What's going to happen to Ranka if the anti-Vajra effort pushes her too far? If it becomes a choice of defeating the Vajra and protecting Ranka... which is Sheryl going to push for?

~ * ~

    Brera remains stoic as Ranka and Sheryl gang up on him. If one can call him shutting his eyes and thinning his lips "stoic," at least by his standards.

    Ranka suggests that maybe the Vajra that'd been on Mayan Island, or at least the island chain it'd been a part of, had been there all along. Sheryl frowns in thought as she folds her arms. "If they were there, maybe it could've happened... It's not like they couldn't have shown up there, with how good they are at folding..." She holds her chin, expression troubled. "Maybe they were the real Bird Human? Or one of their Queens was? And when the war came, she folded away with Great-Aunt Sara..."

    Which leads to its own strange questions. Supposedly the Maiden family had some kind of weird gene thing going on because of the so-called Bird Human. Something about their blood... Sheryl's never noticed anything, and her doctors have never noticed anything, so maybe that was just a metaphor or some flowery embellishment Shin added to his journals, but maybe...

    She shakes her head to toss away the thought. It's not like she could get a blood test done right here and now, and she'd really rather not get her blood drawn anyway.

    "I think it's possible. Weirder things have happened, right?" Sheryl points out.

    The problem, of course, is that they have no way to prove it, as Ranka points out. Sheryl frowns and looks at Brera, but this time, he has no insights. This is a question that's plagued him for a long time, too, as they both know. Still, it's a theory, and better than what they had before, which was nothing. If the Vajra had co-existed peacefully with the Mayans... for one, that completely changes their understanding of the Vajra. Sheryl's prepared to discard the theory for that reason alone. But if it was because of Aimo, then it might be the key to vanquishing them once and for all. Not that Sheryl's thrilled to let Ranka have the spotlight there, but she knows she really has no choice.

    She does return that little smile with one of her own. It's a shame nothing's come back to Ranka--and from the look on Brera's face, to him either--but she does make a good point. "Maybe if Grandma had let me and my parents visit at some point," she replies. "But we ended up meeting by chance anyway."

    Sheryl runs a hand up through her long hair in frustration. "If only we could prove it. I wonder if Grandma has any copies of the transmissions she sent out into space?"

    "I could try searching the database," Brera offers then. "Even if the transmissions themselves no longer exist, we can find where she sent them to--"

    Sheryl perks. "And send one of our own! Yes! Do it, Brera!"

    With an air of resignation, Brera turns to the data entry pad and begins searching. He's not nearly as fast or efficient as Ruri, but he's a cyborg with the top-notch implants of Galaxy; he'll find what they want to find before long.

    The light glints off his harmonica, hanging from his neck as he leans over the keypads. It catches Sheryl's eye, and she looks over at Ranka thoughtfully.

    If Aimo really is the song of the Mayans--if there's a connection between the Mayans and the Vajra--then maybe...

<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.

Ranka tries her best to put on a brave smile when Sheryl confirms how awful it sounds, "It's... definitely improving." She says, in a way that shows she still has mixed feelings, but nevertheless is trying to be optimistic. She looks surprised at being called tough, however that invocation of nostalgia turns her smile more wistful, "Remember how I was clinging to him and couldn't let go even when he was upset about it?" Ranka asks her, holding up her hands, "I'd panicked so much that my hands locked up." She actually giggles softly, "And you were just like 'Can't you even say something like 'I can easily protect two girls'?"

Brera's gaze perhaps, sharpens subtly there, for a variety of reasons - this story validates so many reasons on why he thinks Alto is unworthy of Ranka... and of Sheryl as well. "That does fit with my observations." He remarks, throwing shade on his ability to protect them.

Ranka looks back at Brera and smiles, "Yeah! It is just like him isn't it?" But what Sheryl says next, Ranka looks back at her, and tells her in that same tone, "We have. It really feels like it was so long ago." She rubs the back of her head, a canine showing, "It was just before that that - well, you were really the first person who'd heard me sing. I was really timid about showing it off, but - being with you that day really made me relax enough that... it just came out. You really changed my life, Sheryl."

A hand of hers wraps around Sheryl's to squeeze it lightly as she gives her a more serious look, "So don't worry, I can absolutely tough it out. It's the least I can do for both of you." Even if it feels wrong - like she's selling out to her fans after hearing what Kaworu had to say, she feels this is what she can do to protect the people she cares about.

-=-=-

"Hmmm." Ranka becomes less abstracted as Sheryl works it out in her head, as if focusing on something that's not trying to sort through her memories helps focus her. She begins to pull out her phone from her survival pack as if to check something, before realizing for about the twenty fourth time this trip 'Oh they don't have Earth internet.'

"Yeah. I'm going off memory, but... I remember a big meteor impact caused a lot of the problems in the Pacific right?" That's putting it mildly, but Ranka mostly remembers the facts surrounding the movie, "And formed Huffman, I think, which people fought over its resources, which brought the fighting to Mayan Island. It could have... woke other things up. The Mayans had that belief in Kaduns, evil spirits that can taint people - their very culture... if people were fighting over it, then maybe the meteor - or even the Huffman island itself was a Kadun to them. The Bird Human in the finale was possessing Sara to pass judgment on people at war as Kadun..."

Ranka's gaze lowers, and Sheryl will get the feeling she's avoiding saying it again, 'We don't know how accurate it all is.'

Brera offers to try searching the database, and Ranka's hair leaps, "Could you try searching to see if she kept like... another hidden journal too, Brera? She probably started out by copying it down, but maybe she digitized it as she got older..."

Ranka is looking away at this time, at her phone at first with no internet connection, but she stuffs it away. Her eyes catch Sheryl looking at her out of her periphery, and a thought that…

… seemed impossible to connect to…

Just comes to her, in that moment, through Sheryl, that sense of 'Oh.' Before she looks towards Brera, "Or… actually could we take a break, for just a minute. If there is something like that, we share, then." Her red eyes look at least, despite the melancholy and uncertainty that's rife in this place, "Maybe just… taking a moment. Brera… could you play Aimo for us?"

And even once he does, her red eyes prompt… Sheryl, to begin it. If it really is the Song of the Mayans. Has anything at all to do with her Grandmother and her people and this story then… It belongs to her too, as something they can all share together.

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

Ranka might not notice the shade Brera threw out there, but Sheryl, who's perfectly aware of how he and Alto feel about each other, throws him a wry look. She smiles back at Ranka. "I do remember! He's grown a lot since then, all thanks to my incisive commentary!" She winks. "Just kidding~." Her expression turns a bit wistful. "We all had a lot of growing up to do back then, didn't we? Alto couldn't commit, you were too timid, I was too judgmental... I think we're all a lot better as people now." A knowing look back at Brera. "Growing is part of being a person, after all. And standards should be 'high,' not 'impossible to meet.' Give people a chance to show you their passions, and they just might surprise you."

When Ranka goes on to talk about how Sheryl had changed her life, though, pink rises in her cheeks as her smile grows. A lot of her fans give her praise like this, but this is the only fan who actually stepped up onto the stage to shine as bright as she has. When Ranka says it, it thus means a lot more to Sheryl. She squeezes Ranka's hand back affectionately, and leans forward to press a soft kiss on her forehead. "I know you can," she replies warmly.

True, Sheryl has mixed feelings about it all; even now, there's a streak of jealousy there. As a songstress, as an enemy of the Vajra, as a woman after Alto's heart... Sheryl doesn't like that Ranka threatens not just to match her but to outshine her at all of them. At the same time, the pride she has for her friend/rival is unquestionable.

~ * ~

"I think so," Sheryl says of the Huffman meteor impact. "There's been so many impacts on Earth that it's hard to keep track. Sometimes I think it's amazing they even still have a planet."

Not that that's foreshadowing or anything. History just loves a (soul) refrain.

"Hmmm. It could've," Sheryl concedes of something--maybe a Kadun, maybe something merely like it--having been awakened. She does see that averted look of Ranka's, and fortunately, she's willing to just say it: "The script might've been based on Shin Kudo's journals, but it's still a movie. A movie's purpose is to entertain, and sometimes the most entertaining thing is a big, flashy spectacle." She gives her an ironic little smile. "I've thought a lot about that part in the movie where Sara and Mao had something weird going on in their DNA thanks to contact to the Bird Human. But I've had a lot of blood tests over the years, and I can promise you the doctors have never found anything weird."

Of course, the doctors have also not found anything weird when Sheryl thinks they should have, but that is an issue that won't truly escalate for a while yet. Sheryl still has her Witchcraft, as little as she likes taking it, and as much as she'll sometimes skip a dose or two or five now that Grace isn't around to fuss at her to take them.

A digital diary makes sense. Sheryl looks over to Brera as Ranka suggests he search for that, leaning in to get a look at the screen. There isn't a lot of power left here, but thanks to the expedition fleet, there's at least enough to do this.

She's looked away from Ranka by now, but that doesn't mean Ranka didn't catch the look she gave her earlier. And so when Ranka makes her suggestion... Sheryl's eyes widen. So too do Brera's, and they shoot each other a look. Sheryl's smile returns, growing broadly... and Brera gives a rare smile back to her and Ranka both. He turns back to the controls, inputs a few more commands quickly, and a transmission begins towards... not any specific coordinates, but a blanket signal out into space, past the local ships and aliens.

Once that's done, Brera brings his harmonica up to his lips and begins to play a fuzzy, nostalgic tune. Sheryl looks from him to Ranka, and when Ranka prompts her with her eyes, Sheryl nods and takes a breath. Her fold quartz earring glints in the low light as it stirs within her golden hair.

"Aimo aimo, nedel lushe...
"Noina miria endel prodea... photomi..."

Sheryl gestures silently to Ranka, crooking her fingers towards her in invitation. Perhaps their voices will twine together as Sheryl continues:

"Here we are in a warm sea: look up and breathe..."

For this isn't just an opportunity for Sheryl to share in this song that is Ranka and Brera's only memory; it's a chance for the three of them to connect to each other and to the past that was lost in this place. To connect it to their present, and perhaps to the future. Whether Aimo really is the Song of the Mayans or not, this is something for the three of them.

But as the song progresses into not just the Aimo that Ranka sang as a child but the Aimo she sang for countless fans of Bird Human, that song gains strength. This song is for the three of them, and it's also for everyone in the universe. And perhaps... just perhaps... it might reach someone at the ends of space.

"Come here and breathe in again the warm universe..."

<Pose Tracker> Ranka Lee has posed.

Ranka giggles lightly anyway at it being 'all thanks to her incisive commentary'. For someone who says often 'it's all thanks to Alto' or 'it's all thanks to Sheryl' it hits that right kind of space whereupon it's a twist on her expectations. However her smile widens somewhat as she mentions growing as a part of life, "It is! And since then... we all graduated high school, our lives have been really changing." It's pretty funny that graduating high school is such a milestone when it's two women who have hit it big on stage in the Earthsphere's music scene.

And yet, it is. Because it was a shared space, where they were all, if not equals, more equal.

Squeezing Sheryl's hand, she doesn't quite expect it when Sheryl kisses her on the forehead, at first the warm sensation setting her aglow in that moment of surprise, but then her hair rises softly as if in slow comprehension of what just happened, her nose turning into a broad strip of flushed red from cheek to cheek.

One might expect her to stammer in embarrassment or the like, but instead, despite every sign that she might be, she just looks happy...

"If you have faith in me, I know there's no way I'll ever fail."

After all, Sheryl was the one who had faith in her abilities from the start, her talent. Part of the 1-2 combination that got her out the door. If Sheryl says she can do it, then there's no doubt in her mind.

-=-=-

Ranka begins trying to count Impacts on her fingers, including the Dinosaurs. 'If it's Second Impact, then there was a First.' 'Wait was First Impact the Dinosaurs?' Suddenly she's stuck on trying to figure out how many impacts, despite Sheryl saying there's been so many.

However Sheryl begins to answer the question, including on the blood tests, and part of her nods in wonder, "Yeah, it could just be a purposeful exaggeration to sorta... heighten the mystery about it, to make it sound like it changed human history..." Ranka does consider, giving up on the question of the impacts.

So many it's hard to keep track is right.

"I'm really not sure. I wish we had someone to talk to who was there."

And that person was Mao, who Ranka might have known? Her mind slips over the concept and just slips right out of it.

Her idea, is met with a smile by both, even a rare smile by Brera, and then waits for them to get ready, before she prompts with a nod, as Ranka lets Sheryl lead this song off that she's known effectively, her entire life. The first verse is hers... but then Ranka's joins in at her invitation, the acoustics of this strange ruin of a Macross lending weight to this place, as that sweet gentle melody nostalgically reverberates through these halls once more.

"Here we are in a warm sea: look up and breathe..."

But not in the same way as before, for it's not how it was sang before, with a four year old's voice and a doting brother, but with a granddaughter who has come to this place for the first time, to learn of a grandmother she never knew. There is a weight to this shared moment, of all three processing in shared tragedy, knowing it or not - in how they were brought together.

Ranka synchronizes perfectly, the two young women matching the accompaniment with Brera's harmonica, whose tempo matches their pace as the two sing the original version that Ranka knew, that Brera knew, and as it transitions into the Bird Human version, none of them miss a step. Ranka sings on as if she simply understood that's what Sheryl would do, Brera processes and matches it so quickly that it's like he simply understood that as well.

"Come here and breathe in again the warm universe..."

Whether it reaches out to the depths of space or not, they are here, together. A small adventure that becomes a moment of connection. Many mysteries may still surround this place and their connection to it, but that this moment between them can exist despite everything that might have conspired to prevent it?

To call it a miracle might not be inaccurate.

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

What is First Impact? Sheryl doesn't know. She wasn't even thinking of that; what she had in mind was Axis Shock, the Dublin colony drop, and other more man-made impacts. If Ranka brought it up out loud, it would really only prove her point.

Regardless, she simply sighs. "Me too." But there's no time to wallow in what they don't have and can't achieve. They've got a song to sing for the whole galaxy to listen to.

And as usual, when Sheryl and Ranka sing together, there's a natural synchronicity between them that would normally require hours and hours of practice to achieve. It's just so natural, like it's meant to be. Even Brera, who is literally a cyborg with enhanced neurons, still has to take a split-second to adjust--and it does it superbly well--but it is an adjustment, rather than Ranka, who is simply with her every step of the way.

It's a beautiful song. And it's a beautiful harmony.

If only Alto were here too--but Sheryl knows well why he can't be right now. It's all right. He'll listen to their song plenty later. As Sheryl and Ranka's entwined voices fade in vibrato and Brera sets down his harmonica to end the transmission, she smiles out at the overgrown view from the bridge of the Global. Sending their song out into space might or might not accomplish anything as far as her grandmother is concerned, but she's glad they had a chance to do it.

For now, she looks back at her friends with a smile. "All right--let's take one last look around to see if there's anything we missed. If we don't find anything else, we can head back. Now let's go!"

~ * ~

It is funny that something as mundane as graduating high school is such a big milestone for the two of them. But for Sheryl in particular, she'd never attended a proper school before going to Mihoshi Academy. Getting to attend high school with Alto and Ranka will always be a cherished time in her life.

She lets loose a low 'ufu~' when Ranka praises her by proxy. But while Sheryl smiles cat-like, she really is touched by how much faith Ranka has in her. There are fans, and there are fans.

Maybe that's why she can't help but like her, no matter how much she threatens her position at the top?

...Well, for right now, Sheryl will put that out of mind. She looks from her to Brera, favoring him with her smile too. "Well then, enough reminiscing! As long as we're all here, why don't we play a game and have some fun? You're both here to pay me a visit, so entertain me to the very end! <3"

...Though, just having her close friends here is entertainment enough.

.....But Sheryl will also take regular entertainment. She can only open up her bedside table's drawer and look at that old, torn photo so many times. Really, she ought to give it a nicer setting--a frame at the least, or maybe set it with one of the gifts she's received. Something to keep the reminder fresh, either way--of that trip to the stars, and of that song they sent out into space together.

Sometimes, you have to make a miracle yourself.