2024-09-12: The Future Ahead
- Log: The Future Ahead
- Cast: Eight Orlodhari, Anita Rosetta
- Where: Magallanica - Orlodhari Residence
- OOC - IC Date: U.C. 0099 09 12
- Summary: Anita visits Eight and her family, and the two of them talk about the future - the bad and the good.
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
Magallanica is abuzz with the news of what has happened and what could happen; the people are worried. Some are angry. Some want to do something, but aren't sure what. And some... Some might have more specific ideas. Eight is dealing with a lot of the last one, lately.
But right now, it's past work hours, and Eight is at the Orlodhari home. It's a lovely house with a nice little fence, in a very green part of the colony. She has neighbors! And windows! And, of course, a welcome mat.
Eight is in the house, out of uniform already. Her security team is quiet; they won't bother Anita especially from where they're watching.
Eight has been a little distractable today, taking a little longer than usual to answer her messages, but with Anita in Magallanica, she certainly wouldn't miss meeting up with her.
The little windows in the front door show the foyer, and Eight will be quick to answer the door with a, "Hi, Annie."
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
It's good to take time out to visit friends. ...Especially these days, when there's so much going on, and people find themselves tested and strained by the recent tragedy. Anita's back to work following a brief break, which means she's in the perfect position to do just that -
- and after messaging Eight to figure out a plan, waiting patiently in between messages, of course, because she Gets It - Anita walks the path up to the Orlodhari home. She takes a moment to appreciate the decor. It really is a lovely little place - Eight and her family deserve a place lke this.
Anita knocks, and soon enough, Eight answers.
"Hey, Eight. Good to see you. The place looks great." Anita greets with a smile and a casual wave. She's a little more tired, a little more subdued than her usual... but the same could be said for most people, these days.
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
There really is a lot going on. And Eight is increasingly in the middle of it; Annie may have noticed the telltale signs, but the MDF is gathering its forces for... something. What? It's hard to say yet beyond rumors.
Eight beams at Anita. "Thanks!" Eight answers as she steps back and opens the door. "We're trying to make it more and more homey..." A beat, "And to get the twins to stop drawing on the walls. That part is a work in progress."
She notices the tiredness, the subdued way of being; Annie might notice in turn that Eight looks a little tired, too, her eyes a little bloodshot.
"Come on in. Make yourself comfortable. Can I get you anything?"
She leads the way to the living room, where there are a couch, a loveseat, and a couple of plush chairs; a coffee table, of course. Eight has no coffee today, which is perhaps unusual for her. Instead there's a can of something on a coaster. And...
"Annie! Annie!" Zaress peers out from the other room around the corner, and then toddles forward, lifting his hands to greet one of his favorite people. Aarmi walks up behind him. "Hi..."
And that's where Lavhi comes in, "Ha! You thought you had escaped!" he says in a big, boisterous voice.
"But it is not yet time to--"
Pause. "Oh! Hello, Annie," he says. "Forgive me! I want to give you two some privacy to talk, but I turned my back, and..."
"Haro," Aarmi says quietly.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Anita's noticed the signs. In the world's current state... it might be best to be ready, just in case.
Anita nods as Eight thanks her.
"I can tell. Feels cozy. It's nice." She replies... and then chuckles, offering Eight a wink. "Hey, I think it adds a little character. ...But, I get it."
With another nod, Anita steps inside as Eight invites her in.
"I could go for a soda, actually." She replies, following her into the living. She takes note of the living room, looking it over appreciatively... and, looks toward Zaress as he rounds a corner, calling out to her.
"Hey, Zaress! Aarmi! It's great to see you two!" Anita greets back with a big smile, leaning down to their level. "Wow, you're both getting big."
There's a big, boisterous voice, and Anita stands back up, offering Lavhi a smile and a wave of greeting as well.
"Hey there." She greets back, and shakes her head. "It's cool, it's cool. Always good to see you and the kids. How've you been?"
Aarmi asks after Haro, and Anita offers her an apologetic smile.
"Sorry, I didn't bring him with me today... Next time for sure, though." She says.
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
Eight laughs softly back at that wink. "It does do that." Character. But Eight heads to the kitchen, past the bar and to the fridge to acquire a soda, which is when the Child Drama happens. The living room has photographs and little pillows--Eight loves her little pillows on the couches.
"Hi!!" Zaress says back, beaming back at Annie. "Big!"
Lavhi smiles back. "I have been well," he says. "...Very busy. But Eight is busier. So I have been taking matters here in hand."
He'd ask after her, but: instead, Aarmi looks at that apologetic smile and then... nods. "Okay," she says, and looks up to view Annie instead. "...Hi."
She's sstill happy to see Anita herself! In fact, she approaches, and tries to give Anita a hug. Though Eight says, "Aarmi, affection is good, but we ask before we hug people when they aren't expecting it."
"Oh. Hug?" she asks.
Regardless of how that scene (which melts Eight's heart a bit) plays out, Lavhi then picks up his twins, one in each arm. "It is good to see you, Annie! But I shall take these two back to their play! Perhaps we can talk later!"
That will, eventually, leave Eight alone to hand Anita her soda. "...Things are a little heavy lately," she admits. "I'm trying not to let on too much to them. How are things in your part of Orb?"
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Anita beams back at Zaress at his affirmation of 'Big!', before looking back toward Lavhi.
"Feels like the way of things these days." Anita admits, massaging the back of her neck. ...Even if a part of her wishes she could be doing a little more. She looks back down toward Aarmi, though, and at that nod and 'Okay'... makes a mental note to definitely remember Haro for her next time. She smiles at the greeting, and as she reaches up for a hug Anita starts to lean down to make it easier for her -
- though she stops herself when Eight returns with a gentle instruction, not wanting to counteract her lesson. And when Aarmi asks...
"I'd like a hug." Anita confirms with a smile, leaning down to accept it. She stands back up, then, as Lavhi collects the kids, and offers him a nod.
"Yeah, maybe! Good to see you, too. Have fun, you three!" She offers them a wave - and looks, then toward Eight, accepting her soda.
"...Yeah." She agrees with a nod, a wry smile crossing her face. "It's all a little too much for them right now. I'm glad they don't have to think about things like that yet."
She considers, though, how to phrase the answer to her question.
"Well... I wish I could say things are great, but honestly... There's a lot up in the air right now." Anita admits with a shrug. "Sounds like NUNE's putting some pressure on Orb, and with Cagalli's marriage coming up to seal the deal... well, I dunno what kind of position we're going to be in after that."
She massages the back of her neck.
"Still, at least right now, things are pretty quiet. My time off was pretty peaceful, even if it made me a bit antsy."
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
Eight smiles. "You're good with them," she comments on Anita. "I appreciate that. Aarmi has really come to love Haros, thanks to you."
They will definitely have fun! So say the sounds of Lavhi's big voice in the other room before he closes the door again, and the laughter that accompanies same.
"Me, too," she says. "....It's hard; they pick up on a lot more than you'd imagine."
A pause, then. Not great... Eight moves around to take a seat on the couch, picking up her own drink again--turns out it's tea, a calming sort by the label of the teabags on the pot nearby.
"So, you heard about that too," Eight answers. "I'm not surprised. Cagalli said she was hoping to talk to you and Rena." She sighs. "I'm exerting what levers I have, but... I can't openly influence Orb politics."
She looks to Annie. "But I'm hoping to have people at the wedding, to see what happens there. Whatever position we end up in... we'll end up there with our eyes open."
But she's worried, too; Rena and Anita live in Orb, after all...
And Rena is a Coordinator.
"We'll have to take what quiet we can. ...I think I'd be antsy, too, in your shoes. Instead, I'm fielding a lot of worried people. The news cycles in NUNE are all about how Spacenoids are the ones responsible for all this..."
A sigh. "It feels like we're on the verge of repeating history."
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"I'm glad you think so." Anita replies, and then smiles. She sounds genuinely touched by that news. "Really? I'm glad. It's nice to be able to pass it on to someone else."
She nods, then, as Eight continues.
"...Yeah, I bet. Even if they can't understand what's going on... they can still read the air." Anita replies. Eight moves to take a seat and Anita follows suit, taking a seat next to her.
"Yeah, she came by our place looking for Rena, but she wasn't there so we had a short chat." Anita replies, and nods. "...Yeah. It's a tough position. There's not a lot we can do without bringing trouble down on our heads, and we've got enough of that. We already don't have a ton of fans over there."
She nods.
"...Yeah. Good idea. Best to know what happens and be ready to deal with it, whichever way it goes." She agrees. She's worried, too. It's subtle, but it shows on her face.
The idea that she might be losing another home... it hurts. And the fact that it puts Rena in a sensitive position, too, just drives the knife in deeper.
She'd fight the world for her, if it came down to it. She really hopes it doesn't.
"...Yeah." Anita agrees with a nod. Worried people... "...I bet."
She sighs, massaging the back of her neck.
"...Yeah. I wish I could say it'd blow over, but..." She shakes her head. "There's a lot of hurt, scared people out there looking for a reason for it all, something or someone to blame so they can feel safe again."
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
"It is," Eight agrees.
"Right. It's like that. You can't just say one thing and mean another to them; they're sharper than that." A pause. Cagalli... "Cagalli seems to feel pretty trapped in her situation. ...For as hard as I fought to have my family, I don't much like the idea of someone else forced into it. I know they do arranged marriages in the PLANTs, but..."
She shakes her head.
"I guess I feel like even arranged is better if you're allowed to say 'no'."
"And we really don't. I'm concerned about that last encounter we had--Outright trying to ban us from Earth space... Well, if things go that way in Orb, then I won't be able to make it Earthside for a while. If it comes to it, though--you two always have a place here. ...I'll fight to make sure you can keep the home you have now, though."
She's doing it now, though her battlefield is an office instead of the bridge of a ship. For now.
"There are," she says. "That's what worries me. There was a 'will' to that event... The Newtypes around me are saying that they can feel what's coming, like it hass a will of its own, too. I haven't sensed it as strongly, but..." She gestures. "For a while now I've sensed... less of that kind of thing."
"Well. I don't want your visit to feel too gloomy just because the horizon looks dark. Lavhi's birthday is in a few days; do you think you and Rena might be able to be around for it?"
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"Mm-hm." Anita agrees with a nod. Cagalli... Anita nods, frowning.
"...Yeah. That's the feel I got, too. It seemed like she didn't have a lot of hope..." Anita says. She nods quietly. "Yeah. It's... you should be able to choose that much."
She shakes her head.
"I'm not gonna dictate someone else's business. But in her case... it's like they're just using her as a bargaining chip. She might as well be a hostage." Anita says. Her brow furrows for a moment, and she taps her fingers against the side of her drink... which she now finally lifts to take a drink, to give herself something to occupy herself with.
She nods, though, as Anita continues.
"Yeah. I get they gotta keep up appearances, but... really? Then and there?" She replies, shaking her head. She goes quiet, though... and nods. "...Yeah. That's what scares me. I'm worried we'll be cut off at all."
She smiles, though.
"...I appreciate that." She says. A home in Magallanica would be nice... even if she's come to love the Earth.
As for that 'will' Eight mentions, Anita brow furrows, listening. The Newtypes around her picked up on it, too....
"Yeah. Rena was telling me about that, too. ...It really messed her up." Anita says. She feels a little helpless, for a moment - that's a world she doesn't share, she can't know what it feels like to face that level of rejection.
She manages a smile, though, as Eight decides to turn the conversation back around to brighter topics.
"Yeah, I'll definitely make sure my schedule's clear that day. I'll try and poke Rena until hers is, too." Anita replies.
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
"A hostage... That's the impression I get, too. We might have to take more drastic action. The MDF can't be involved, but people living in Orb, or associated with one of Orb's companies... Well. That would be easier." Though... Nergal. Eight sighs, considering the NDA, and all that is associated with it. ...She doesn't bring it up.
"I think most of NUNE would rather see a disaster exacerbated than 'owe' us anything," she says. "Even aside from the suspicions they're overblowing about who actually caused it. Anyone can see the PLANTs are as afraid as anyone, but..."
She shakes her head. She can offer a home at least--but she'd rather see Rena and Anita get to keep the one they've already fought for.
"I don't... sense things like that as strongly as I used to," Eight admits. "Since I had the twins. No, not quite then... sometime around the battles with the Sleeves. Well, I guess I chose to focus on the material world. Maybe that's it."
A smile back, though. "Good," Eight says. "I might have some good news for you soon, too. It's a secret for now, but... Maybe. We could use some good news."
"...Can I get you something to eat?" Eight offers.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Eight feels the same way, huh... Anita nods.
"...Yeah." Anita says, massaging the back of her neck. "It's gonna be rough either way."
And involving Nergal always brings with it a certain level of risk...
"Well, if it comes down to it, I'll keep an eye on things." Anita says.
In other words - if Eight needs her to act, she'll be ready.
But as Eight continues, Anita grimaces.
"...Yeah. Yeah. Sounds about right." Anita says. "They're real good at pointing fingers. And talking loud enough that people think they're right."
Eight admits, then, that she doesn't sense things as strongly as she used to. Since the twins - or maybe the battle with the Sleeves. Choosing to focus on the material world...
Anita massages the back of her neck, but offers her a smile.
"Well... that's not necessarily a bad thing, right? The material world's got a lot of good things to offer." Anita replies.
Good news, though!
"That so, huh? Well, I'll keep an ear out, then. Wouldn't mind hearing some good news." She says.
As for something to eat, though... Anita smiles.
"Sure. That sounds great."