2022-01-23: A Reunion in Nouvelle Tokyo
- Log: Reunion in Nouvelle Tokyo
- Cast: Rena Lancaster, Eight York, Anita Rosetta
- Where: Nouvelle Tokyo - Docks
- Date: January 23, 2022
- Summary: The Ra Mari finally gets a chance to pick up Rena Lancaster--and the Captain comes to meet her with Anita Rosetta. They have a chance to talk about the things that have happened while Rena was out...
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
It is mid-afternoon on a blustry day in Nouvelle Tokyo. The artificial island has a cold front moving through; there isn't snow, but there is a cold wind, and that means the docks on one side of the city are especially windy. The Ra Mari has docked -- Federation crews, mostly affiliated with NERV, are on hand to help resupply -- and there is a large crane moving an RX-94 Mass Production-type Nu Gundam back onto the ship. It is marked by its fin funnels and white shoulder.
It also makes a picturesque scene for a reunion. Rena is waiting on the docks, wearing a large dark brown coat over her uniform. It has her Lieutenant's stars on the shoulders; she also has an officer's cap on, pushed down neatly on her head. Which is good, because her long ashen hair and coat alike are flapping mightily in the wind.
The Ra Mari might not be leaving right away, but it probably will soon -- tomorrow at the latest, Rena suspects. But there is time for the crew to go see Nouvelle Tokyo, if they like.
Rena stands in front of the docking catapult that connects the ocean docks to the Ra Mari. She is, as it happens, waiting for Eight and Anita to disembark.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Ordinarily, Eight herself might or might not have disembarked here, still having a lot of work to catch up on on the ship--especially in light of everything that's happened lately. It would be entirely normal for her to stay aboard and just do that. Buuut... Well, she wants to see Rena, for a multitude of reasons, only some of which are to debrief her on the matter of what she was fighting and how that went down.
So here she is, stepping out with Anita towards the docks. Captain York wears a long brown coat as well, and her Captain's hat, which she usually foregoes on the ship but is approprate for the weather out here. Even so her shorter blonde hair is whipped a bit by the wind, too.
"Rena!" Eight calls as she sees her, waving her way in a very casual kind of way. She looks her age at moments like this. "Welcome back!" She turns to smile at Anita and then back to Rena.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Nouvelle Tokyo... Anita never got a chance to visit during her time with the OCU. And now she's here! ...It's a lot colder than she expected. Natural cold is a lot different than a colony's scientifically-calculated weather. She's bundled up, too - though her coat isn't quite as fancy as either Eight's or Rena's.
Eight goes first and Rena follows, and while Anita is interested in Nouvelle Tokyo itself, there's something of more immediate importance to her. Or rather, someone - Rena, waiting for them in front of the docking catapult.
"Welcome back." Anita greets with a lazy wave and a smile - one returned to Eight, and one for Rena herself. It's a casual, laidback greeting as usual - but it's not hard to miss how she looks Rena over to make sure she's alright.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Rena looks her lower rank, right now; her hat is less ornate, less impressive than Eight's. She wears it rarely -- but a cold weather situation is one of the circumstances she would. She does put a hand on it as she steps closer, her face breaking out into a smile at the wave. She wanted to see Eight, to see Anita, to see all of them after the fight. For Eight, it's apparent in her emotions; a pulse of longing in her aura, a feeling of relief at seeing them both.
Maybe it was what Renais said. 'I wouldn't wish the suffering I endured on anyone.'
It lingers in her brain. It makes her want to see her friends; to have the comfort of their familiar presence.
"Eight! Anita!" Rena says, as she closes the distance between the two of them. "Thanks. I'm glad to be back..." She doesn't look injured; the bruises from being knocked around are mostly faded. She looks between them. "Did anything exciting happen? Are you both okay? Anita, you're looking way too relaxed about this weather! This is ridiculous, the wind's all funny!"
She laughs. Anita always looks relaxed, after all...
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
It's super cold!! And windy!! It's weird! But of course Anita isn't bugged much by it, and Eight doesn't mind too much either, given how much time she used to spend on the ice. Not so much around the wind...
Eight feels Rena's aura immediately, and her smile softens slightly. "Good," she says. "I was a little worried, when I heard you were out here fighting after all." She admits it despite having meant to stay upbeat; it shows in her feelings that she was more than a little worried... more worried than usual for Rena being out in combat, for some reason.
"Ahahah. I think that's just like Anita," she says of her being relaxed, agreeing with a laugh of her own.
"Do you want to do some walking around before we head back? We have some time off."
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Anita relaxes, just a little, when she notices that Rena appears uninjured. Good - that's her immediate concerns out of the way. Anything else, they can all deal with later.
"Good to have you back." Anita agrees with a nod. Exciting things...
"Well... maybe a couple of things. I'm alright, though, myself." Anita replies... and chuckles, as they both point out how unbothered by the weather she seems.
"Ah, well, you know... The wind's gonna blow as it wants, right?" Anita replies nonchalantly. An unsurprising response for someone who spends a lot of time with her head in the clouds - literally and figuratively.
"How are you, though?" Anita asks of Rena. She looks briefly toward Eight as she asks if Rena wants to do some walking around, and then back to Rena herself to hear her answer.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Weather on Earth remains something of a confusing mystery to Rena. She hasn't spent much time here -- and this is one of the longest she has spent outdoors, enjoying the city, and not cooped up inside of a military base the entire time. "I didn't expect to fight. The mission was completely normal -- not even any Zeon remnants..."
She trails off and sighs. She looks at Eight -- and there's an understanding that passes between them. Eight was more than a little worried. And something, specific, must have. She walks a little closer to them both. "A couple things...?" Rena says to Anita -- though her eyebrow twitches, a moment later. "Anitaaaaaa... you're being cool without meaning to again," she whines, then puffs out her cheeks.
Then she looks at Eight -- back at Anita -- and nods her head. "Mm-hm. I tried to to not look around too much since you both got here. Ah, and, I need to meet with someone before we launch, too, if it's okay..."
She starts down the dock. At a leisurely pace, so her friends can keep up.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight didn't actually answer about if anything exciting happened! She didn't mean to hide it, she just sort of got distracted by the rest of the conversation... and might've been taking her time to try to think of how to say things.
"I guess we have to be ready for the unexpected, huh?" And then--she laughs, when Rena calls Anita cool. "That's our Anita! Always cool!"
"Then sure," Eight says, and starts off after Rena, catching up easily with her longer legs. "...As for exciting things..."
"A few!" she agrees. "Well, a weird man wwith a head that was on fire appeared on the bridge and mentioned you were fighting," Eight says casually, though she is actually self-aware enough to realize that that won't be taken casually. "And I was involved in the kaiju attacks in the last few days. Got out in a mobile suit for once, which was... interesting, and for the other..." She thinks, "Well, I'll tell you about the other one later. It's not just my story to tell. But it's fine--nothing to worry about."
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Zeon remnants... Anita 'hm's to herself about that but stays quiet for now.
She pauses, though, as Rena and Eight both call her cool. She certainly doesn't object to it, but sometimes it goes over her own notice!
"Am I really...?" She considers with another 'hm'.
"Oh, then we get to experience it for the first time together, then. I never had time to visit while I was here before the transfer..." Anita replies. "It'll be nicer to visit with friends."
She had been on her own, then... but now she isn't!
She pauses, though, as Eight begins to list off some of the exciting things that had happened.
"...Fire head guy... I wasn't there for that. What's his deal?" Anita considers.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"You are absolutely the coolest person I know, Annie," Rena says to her friend, with a sincere smile on her face. She even brushes some hair back behind her ear. Most people couldn't say something like that so earnestly.
Then she looks back at Eight and makes a very different face. "A weird man, with a head on fire," Rena says, a little flatly. Then she sighs, and her shoulders slump. "I'm sorry. I don't know who that is... b ut it must have worried you."
There is a pulse of worry -- Rena seems to hesitate for a second at the idea of Eight in a Mobile Suit. There are many questions -- ones she would never hesitate to ask in front of Anita, but ones she would in public. She gives Eight a worried, knowing look, and one of those questions is written all over her face: 'Are you okay?'
There is a nod, though. Something for Eight to tell her later, about this other thing.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"Mm-hm," Eight agrees about Anita. She smiles at her, too. And the matter of experiencing the city for the first time together is nice, because, "I haven't gotten to look around much either! I actually have to head out sooner than most of us for a side-trip, but i've got some time to spend here first."
Fire head guy. "So, he said something about 'Triple Zero' and 'Oath over Omega' and a coming calamity," Eight says with a frown. "I don't know his deal... but I don't think he's a friend. 'Alexis Kerib', he called himself. Just be on the lookout... in case."
Rena's worried look gets a small smile, and Eight nods. "...It was weird," she admits. "But it was OK. They needed the help, so..." She stepped in.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Rena and Eight are in agreement. Anita chuckles.
"Well... then I guess I must be." She decides. If they both agree, after all! Eight says she has to head out sooner than most of them.
"Well, we'll just have to make the most of it, then." She replies with a decisive nod. She frowns, though, as Eight explains what fire head guy - Alexis Kerib - said, and the fact that he isn't a friend. That and the fact that he, as Eight put it, appeared on the bridge... "...Sounds like a problem."
But, Eight in a mobile suit...
"You could've asked someone else." Anita points out. "...But, I bet they appreciated it. Just as long as you're alright."
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"See?" Rena says to Anita. "That's why!"
She doesn't hesitate to keep walking -- making her way to the city. "Alexis Kerib, huh..." Rena frowns, as she says the name. She looks at Eight, then, and there is a quiet moment -- before she nods her head. If Eight says it was okay, then she believes her; she doesn't think Eight would hide it, if it wasn't. At least, not when it is the three of them.
The streets of Nouvelle Tokyo are picturesque -- if crowded. The artificial island is more crowded than a colony, with limited space. There are parks, but there are also tightly-packed buildings next to each other. Electronic signs blink at them, advertising all sorts of goods.
Rena is quiet for a moment, looking thoughtful.
"I ran into... someone talking about Oath Over Omega," Rena says, carefully, after a moment. They may be on a street, but it isn't that busy; she still looks around to be sure no one is listening in or following. "I was checking out that report about a Musai-class cruiser in the Pacific Ocean. It was nothing, but while I was here, it all happened." She frowns, and she looks tense for a second. To Eight, she feels tense, too.
"Guy Shishioh, with the Gutsy Galaxy Guard, came back." The alleged traitors to the Earth, who vanished five years ago. Rena hesitates a moment more. "He seemed like himself. But someone else from GGG did, too. Renais Cardiff-Shishioh. She... was different. She was herself, but talked about Oath Over Omega... about needing to put the entire planet out of its misery."
Rena looks down for a second, hesitating. Her emotions are a jumble, just talking about it. "We fought her off. And Guy Shishioh is back, but... that sounds like the calamity they were talking about."
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"Yep!" Eight replies cheerfully to Anita, happy that this matter is settled. "Definitely a problem--he was... moving around a lot, like he was almost unreal? But he was real. I thought it was a better idea to hear him out than to risk the bridge crew fighting something like him. He acted friendly, but..." She shakes her head.
The matter of her in the mobile suit is still on her mind as they look around the artificial island, all these signs blinking everywhere. "...I guess I could've," Eight admits. "I went out in a Nemo. I remember those, from back then..." She says it quietly, but shakes her head after a moment. "But it went OK, and I got to see Hazard and Miss Louka in action."
But Rena carefully talks about the report, and what she'd been running into. She notice that tension. It all happened when she was here...
"Oh, them..." She remembers--Ultrasound knew them. "Huh... So that's what it is... he asked me if those words meant anything to me. But they didn't. Now I see why. He mentioned that 'a friend of mine' was fighting them."
"He asked a lot of questions. He wanted to know a lot about what I'd do about 'the inevitable'..."
"But I don't think anything is inevitable, and I told him so. He didn't like it much."
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"...Think he might've been a hologram? But I guess then there's the question of how he beamed onto the bridge in the first place..." Anita considers with a frown, and then shrugs. "...Well, probably for the best. Those are the types you always have to watch out for - the ones who are all smiles up front but with a knife behind his back. I bet he could've gotten unfriendly pretty quickly."
She nods, though, as Eight explains that she went out in a Nemo. 'Back then'... Anita doesn't comment on that.
"...Well, that's good. I bet they put on quite a show." Anita comments, offering a smile.
But then there's Rena's matter - how she, too, ran into someone talking about Oath Over Omega. Her smile fades into a frown as Rena continues. ...It's a serious situation.
"...That's a scary thought." Anita mutters. Being yourself, but... not, at the same time. "...I guess it's good that Guy's back, but... sounds like things are going to get complicated."
What a time for it to happen...
She listens, then, as Eight mentions Alexis's questions.
"The 'inevitable', huh..." She murmurs and ultimately decides... "...That's heavy."
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"Something that can just show up on the bridge..." Rena shakes her head. "...I don't like it. I think you made the right call, Eight. Even if it was a hologram." She sighs a little, before she glances sideways at Eight. Rena's hesitation is written all over her face, as she considers Eight York in a Nemo. She glances back down at the ground, then, and nods once.
"Just... don't push yourself too hard, if it feels weird, okay?" she says.
She looks back at Anita, then nods. "Yeah. I think so," she says. "I'll try to meet with him, before we leave. But... this seems scary."
She looks back at Eight. "I didn't see someone like you described there. But I wasn't really looking for every person that was on the ground," Rena muses, after a second. "I... don't want to think that it's inevitable. It sounded like Renais wanted to end human life, but... she went with GGG too. I feel like... this doesn't match anything I heard about people who worked with GGG. Even if they betrayed the Federation, like they say, it wasn't like that."
She looks down for a second. "But... as much as I want to say it was just something possessing her, something twisting her, like the Zonderians I read about, it's..." Her brown eyes look at the ground. She shakes her head, once. "...she talked about how people captured her and experimented on her, when she was little."
Her breath catches. This hits too close to home.
"And... that it would be a mercy, to end a world like this," she finishes. Rena's fingers curl into a fist. "I don't... think it's not her, even if she's been altered somehow. She was much too angry for that."
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"He 'felt' real," Eight says. "After I made him mad I felt... this intense hate. This loathing. I don't think a hologram could've done that." She nods to Rena. "It was the only call; Chovan was ready to shoot, but... I had a bad feeling." She agrees with Anita there, frankly. "That's exactly the impression I got."
Rena's hesitation is something Eight appreciates--she breaks into a small, gentle sort of smile, which suggests she may still be thinking out her feelings on it, even if they aren't immediately bad.
"...All right," she answers, kand smiles back at Anita too.
"Well you've got time; I have a mission out in Moscow I have to take care of before we go off-Earth again. Diplomatic stuff."
She listne,s though. Renais... wanted to end human life. It does hit close to home, for Eight too. SHe is quiet, as she listens. Heavy stuff, Anita says, and...
"...I can understand why someone might think that," she answers quietly. "But I don't believe that's the solution. The world... it's not out of 'hope', no matter how many bad things happen."
She looks seriously at both of them. "We'll do what we can. Together. We can do anything that way. I believe that."
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"...Yeah, guess not, then." Anita murmurs, massaging the back of her neck. To think there's someone out there who could do that... It's enough to give her pause. "...I'm just glad he didn't hurt any of you."
She nods, as Rena says she'll try to meet with Guy. Eight, meanwhile, has a diplomatic mission in Moscow. Anita lets out a good-natured chuckle.
"I guess that's part of being the Captain, huh? I don't really envy you there, Eight." Anita comments with a shake of her head. She might be trying to lighten things up a bit.
She listens, then, as Rena speaks of Renais and her situation. Anita grimaces, shaking her head.
"...Guess I can't really blame her, there." She comments. Anyone would feel that way. Anita folds her arms in front of her. She feels like... they've all ended up in way over their heads somehow. There's a limit even to what she can take.
...But, Eight gives them both a serious look, and Anita can manage a small smile again after that.
"...And you two said I'm the cool one." She replies with a shake of her head. "...But yeah, you're right... we're together."
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"Holograms and recordings don't... usually feel that way," Rena admits. "Sometimes, maybe, if it's strong, but--" But if someone is millions of miles away, it usually feels different. It can be hard for a Newtype to put that into words. Her eyes glance downward for a moment, but Rena nods.
She looks sideways at Eight -- and there is a bob of her head, once. A little time is good.
"Yeah. I can understand it," Rena says, keeping her voice quiet. It reminds her of her mother; of the night they fled, of the night she met Eight and saw, firsthand, the sorts of crimes that her mother could commit. She looks back at Anita, and then she nods. "...yeah. It's... it's terrible."
But not unexpected. Rena takes a deep breath, and then she nods. "Yeah. We'll do what we can. The world isn't... like that," she agrees. Then, she smiles at Anita. "We're together. Whatever we gotta do. And I think... something must have affected Renais. I have to try to help her. I'm not sure how, still, but..."
There is that deep-seated need to try to make it right, even if she never met her.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"Me, too," Eight admits to Anita. She wants to keep her crew safe, especially from things like he seemed to be. ...Whatever he was. But Rena explains why he's probably not a hologram too, and Eight thinks that's good enough for her. And the mission, well--"Ahah, yeah. It's a party, in theory, but I'm going to be making nice with a bunch of wealthy donor types, I think, so not exactly the most relaxed time."
Anyone could feel that way, though. It's true. Rena knows... and Eight knows. It's terrible, all right. She smiles at Anita, too. "...If I can't do even as much as believing in my crew, I wouldn't be much of a Captain, would I?" Eight asks.
She feels they can do it--she believes it. ANd when Rena says she wants to help? "Then we'll help her. I'll support you all the way, Rena."
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"That kind of party, huh...?" Anita says with a grimace. Yup. Definitely glad she gets to skip out on that.
But, it seems like they all feel pretty similarly about Renais and her situation... Anita nods at Eight's comment, offering her a smile.
"Yeah, that's true... Good thing you're a good Captain." Anita replies. And Rena makes her decision to try and help Renais. Anita nods, at that, joining in with Eight's own agreement.
"Yeah... I'll do what I can, too. As for the 'how'... We can figure that out as we go. There has to be something we can do." Anita agrees.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"I'll, ah, pass," Rena tells Eight with a sheepish smile. She would do well to avoid parties, anyways.
"Anita's right," Rena says. "We are lucky you're our captain, Octo." She grins. "Even when you're getting annoying."
She smiles, though -- and her eyes turn downward after a moment. Rena hesitates for only a second, before she nods. "...thanks, you too. I'll do my best. But it helps knowing you'll be there with me."