2022-05-02: An Honest Place
- Log: 2022-05-02: An Honest Place
- Cast: Lune Zoldak, Mitsuba Greyvalley's XO Reynold Hardin, Az Sainklaus, Edge Sainklaus
- Where: Dreisstrager Transverse Spinal Access B
- OOC - IC Date: 0096-05-02
- Summary: Reynold is called to account for his movements.
<Pose Tracker> Lune Zoldak has posed.
IN FLASHBACK WINDOW:
LUNE ZOLDAK enters, looking extremely cool and with more hair volume and luster than she usually does. She has a towel around her shoulders, but has an aura of perfection and flowers that edges into other panels.
AZ SAINKLAUS is revealed via spotlight, center stage, next to a large circular garbage can. She is a distressed damsel wearing a butterfly cloak and a whimsical air.
AZ: "My honor has been impugned upon by villains!"
AZ engages in various melodramatic looks of distress and feminine poses.
The GARBAGE CAN rumbles, before opening, revealing EDGE SAINKLAUS.
EDGE: "Garbage garbage, space Reynold, garbage."
EDGE looks to Lune's fabulous hair needfully.
LUNE: "Okay, I guess I'll help."
LUNE radiates a terrible power, before raising up under spotlights into the ceiling. She does not actually have a lower bust or leg model - her upper body bust just rises up into the ceiling.
IN REALITY:
Az gets a message to meet Lune for 'Judgement' in the Transverse Spinal Access B.
TRANSVERSE SPINAL ACCESS B:
The location is set between the forward and aft parts of the Dreisstrager's B Hangar, the far end of the congressway that allows access laterally across the ship from the DREADED FOUR WAY all the way through to Hangar A, or spinally, to the fore or aft. All the way at the end is an unattended airlock face, is Lune Zoldak. Reynold has been dragged here - with a curt 'come with me' and a firm grasp about his wrist to tug him along. He did not get a say in the matter, unless he called security. On Lune.
Checking the time on the airlock panel, Lune waits for the rest of the JUDGEMENTERS.
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed.
Reynold has just arrived back from an impromptu visit to the Orb Union with Technical Chief Mayvy; they'd taken one of the Dreisstrager's Space Boat II transports to discuss a purpose-specific resupply. Apparently it has to do with the mysterious new mobile weapon the AOS has been dangling at them lazily to get them to push themselves in the simulators; it's exactly the sort of thing you'd expect those two to be dealing with.
He's going over an extremely boring spreadsheet of parts and serial numbers when Lune approaches him. "Ah, Ms. Zoldak," he starts, "I was just about to bring this to Jiequan, but you'd --"
NOW:
Reynold's poker face is immaculate, at least. His brain is still stuck in 'serious' mode rather than 'hapless' mode, which means he's studiously avoiding emoting entirely. (It's on purpose. Lune kind of terrifies him.) "... Now that we seem to be stopped, may I ask what this is about?" he starts, going over the possibilities in his head.
<Pose Tracker> Lune Zoldak has posed.
"Judgement." Lune answers, turning away from the panel and smiling. Normally, her smiles are bright and honest, easily found after some triumph. Her resting attitude colors 'warmth' down to a confidence, files the softness from her eyes.
She smiles for herself, and it shows on her.
The smile she gives Reynold is not bright, but it is honest.
"Reynold, before we begin, I have a question for you. Do you like me?"
"Romantically."
<Pose Tracker> Az Sainklaus has posed.
AN INDETERMINATE AMOUNT OF TIME AGO:
Az gets a message to meet Lune for 'Judgement'.
%It exudes a vague aura of menace, even when not directed at her, and nobody can tell if that makes it better or worse. At least fifteen seconds are spent blinking in confusion and surprise at it before she quietly repeats back to herself, "J-Judgement...?" Uh.
She takes a moment to at least go try to find Edge. She's obviously not worried for herself. No, she's worried about him. If she can find him, that means he's not dead. Or facedown in sand again. But if this doesn't have anything to do with him, then...?
RIGHT NOW:
In the otherwise personnel-devoid section of TRANVERSE SPINAL ACCESS B, where she now understands where the 'spinal' part of the name comes from, steady steps carry the twintailed girl in the only direction one can go in here--and even before she gets within speaking distance, she can catch sight of everybody's favorite flapper girl and...oh. Oh.
She powerwalks faster to close the distance, and in that time at least two double-takes are done between Lune and the stone-faced Reynold before she gets close enough to pick up on the blonde's reply. She's still trying to get an idea of this, but what she does know is--
"...The XO has finally been caught near an airlock." That is the most matter-of-fact tone in existence. "Um, what's going...?"
<Pose Tracker> Lune Zoldak has posed.
"Ah, my sister in judgement, come here." Lune greets Az without any of that directed 'honest, but not warm or bright' smile that she had been blasting Reynold's poker face with.
"You stand accused, Reynold, of poor conduct towards people you like. And so it was suggested we have our confrontation here:"
Lune throws an arm around Az's shoulder with a happy one-armed hug, as her other gestures down to the closed airlock. "At the airlock. The most honest place on the ship."
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed.
Reynold turns *bright* pink. The question comes utterly out of left field for him, and he glances down. "A -- ah???" On the one hand: it's not like he doesn't think Lune is cute, and military ships have always been a little bit 'anything goes.' (Much like he's already been ribbed for, the age gap between him and most of the female pilots aboard is 'mondo,' but that's not unheard of ever since the Zentradi War.)
On the other hand, he does recognize that it would be inappropriate for numerous reasons. On top of the age gap, there's the issue that Lune is at least subordinate-adjacent...
Speaking of mondo age gaps and people Reynold has become fond of and is obligated to monitor: ah, hello, Az. Reynold begins to understand the full shape of the question, when Lune declares Az a sister in judgment.
What he manages to articulate is, "Wh -- did the Captain put you two -- no, she hasn't been teasing much lately --" He is a stammering mess. "It would be -- inappropriate, to put any of you in that position," is what he eventually settles on.
He could have stuck the landing a lot more cleanly on that one, he reflects. Somehow?
<Pose Tracker> Edge Sainklaus has posed.
Few people knew, but - the Zoldark Theatre Sequence was based on real life events, crazy enough. Though, the theatrical release more or less covers the important parts. I had this whole plan to slip him this fake love letter from 'Az' so I could teach him the true meaning of hell-in-a-cell, but it looks like Lune got the drop on him much faster. Putting him out the airlock immediately is too good for him. Edge thinks to himself, having used his natural predisposed elemental affinity for garbage to blend in with the rest of the coming-and-going supply freights through the trip along the spine.
Edge lays in wait for the conversation to begin, ear pressed up against the rough sheet metal of the box he'd hid in to try and hear. But from his position, it was impossible - it was all just too muffled, so he only got bits and pieces of what was being said.
The lid opens and Edge slithers from the insides like some kind of hideous, living dust bunny. "Deflect all you want, XO, but you won't deflect my fists."
A pregnant pause, " - er .. once they wake up from being cramped in here for a while, that is..your life ends in two - no - four mintues from now." he promises, covered from head to toe in the residue of packing peanuts.
"More seriously.."
Edge's expression loses its almost comically villainous look and becomes a plain frown, with none of the exaggeration. "This is really the end of the line, though, I'm going to actually kill you if you keep stalking after Az."
<Pose Tracker> Az Sainklaus has posed.
Az is pulled right into the one-armed sis-hug without any resistance, though a portion of that is due to still getting up to speed. She catches on in record time though, her head tilting up and mouth falling open slightly in a silent 'ah' of dawning understanding.
"I...didn't know it was considered that. When you say accusations, do you mean..." She thinks about it. "Like whenever the Captain gets on his case? Or when I manage to glance at him taking the same way I do at the four way every time I'm there? Or when Edge looks at him like--"
The trash can pops open, and her look of surprise quickly transmutes into an expression partway between 'I should have known' and 'why are you like this'. "...Speak of him and he will appear. I was looking for you before, and that's what you were doing?" But much like his own downshift, she doesn't keep up the exaggerated look for long.
Especially as Reynold devolves into a stuttering mess, and she has to work to figure out what he's trying to say--he settles on that, huh. Her neutral-mode makes it hard to discern what's going on beneath the hood, but she eventually pipes up with the simple comment of:
"Um, XO, if you don't do better than that, I think you might actually end up out in space. But actually, I'm kind of curious what it's all about now too..."
<Pose Tracker> Lune Zoldak has posed.
Lune follows the expression. She doesn't really have to do much to gaze through this man ten years her older and pierce through him. She knew men like him almost by scent.
She also knew Edge by scent, literally. As the trash panda of the piloting team tumbles out of the dust chute, Lune makes her own exasperated, exaggerated sigh at Edge.
"If you're going to crawl through vents, pl-eeeease stop wearing such baggy, ruffly clothing! Your level of dishevel is so bad, it's giving you multiplicative bonuses on how dusted up you get. Like a gravity field for attracting stuff to stick to you. A Trashla Field."
While she bombards Edge with multiple Zeal'ed roasts in a row, Lune disentangles from Az to open up one of the wall panels and pull out a duster-pack -- in space, you don't blow air to clean, you suck! That's atmospheric science.
Pointing the nozzle at Edge's pigpen aura, Lune returns her attention to Reynold as Az lays into him.
"So, Reynold." 'Bmmmmmmmm-' drones the vacuum during her pause. "The issue is that you're a coward," -mmmmm- "and worse, not taking responsibility for your own actions." -mmmmmmmmm- "And it's bad enough that you're thinking the highest authority on this ship" -mmmmmm- "sent -me-" -mm- "to solve her -problem-" -mm- -for- her."
The vacuum cuts. "I actually think Edge should beat your ass for what you just said. But you were honest. Honesty is good."
Lune looks to Az, and then Edge, and then, finally, Reynold. "What stops this, Reynold? Is it space? You're cleaning up, because it's not right with Az, and it's not right with a bunch of the other members of the crew, and you definitely know this, and here we are."
"At the airlock."
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed.
Reynold looks to Edge, then to Az, then to Lune. "Th-there's no need for that," he stammers, nervously. He glances back at the airlock. Then to Az again. Then to Lune. 'What stops this,' indeed.
Reynold is a *slow* thinker on his feet, and needs time. There's an awkward, creeping silence. This would really be much easier to untangle if Reynold could read them in. "Rest assured, I have -- I have no intentions of pursuing a romantic entanglement on the Dreisstrager." To Edge in particular, he notes, "I actually monitor you as closely as I do your sister."
Wrong move and Reynold realizes it's the wrong move immediately after he says it. Or at least, the wrong leading statement. "I've been -- monitoring you as the pilots of the Huckebein 30L and 30R on behalf of Commodore Fikes." That much, he thinks he's permitted to say, because it's not a particularly deep secret that G-Hound is... displeased with the allocation of the Dreisstrager's mobile weapon complement. "I'm not actually permitted to stop -- stalking, after, the two of you, for that reason. The alternative is that all three of us face a court martial."
He still looks exceptionally tense.
<Pose Tracker> Edge Sainklaus has posed.
Edge, much like a real trash panda, merely stands there stewing in his overflowing debris field. "It's not that bad." he murmurs.
It was that bad.
But Lune is not only strong, she is also smart and the Dreisstrager is a well-prepared ship, and with the right tool for the job - a super shop-vac 6200 - Edge is returned to a state of general cleanliness over the course of the conversation. At least, as clean as he was going to get on such short notice.
It went without saying that fashion came before practicality and so he would not be heeding her advice on his wardrobe. It was the price he had to pay to look so cool, (in his mind.)
Reynold isn't the only one suddenly looking terse, though. I'm not really sure if I would have preferred him to have been one of those sorts of guys over this or not, he thinks to himself.
Though, it wasn't being very honest, because if he were being truthful the answer would be a definitive yes, he would have preferred that. It was simple, and easy to solve - beating a creep and reforming him through the fear of god-given knuckles was something he was well-versed in and furthermore, it was a two-step problem. Problem, solution.
And any consequences that came from the solution could ultimately be waived off as, 'well, he deserved it though.'
Not to mention - he just didn't like Reynold in particular. He sometimes made Edge feel small in all the ways he found himself lacking; not that he'd admit that to even himself, as on a more actively conscious level, Reynold's face just rubbed him the wrong way, and his sticking so close to keep an eye on Az only provoked that feeling even more.
With this, though.
It's not like the problem would be solved even if he were cold enough to kill Reynold for just doing his job; Fikes would just get another gofer to do his dirty work.
Unconsciously, Edge had tensed his whole body over the following seconds, winding up like a spring - the small yet nefariously charismatic jelly of his reptile brain flooding aggressive signals for perceived red flags.
"So, what, you report back on what color Az likes her panties and if I'm eating my veggies - that we're both on our best behavior, or we go back to the pound?"
He tries to inject a playful, but sincerely aggressive bite to his tone - but it just falls flat.
And, ever so traitorously, he recalls his last real interaction with that goat-horned alien who'd infiltrated the ship to have a chat. The stinging barbs that hadn't really ever left the forefront of his mind, picking at his personal scabs.
Reynold really doesn't deserve to be punched over this. Some part of Edge knows that.
He does it anyway, planting his fist squarely into Reynold's nose, smashing his glasses at the bridge as he belts him with the full torque of his arm's wind-up.
It doesn't alleviate the angry heat in his belly, or the empty ache in his chest, or the stuffy ball clogging his throat, though.
<Pose Tracker> Az Sainklaus has posed.
'I actually monitor you as closely as I do your sister.'
"...Wait, what...?"
Thankfully, this is not the beginning of some fresh brand of misunderstanding, as Reynold clarifies soon after. And that is not something she could ever seriously believe he'd lie about in order to try and get out of a spacing. The subject matter is enough that her eyes close briefly in thought, though surprise isn't something especially in her expression. "On behalf of Commodore Fikes..."
Her eyes open back up a moment later. "...I guess that makes sense, with how things ended up. I'd never forget the Captain vouching for me. I know it'd be silly to think that they wouldn't at least want to keep an eye on us..." She looks a bit...downcast? at that for only a second, before she perks back up to look at Reynold directly. "...But it'd be wrong to blame you for just doing your job, wouldn't it, XO?"
That's when a very small smile comes to her face. "Actually, hearing you be straightforward about it makes me feel a little better--even if I still don't really like it at all." Back to neutral, after that add-on. Or maybe a bit less than neutral. "But that's something to talk to the Commodore about...whenever I get the chance to talk to him face-to-face. And not something to vent you out of an airlock for." She glances at Edge, ostensibly with the air of 'I really hope you won't try to space the Commodore', but in reality she's more taking in his full-body tensing and the resulting failed attempt at biting at him, a cold knot in her chest. "..."
She's definitely not judging him on that at all, since she's keeping more than a few of her own feelings on the matter kept under lock and key close to her heart. Really, despite all the messing around, she still didn't ever seriously think the second-in-command was looking at her like that. She had other ideas in mind when it came to potential crushes he may or may not have.
What she wasn't expecting was for her brother to lose his cool on the spot though, and she lets out a gasp more out of raw surprise than anything. Or maybe she shouldn't be that surprised. "Edge...!"
<Pose Tracker> Lune Zoldak has posed.
Reynold's answer...
Sucks.
It sucks a lot.
The man's mouth digs holes.
However, the most honest place - besides the airlock - forces out new truths. Impassive - it's not her fight - Lune draws her arms back and half-crosses them, waiting.
Lune doesn't have to do anything. The moment comes to Edge, instead, is 'due' to Edge. In Lune's eyes, he's due two - one for each of the siblings, so a haymaker single is fair restraint.
Lune holds at the periphery of Edge's reach, reaching for his shoulder to ease him back - away from Raynold - with a curl of fingers. "Listen to your sister. This doesn't stop it. What stops it is negotiating with Fikes."
Lune looks - ostensibly down - at Raynold. "And you."
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed.
Reynold doesn't protest when Edge decides to kick him a little about his admitted girl-craziness in the process of kicking him for doing his job as the Dreisstrager's senior officer and the only one with a non-emergency commission. He's... not *happy* to be called out in such a way -- there's a definite flinch at Edge's summary, in part because -- undergarments aside -- he knows it probably isn't wrong.
"I don't know what the Commodore would do if things changed," he answers, truthfully but maybe incompletely. He doesn't respond directly to Az; he has the distinct feeling that that would make everyone's situation worse. He does give her a small, relieved smile, though, at the nominal vote of confidence.
Then, of course: he gets hit. The good news is that his glasses are tough enough that a few minutes with Jiequan will have them back together; the lenses don't crack. One does pop out, hitting the ground; the nosepieces *do* break, leaving the empty holes for the plastic nubs to scratch Reynold's nose along the sides.
Reynold *himself* staggers back into the wall of the most honest place on the ship, holding his nose. That, at least, he knows to do; if you're bleeding after blunt trauma to the face, you need to stop it sooner than later. "... fair," he concedes, one eye screwed shut. "I'll -- leave this out of my report to Commodore Fikes." Despite Edge not liking him, Reynold has no real interest in getting the book thrown at a man trying to do right by those he cares about.
He adjusts his position -- shifts his feet a bit, taking a wide and firm stance, which shaves a good few inches off his height; he's not steady and he's definitely slouching, thanks to, well, getting jacked in the face. He's still dizzy from the punch and he knows it -- he needs to right himself. When Lune says that *he* needs -- to negotiate? to be negotiated with? he's unclear -- he lets out a breath.
"... I don't know the full details of your relationship with the Commodore, and it's not my place to tell either of you -- or him -- how to settle accounts," he eventually says. "But... I can vouch for you as pilots -- and people -- in a way I couldn't have six months ago."
It's the best he's got. It's not exactly much, but... Reynold has no real talent for skulduggery *nor* for extracting himself from the skulduggery he's gotten embroiled in. He's clearly out of his depth.
<Pose Tracker> Edge Sainklaus has posed.
Even after belting him pretty fiercely, I don't feel any relief. Edge simmers internally - though, it made it easy for Lune and Az to reign him back in as he visibly deflates, setting his jaw in silence, giving Reynold the much needed opportunity to recompose himself; Edge had honestly been hoping he'd take it personally, so that he could consider them .. not even, but more even than he does now.
It's hard to justify wanting to inflict violence on someone for your own self-satisfaction, or at least something that bitterly resembles it, without having an excuse to latch onto.
Lune's fingers feel heavy.
Not in the literal sense, but something that spoke more to his heart. I'm acting like a dumbass punk - or maybe an animal that never got broken in.
Edge carefully averts his gaze while pulling his scarf up over his lower-face, so that he didn't have to confront whatever look Az was giving him. If it was condeming, it would hurt, and if it wasn't - it would make him uncomfortable.
"I know, that didn't solve anything." he admits, opening his mouth to continue, but finding no words to do so. Or maybe, it was just his own pride that seals his tongue.
"There's nothing to negotiate. It's his way or the high-way ... but .. "
If I just accepted that, I'm not doing what I can, when I can - am I? " .. it's worth a shot."
He considers trying to show some level of gratitude that Reynold was still willing to go to bat with them in that case despite getting decked so cleanly, but the shame and his own biased inclinations keep him from doing that. I'll let him punch me, later, I guess.. he decides.
As if that would magically resolve their issue.
<Pose Tracker> Az Sainklaus has posed.
The unseen look Az is giving to her brother at the moment is--a mixture of too many things for any one of them to be dominant. And if it's condemning, it's only surface deep, for better or worse. Regardless of if Reynold deserved more than one punch, or if Edge was acting out on his emotions, there's only so much blame she can put on him when she knows better than anyone why he'd even do something like that.
Though that knowledge doesn't make the air any less tense in the aftermath, her lips pursed tightly and eyes working to find somewhere they want to be. "XO..." She is - mutedly - surprised in the best way that Reynold is not only perfectly maintaining his composure after that, but he's actually...
...still willing to vouch for them. The both of them. And not just as pilots. Not just as pilots...
The wracked look on her face intensifies for only the briefest of moments for reasons only known to her, before she closes her eyes for the second time to take another deep breath. And after she's done so, she's gotten enough composure to take a step forward to join her brother and Lune, taking in the blonde's 'And you' for a moment.
"...Thank you, XO." It's quiet, but genuinely from the heart, and she turns to Edge after a second. She's in his peripheral now, but he can tell that no, the look on her face right now is definitely not that of condemnation. Especially not after he's put aside his shame to at least say that much. "I'm not really sure if we're in any position to negotiate with him, or if we'll even get anywhere with it..." She says carefully, glancing between him and Lune before finally looking back to Reynold.
"...But talking to him is still worth doing, when we can. We've never had the chance to speak with him face-to-face...you never know what will happen if you do, right?"
Speaking in person to the Commodore...even though she's openly for it, she can't deny a certain foreboding feeling. It's something she can't help but linger on briefly as she picks up the fallen lense from the floor so the man who just got decked so hard he's still slouching against the wall doesn't have to do it. She can at least do that much to return the effort he's putting in.
<Pose Tracker> Lune Zoldak has posed.
Oh. They don't get it.
Lune, at the back of the trio now, drops her hands to her sides. Her look of prior exasperation, paused for empathy with Edge, lifts back up. Her hands lift too, palming her temples slowly as her fingers stroke back across her hair, lifting bangs from her face and ears. When she is done, her hair is tamed back, and her wildness falls away.
"Az, Edge, you are being studied. You can take control of that study - about yourself, what you are, how you act. If you know what the XO is observing, you may not like some of it, and others might be fine. But this sucks. Fix this."
"Dragging people out to airlocks cuts real into my personal time."
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuba Greyvalley has posed.
Reynold Hardin has never 'gotten' anything in his life. It is his great weakness, and if not the Dreisstrager's greatest strength, certainly its ace in the hole.
Reynold brings his hand away from his nose for a moment as Edge expresses that it's worth a shot. Switches hands. Checks his other hand after about three seconds. Evidently, he likes what he sees, because he stops holding his nose, at least for the moment. He seems a little stunned to be thanked by Az; "Ah -- you're welcome," he says, awkwardly. "I'll do what I can to arrange things with the Commodore. We'll proceed on your schedules." He accepts the offered lens, noting for Edge in particular, "I -- apologize for putting everyone on e -- tenterhooks." Now is probably not the time for an unintentional Edge pun.
Something seems to finally click. "I don't actually know what I'm supposed to be 'looking for,' if anything," he concedes, on the topic of knowing what he's observing. "Commodore Fikes requests biweekly nonspecific updates on both of you and the Captain as part of my duties as XO."
It's about three seconds after he says it that he realizes he gave away more than he meant to... but honestly, that might be for the best.
<Pose Tracker> Az Sainklaus has posed.
In the time of relative feelgood after those tense moments, Lune speaks wisdom. Wisdom in the form of 'you should do what you can to fix the actual problem while we're all still here at the airlock of truth'.
"Right--hopefully this is the last time you'll have to do it." She's not joking. She'd really like if nobody else had to be threatened to be part of the Dreisstrager's next trash dump. If it's not Reynold again, there's no telling who might end up here one day.
Though Reynold's explanation does put a damper on that, and gets a contemplative look out of her. "Just general observations then...? So he's not on the lookout for anything in particular..." That would make perfect sense for any ordinary civilians who abruptly end up in the cockpit of an advanced mobile unit. For Az though, she looks like she's not fully sure what to think of that, or if it's a good or a bad thing.
"Still, if you can tell us what you usually send back, that'd--wait..." A few questions linger in her mind, but before any of those surface, something Reynold says catches her attention, getting her to lift her head back to attention and raise an eyebrow. "The Captain too...?"
<Pose Tracker> Lune Zoldak has posed.
Lune blinks.
She hadn't caught that. "The Captain too?"
====NEXT TIME: 'The Captain, Too?'===>