2022-12-16: On Hospitals and Hearts
- Cast: Koji Kabuto, Qivi
- Where: Tsutsujidai - Inoue Hospital
- Date: U.C. 0096 12 16
- Summary: Qivi checks in with Koji and they agree to collaborate on a couple of projects that might just help turn Tsutsujidai around.
<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.
Tsutsujidai: not the best place right about now!
Qivi has been busy. Defending the city on the first night, only to be shot down into what became a disaster zone, where she watched someone - Yuta! - get stabbed and was unable to stop it. She'd thrown herself into work afterwards; she'd worked as a Vulture though it had never been her specialty, she knew how to efficiently strip a scrapped and ruined area for usable materials.
It helps that she'd been down in the under-tunnels of the PLANT when she was up here before, with Bujack. Maintenance corridors for a colony. She'd had it mostly to herself; the natives never thought to go there and most of the visitors were busy on the surface. It gave her a place to start looking, pulling out colony maintenance supplies so they could be repurposed to Tsutsujidai's current state.
But she's also looking for other people. She can't work on her own. And she saw Koji's distinctive Ichinana parked at the hospital, providing backup power from what she assumed was a Photon Power drive. She wanted to get ahold of him before she did too much more, to make contact and figure out what, in fact, the fuck was going on.
Which is why she's here now: tracking Koji once again by his robot. If it's around, she knows he can't be far. Admittedly, she stands out in the hospital, given she is absolutely not staff; she's wearing jeans and a camo-patterned tank top. But less so than usual, given the current situation. AND she came with a case of scavenged cleaning supplies, which puts her at least on the 'helping' list.
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
Since Yuta was admitted, Koji has actually been sticking around the hospital, venturing at most a block afield for supplies and mostly making sure the building keeps running, supplementing the generators with his Ichinana's Photon Reactor.
He's as easy to spot among the orderlies and other staff as Qivi is - he's wearing his iconic red guard suit lined with gold piping, and his hair is, as is typical, ridiculous. He's sitting off to the side in the foyer sipping some coffee with a bloodstained olive green jacket folded up on the chair next to him, but he perks up when he recognises the Meltrandi, waving her over. "You got wrapped up in this mess too, huh?"
<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.
At least he's not hard to find. If Koji was in one of the less-public rooms - either helping out, or worse, as a patient - she'd never find him; Qivi is not a doctor and isn't exactly going to barge into where the medicine actually happens.
"Sure did," Qivi says. She walks over to Koji's part of the foyer, seating herself with a creak on the old battered chair - she didn't pick a good one. "I came up here when I heard things were getting worse, and a little weird, but this is both worse and weirder than I expected to deal with."
"I saw your Ichinana outside," Qivi waves fingers in the general direction of the door she came through. "Figured I could see what you were doing in here. I don't know how much time you've gotten outside the hospital. You didn't get shot or something, did you?" She saw the bloodstains on the jacket.
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
He shakes his head when Qivi asks if he got shot. "I've been helping the orderlies move patients around." That definitely explains the blood on his jacket.
"Yeah... That kaiju corpse alone was a massive alarm bell, and what came out of it..." He shivers a little. "Somehow, even after everything I've fought, I didn't expect to see something so... vicious. I guess that's what a real 'kaiju of the heart' is like."
"Anyway, other than that I've been making sure this place stays powered by supplementing the generator. Plus the exposed reactor makes a good landmark to help people who aren't familiar with the layout of this place find the hospital."
<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.
Moving patients around is better than *being* a patient, as far as Qivi's concerned, but it still needs to be done. She nods. "Bit of a relief. I've already got one friend in here. I don't need more."
Qivi makes a face. "I saw the corpse but I didn't manage to deal with it at all. Didn't get real close to the kaiju either. G-Hound - at least, I was told it was G-Hound, I haven't scavenged the bits yet to prove it, but I'd believe it - had automated mobile suits up here, and they went crazy. Bad connection, I guess, with it ... closing off. I was fighting to keep them away from Gridman and the rest of them."
The face fades into a grin, though. "The generator's a good idea. I saw your Ichinana and that's why I went to look for you, actually. I might need the power source in the future, but right now I'm borrowing... uh, Guy's, which feels really weird to say."
"I've actually been working with the rescue team. The one based out of Aya. Figured we'd get more done if we were working together, right? So I thought I'd reach out, since you're already helping out. Does you running the generator mean that this is a good meeting-up place too? Or is it full with just wounded?"
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"God, of course G-Hound were poking around here. A neutral PLANT that didn't exist earlier this year? Perfect base opportunity." Koji shakes his head. "And of course their fancy new tech went wrong with signals interference too. Good thing you were around to help deal with them."
He arches a brow when Qivi mentions needing access to the reactor. "I can probably arrange that - you have some kind of new plan? I'm going to touch base with the science teams from 3G and NERV soon, put our datasets together and discuss our plans going forward for keeping the city maintained without Akane's kaiju."
He considers the merits of the hospital as a meeting place. "I feel like things are busy enough right now that people coming here to meet up rather than help would put a lot more burden on it. Probably want to use somewhere like Kamesan Park for that."
<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.
"Technically, I don't *know* it's G-Hound. But I heard from someone in NERV that it was one of their projects, and I believe it. I don't really get along with the Federation military," Qivi says, in what may be the understatement of the day. "When I get time I'm going to rip apart one of the automated mobile suits - the ones that crashed instead of self-destructing anyway. I lost Sarangay that way. Half the internals are shot, and I don't have replacement parts."
Does she have a new plan? "Not a major one. I've, uh... look, there's a macronization tank in the PLANT structure, I guess Akane wasn't kidding when she said this place was accepting toward all sorts. Guy was helping me set it up through one of the 3G systems, but if we need to move it, I'd rather power it off something renewable rather than the PLANT itself. I figure I can help out more. I can do construction, bigger recovery and transport, and the only unit I have available needs it to pilot, too. I'd been working on it in my spare time. Never thought I'd actually need it up here. I've got some Zentredi ration paste cans, and if we end up with excess power I can undo it, so I won't be taking up much more resources - air, mostly. Water maybe." Qivi looks a little sheepish.
"Now the good news is that I know where the PLANT maintenance tunnels are, and there was some real basic gear there. Nothing fancy, but I've been bringing it out. So there's some maintenance equipment available, but it won't last forever. It's short on consumables." Qivi shakes her head. "My best guess, Tsutsujidai just *ran* before, because it was weird, but all colonies have got to have some equipment, so it showed up when it became a PLANT. Don't ask me how. I don't know."
Koji suggests the park. "We've been using the high school instead, so if you need to point anyone somewhere, point 'em there. GUTS - the school kids? They've been handling organization, there's an evacuee register and they're doing ration handouts."
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"Oh, a macronization tank? That's a lucky break for the relief work." Koji nods. He doesn't seem to have any commentary on Qivi's heritage. "I'd be happy to help hook up a Photon Reactor to that if we do need to move it, the less strain we put on the local grid the better."
He nods as Qivi spitballs how/why the maintenance tunnels were stocked. "That'd track with my understanding of how this place's rules work. Without the maintenance kaiju, though, that kind of assumption might start breaking down, so we better stockpile what we can."
"The high school? Makes sense, I can't imagine classes are still running with the city in crisis mode like this." But then again, they might be. "There was a GUTS event going on when this all started falling apart, huh? Those poor kids."
<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.
Qivi wasn't terribly worried Koji would give her trouble about her heritage (given, well, he's never done it before and he knows), just about working with something that is technically non-essential in this environment. But it really could be a boon; if it wasn't, Qivi wouldn't have suggested it. "Great! Like I said, we're good for now, but if something comes up... if nothing else I don't really feel right bothering NERV for that kinda thing. Guy seemed pretty willing though. I will ask, if you manage to find anything Zentredi-sized, let me know. I have, like, one and a half sets of big clothes."
She frowns. "Yeah... I saw the dead maintenance kaiju. There's one I saw that's tangled with the power wires, I'm afraid to touch that one even if the power's out without some protection - it probably needs to be at least moved before anything gets fixed. Without them, I bet we're not getting any new supplies. I've been bringing what I can to Aya, or to the school, depending on what it is."
Qivi has not taken high school classes in years, but... "I didn't actually check. I think the rooms are getting used for other things, though. But yeah, there was a GUTS event on. I don't remember which one but there's some non-Tsutsujidai kids in there too. I wish there was a way to contact their families, but nothing doing - nobody I've talked to has gotten anything out, not even a message. And if you manage *that*, let us know, huh? I'm not holding my breath, though."
"There's something about Tsutsujidai..." Qivi trails off. "I don't think it's gonna be fixed just by hoping."
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"I know some of the people stuck here can sew, at least... Something of a project, but it's also something to do." He shrugs. "I'll see what I can dig up for zentradi-size clothes, though, you never know."
"Ugh, tangled in the wires? That's a hell of a thing to have to deal with, and we will need specialised equipment for it. Maybe... I think I saw the Orbital Rail's maintenance Super AI machine stuck in here, come to think of it, that neon paint is pretty distinctive. Zan might be able to help with stuff like that."
"Messages... I think that's the first thing we should work on - trying to get something through to back home... someone told me a long time ago, though, that this city is made like Akane's heart. I reckon we're now feeling how broken she really feels inside."
<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.
"...I never learned to sew," Qivi admits. "So if you could introduce us, or at least point me their way, that'd be good. I can pay them, I won't ask anyone to work for nothing when it's nonessential."
...
"Or at least... I can pay when my bank card works." She sounds sheepish again.
Rail maintenance super AI? "Well, if there's somebody here who knows what they're doing I won't complain. I don't generally deal with, like... dead kaiju tangled in the cables, and I don't know anyone who does. Might be worth talking to them and seeing if they can do anything. Other that I didn't have any ideas sort of turning rubber tires into a grip and seeing if we could push it off with a pole."
Qivi actually stops and thinks for a moment. "Made like a heart? Well if that's the case her heart is really soggy." It's a joke. But not really a joke. "If that's true, though, it'll be hard. I saw her when she ... came to Aya." And stabbed Yuta. "She wasn't doing good. At all. She definitely wasn't willing to talk. I haven't seen her since."
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"One of the NERV captains here apparently sews as a hobby - Sonia Sophia-Grace. I can point her your way if you like."
He nods. "I haven't spoken to Zan much but I'm sure he'd be eager to help with stuff like 'getting kaiju wreckage out of the infrastructure', he certainly has big enough modes for it."
"... Yeah that checks out. No idea how we're gonna get through to her, especially if she's gone to ground." He lets out a long sigh. "What a goddamn mess."
<Pose Tracker> Qivi has posed.
"Yeah, please do. I've been checking in with Aya but I get around - good place to leave me a note, though. That goes for you too, actually, if you need me for anything - checking Aya's probably the fastest way to find me if you don't already know where I am, I stop in as often as I can."
Qivi reaches into her pocket and finds a scrap of paper and a pencil. She starts doodling a few lines - it's a rough map, starting from near the park. "The one I saw was up this way. There might be others - they kind of fell wherever, as best I can tell. I know another one hit a building, and a third was across a road but there's enough room to go past it in one lane, so nobody's really in a hurry to move it."
She passes that to Koji afterwards. "As for where she is, I have no idea. I checked her place a couple times and it didn't look like she'd been back, but can't she teleport when she's inside Tsutsujidai? We lost track of her pretty fast as soon as we got eyes off her. Past that? Beats me where she'd be. I'm pretty sure neither you or me is the right person to get through to her, though. I dunno. It just - didn't feel like that."