2023-03-03: While the Stew Grows Cold
- Log: 2023-03-03: While the Stew Grows Cold
- Cast: Sayla Mass, Leina Ashta
- Where: Photon Power Labs - Medical, Fujinomiya City
- OOC - IC Date: 29 February 0097
- Summary: Leina drops by the PPL Medical Labs with a meal for Sayla. The two discuss the mystery of Puru-1- and whether they can save her. Ultimately, it becomes more than Leina can deal with.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
BGM Start - A letter (Instrumental) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbGF3o8BJIQ
Leina's flight from Orb to Fujinomiya left her jetlagged but steady. She fixed her makeup in the airport restroom anyway, then grabbed some vending machine coffee.
By the time her Taxi had brought her to the Photon Power Labs, the cup was empty with a much needed caffeinated pep in her step that still felt anything but cheerful.
Despite how much a friendly face she was to the PPL, she still obeyed the rules, filled out the guest book, got her temporary pass, and then headed straight to their ward.
Immediately once getting there, she stopped at the nurse's station fishing a sealed container bowl from her bag, "Sorry to bother you, but would you happen to have a microwave I can use?"
In the aftermath of heating it up, she wrapped it up in a towel that the ward let her borrow, and hoisted it along, shifting it between one forearm and her body, she knocked at the door, waited for permission then...
"Hey you." Leina says with just her trademark smile, "Heard what happened." There's a small crack in her voice there, but she flies right by it. "Paella doesn't reheat well so, brought you some Cocido de Garbanzos." It's a mild day, so Leina's just in a pink light jacket over her Magical Girl Wonderful Persimmon shirt, a pair of jeans, with a matching pink and purple bow in her hair.
Leina puts down the bowl on the table, lifting the plastic top, as the stew's smell flooded the room. "And-!" She brings out a spoon, before shifting the table closer, "Naturally, I didn't forget this."
Bringing out her phone, she brings up a picture of Buer and Foras both parallel to each other, both looking deeply hurt, in their mutual 'how dare' poses before putting it on the table.
"We'd better get you out of here soon, with both of us cruelly leaving them alone I just don't know how they'll cope!"
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Sayla has spent most of her time under observation- and being a bit of a difficult patient. The upside has been that she has been on site to discuss her commission. Today showed the urgency of it.
She's been uneasy since leaving the psychoframe sample with Koji. It shouldn't be a problem, but it felt like her timeframe was accelerating. Combined with the incident that caused her to lose consciousness, she hadn't been sleeping well at all and it shows.
The fact that she hasn't had a drink in a while isn't helping.
"Come in!" Sayla calls, and Leina gets to see a sight rare even to her- Sayla laying on a bed in a basic t-shirt and trackpants, blinds drawn, with the TV on showing some trashy reality dating show. Still, she smiles to see Leina open the door. "Hey, pollito."
The smile brightens even more at the smell. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Leina." The cat picture also gets a smirk. "It's good to see that some things don't change." As soon as Leina has finished putting everything down though, Sayla pulls her into a tight hug without warning, resting her head on Leina's shoulder.
At the rate she's going, she's not going to let go any time soon- after having something try to tear her away from Leina, from her family... the need to hold them tight has grown ever stronger.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"You're looking good!" Leina asides as she finishes up putting everything down, "When I h-" Sayla Mass' walls are really good, so despite the strength of their connection, she gets no warning of her intentionality...
... before her arms are already around her. And for a moment Leina just seems startled and stiff, before she just relaxes, placing one arm around her back, then another around her head.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner. I should have- I should have been there to begin with."
Leina lowers herself fully on the bed, so that Sayla doesn't need to extend herself too far to hug her, legs still dangling, as her arms squeeze more tightly, and Sayla might feel the subtle movement of the chin against her blonde hair. "I'm sorry."
She doesn't loosen her grip even a moment, she doesn't stop holding her. She doesn't ask how bad it was for right now, Sayla's actions speak for themselves. "They told me... it doesn't..."
She murmurs, and it's like she has to keep stopping and restarting, "It can't be her... it's not possible. She visited me... recently even. But if Judau... if Judau..." There's a soft shake of her head which shifts Sayla's blonde hair, and she just falls silent in her sorrow, while clinging to Sayla.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
As Leina sits down on the bed, Sayla shakes her head. "Don't apologize, Leina. It's not your fault." As Leina starts to grip tighter, Sayla pulls her toward her lap. "I'm just happy you're here now." Sayla reaches one arm up to gently stroke Leina's back, slow and calm to try and help soothe her. "So no apologies, okay?"
As Leina works through her thoughts, slowly and with difficulty... "...I don't know. I just know what that hateful woman said. Your brother would know better than me." She's quiet, trying to be gentle. But for once, she migh understand what Leina is going through far too genuinely.
"Whoever was in there, though... She desperately wanted to.... claim me, I suppose." Sayla's discomfort is palpable. The memory of those smothering hands appears in her mind, and this time it's Sayla's turn to grip tighter. She won't be torn away from Leina. She won't.
"...I have some theories, but I don't like any of them." She takes a deep breath. "...it might be that whoever that pilot is... was put through the treatment Full Frontal was, but instead of Char..." She leaves it hanging. It's still the nicer of her theories. "...I'm sorry, sweetheart. I'm so, so sorry."
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Sayla tells her not to apologize, and there's hesitation, as she gets pulled up towards Sayla's lap, there's no resistance to this, as Leina's face just stays settled over her shoulder, the rubbing on her back causing her to gradually relax.
"O-Okay." She agrees shakily, her walls are slipping just slightly and Sayla can easily know her feelings are a chaotic mess right now. And it's pretty obvious why.
"I can't-" And then she slumps, "... No I can absolutely believe that, she - that a lot of people would do this. Why can't they-can't they just let her rest? Leave all of them alone?"
Leina grows still, almost too still, as horror floods her about the idea of claiming her, her own discomfort is like a psychic throb in this moment, rhythmic, pulse like.
"That'd..." Leina starts, stops, and her posture that's far too still shakes a bit, a tremor running up her as she remembers, "... it makes sense, she... she wanted everything... I had. Everything. She resented me for having Judau, for being raised like a Lady of Neo-Zeon by Glemy rather than a weapon. Said it was... her turn... her turn to be happy."
Her breath quickens just subtly, to that still growing psychic throb, as she whispers even softer, "It makes sense she'd want you too." Leina's arms grow ever tighter in that moment, like she's scared of letting her go.
There's this nasally inhalation, like she's trying to calm herself as Sayla and she shares her theories, and Leina just, the invocation of Full Frontal causes a soft gasp, then a much sharper inhalation, "I don't... how!? The Qubeley had a Gryps era Psycommu... and Nanai didn't invent the Psycoframe until... un..."
Overwhelmed by the the accidental invocation of the Second War and Axis, she sinks her weight further against Sayla. "You're the one who's hurting, Shiro - he actually came to visit me to break the news. Then Banagher and Au-Audrey..." A small shake of her head.
"I... if it's her, she'll probably want me more... more than anyone."
Sayla can probably feel that chaotic mess of thoughts trying to solidify into thoughts, or maybe plans.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Leina's distress is so painfully clear that Sayla can feel it as though it was her own. She pushes her walls up further, to make sure the two emotional landscapes don't link. "These people already treat the living like objects, is it any surprise they'd do the same to the dead?" Thw up and down strokes turn into circular movements. More like she did when Leina was younger. "But we'll stop them. And save who we can. Especially that pilot."
It feels like they're sliding backwards. "Leina..." Sayla pulls her head back, to look at Leina. "Listen to me. What Glemy Toto did to you, and what he did to her- it wasn't your fault. You told me she visited you." Sayla pauses for a long, deep breath. She picks her words carefully. "She was part of your family, even if not for long right? I don't think your sister would go back to that of her own free will. So if it's her, we just have to save her again, don't we?"
She presses her head to Leina's, deciding not to push further on the why. It seems too much right now. "We're both hurting. I'm just the one who was hit by the attack- you're dealing with what happened." She pauses for a moment. "...What do you want to do? We need to prepare for that. While I know what I'd prefer, I also know Elpeo is too important for you to stay away." She pauses. "Please take some time to think about it."
Finally, Sayla decides to give Leina something else to orient on that's easier. "...There's something you should know. Full Frontal found me on Side 6 not long ago. He found me through... that connection. From the One Year War." She continues those long, slow circles. She knows Leina's going to be upset. Her voice lowers to a whisper. "...And when he got close enough, I could feel Char. But it wasn't him... it was just some of him. A fragment. Maybe a part of his soul." She is trying hard not to tense up. "I... wonder if they managed to find a fragment of Elpeo, drifting the way Lalah does..."
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"No." Leina replies bitterly, "It never is, not really."
And its like her weight sinks further into Sayla on that, this wouldn't be a difficult topic for her on any other day, to discuss the weaponization of Newtypes. She can go on whole tirades and rants about it to those that know her.
Today? Today it hurts to even think about it.
"O-Okay." She tries to get calmer again, and the conversation goes back to Glemy Toto, "I know what... he did to me wasn't... my fault." She repeats, unsteadily. It feels hard for her to admit that basic fact. So hard, but it definitely feels like its sincerely the truth.
"She even did recently after... after we bailed the Garencieres out while Marida was on board. It was just, a moment that night while I slept. A brief thank you."
It'd be so easy to think that's evidence towards her not being in there. But that was before the pilot changed.
Forehead to forehead, she says quietly, "We do. It's... we do. I just don't know how. The Banshee is so dangerous, the two times I was in a fight against it, I thought... I wasn't getting out of there."
There's this sense of sinking despair, that feels like right now at least, in the moment it's winning against her usual optimism and hope. What does she want to do?
She knows already that Sayla is correct, she can't stay away. She tries to steady herself enough to think of a real plan, "We need more intelligence on the situation. From reports of the battle the Vist Foundation's mobile base of operations is a Garuda. It's hard to hide the movements of something like that in atmo, it's so big. It'd be just as hard as it was trying to hide the White Base for all of you during the One Year War. Figure out where it lands for resupply, if they rotate crew members. Work all the usual angles."
This is good for her, its making her think smart, its keeping her calmer, steady to just talk about it, "When it's space, they're likely commandeering a G-Hound or Londo Bell ship, probably G-Hound now, as they'd feel less compromised about fighting former comrades. It'll be following around the Ra Mari II in particular from a distance. They won't want to engage, they just need a platform to set up ambushes."
Leina's eyes drift up, "We need to rein in Banagher and Audrey too, right now they're feeling cornered, desperate, that's what the Vist Foundation wants, so they'll make more mistakes. And right now I think he's making several big ones." There's just this, sigh there.
And then Sayla invokes right away what she feel like is one of those mistakes in Full Frontal, and Leina actually starts as she says he found her through that connection, drawing her head back a bit to look Sayla in the eyes, "Oh God! Are you okay? Oh my God - you're connected to him."
She almost says 'I'm so sorry' but she remembers that Sayla told her no more of that, she rubs her face, "He's walking around the Ra Mari II right now like he owns the place, even after what he did to Callisto. I know he's another Cyber Newtype pawn but... it's hard, it's just so hard to remember that. He hurt Banagher so much the other day, over what happened in the Institute raid."
And herself too, if she were being completely honest, but she's putting him first in this regard. She whispers, "He was just protecting me. It was an accident, caused by that cruel doctor."
She grows quiet, still, when she invokes the idea of capturing someone in that state, that state like Lalah, "God... h-" There's just this, cold sensation in the room, as if a thought occurred to her, "-ow?"
Between the ticks of a second, "Have you ever read reports on the... the Psyco Gundams, during Hong Kong, and Dublin? The... waves that..."
She doesn't finish the statement, but...
'Draw Newtypes in.'
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Sayla's ready to bear that weight. She always is. For Leina to be so restrained. It must be bad... "That's right. It wasn't your fault. Not then, not now, not ever." She continues the gentle, reassuring movements.
"It could handle Mazinger and Aphrodite together, not to mention the rest. That machine is... I didn't think a Gundam could do that, bear that much power. It seems on par with the Master Gundam or any of the other four 'Kings'..." Sayla shakes her head. She shouldn't have brought up Master Asia. "But it can't be unstoppable."
She moves back into a hug on Leina. "Whoever is in there... we'll do our best to set her free, Leina. I promise."
Sayla listens as Leina lays out her assessment, letting herself arrange herself. "...We don't have many left, but there are people you can lean on. I authorize you to use them. Funds too." Working with G-Hound... that's harder. "What sort of mistakes, Leina? What are we looking at? Vist can't make another move like this at the labs any time soon, having them stay here seems the best approach."
Sayla frowns. "That doesn't absolve his actions. His deeds are his own." The institute raid, a joint operation with Celestial Being. She's only seen the reports.
"Not really. I didn't have Luio's access, I only backed Karaba. And Dublin..." She trails off herself. That's where Hayato Kobayashi died...
"...You think there's something there?"
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
It's always been hard for her to accept it on some level, this idea that she had no culpability. Not really. That there wasn't something more she could have done for her.
That her involvement should have been more than when she overheard things, or she took Leina prisoner to play with Judau. Maybe if the two of them had just talked. Actually spoken more...
Right now though, she just nods against Sayla's shoulder as if in hesitant acceptance of that much.
Her head jerks up a little when she hears how powerful it was, "That much?"
Leina pauses, pensive, certainly worried, "I saw the miracle Banagher pulled off with the Unicorn, and according to him this thing... shreds, the Unicorn, every single time he encounters it. It's supposed to be its sister suit..."
There's a shake of his head, "It doesn't sound unstoppable. From what I heard, a little more might have done it but it sounds like Martha Vist Carbine was just too overconfident, didn't realize the scale of the fight she was actually picking there." She's hesitant to add more but, "I'm just worried what might happen if... Shiro told me Ghoulgilas was there, which means Alexis?"
She chews upon her lower lip, "I'm worried what happens if the Banshee gets even more support. Like if they put more of G-Hound behind this..." She seems scared? Really scared about that possibility.
Sayla asks about the mistakes, and, there's a soft sigh, and reaching up she pinches her nose, "You're going to be mad. I'm mad. Though I was an idiot and told him I wouldn't try to control his life just before this conversation but I expected him..."
She's quiet for a little longer then, "Full Frontal apparently managed to fight this thing on fairly equal terms from what I'm told, enough that it eventually fled. Or maybe it just had little incentive to keep fighting him with its primary objective gone, I don't know..."
There's a sigh, as she takes her time, giving Sayla a weary look with her seagreen eyes, "He asked Full Frontal to train him for when it comes for him again, and Audrey is apparently arranging a parley with the Sleeves to figure out why they want the box at all."
'His deeds are his own.'
"Y-Yeah..." Her voice breaks softly in the wake of describing what Banagher felt cornered into doing, "Yeah." She says quietly. "They are. Though sometimes I won- No that won't do me any good."
When asked if there's something there, Leina thinks it through for some time, "I don't know and not knowing is driving me crazy. I keep telling them it's not her, that it can't be. ... I even snapped at them over it... but Judau - if that's what he felt, I can't explain it. My head just keeps going through every single possibility, no matter how remote."
After a time she notes, "Elle told me it was that that... killed her. So now..." She's even more muted than before, as she just slumps, "...I wonder if part of her was left behind after all..."
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Even nearly a decade later, that weight hasn't eased, despite their combined best efforts. Today is not a day to push. She nods in response to Leina's question. "Then we have to operate under the assumption it has all the Unicorn's capabilities and then some..."
Martha got overconfident, hm? Sayla reaches up to rub her temples. "I don't know how she could? Then again, the OCU let her take action in the heart of Photon Power... something that went wrong here could plunge Japan into darkness." She pauses. "And if that were the case, would Britannia stay still?" It seems so careless to act this way.
"...I heard. I don't understand it. What is Ms Vist-Carbine doing that would be of interest to him? The more information we get the less sense it makes." Sayla squeeze's Leina's shoulder tightly. "It's a possibility. We'll have to act smart. If that means fighting and getting allies, it means fighting and getting allies. If it means laying low and biding our time, it means laying low and biding our time. Unfortunately, we no longer have hiding the unicorn as an option..."
There is a long, pregnant pause. "...Idiot." Sayla *is* mad, but it's not her place to be the maddest. "I'm sorry, pollito. He'd better come back okay." ...Audrey raising a parley, though, causes Sayla to pause. "It's risky, but it's not the same risk. And if Audrey is her father's daughter... I wouldn't count her out here." Sayla's fingers tap on Leina's shoulder. "And I suspect just as many owe her loyalty as do Frontal. It's not a completely foolish action."
Sayla's walls slide up as she realizes what she said, but the next topic seems to focus her. It's a terrible thing to consider. (To live through.) Having a family member forced back to a cruel facsimile of life. (Twice.) "Then we have to save her again, Leina. And saving people is something we do, remember?" It's not that simple. There's no way that it's that simple. "That's what I do. It's what Judau does. It's what you do, too."
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
It's definitely not the day for it. It's just too heavy on her mind right now, the weight of the events eight years ago, "It makes sense for its capabilities, but I don't... I don't get it. She was always... a great pilot, but she never beat Judau? Even if it was her, putting her in a suit like the Unicorn alone wouldn't do that."
A beat.
"Tt's more like everyone is describing..." The telltale shiver through her body may clue Sayla off to it, the barrel of the gun Leina stared down once upon a time, 'It's more like everyone is describing Haman Karn in a suit like the Banshee than Elpeo.'
Leina doesn't comment on whether Britannia would stay still, there's just, a shake of her head. Of course they wouldn't.
A quiet sigh as she thinks about how the events went down from what she was told, "It's more I think that because the bloc didn't oppose her, she figured the opposition would be thinner, and when it wasn't - she still thought she could get her way anyway. That level of... entitlement. God."
What is of interest to Alexis? Leina furrows her brow and wracks her brain for a moment, "I don't get it myself. Some dalliance with BioNET maybe? If they're dealing in Newtype science criminals they wouldn't need to do that, we proved that with the raid on the Institute. Every bloc has facilities like that, even if we can't locate them."
The hug however, after a moment she squeezes back, and is quiet for a while, nodding absently on hiding the Unicorn, "Yeah those... those nightmares." Her voice falters, cracking a touch with the sorrow of the thought, "She was, really really good at finding someone when she put her mind to it, especially if she was in the bath."
The word 'idiot' causes a flinch, but at the same time, she nods, it's not any words than anything she's said to him. That Audrey said to him. "I'm trying to..." She rubs her face, "... work on that, he's just scared I think."
Before then adding, "Yeah it's not, and I'm not counting her out. I just worry about how Full Frontal's backers might respond. It's inconvenient for her to become politically active for them, they just... they just want a pet doll."
The bitterness just exudes out of her on those words and she perhaps misses any implications in the moment of what she said. "I'm just worried about her stepping into that arena. It's like you worrying about me appearing at that Gala. Some things you can't... step back from."
It's what they do, save people, and Leina slowly closes her eyes, and there's just this spike of, grief. "I know... I know... I know... it's just... God. If it was saving her only to... say goodbye again..."
There's just this, just this shake of her head, and she grows quiet again, burying her face against Sayla's shoulder. "Wha-What did they do?" Its the question that keeps being asked over and over again. Like her heart might break the moment she knows the answer.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Sayla can feel the distress, and she shifts Leina closer. Another dark thought crosses her mind. "...What if they found Glemy's lab? Cloning a body and putting her in it..." Like Frontal. She keeps going back to him. But even he..." The memory of that gun... Her grip tightens.
"Yeah. On the upside... maybe we can keep counting on her to underestimate individuals. Use that to our advantage." This weakness finding activity is more for Leina's sake than her own. She rubs her head. "If they find Banagher at a Sleeves operation, they can mobilize Londo Bell and G-Hound... Damn it..." This had better work out. He had better know what he's doing.
Sayla will never forgive him if he dies doing this. Or worse.
Sayla takes a long breath. "...You're right. You're right. We'll have to hope she watches where she steps." Mineva, too, had better know what she's doing. Leina doesn't need to be thrown back into the world of being a Lady of Neo-Zeon again.
"...It's better to have to say goodbye again than for her to be stuck against her well. No matter how much it hurts." Sayla reaches down, grabbing a blanket she had discarded earlier, throwing it over Leina and herself. "I don't know, Leina." She rubs her back again. "But we'll find a way to stop it. She won't stay there."
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
For a time she just leans against Sayla in silence, but eventually her brain is forced to contemplate it, it can't NOT think about it "His main lab as far as I know was on the Sandra. Though, maybe he had another one hidden somewhere..."
Her brow furrows in consideration, "...Alma, her genetic material was taken the year I was born, which means Elpeo was likely created the same year, at Flanagan."
There's a soft sigh and a thin smile, "That might be the only thing we can count on right now. Someone married to the CEO of Anaheim, and the majority shareholder herself? She likely underestimates most individuals as so much smaller than her."
Sayla counts the possibilities and there's a rueful smile at the thought, "He's at least smart enough to keep it on the Ra Mari II. I know we're not looking at the 3SA very fondly right now in the Spades for how they left things on their way out but... I do believe they will take care of him, I trust a lot of its crew members."
Even if she may not agree with their way of doing things, that much she can trust.
It's not like she hasn't thought about it, how that title of 'Lady of Neo-Zeon' might benefit their cause, but at the same time it's not something she ever really wants to invoke.
She's always been a girl from Shangri-la, not a Lady of Neo-Zeon in her eyes. "I kind of hate it, it's her choice but, I hate it. The first time in her life she got to be... a teenager, and now she's dragged back in by necessity."
What Sayla says last though, Leina falls still, and then just quietly nods her head against Sayla's shoulder. It's not long before she might feel the faint damp warmth of something, squeezed out from beneath her eyelids.
"Okay." She says evenly, as if keeping her composure, if only barely, but she can't stop the tears, "Okay I..."
Suddenly overwhelmed, she can't finish that sentence, and just falls silent again in place, just sorta, slowly nodding with her chin against her shoulder.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Sayla nods slowly. "...and all of Flanagan's research was handed over to the Federation. Including those samples." Sayla's eye narrows. It would be *so easy* for Vist to get that... And they could use another donor. After all, the Federation had genetic material from Amuro, Kai... so many others. If it was still viable...
"Let's hope she keeps it that way. It may be our angle." She sighs, closing her eyes. "...Yeah. But the Federation aren't too friendly there, either." The Three Ships Alliance... Sayla couldn't trust them. It was such a dangerous move.
"...Yeah. But at least she got that chance. And you helped give her it. Don't discount the time she had. I am sure she wouldn't." Sayla closed her eyes. Had she done enough for Mineva to honour that request. But as she feels the tears dropping...
Sayla pulls the blanket up, over Leina's head. Even if it's just the two of them, she'll give Leina her privacy. That done, Sayla holds Leina tight, quietly humming an old song. And she'll keep doing so, even after the stew is cold and the tears have stopped. As long as Leina needs.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
It's hard to say whether its the privacy, or the humming of the old song, but eventually the silent crying becomes more audible muffled sobs for a while.
She once told Roux that the world is hell in its cruelty. And in the face of that cruelty sometimes its all she can do not to cry.
She fails in this moment, this moment of ignorance of what the Vists have done to the little girl who was far too briefly family to her.
The world is hell, but perhaps in this moment, where she's being held by someone who cares about her tears, she'd prefer to live within it than any heaven that may exist.