2023-12-11: One Night In Paradiso
- Cast: Lina Lombardi, Sonia Sophia-Grace
- Where: Paradiso, Captain's Quarters
- Date: U.C. 0097 12 11
- Summary: Lina takes advantage of the lull in activity during the preparations for GGG's final battle to visit one of the most important allies she has.
<Pose Tracker> Sonia Sophia-Grace has posed.
It hasn't been that Sonia isn't hard to find; it's impossible to miss the Paradiso, being a battleship after all. It's more of if one can get her pried away from other duties. While she has a good staff and all of them are very fond of their Captain, Sonia -does- have a long habit of being randomly in a department's office doublechecking all their paperwork. This is especially true during longer trips, as she keeps a tighter monitor on things when contact with Earth and reliable resupplies are questionable if even possible.
As such, finding her: Easy. Actually getting time where she's out of work mode for her, even for Lina: Almost damn near impossible.
Remember the very good crew who are all fond of her? Lina gets whispered a hint of a good time to catch her, and it is that person that gives her a hint that is walking out of the captain's quarters at the end of a long day. Inside, Sonia is sitting at her conference table; in reality, what would be the dining room table to go with her little kitchenette. The table is packed out with documents upon documents. What spare space exists has been crammed with bookshelves which, in and of themselves, are crammed of books of various, various things.
Sonia's eyes are closed and she's leaning back in her chair - it's time to sleep. (She'll be up in five minutes.)
<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.
Lina, having not really spent much time on the Paradiso since passing out at Tsutsujidai the previous year, finds a small bit of difficulty navigating the ship, though with the help of a few crew members, she mangages to find the captain's quarters. She flashes a quick thumbs up to the crewman walking out and slips in the door while it's still open.
She smirks when she sees Sonia asleep; she had been so preoccupied with her own problems out on the battlefield, it hadn't really occurred to her that the responsibilities of a captain would be just as draining. It really would be better to let her rest.
However.
It was rare that Lina had an opportunity to give Sonia a taste of her own teasing medicine, and far be it from her to squander an opportunity. She slowly sneaks up behind the resting captain and softly calls out into her ear, "Ti sei riposato bene, gattina?"
<Pose Tracker> Sonia Sophia-Grace has posed.
Lina creeps up and manages to get Sonia - a treat she'll never get again. She'll not forget this, Lombardi.
"Hmm... Lina... I have been betrayed. Woe to the crew. May the next thing they need to use break and be fixable, so long as it is not an important component that will endanger themselves or the rest of the ship." She murmurs without opening her eyes. "Hello, dear heart." She finally opens her eyes and twists her shoulders in one quick motion, her back cracking as it releases the gas that was built up.
"I've missed you. Sorry I just... couldn't." Couldn't what? Anything? Yeah.
<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.
"Heh, don't be too hard on them. I'm sure they've got your best interests in heart." Lina chuckles and gently puts a hand on Sonia's left shoulder, giving it a soft rub. "And don't even think anything of it. It's not like I haven't been pretty damn busy myself, eh? All hands on deck for something or other just about every day."
She slides over to one of the other chairs at the table and takes a seat, resting her elbow on whatever bare surface she could find of it. "But with pretty much everyone in the Guard recovered, we're taking things a bit easy before we have a crack at Genesic."
BBSYS: Post 1356, 'Request Processing' has been published to Announcements by Tem Ray Circuit.
<Pose Tracker> Sonia Sophia-Grace has posed.
"Trust me, I noticed." Sonia says dryly. "All I got for my birthday was a unlit candle in a cupcake. It might still be in the fridge."
Wait, birthday?
"How are your injuries doing? You've not majorly ended up in the hospital from my awareness, and I'm very proud of you for that."
<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.
"Your birthday."
The word rolls around in her head a bit.
Birthday. Birthday. Birthday.
"I missed your birthday! Aaaaah my God! I didn't even get you anything!" She lets out a partially exaggerated sigh and rests her cheek in her hand.
"My ribs are pretty much healed by now. Obviously, I'm to avoid exploding churches for a while, but Medical gave me the OK to pilot, at least."
<Pose Tracker> Sonia Sophia-Grace has posed.
"There there." Sonia reaches over, pats, pats.
"I forgot it was my birthday til I got given the cupcake that night." A sigh. "My crew knows me better than I do, some days. So I'm not mad at you or anything. Really, you being safe and healthy is a great gift in and of itself. Did you ever consider my reaction if you got ourself even more seriously injured?"
She wasn't happy at all in the first place...
<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.
Lina pauses. That last question was very familiar to her.
She had said that to her father plenty of times.
"A soldier must be ready to lose and be lost," he would tell her. Somehow, she got the feeling that Sonia wouldn't want to hear that.
"I know, I know. I took it easy, didn't I? I'd already get it bad enough from Elsa, getting it from you would just finish the job." She absentmindedly blows a strand of hair out of her face. "But at the same time, it's not like I could just sit around all day doing nothing. I'm a pilot, danger is part of the life."
<Pose Tracker> Sonia Sophia-Grace has posed.
"There's a difference between doing something stupid and doing something smart, you know." Sonia's gaze flickers over to her shelves; if Lina takes even fifteen seconds of a double look, she'll realize that every single book is military warfare, or things related to it, such as logistics, recruitment, and even how to handle heavily damaged armies or units that isn't mercy killing.
She looks down at the stack of papers she had been going through, and starts flicking through them, clearly not going to stop working anytime soon.
"... how's it all going, on the train?" She asks after a moment.
<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.
Lina almost responded with how sometimes doing something stupid was, in fact, the optimal decision. But she decided against it. She knew Sonia wasn't just trying to be a nag, and this was coming from a place of legitimate care and concern. The thought brings a smile to Lina's face and she sighs, clearly forfeiting the argument. "I'll...try to be a bit more careful from now on. I've already made a promise to come back alive, what's one more promise to stay in one piece?"
She sneaks a glance at the papers flicking through Sonia's fingers, not expecting to get anything out of it. "Well, the last operation's success has been raising spirits in a much-needed way. It's nice to get a good couple wins in after...hm." She didn't really want to mention it, but Sonia would know.
<Pose Tracker> Sonia Sophia-Grace has posed.
"After that? I'm sure." Sonia says lightly. She pauses to stamp a paper. A requisition form. To fix a chair someone leaned back too far in and promptly broke.
"What do they think I'm made of? Chairs?" She mutters to herself, briefly.
"... I'll take a promise to stay in one piece. Don't get me wrong - scars can be pretty nice. But I'd like you to remain whole, mostly. No losing full on limbs or anything, yeah? I'm way more durable than you." Er...?
<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.
Lina raises a brow. That was new. "So you're saying you could manage losing an arm, huh? I'll keep that in mind next time I need a co-pilot. The Ichinana's a bit more roomy than the Lion." No offense meant, but Sonia...was small. No way she was tougher than Lina.
<Pose Tracker> Sonia Sophia-Grace has posed.
"Mmm, perhaps not on the losing limbs part, I'd wager we're both equal there in terms of ... well, everything, but in a one on one fight?" A pause.
"Yeah, I'd probably kick your feet out." She shrugs. "I'm just small, not delicate, dear heart."
<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.
"...You've got some hidden depths to you, Sonia Sophia-Grace." She chuckles. "I like that. Keeps me on my toes."
<Pose Tracker> Sonia Sophia-Grace has posed.
"Good, now think twice before calling me short." Sonia says, totally seriously, but Lina gets the sense that she is teasing her.
"Also, if you don't plan on spending the night, I'd run away before I give you a stamp and put you to work."
<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.
Lina brushes her bangs from her left eye, giving Sonia a full stare. "And what if I don't mind a bit of paperwork? I used to be PMC, I'm no stranger to it."
"It'd be nice to spend as much time with you as I can before we go up against the big guy." She says this teasingly, but Sonia gets the sense that she is totally serious.
<Pose Tracker> Sonia Sophia-Grace has posed.
<poem>
"I love you." Sonia says, grinning while holding out a stamp. "There's a box on each page of this stack. Hit 'em all, if you please."
"Enough space on the bed for two, too..." She adds on. Her own stack of sheets is getting a signature from good old captain.
<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.
Lina responds with a grin and a kiss, taking the stamp from her hand as she pulls back. "Love you too, gattina."
She begins quickly stamping at each box, forming a stack of prepared sheets in front of her. "After yesterday, I'm going to need as many nights in a comfy bed as I can get."