2024-05-27: Your Balance
- Log: Your Balance
- Cast: Emilia Eschonbach, Eight Orlodhari
- Where: Magallanica, Side 3
- OOC - IC Date: May 27, 2024 (Backscene: December 0098)
- Summary: Eight Orlodhari comes by to visit Emilia Esconbach during her recovery. Back then, Emilia's anger was difficult to express. Eight listened anyway.
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
Mineva Zabi's home on Magallanica was not as opulent as the old Vist Manor, but it was still a very nice place to live. Very nice- and very secure. Even moreso, since it's second full time resident started living here.
It is also, quite noticeably, getting decorated for the Christmas season. Tinsel and mistletoe line the halls, and the Christmas Tree has been brought in- but not decorated yet. That bit is waiting for when Emilia is well enough to take part.
Emilia's had a few visitors from Magallanica over the past month, so she has people to talk to in light of all her old friends being unreachable- either due to safety concerns or...
...another possibility Emilia doesn't want to consider.
She's mostly been resting today- yesterday was physical therapy, and that took a lot of out of her. Given that she's also expecting a visitor, she's trying to ration her energy.
But now, she's in the sitting room, her wheelchair positioned next to the chair she's sitting in- she can transfer under her own power now, but with pain and difficulty- and probably would be struggling under Earth's gravity.
She's wearing a short sleeved blue dress that reaches her ankles, with a light shawl with a snowflake pattern over it. Getting used to the lack of real winter in the colony has been an adjustment that's taken getting used to.
For the moment, Emilia's on her phone, watching some music videos as shge waits.
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
Eight Orlodhari would make it here every now and then anyway, to see and discuss matters with Mineva--but now she has another reason to check in. The tree is nice... and not yet decorated. Eight is aware that Emilia has been resting, and so she's not going to come in with a whole lot of energy and upend her entire day.
But she does walk into the room with a smile. She is dressed in clothes that can only be described as 'mom jeans' and a button-up blouse in red. She just set the twins down in the other room with her assistant--they're almost fourteen months old! She still can't be away from them too far for all tht long, yet.
"Pretty pattern, Eight comments as she walks in. "Definitely has the winter spirit, whether we get much winter or not."
She smiles. "Hi. How are you feeling?"
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
"Th-thanks," Emmy says, turning off her phone to look at Eight as she hears her voice. "Mineva got it f-for me." She says, her hand going to touch the shawl. "I like it. A lot."
She's only seen the twins once, and they were cute, but a bit much for her to handle in the state of recovery she was in. Maybe when she's doing better.
"Not t-too bad. Tired. Um. T-taking it a little e-easy today." She looks to Eight. "Apparently I'm n-not supposed to push myself a-after therapy." She says, as a bit of a joke. But only a bit.
She absolutely would be if she hadn't been told and had it enforced.
"What about you?" She's relaxed a bit, since their first meeting, finally getting used to being in the presence of an Admiral. She's had a lot of bad experiences with high society.
"Oh, um, th-thanks for coming by." She remembers, after a moment. "Did you just have s-some free time today?" After all, she knows Eight, like Mineva, is a very busy person.
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
"It's lovely. Winter Wonderland approved! ...That's where I grew up, you know."
Maybe when she's doing better, for sure. For the moment... Well, Eight isn't going to risk them getting cranky and upsetting her.
"Heh," Eight says. "That's what they always told me, too," she answers conspiratorially. "I mostly listened. Mostly."
But her?
The blonde walks over. "May I?" she asks of the chair nearby, to sit down, and then--
"The twins enforced it," she says wryly. "I couldn't get them quiet for the longest time. ...But a day off now and then is important. So I did arrange to have some free time, and come and see you."
Eight is not particularly high society, despite her rank. She's gotten better at dealing with them, especially having met her grandmother, but...
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
The Winter Wonderland seal of approval seems to please Emilia. "With M-Miss Anita, right?" She remembers it being brought up in their first meeting.
"Minnie is v-v-very insistent." Emmy responds, in the same conspiratorial tone. "I th-think she'd be sitting by my b-bedside all the time to m-make sure I don't if she could." There's some slightly complicated emotions in Emilia's words, and in the flick her eyes to one side. There's a part of her who likes it- and a part of her who finds it cloying.
"Of course," Emmy responds, giving Eight time to get comfortable. "Really? ...I g-guess they would." Emilia doesn't have a lot of experience with babies- her Britannian upbringing on the nature is 'shove the child off on the staff as soon as possible', after all. And her time at Ashford didn't get up to the 'manage an egg or a sack of flour for a week' thing. Did Ashford even do that?
"...Thanks. It's n-nice to have visitors s-sometimes. It c-can get a bit lonely in here, e-especially after g-getting used to the dorms." Her smile droops a bit, turning sad. It wasn't just the dorms that were crowded, busy living for her, after all.
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
"That's right!" Eight answers. "Annie was with us, there."
Minnie... It's still cute to hear the girl she knows now to be so serious reerred to with a nickname. "I know how that goes. It's not quite the same for me, though; growing up, I didn't have any cousins."
But Eight takes a seat, and is a little relieved to do so; she's been doing a lot of walking around. "They have their ways," Eight says with a smile. She definitely hasn't been shoving them off on the staff; she's a very attentive mother, as it happens.
Ashford could've done that. Maybe.
"You're welcome!" Eight answers. "I imagine it does. ...I understand loneliness, if you'll believe it. And there's something about a lively situation..."
"It's why I like ships," she admits. "You have a lot of people all close by."
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
Emilia nods, a little pleased to have remembered properly. She's still not comfortable enough to call Anita 'Annie', but give it time. She'll get there.
Emilia's eyes do widen for a moment, as Eight talks about growing up, and family. "...Y-y-you mean... you b-believe her?" There's a genuine shock in Emilia's voice. "M-most people. Th-think it's a joke. Or th-that it's a cover for. Me b-being her s-s-secret girlfriend or something." ...Ah. Emmy's picked up on that, has she. "...I think she'd be mortified if she knew." She looks down at her phone in her hands, not meeting Eight's eyes.
Eight talking about loneliness seems to help too. "Y-yeah." Emmy says, quietly. "I've n-never been on a ship like th-that. Just for. T-transport." It's the thing about having people close by that gets her most, and she takes a long breath in. "...I. D-don't know what, um. What Mineva told you. About me." She says, after a moment. "Other than. Me b-being her cousin." But it seems, perhaps, that she wants to talk about it.
"I didn't... h-have anyone a-around growing up e-either." She says, after a moment. "I l-lived with my Grandfather but... he h-h-hated me. His staff d-didn't like me either." Sadness and loneliness are there, but there's anger clear in her voice. "I'd g-get to see my m-mom once a y-year, if I was lucky. At Ch-Christmas. I-I-If I behaved. ...Before sh-she was killed." She draws in a bit, shrinking her body language despite the rage burning underneath. "And all I knew ab--out. My dad was, um. Th-that he'd died in the w-w-war before I was born."
She shifts a bit in her seat, just a little, shifting a little closer to the chair's arm. "So. I d-d-didn't even know that. I h-had any other f-family until I was... F-fifteen."
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
"Sure," Eight answers. "I don't joke about family as a rule." A cover... Eight makes a face. "That's got to be awkward," she says of that particular belief. "She probably would be. But no, I don't get that impression at all."
"I joined up right out of high school," Eight explains. "The 'Ra Mari' was my first ship. ...But I liked it. The Captain really looked after us, and I was close to a lot of my friends."
A pause. Mineva... "Some," Eight admits. "For security, I had to know some. But I'd rather hearabout your life from you."
Her Grandfather hated her... Eight frowns at that, but not so sharply that it's easy to imagine she's mad at Emilia. "I see... She'd be angry, too. "That's terrible. That's no way for a child to grow up at all."
Fifteen... Hm. "...I just had the Yorks and my friends," Eight says. "Growing up a Cyber-Newtype escapee, we had no idea where my birth family was. ...But at least the Yorks cared about me."
"How'd you find out?" she wonders.
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
"...Yeah." Emilia sighs. "I... th-think it's c-c-cause of how, um. C-c-covert she and L-Leina have to be. H-her and Banagher too, I guess." She hasn't seen Banagher since coming here, actually. And she was under a blackout when the news of him joining the company came up. "Minnie believes it... but. I w-w-wish it wasn't just her."
Of course, the political inconveniences that a second Zabi heir would cause would be a problem too...
She nods, as Eight talks about her experience. "I s-see. That's p-pretty young. But... I'm g-glad you had a good captain." She pauses, trying to work out Eight's age. "...was this. Um. Was this in AEUG? Or...?"
Emmy nods. "...Y-yeah. That makes sense." Emmy's safety has been one of Mineva's top priorities since she was rescued and brought here. "She w-was... r-really worried. But if you're the A-Admiral, you need to know."
"...I just. Th-thought it was normal. Or I'd d-done something wrong. He. Sh-shifted me off to boarding school y-y-young, and. His p-p-people would s-send me to new schools r-regularly." She feels so stupid at that thought. That she was somehow the problem back then. "It's n-not like I h-had any friends to talk to."
At the words Cyber-Newtype, Emilia looks up at Eight. She doesn't think she's met a Cyber-Newtype before. (She has, but no one has told her of Marida's past.) She just knows it's a horrible experience to become one, and doesn't dare ask more. "...the Y-Yorks were... the people who took you in?" She looks... curious and maybe a touch envious, at the talk of a family that cared. "Did y-you ever look? For, um. For your birth family, I mean?" As soon as the words are out, though, Emmy frowns at herself. "S-sorry. That's. Probably too p-p-personal. Um. Forget I asked."
At Eight's question, she reaches uto grasp a black cord around her neck, hidden by the shawl, and uses it to pull a locket up from under her dress. She treats it very carefully, not taking it off. It's old, and golden- and a little beaten up. The chain that matched it was probably destroyed years ago.
"On m-my fifteenth birthday... s-s-someone sent me this. It was the f-f-first gift I'd received." Her mom didn't exactly have the freedom to send others. Engraved on it is 'my most beloved'. "It... belonged to m-my mom. I think... I saw her w-with it when I was l-little but... I don't r-r-really remember."
She presses the top of the locket, and it opens, and she holds it out for Eight to see without removing it. Inside are two pictures. In one, a blonde woman who bears a clear familial resemblance to Emilia, standing next to the Martyr of Zeon, Garma Zabi. Emmy clearly gets her hair from her father.
The second is a photo of the blonde woman a few years later with a girl maybe 2 or 3 years old on her lap. It's easy to tell it's Emilia, dressed in what might be a handmade blue dress, simple but cute.
"I... h-had to look up. Who th-the man was. I kn-knew the uniform from history class. But that w-was my dad." Her voice carries sadness, and a severe sense of loss. "Th-that was. The first time I'd e-e-ever seen him. The f-first time I knew who he was."
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
"Mmm," Eight answers. "That makes sense. So the suspicion falls on you..." Eight nods. "I don't like it when people get the wrong impression about me, myself."
It's not exactly the same, of course.
But it was young! Not as young as it could've been, though. "Thank you," she says. "No, I didn't join up until... 0094. Londo Bell. I thought it was a chance to do some good." She grimaces. "The Federation was the Federation, though."
Emmy's safety should be a priority, so thinks Eight. But, "Right. In order to protect everyone here, I have to know a lot of things."
Normal... Eight frowns at that, and shakes her head. "I'm sorry. It's natural, for a child to assume they're the problem. It should be up to the adults in her life to make sure she knows she's not."
Eight's name is 'Eight', after all; it's not a common name. "The people who rescued me and then took me in, gave me a chance at a normal adolescence." Eight confirms. "I took their name, until I married." And now it's 'Orlodhari'. "I don't mind," Eight confirms of the question. "Not at first... but on a mission, I found some information in the lab I'd been at, its ruins. It turns out my mother was from Zeon. She was a young woman who'd fallen for an officer, and thought his mother wouldn't approve of her with him dead..." She shakes her head. "Dimara Kadun is my grandmother. So I have ties to Zeon, myself, beyond my past." Zeon nobility, no less. ...But Emilia might notice; she doesn't use that name publically.
The locket... Eight looks carefully, without trying to touch it. Instead she says, "...It's good, to have a keepsake like that." She is alarmed that that's the first gift she' received, but, "I see..." She nods. "I wish you' gotten to know her better. ...A child should have the chance to know her mother." This is personal for her.
"...Her father, too."
That confirms it, all right. Another Zabi...
"I can't change the past. But I want your future to be brighter, Emilia. ...That's why I want to know what you want. What you're hoping for."
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
Emmy nods her head- small nods, but several times. "...Y-yeah. But... I d-d-don't want to cause Mineva t-t-trouble by causing a sc-scene about it." Emmy's voice is quiet. There's something else under that desire not to cause trouble, but whatever it is isn't immediately clear.
Her guess on Eight's age turns out to be... way off. "Oh, s-sorry. I th-th-thought you'd have to be. O-older to be an Admiral." She looks embarrassed, and then winces at what she actually said. "Um. Sorry. N-never mind." The Federation, though...
"The Federation l-let Britannia do whatever i-i-it wanted. It needed to f-f-fall." There's a real rawness there, a real anger. "...Not that. A-anything's ch-changed there. Th-they still hold the p-p-power."
"I, um, I. I understand." She manages. "...there w-was a risk in t-t-taking me in, w-w-wasn't there. N-not just because of. Who m-my family is."
Eight's apology seems not to get much of a response from Emilia- unless you look closely at her right hand on the arm of the couch, grip tightening. "...As f-f-far as he was c-concerned, having a 'H-Half-Zeke' bastard in his f-family was the problem." Her grip gets tighter. "Not that I kn-knew what it meant when h-he called me that when I was l-little. And it's n-n-not like anyone w-would tell me." She shakes her head. "...It m-makes sense in retrospect. He w-was Mayor of New Yark and th-then. My dad t-took his city and h-humiliated him." She shakes her head. "...H-he d-deserved it, though."
"So.. y-you were happy with the Yorks, then?" It seems to be surprising to Emilia, like something's not lining up with her perception of the world. "O-oh... I see..." That's... a harsh way to discover anything, isn't it? "Dimara Kadun?" Emmy asks, before stopping to explain. "S-s-sorry, I... I've only ever been to S-Side 3 once b-before. I don't..." She drifts of mid sentence, her mouth moving but words not coming out. She stops, closing her mouth and taking a few long, deep breaths. ...But it's easy enough to infer what she was trying to say.
She doesn't know that much about the Zeon of today.
After about a minute, her ability to speak returns, if a little slower. "I... got to know her a l-little. If I was r-r-really good I got to stay with her overnight in the h-h-hospital on Christmas. Eve." The way she talks about it, those seem like some of her happiest memories were in that place. "...But. She was killed by the Dinosaurs and G-Getter Robo. Along with a-almost everyone else in N-New Yark." Rising anger and still unresolved grief, that only gets worse. "...I sh-should have had that chance. Minnie sh-should have too. B-but we didn't. And we n-n-never will."
She seems a bit stunned at Eight's next question though... and she sags a bit. It takes another long time for her to respond, as she muses on it. "...I'm. N-not sure." She says, finally. "...You were told th-that. I used to b-be a Black Knight, right?" The 'risk' she was talking about. "...I. W-wanted to change things. Or. M-m-maybe I was j-just angry for the f-first time. Or I j-just wanted to hurt G-Grandfather." This is a level of openness rare for even her, it seems- but she seems to trust Eight enough for that, right now. Or is desperate and lonely enough to make up the difference.
"...Wh-when Zero. P-put out his call f-f-for recruitment. I got the ch-chance. Zero w-w-was the first person to ever... ever give me the strength to d-d-do anything." She says, after a moment. "...and then he disappeared when we n-n-needed him most." There's such bitterness in her voice, an angry frown on her face, and her lips turn more into a snarl. "...We l-lost. The Britannians r-r-routed us. F-f-f-forced us into hiding. If... If w-we hadn't escaped when we did... I'm pretty sure the S-Second Princess would have. Killed us all h-herself."
And the fact that she could have goes unsaid. Emmy fought against her more than once- and she knows how outclassed she was.
"...and now... I d-d-don't even know if. Anyone e-else is still alive. What I sh-should do now." She can't look at Eight now, reaching up to rub her left eye. She's not used to crying with the prosthetic in, even if she tries to hide the tears.
"...Minnie wants me to be safe. M-maybe I should just. T-t-t-take the fresh st-start."
But... that doesn't seem to be what she wants, with the lack of enthusiasm in her voice.
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
"That makes sense," Eight says. "It's your choice." She would find it... inconvenient, if people learned about Emilia--but that's for her and Mineva to deal with.
"Heh," Eight says of her age. "Usually you would be. I was only a Captain because everyone higher-ranked than me on the ship died. Then I got a new ship, and then we got some more ships, and before I knew it..." She gestures. "It adds up."
"...I can't disagree," Eight admits of the Federation. "I rebelled against them because what they were doing was wrong. And a lot of the same people are still in charge. I can hope that they'll do better... But you may have noticed that Magallanica hasn't joined NUNE or SAL."
A risk. Because of who she is, and who her family is. "Yes," Eight confirms. She doesn't dwell on it, but she's not going to lie, either.
Eight shakes her head. "Whether it 'makes sense' or not, it was bigoted and wrong. Even if he had issues with your father's country, even if he had issues with your father--That's not your fault. ...Sounds like I'm telling you something you already know, though."
'He deserved it.'
"Yes," Eight answers, with a smile. "I was. Maybe they were a little too permissive sometimes, but I got to... grow up normal, in a lot of ways. Excepting the therapy--I needed physical and emotional therapy, to be... well, to be a 'person' at all." She pauses. "Oh, I see. Then--she's a noblewoman from Zeon. She's pretty bitter, because she lost all her children in the wars... so she wants a peaceful solution."
It's easy to iner.
Eight waits for her patiently, until Emilia is ready. Then, as she explains, "I see..." Yes, it does sound like happy memories. Anger and grief seem appropriate there, frankly. "Yes," Eight agrees. "You both should have."
But they won't.
She's not sure. Eight expected that much. "I was," Eight says. She fought the Black Knights, a time or two. And then the Black Knights tried to use the Three Ships Alliance to benefit them in another battle. Eight listens anyway. "There's a lot of reasons, to join up with someone," Eight encourages.
But Zero... Hm. He gave her 'strength', and then disappeared...
"Quite possibly," Eight agrees seriously about the Second Princess, and when she sees Emilia crying, pulls a handkerchief and wordlessly passes it over.
"That's an option," Eight says, of that 'fresh start'. "And it might be good for you. Never understimate how good it is to just... live. It's precious."
"But it's ultimately your choice," Eight says. "If you want to go somewhere else... if you want to fight again... Whatever it is that you want, it's up to you to decide it. It's your life, above all."
"For me... I didn't think I would ever go back to war. But then, I did. And I don't regret it."
"...But I don't regret carving out the time to start a family, either."
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
Emmy's silent a little longer at Eight saying it's her choice- but she says nothing more. Maybe the trust isn't there enough yet.
"...oh." Emilia looks down again. She feels bad for invoking that memory. "I s-s-see." That happens a lot in wars, doesn't it? That's what Professor Martel indicated, at least.
"...Right. You r-r-rebelled too." That seems a point in Eight's favour. But it's clear she doesn't share Eight's optimism for the matter. "...M-maybe." She says, with all the disdain that word can muster.
"...I a-already knew he was a b-bigot. He ran for the NIA and would h-h-hold Blue Cosmos meets. In th-th-the house." She pauses. Maybe it's a good thing he hated her so much. It meant she never turned out like him. "I w-w-wish I c-could have just..." She stops herself, but it's not hard to imagine what she intended, given the anger.
"Oh, I s-s-see." Is there such a thing as a peaceful solution for Zeon? She can't imagine NUNE would leave them out of their grasp for long. She's too cynical to think like that. "...but... you didn't take the Kadun name? B-before you married, I mean?" She pauses for a moment. "...though the Yorks c-cared for you. I guess... th-their name. Didn't h-hurt." Is that all there is there?
"You c-can't change the past, right?" There's a joke in her tone, but... it's halfhearted at best. Maybe it just hurts too much too talk about what could have been. What she wanted to have all along.
"...I don't... think I e-ever went on any missions against. L-Londo Bell. It w-was mostly Britannians. And... the B-Brave Police once." She retired a member of the Brave Police once, perhaps." Or maybe retired one.
She takes the offered handkerchief after a moment of staring at it, and dabs her eyes. She's still trying not to cry in front of Eight, but since this much has been noticed, there's no point hiding that.
Precious, huh? "...maybe." She says, still quiet. "But..." Is that a precious thing she can take, when she might be the only one of her group who fled Area 11 together still alive?
Is it an option she's allowed to take?
"...I still. I n-need some time. To th-think about it."
Still... given the life she'd lived so far, maybe making her own choices is still difficult- especially with the strength she used to forge her way forward taken from her.
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
For Eight, the matter of 'choice' is very dear to her heart. Whether or not Emilia can trust her with what she wants there...
Eight nods along. 'I see', she says, and that's about all there is to that one. She wouldn't change it, but... Somehow, she imagines a speech on regrets wouldn't land very well on Emilia.
She'd be just another 'older adult' imposing her ideals on the younger set. And she's not quite old enough to be an out-of-touch adult yet.
"I did," Eight says. "Would do it again, too." A pause. 'Maybe'. She nods.
But, "I see," Eight says. "Well, you're away from him now." She knows what Emilia might've wished--she can gather it. A girl wishing that onn her own grandfather...
What a terrible grandfather.
"I didn't," Eight says. "I decided... That 'Eight York' is the person I worked hard to be. So I wanted to honor that. I did think about it, though. The allure of finding your birth family, of understanding where you come from, and having a place to belong..."
"Well," she says, "I have two families, now. That's all it is."
But you can't change the past. Eight nods.
"Well, I never got on too well with the Britannian governmental types," she admits. "But in Londo Bell we theoretically didn't have to deal with them as much." The Brave Police... Well.
Eight won't call attention to the tears any more than that. "It's something anyone deserves," Eight follows up. "That everyone deserves. The right to just... live. But a lot of people don't want to let others have that."
"And that's part of why we fight."
"Take your time," Eight agrees. "There's nothing wrong with that."
"Should I give you some time?" Eight offers. "Or do you want to hear some more about Winter Wonderland?"
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
"...I would t-t-too." Emmy admits, a little more candidly than she had planned. In a heartbeat. Even with the Black Knight's methods.
She gained so much- even if she lost a lot of it recently.
"...Yeah." Emmy says, quietly. "I... d-d-don't think he could. Find m-me here." Especially not with people providing active interference. "He probably. Th-thinks I'm d-d-dead now. Unaccounted f-for after s-six months of martial law. Should g-give that impression." It doesn't feel like enough.
"...Two families, huh? Must be n-nice." It feels like it should be nice. She nods at Eight's attitude towards Britannia. "Anyone that high up. Under B-Brittania. They're... m-monsters. E-especially the R-R-Royalty." She was there for Euphemia's Massacre. She tried to save lives during it. That's a hate that won't go away.
"...even people like my G-Grandfather?" That's where it fully comes out. There's no restraint in her anger at this moment, at the idea that 'everyone' deserves to 'just live'. "P-p-people like the Britannians who. Sh-shoved Ranka in a cargo hold and l-l-left her to die? The s-s-soldiers who fired into. Into the J-Japanese people who were there just b-b-because they hoped m-maybe, maybe they w-w-w-weren't being lied to for once!?"
She's shaking now. Furious. "The p-p-people who tried to t-take advantage of the chaos to strap a bomb. T-t-to one of the G-GUTS kids who c-came for the cermony? S-Solely so they could l-lure out a t-t-teenager who hadn't d-done ANYTHING!?" She moves to stand- a mistake. She gets about halfway to her feet, forgetting to support herself properly, and a burst of pain fires through her hip and she falls back into the chair a moment later with a gasp of pain.
For better worse, the pain seems to shock her out of her rage of her rage- a reminder of how helpless she is right now. A remind that she can't afford to get on Eight's bad side.
"...s-s-sorry." She whispers, after a long few minutes.
...Would Eight even still want to talk after that outburst? Emmy falls quiet again, letting Eight decide what she wants to tolerate.
<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.
So she would.
"He can't reach you here," Eight is sure of, regardless of what he thinks. It wouldn't feel like enough, would it? But Eight continues. She continuess about her amily, and she listens about Britannia, and their royalty. She hasn't seen much to countermand it, frankly. All the same...
The outburst comes. Eight is calm through it, though she can feel th anger, can feel the rage there, and can see Emilia in pain. The pain seems to shock her out of it, and she apologizes, but--
"Yes," Eight says plainly. "Everyone, at base, deserves it--regardless of the crimes of their family, or their people."
"...But," she says, "There are people who take what should be that chance in order to take it from others. Who do the things that you mentioned. Who massacred people at Nagoya. Who hurt so many people. Because of those people..."
"Because of them, we fight. To make sure that they can't do it anymore. But if you ever lose sight of the fact that your enemies are people too--people, with loved ones and lives--then you risk becoming the very thing you fight."
"If I could convince our enemies to lay down their arms and go back to those lives tomorrow... I would. That would be better than spending another single life on these wars."
"...But that's not going to happen today. And not tomorrow. So we keep fighting. And we will keep fighting. For the sake of those 'ordinary lives' who never asked to be put in the middle of war."
"I apologize for upsetting you," Eight says. "If I can help your pain, let me know. ...But that's what I believe. That's the world I'll make for my children."
"...But can I say that there's no merit in punishing the guilty? No. 'Justice' is a right in this world, too. It's a matter of what we value. Of the balance we strike. And that's different for everyone."
"Think about your 'balance', all right? ...I'll come back again, if you'll still have me as a guest."
<Pose Tracker> Emilia Eschonbach has posed.
As Eight refutes her points, Emilia is silent. She doesn't make eye contact. She barely moves, apart to make herself seem smaller, to take up less space. Her good arm crosses across her stomach to grip the other one- almost like a self hug. Almost. She's listening- even if it's hard to tell how much she's taking in.
She looks for all the world- in this exact moment- like she's never fully moved past the child who is used to receiving chastisement.
It's only when Eight actually asks her a question that she responds. That she says anything. "...I-i-i-it's. O." She stops again. Tries to breath. It doesn't help.
"P-p-p-p-please." She manages, at Eight wondering if Emilia will still have her as a guest.
Once Eight is gone, a member of staff will come and help Emilia into her chair and back to her room, make sure she takes her painkillers. Someone will call Mineva, given her state. She won't be left alone.
Even if she can't convince herself that's the case.