2022-06-20: How Does It Look? (Pt. 2)
- Cast: Rena Lancaster, Eight York
- Where: Ra Mari
- Date: U.C. 0096 06 20
- Summary: Rena shows Eight the new, Anita-approved haircut. They talk about themselves and the future. A small content warning for a fade to black at the end of the scene, too.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Rena is back aboard the Ra Mari. She had a little shore leave, which she used for a very specific mission -- with Anita in tow, for moral support -- and now she has returned. She is still in her T-shirt, jeans, and light jacket, rather than uniform. Technically, she is back on the ship but off duty. But she stops in front of Eight's door, pressing the button to buzz her.
There is a change.
Rena's ash blue hair has been cut short -- which wasn't new, but it's styled and layered now, instead of more utilitarian job that the ship's medical staff did. She also has a newly-made streak of red in it, near the part. It has the look of a two-tailed comet.
Rena waits, nervously. She has a smile on her face, but there's no small amount of nervousness. Anita said that they would love it, but... the moment is different.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight's just working at her desk; she's alone today, or at least for now, but technically as off-duty as the Captain ever gets. Her uniform jacket is open, revealing the black tanktop she wears beneath it, and her feet are in slippers. Her blonde hair is a little messy; she was working out a bit earlier, and only replaced her jacket after she finished. But when she hears the buzz--
"Hm?" she starts, and gets up, going to the door. And then it opens, brightly, Eight sees Rena, and--
Her eyes light up.
"Oh!" Eight says, "Welcome back!!" She cheerfully greets her girlfriend, and reaches out to put her hands on her shoulders. "Oh, I love your hair!! Is that a red streak? Aaa, i thought you looked great with long hair, but this is even better!"
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"Th-thanks," Rena says, a little sheepishly.
Eight can still feel the swell of happiness at the compliment, and the way Rena melts a little when her hands rest on her shoulders. Her face is red, too, when Eight gushes like that. It's a relief; Eight had remarked once how she loved her long hair. She used to have the longest of the bunch -- and now it's among the shortest.
She tilts her head to the side. "You really like it? I--um--I thought it'd look nice, with a little color, and..." She trails off. "...I really like it. So I'm glad you do."
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Now if Eight wants long hair, she'll have to grow it out herself! ...She's OK with that.
Eight does feel that swell of happiness, and it combines with her own at seeing Rena at all. She cheerfully looks her over, and when Rena asks--"I like it!!" she says. It's really true that she loved Rena's long hair, for a few reasons... But the 'Eight' that loved Rena's long hair is met by the 'Eight' who loves it short now, too.
"That's the most important thing though," Eight says, "That you like it." She steps back and invites Rena into her room with a gesture. "But no, you're beautiful! It makes you look... Hmmm. Kinda glamorous? Like the red streak makes you look like a comet..."
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Rena steps into the all-too-familiar room. She spends almost as much time here as she spends in her room. It comes with Eight having the bigger, better room. She looks around for a moment, before she looks back at Eight. She smiles at her, her cheeks flushing red all over again.
"G-Glad you think so," she admits. "I did want to impress you, so..." She scuffs her foot along the carpet. Then, she looks up, and her smile becomes a grin. "Annie said the same thing. That it looks like a comet."
She laughs and flicks her hair. "I've never had it this short. It's... kind of nice. It makes me feel a little older, somehow..." She hesitates. "I'm not sure why."
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
The bed is stowed away, being used for the moment as a desk instead. The bathroom--though she doesn't actually have a bath in it--is off to the side. And there is a place for Eight and Rena to sit together, which Eight moves towards and waits for Rena to join her at. "Oh, did you?" she asks, as if she doens't know that Rena would want to do that anyway. She beams at her, happily, at the idea. "Congrats! You did!" Then a beat, "Ahah, did she? Then we think alike~! I never mind being in the same cool tier as Annie."
A beat, "Maybe because you already had it long when you were younger? Or maybe because short hair is cool, and mature..." She takes a seat, and puts out her arms next to her to encourage Rena to do the same.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"It's quite an accomplishment," Rena says with a smile. After all, they have joked -- and it's not entirely a joke -- that Anita is the coolest person they know. She walks over with Eight, taking a seat next to her. Then, she leans against her, and sighs. Her head rests on the other woman's shoulder.
"Maybe so. I've had it long for... as long as I can remember," she says. It was in style, when she grew up; she never cut it shorter in all of her time in Winter Wonderland. She looks up at Eight, then. "I don't know if I'm cool or mature, now. That's lofty praise for the resident disaster."
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight nods quite seriously at the matter of accomplishment, because Anita is definitely the coolest person they know. When Rena takes a seat, Eight's arms wrap around her, and she happily accepts her head on her shoulder. Her hand far hand slips up into her hair, feeling the blue strands, shorter as they are now.
"Mm! I've been more experimental with mine..." Which is true. But Rena expresses a doubt, and Eight shakes her head before resting against Rena for a moment herself. "More than you think," Eight says. "I'll give you lofty praise all I want, too."
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Rena sighs, a little, when Eight's hand slips up into her hair and she feels Eight's fingers playing with her hair. There is a contented feeling at that, and she smiles, curling her legs up under her body. Her eyes open, and they look up at Eight's, as she hesitates a moment -- and thinks.
"You've changed your hair a few times. I like however you wear it," she says. "It's really cute right now. And--"
She flusters, glancing away. "O-Octo... I-I mean... um. Thanks," she manages. Because she shouldn't just turn down a compliment like that.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
She's always liked playing with Rena's hair; this doesn't seem to have changed now that it's shorter. She keeps her feet down on the floor for the moment. When Rena looks up at her though, Eight looks right back down, a happy look in her red eyes. "Thanks!" she says, "I'm happy you like it. I'm thinking of letting it grow out..."
When Rena flushes, Eight has an immediate urge to tease her. "That's better~!" she says, compromising with herself to only tease a little. "That's what i want to hear when I give you compliments. I mean all of them, you know."
"You're the most beautiful woman I've ever met."
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Rena has always enjoyed when Eight has. It changed, of course, as they got older; when she was little, it was more friendly. Now, it has a different context. She smiles up at Eight, and then she reaches up. Her fingers gently rest on Eight's cheek, the way she often holds her. It mirrors the way she put Eight's hand on her cheek, when she said she would follow her to Londo Bell.
"It would look great," she says. And then she smiles, and her eyes duck down. She is quite flustered at that compliment. She hesitates -- but she knows Eight means it. She has felt that thought from her, sometimes.
"You really do think that, huh?" she asks, softly.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Once it was more about braids and new styles; now, it's a little different. So Eight's smile is different, too, as she looks down at her, closing her eyes for a moment to lean into her lover's hand. "Mm..."
They open again, in time to see Rena all flustered, and this time she doesn't tease her for it--she's too serious in what she's saying. "Of course I think so," Eight says. "...You know I do, too."
She smiles, again, and it's all warmth and warm hues and loving reds.
Though she does add, "And I've met a lot of pretty girls, you know!"
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
That's different, too. It took some time before they became like this, but now there is are things unsaid in how Rena touches Eight's cheek like that. She smiles at her, and she watches her open her eyes. She feels that aura; her own slides against it, all blues and purples, bleeding into red too. They mingle together, like oceans colliding, and her thumb strokes along Eight's cheek.
"I do," she says. "You did for a long time. I knew, you know? That you wanted me, before we... um... started." She hesitates for a moment. "I could feel that. And that it wasn't just because you think I'm beautiful."
She is quiet for a moment.
She frowns, slightly. "O-Octo!"
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
It's peaceful and not, at the same time; a collusion is not quiet, but it's more like the sea washing up on the beach than some kind of explosion. ...that's how Eight feels, anyway.
"...Mm. I couldn't help it," she says. "And you're right... it's more than just how pretty you are. That's definitely also true, and even if I didn't love you I'd think you were beautiful. ...But I do. I have, for a long time."
She laughs despite herself at Rena's frown. "What? It's true~!"
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Rena looks up at her, her smile happy and content. It's not an entirely gentle feeling, but they've never been quite gentle. She breathes out, softly, and she smiles at her.
"I know," she says. She lets the memory float up; the night in their house, when it was just them, when Rena first went with Eight's suggestion. The feelings that were finally let out, that night, and how close they grew. Rena shares the memory easily, knowing how to -- with a thought -- put the image in Eight's mind.
Her thumb strokes, gently.
Then she sighs, but she smiles. "You're hopeless, Octo."
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
If Eight only wanted gentle feelings... she could've stayed as she was, when she was a little younger, before she really opened up to the world. Which she did. And now, she's opened up to Rena, too.
Rena knows--and Rena shares that memory, bringing a sigh to Eight's lips. And a little more than that; she remembers it very well. It makes her...
Eight leans into Rena's hand again, closing her eyes. "I think I have a lot of hope," she says. "...I can tell you some of what I'm hoping right now...
Her arms slip around Rena a little more tightly.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"I can't argue with that," Rena says, on the question of Eight and hope.
She feels Eight's arm squeeze her a little tighter. She doesn't need to be a Newtrype, she thinks, to know what that means. There's a little turn of her eyes, up to look into Eight's. Then, she smiles at her, and her hand pulls back from her cheek. She rests it on Eight's shoulder, instead -- sliding it under the open jacket.
"You don't have to tell me, Octo," Rena says. "I know. Kiss me?"
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Eight smiles back again, inhaling a slow breath as she feels Rena's hand on her bare shoulder. She stares, for a few moments, and no, Rena doesn't need to be a Newtype at all to tell what she has in mind. ...it doesn't hurt, though.
"I'd love to."
Eight leans down to press her lips to Rena's, and sighs as she does, letting slip all her thoughts of other things far back in her mind.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"Mm."
Rena kisses Eight back -- and it's easy and familiar, then, to lose herself. To let herself wrap both arms around Eight and pull her close, and rest back on the sofa with her. Her arms stay around Eight, and she sighs softly.
It's a warm, gentle pulse into Eight's mind. Not even a fully formed thought; just an aura of blues and purples, mixing with Eight's, and letting her feel the way her own thoughts drift away -- how she is entirely in the moment.
She is happy to stay there.