2017-10-04: A Heartfelt Moment
- Log: A Heartfelt Moment
- Cast: Lunata Croze, Emma Hetfield
- Where: CaraKin
- Date: 4th October 2017
- Summary: Emma visits the CaraKin to speak to Lunata, and the two speak like daughter and possibly-mother...!
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata's been having a bit of a tough time, but she's been spending it mostly in November City when the CaraKin isn't going places... she's not on today, with the food truck not serving during weekends, so she's got some time to herself. She's been spending some time with mom, but she also hears that Miss Hetfield's been around too -- so she's asked if she'd like to come around to the caravan.
When Emma arrives, Lunata's served out a few platters of snacks and drinks -- fresh lemonade, the likes.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
Emma has been bustling, hustling, and trying to get people to license Emma Motors. At least that's just something that produces Gella. She's already a little bored with the Emma Motor (though much like the ancient King of Aveh, she loves the money it brings).
Either way, she approaches.
"Oh, Lunie," Emma says, seeing the set-out platters. Her voice is fond and warm. Perhaps a little overly so, but Lunata no doubt knows that Emma tends to be all one thing or all another.
She then ignores the hospitality--!!!
In order to advance on Lunata proper and sweep her up into a hug that's about 50/30/20 'perfume,' 'engine oil' and 'unidentified mechanical residues or fumes.'
"You didn't have to go through all that trouble, but, that's exactly why you did it, isn't it?
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata looks just a little happy as she-- widens her eyes and gets swept up into a hug, which she kind of pauses and... then returns, rather gingerly. "O-oh, Miss Hetfield..."
She looks up as she smiles wider to say, "It's okay, Jay and Lunie are going to come around a bit later and I was going to prepare snacks for them anyway!"
The other Lunie. Gosh, it must get confusing to the uninitiated.
"Thanks for coming, I know you're busy..."
Emma gives a firm squeeze. Maybe a little firm? It's not painful but it may be a little clumsy. "I understand," Emma says, disengaging and adjusting her spectacles with one hand. "So at least I won't feel rude if I just graze a little. And --"
Emma taps a mysterious little tattoo on the table. "You're welcome~"
"Could you pour me a glass?" Emma says as she takes a seat. "Oh-hhh, it does feel good in here. A little like a ruin, doesn't it? At least some of them have the same kind of conditioned air, nice and refrigerated~."
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata chuckles as she tilts her head and says, pouring her a fresh glass of lemonade with some ice and a lime garnish on it, "It's really great. It's all thanks to everyone's hard work, and it wouldn't be possible without the Emma Motor and Jay's talents!" she looks really happy.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
"Flatterer," Emma says, taking the glass, taking a sip, and slouching back in her seat. "Uh!" she says. It's an 'uh' of pleasure.
"This is the best glass of lemonade I have had that I can clearly recall," Emma says, looking at it. "The little bit of lime really makes it pop. You're going to make someone tremendously happy one day..."
"I mean, more than you do now," Emma adds.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata has a little pout as Emma calls her a flatterer, when she really means it! The black little cube that follows her around everywhere is--
--actually not here, since Ge Ramda is actually preparing lunch in the kitchen. Which, if Emma's Seraph-glasses aren't as tweaked as they should be, means that a kitchen knife is cutting vegetables while floating in the air, spooopy.
It is October, after all...
"H-hmm... like you make mom happy, you mean?" Lunata blushes.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
Emma can't see Seraphs, but she also is completely fine with floating knives. She would, in fact, call it 'wicked cool' if she were focused on that. Instead she laughs, a sort of clumsy bray of surprise. Her hand comes up to half-veil her mouth. "Oh dear - ha ha! Well, that was the sort of thing that I was thinking of, but... actually," she says, "don't get any fresh ideas or I'll get boiled with radishes. I meant you're excellent at caring for people, Lunata."
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata scratches her cheek, since this was a topic that kinda came up with Shalune. "W-well, I mean, if it really is that way, it's okay, isn't it?" A pause, as she sighs and twiddles her thumbs just for a moment. "Yeah, I really do care for everyone... but, hmm... in 'that way'..." She dithers a little. Oh no, is little Lunie starting to care about that kind of stuff?!
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
"This has completely left my expectation," Emma says, "but - mm - well -"
Emma takes a deep breath.
"Has anyone spoken to you about - such matters?" Emma sips her lemonade, her posture regaining tone and erect-- let's say 'uprightness' instead.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"A-about mom?!" Lunata stammers, as she says, "W-well, Lunie and I've been chatting, you know, we don't want mom to just be without-- without, y'know, support! I know dad's sort of-- well, okay, he isn't really there," because even Lunata knows her father isn't really a figure of emotional or romantic support for Meredin, and that her family's romantic situation isn't exactly normal.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
"Oh! I'd meant if anyone had summarized the factual basis of sexual reproduction," Emma says, gesturing with the glass of lemonade. She takes another sip of it.
"... have you two really been chatting about such things?? I don't know how to feel about that," Emma says, conversationally enough. "It's a mixture of embarrassment and pride, I suppose."
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata looks doubly scandalised, she said the s-word!! Before--swallowing to say, "Y-yeah? I mean, we both really care... well, about you as well, Miss Emma!" A pause, as she scratches her cheek. "You know, you've been there along with mom when we're growing up, so of course we do!"
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
Emma laughs again. It's slightly anxious.
"Well, I'm glad you aren't offended! When your mother was at college..." Emma doesn't finsh that sentence, before looking at Lunata with a fond sigh. "It has been a while, hasn't it? Look at you - now you're the hero of the tournament of arms."
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata's just a little red at that, before shaking her head to say, "We wouldn't be offended! We're-- we're grateful, you know..." with just a bit of a sulk. "College... wow, that really was a long time ago..." A pause. "And, it's thanks to Ge Ramda, really... though I do think I've learnt a thing or two about fighting and the Guardians."
The kitchen knife stops chopping for a moment, sweeping cabbage into a bowl.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
"You - don't have to be grateful," Emma says.
Her eyes close. "I never clearly thought about it... but it's been my pride and joy to help you where I could. And to see you grow up into such a caring young woman with the power to destroy your enemies..."
Emma takes in a shaky breath -
And then turns her head to look at that floating knife. "Oh! I'd wondered why it smelled like cabbage!"
This has broken some of that solemn spell. Normal Emma is restored. Her glass jingles with ice as she asks Lunata, "What do you think you've learned about them? I haven't ever really sat down to chat with you about it."
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata is silent for a moment, and-- she can't help but smile just for a moment as she feels that earnestness from Emma, even only for a moment. W-well, the power to destroy her enemies... ...she'll have to be careful about that, but... her gratitude is there nonetheless.
"Ge Ramda, can you come here for a moment?" Lunata asks, and eventually, the knife acquiesces, sets down... and then the block of pitch black bobbles into the room. "Turn into the sword for a moment."
The reaper whines and shifts; and Emma can see what looks like an octagonal device seated around the hilt of the exotic weapon, amidst several exposed mechanisms. "I've always wondered, but Ge Ramda has a machine-like look to her... and Miss Avril said this was an 'Artificial' Medium. Not like the ones from the Temple... like it was created by someone."
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
"Oh! I hadn't noticed he - it - they? I don't know what the right pronoun here is, and - oh, her, I wouldn't have guessed," Emma babbles parenthetically as the sword manifests. After this Emma leaaaaaaans in and looks at the mechanisms.
"An 'Artificial Medium.' Did Avril elaborate?" Emma asks, seemingly enraptured. "Any historical or cultural details, to say nothing of mechanism...?"
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
The mechanisms are certainly ancient, the kind with neon lines and lack of gribbliness that probably points to a Zeboim-styled kind of contraption. Probably not terribly surprising, given that it did exist in a Zeboim-era Ruin, as Meredin confirmed to Emma the other day.
"She... didn't remember," comes the verdict, Lunata frowning gently. "Mm-- well, Ge Ramda always appears in a beautiful bridal kimono... I wonder if she was going to be married..."
A pause, as she stares at empty air.
"Ah, she's embarrassed. 'Maiden's secrets', she said."
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
"Hmmm," Emma says. "Does Ge Ramda mind if I take a picture or two?"
She's producing her computer already. "That's an interesting thought... do you mean Ge Ramda as in this individual, or the Guardian at large? From a cultural perspective, a bride makes sense - it's an important liminal state - but it must be very frustrating to always be on the verge of being wed!"
Emma reaches over for a cracker, still examining the blade. "Oh me oh my. And here I had thought she was more of a Gear computer component."
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"Ge Ramtos is the Guardian of Death... Ge Ramda seems to be a kind of-- lesser spirit?" Lunata has to venture a guess, not being particularly certain of the relationship between the lich and the actual Guardian of Death, though she is certain that they are intricately tied in some way.
"It works by... mm," Lunata furrows her brow. "You know how you get really used to something after you do it a lot? Pouring a glass of wine, or riding a bicycle... it's like your muscles, your body just gets really used to it that you don't think about it anymore."
A pause. "It kinda works like that... I see-- visions of fighting and death, experience it in the moment... and my body gets used to the experiences, and uses them to learn how to fight."
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
"Mmm, I see, I see," Emma muses. "Perhaps that's what makes it an 'Artificial' Medium."
"Muscle memory," Emma concurs. "I've read about it. So it's like you gained new muscle memories from Ge Ramda? Do you have to be in contact with her for it to function like that, or does it happen at any time?"
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata squints for a moment as she places her hand to her cheek. "It tends to happen out of need. Like when Jay, Lunie and I are digging and monsters come--" she gestures kind of weakly. "There's no rhyme or reason or anything..."
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
Emma looks over at Lunata then, after finishing off the cracker she'd taken hold of beforehand.
"Does it frighten you?" she asks.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
There's silence from Lunata for a moment, as she picks at her hair idly. "I'd be lying if I said it didn't, but..." She purses her lips. "It saved mom's life, way back when we just first dug it up for the first time. The contract Ge Ramda and I made..."
A longer pause. "I might not understand everything about it... or even hardly anything, but... well, mom would say that if you don't get it, you just keep digging. So I'm trying to think about that, and not about-- you know, hiding under the sink and doing nothing?"
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
Emma rises up and moves around the table to sit down besides Lunata. There is a small sigh from her as she settles back down, and she reaches over to place a hand on Lunata's shoulder.
"I don't know how to say this," Emma says, "so please... forgive the Professor, for speaking out of her field."
Emma sucks in a deep breath through her nose.
"You are very brave," Emma says. "I don't think I'm as brave as you. But: I meant, if you think you can... You can be honest to me, about how you truly feel. I can't guarantee that I will understand. But you're carrying quite a weight. I just..."
Emma trails off. She never stops smiling, though her eyes get a little vague.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata looks-- pretty surprised. She looks up towards Emma again. Towards that smile. She doesn't quite expect it out of her, so it's all the more surprising that she finds herself getting tearful, all of a sudden. "E-eh..."
She shivers for a moment, as she sniffles, her voice starting to quaver, "... I'm scared. I'm scared about what we've gone through, about hiding underneath sheets of metal while bombs ring out above us, about being stuck in this life-and-death machine, about-- about murdering people out there..."
She finds herself letting go, wailing a little bit louder as she clings onto the Professor in turn. "It's really, really, really scary......" The young girl finds herself sobbing loudly for a little while longer, working the emotional height of her feelings and frustrations out.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
Emma turns and she puts her arms around Lunata. With that pressing against on the part of Lunata, it's impossible to see - though Ge Ramda might - that her face doesn't really change expression. She rocks Lunata, a little, though, and it may not have been the first time...
Inwardly, Emma thinks: What am I feeling? What am I feeling? Zepet told me not to be ashamed.
But that mysterious moment passes, and Emma loosens her grasp a little. "It's terrifying," Emma murmurs. "You've born it very well. I told you about my Gear, didn't I? That dear Morgan gave to me? I admit that part of what I like about the idea is that I won't be cornered by bandits, travelling from place to place!"
is emma going to drive around in a gear
(yes)
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata lets out a little suckle of breath inbetween her sobs, erratic and without rhythm. It might be cathartic, it might not; but at the very while, it seems rather clear that she needs these moments to keep coping with her difficult and larger-than-life reality.
If Ge Ramda sees, she sees it with a quiet politeness. The sword lays silent on the table.
"O-oh, um, I think so, yes... mom told me about it--" she sniffles, rubbing her nose where it's getting a bit congested. She rubs her eyes. "... yeah, the CaraKin's nice like that too... there's lots of people here, like Mister Ethius and Kourin and Miss Matilda, so Jay, Lunie and I are well protected..."
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
Emma smooths the ashen-white hair of Lunie at that sniffle.
"But I bet that that makes you anxious, too, doesn't it? Because you also want to protect them," Emma says, her voice rather quiet and steady.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"K-kinda, yeah... I mean, they have their own issues and have their own people chasing them," Lunata mumbles quietly, rubbing her eyes. "But no one's really safe in Filgaia, I accepted that... are they?"
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
"Well," Emma says, adjusting her specs once more, "what is 'Safety', Lunata? What does your heart tell you? This is not an expression that can easily be summarized by words in a dictionary."
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata looks like she isn't quite ready for that question, squinting. "H-hmm... I mean, I /felt/ like I was safe back when I was just working as a waitress with Aunt Hilda, when Jay was just working as a chemist in her own store..." A pause. "But that didn't really change that big and scary things were happening outside, I guess..."
A pause. "I guess you only feel as safe as much as you're ignorant..."
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
"Absolute safety is impossible," Emma says, but in a gentle tone. "We would have to be in a separate dimension. The Sun could rupture or flare... but that's outside of our control. There are many things that could happen but are not likely at all to do so. There are many other things which are likely, but not swift."
Emma skips the lecture on ecological decay and global climate change, with some effort.
"But I think that 'safety' is more than a simple computational tracking, of how likely you are to be injured, or with what severity..."
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata, too much of a millennial to care about global climate change. Or is that... half-millenial, given the date? Ah, what to say... "... you're right... I mean--" she scratches her cheeks. "I guess if my loved ones are with me, then I definitively feel safer than I would be if I didn't." She smiles just a bit brighter. "Mom, you, Jay, Lunie... you know."
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
Hammer, unable to use Ether or buy a Gear due to Linvidia being prejudiced, eventually turns to deadly slide-shows...
"Hee hee," Emma says. Then her voice lowers. "Who makes you feel the safest, though? Hmm?"
Oh no. She's making that cat-lipped face.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata's cheek flushes just for a moment as she tilts her head. "T-the safest? U-umm..." A pause. "Well, J-Jay...?" She swallows a bit tighter. "She's always been-- confident and funny and smart and friendly--" Tissss-- Lunie's overheating...!
"W-wah, wait, what are you asking, Miss Emma!"
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
"Did I stutter...? Or do you mean a clarification... But I think I have my answer."
- 3
"I'm teasing you, though, that's all. To lighten the mood," Emma concludes.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"I--I was caught off-guard...!" Lunata laments, putting her hands to her cheeks for a moment. A pause, as she sags and slumps for a moment, but it's with a gentle smile. "It's nice to be able to chat like this... to you, to mom -- to Jay, and Lunie. I wouldn't trade these kinds of moments for anything."
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
"Do you not get the chance often?" Emma says, leaning forwards to - is she refilling her own glass?! Can Lunata survive the shame, as a waitress...!
But Emma's also pouring a glass for Lunata, or refilling hers, as may be. "I agree, though. And I'm glad you do too. You're wise beyond your years, you know!"
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"I--I am? Really?" Lunata doesn't quite seem like she's ever thought of herself like that. She-- tilts her head, before gasping as she doesn't quite move to fill her glass. The shame!
"Well, I have them with Jay and Lunie, but... you know, there's some things I can talk about with you I can't quite with them."
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
"Yes! I know many people twice your age who are barely at the point of realizing other people have feelings, too," Emma says. She takes a sip of her own refilled lemonade and her eyebrows shoot up.
"Oh??"
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"Hmm...." Lunata squints, before-- chuckling to say, "I guess you really learn it quick when you're a waitress. If you can't pick out how your customers feel, you can't really serve them, after all."
A pause. "Ah-- you know, like-- what we just talked about, or... well, some of what I just vented..."
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
"Oh... hm... are you afraid you'll make them worry?" Emma says, with thought in her voice.
"Or do you mean sex?" she then says, possibly just in time for maximum throw.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata nods gently, as she expresses, "Y-yeah, I know I can talk to them, but I'm mindful of how much I--"
She pauses, and even Ge Ramda is scared!!!
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
"I know. It's difficult, isn't it? It's easier to be selfish," Emma says, almost sighs. "To be demanding. And many people go their entire lives that way, thinking that moments of friendly action make up for it. Perhaps they do. And..."
"If you have any questions -- don't be shy!!"
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata flails and exclaims, "W-whaaa, waaah!" she flails further to go, "D-don't say it like that!" She actually doesn't know what it should be said like. A pause. "I--I'm--"
She gets up and blushes to say, "I have to prepare dinner! Excuse meee!"
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
SOON
"You know, you're just over there," Emma says genially. "This isn't THAT large of a space. But we don't have to discuss it - just don't let shady men convince you of anything!"
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"I--I'm not hereeee! ... but okay." Lunata whines as her voice comes out from the kitchen. Ge Ramda is scared now...