2010-05-02 - The Punk and the Godfather

The Hyaku Shiki is bolted to the wall by restraining binders. In transit, the Argama's mobile suits are locked down and watched over. Though they're held tightly in case of an attack, each weapon is fueled up and ready to be released and ferryed onto the MS catapults at any moment. Terrorists need surprise.

Quattro Bajeena is with the Hyaku Shiki, his back against its knee. He floats midair. He is apparently comfortable with the strange quasi-gravity onboard on the ship. A clipboard occupies his attention.

It's not like Tanith can sneak up on Quattro Bajeena or anything.

That said, there's something to be said for the element of 'just straight up rushing at someone.' Carrying an entirely separate clipboard, Tanith is pretty much bounding from element to element, exploiting the, shall we say, pliable gravity to push herself from one point to the next, drawing increasingly closer to the AEUG's blonde ace. One would suspect that she's been in this kind of environment before to watch her -- hell, one might suspect that she's been living on the Argama for longer than 'a week,' considering how smoothly she maneuvers, not even needing to slow down (not that she's going very fast without gravity). And all this without being able to /see/ (or something).

And then she's next to Quattro. "Captain Quattro!" the young O'Gasmeter blurts, delivering a quick salute before grabbing onto an outcropping element of the Hyaku Shiki's restraints in order to keep herself in place. "Mister Torres sent me to bring you these expense vouchers that you need to fill out some more stuff on, or -- something. He said to say that... both you /and/ Reccoa had to put in for the whipped cream and the chocolate syrup. ...whatever that means. Was there some sort of ice cream party I missed?"

What Tanith O'Gasmeter does not realize is that she is being hazed.

Quattro does not immediately answer. Maybe Tanith did something wrong. That's probably why he isn't saying anything to her. He reaches out and forcibly takes the stack of vouchers from Tanith, setting them on his clipboard. The first several, she might see, are marked with broad Xs. It's only when the last few rise to the top of his pile that Quattro begins to sign them. Everyone knows that the captain-commander buys out when he needs something like that.

"I'm sure Torres made a mistake. He doesn't make the best decisions at times. Did he adjust the redocking schedule, or is it still the same?"

Tanith hovers nervously while Quattro holds out on replying. When he snatches the clipboard away, the only thing that really keeps her from jumping is the fact that without gravity, it's a lot harder to suddenly hop into the air. She settles for fidgeting with her jacket, pulling at the lapels and looking around at the sights of the launch deck. An experienced Newtype could probably sense the Nervous Rays beaming out of her skull pretty easily. Her mind is basically banging on pots and pans.

"Oh, uh," Tanith says, pausing as she fails to grasp what that comment about decisions even means. A second goes by and then she recaptures her train of thought. "It's still the same, as far as I'm aware, Captain," Tanith says. She lets the sentence linger for a moment.

"Did I do something wrong?" she asks, finally, the words caught between a tentative creak and a breathless rush and sounding more awkward for the indecision. "I mean, like, uh, you just, you just seem kind of -- you know, was I... interrupting something important? Because I saw you over here and just, you know." Tanith frowns. "I just thought you might be mad at me for a second."

Quattro is acting like an adult. Tanith just feels so bad! Word on the ship, of course, is that Captain Quattro is a powerful newtype. It makes his casual disregard for Tanith's innate fear of standing around all the more bizarre. Surely he feels something.

The AEUG ace looks up. He tosses the clipboard to his side. It hovers around the edge of the Hyaku Shiki and then attaches to it thanks to magnet physics. "Can you tell me why you think that, more precisely? I'd like to know."

Tanith reacts as if she were a deer and Quattro was a NCA 86 Space Volvo shining its headlights right in said deer's face. She doesn't quite frown, but it's not like her expression is entirely positive -- she just seems... maybe surprised that Quattro took that one and threw it back at her. "Wh-- Well, um," she begins, attempting to stave off nervousness long enough to speak. She didn't feel like this the other day, when he waved to her. But he wasn't -- /right there/. Looking at her. Right at her.

"I, you know, word is, you're -- you know, a Newtype, like me," Tanith says. She wasted no time in plugging herself right into the main gossip arteries of the Argama, absorbing information like a teenage sponge. "But I mean... I don't know a lot about... Newtypes, I mean I kind of only found out /I/-- not long ago-- but like... you just..."

Tanith frowns, now. She's not getting anywhere trying to dance around it. The girl has enough sense to abandon principles and dive forward blindly when the situation has little other solution. "I can... know how people are feeling. But I look at you and I'm right next to you right now and I don't... I don't know anything about how you feel. It's like you're this... this little cold black box and there's no keyhole anywhere." Tanith swallows. "And it's kind of scary, Captain, but it's like... it's like the kind of scary you can't /look away from/..."

Quattro's big black glasses deflect any kind of humanity Tanith tries to pull from her boss.

The AEUG ace returns to his clipboard. A few sheets, which Tanith may recognize as the ones she brought, are flipped over the lip so he can get at something else. "I'm reassigning you. You were scheduled to be moved to the Radish when we passed each other next week. I'm sure you'll do better here."

The captain relinquishes his clipboard again. He is comfortable on the edge of Hyaku Shiki. "Newtypes are people with a unique burden. It's not a gift. It's awareness. Remember that when you look at people."

Tanith's nervousness doesn't rise; it plateaued sometime before she decided to compare Quattro to a little black box, which is something she will realize she said later and feel absolutely stupid about until she falls asleep. "Um," she replies as Quattro cavalierly(?) reassigns her.

"Th-Thank you, sir," Tanith says. It's not fear in her voice. It's still nervous, but it's a different kind than that. Still, Quattro Bajeena, AEUG Captain, and all of his other names and titles won't have any trouble spotting what pitch the girl is keyed to.

Tanith O'Gasmeter is, to put it succinctly, in awe.

"Y-Yessir," she replies, quickly re-centering herself, remembering where she is, what she's grabbing onto, what her name is, all that stuff that slipped away for a moment in place of 'who she's talking to.' "I... I'll remember that. I mean, I didn't even... /know/... I always just thought..." Tanith is looking away. Her head doesn't move, but she's looking away. "I mean, this is gonna sound really dumb, but I always just thought I was a really good listener..."

The clipboard finds a few more revisions. Quattro can't stop himself from picking it up yet again to write more caveats on. Later, Tanith will find that she is not allowed to operate on the bridge without forward allowance so someone can watch her.

Quattro leans forward. He grabs Tanith by her shoulder. His other hand presses against one of the braces holding Hyaku Shiki in. He is close.

"When you're on the bridge, remember everything. When you leave the bridge, write down everything you remember. Write it down quickly. Don't do anything else before you finish writing. Okay?"

Tanith will be more than a little weirded out when she finds out about her new fun bridge privileges. That said, it will probably be a little /less/ weirded out than she is right now. When Quattro grabs her, Tanith's shoulder jerks, but not sharply enough to throw the Captain's hand off. Deer in headlights.

Her orders are given. Tanith's lips part, but she doesn't speak. Her breath is a little more shallow, a little more careful, as if she were... afraid of sneezing on Quattro, or something. Her bangs face his sunglasses. But she's looking right at him. That much is certain. "Is... Is something wrong, Captain Quattro...?"

"In battle, someone like you won't be able to understand what they're involved in until it's too late."

Quattro releases Tanith's shoulder. He presses his feet against the Hyaku Shiki. A few administrative goons line up to find his written orders and interpret them. "You have a few shifts on the bridge coming up. Show me what you wrote when you're done." The captain kicks away.

As Quattro kicks away, Tanith O'Gasmeter is left -- well, she's not really sure where she's left. She's physically sure of her location -- her hand is squeezing so tightly on the piece of the restraint she's hanging from that her knuckles are starting to hurt and her palm feels like it's splitting and -- and there he goes, and he said /words/ but they're only just now, upon reflection, forming /sentences/, and--

Tanith brings her hand up to her mouth and rubs her face. She starts biting her nail and only realizes it halfway through, by which point she can't well /stop/.