2010-05-10 - An Apple a Day

Anew Returner likes sunsets.

She likes the oranges and reds and yellows and sometimes even the purples that decorate the sky when she sun is creeping down below the horizon. But it's not just the colors that she loves. It's the image. Two distant orbs in space coming together for just a few fleeting moments.

Or appearing to.

It's not often that she gets to watch the sunset; her days aboard the Ptolemy kept her busy, and there was no sunset to watch from space. So while others bustle busily past her in the streets, Anew Returner holds a bag in her hands, gazing out the sun.

Sometime during that moment, she loses focus; the bag falls out of her arms without her even realizing it, and for a moment, her eyes turn a brilliant hue of orange that matches the sun.

A second later, she snaps out of her daze; her cheeks flush with embarassment as she hurries to pick up the apples that have rolled out of her bag.

It's been happening a lot more frequently recently. The result of stress, she's sure. With Feldt out recruiting, Sumeragi missing, and Allelujah in EFA custody, there's little reason to doubt that her fugues were the result of anything else.

She stuffs the first of the apples into the bag; it's a blessing that of all the groceries she bought for the Ptolemy, apples were the only ones that were spherical. Everything else may have been out of place, but it was still safely inside.

Shiro Amada likes Earth.

He likes it for it's sights and sounds. For the birdsong in the air, the chattering animals scattered throughout the trees, the gentle sound of water running down a river. He likes the vibrant green leaves on the trees, so full of life, even despite all that humanity has done to it and keeps doing to it, time and again. He likes the bright flowers, arranged by human hands and left to grow wildly both, adding shocks of color to the ground.

A lot of people assume Shiro is from Earth for all he talks about how he likes it, or for the look in his eyes when he just sits back and stares into the distance. He's not. Maybe that's why he appreciates it more than most. Even the bustle of Earth-bound cities are kind of nice, now and then. It reminds him of home, before...

Shiro looks up at the sky, appearing to be aflame with the setting sun. He walks down the street in civilian clothes for a change, save for the A-LAWS greatcoat he has taken to wearing over a white shirt and khaki pants. His eyes look up rather than forward, set on the blaze above. He's hardly paying attention to where he's going, but manages to weave around people going the other way, until--

He stops, hearing something hit the ground. He's practically run into a young woman--maybe he did and he didn't really notice in his own daze?--and she's dropped... fruit?

Shiro is already bending over and collecting escaping apples. He looks up at her and smiles somewhat apologetically. "Here, let me give you a hand--"

"Y-yes!" The red in Anew's cheeks deepens slightly as she scrambles to collect the apples Shiro hasn't already. There's not many, and before long, all ofer gathered apples are carefully stowed back in their paper bag.

"Thank you," she says appreciatively, and she looks up for the first time. Surprise lights up the girl's face momentarily. An A-Laws uniform? But the surprise is quickly stifled, pushed behind a soft smile. "I should have been more careful."

He is the second. Until Soma, she had never met another ranking member of the EFA. Although Soma had been uncouth, she HAD told her that Allelujah was all right. And now, this man was helping her, a stranger in the street.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she says, turning her eyes back towards the sun. "I guess I got lost in it for a moment. I'm usually not this bad." She shifts the bag in her arms.

Shiro doesn't let them get far. He collects them with the practiced ease of someone who has spent time cleaning up other peoples' messes, which is more than likely a side-effect of his stint in the jungle. He smiles at the thought, carefully putting them back in the bag and rising to his feet, offering her a hand up.

"It's no trouble; don't worry about it." He smiles a little more widely, following her eyes upward to the setting sun. His gaze lingers on it for a long moment, letting his mind run away with the sight. "Yeah... I can see how you might be. I think I was, too. It's an easy thing to lose yourself in."

Shiro looks back down at the girl he, fortunately, did not actually collide with. She's pretty cute, he notes, but looks sort of... familiar, in a way. He can't quite put his finger on it. Maybe he's met a relative... "It's so different watching it on Earth, but it never gets old."

Anew, unfortunately, is also practiced in cleaning other people's messes; for the past week she's been cleaning Sumeragi's room, hoping to have the place straightened by the time she returned to the ship.

If she ever returned to the ship. Anew frowns, but it's short-lived, as Shiro offers her a hand up.

She takes it. Looking at him now, it wasn't just his personality that surprised her; it was his appearance, too. Somehow, she had imagined that people like this boy and Soma Peries would be a little more battle-hardened, a little older. In hindsight, it seems a little weird; after all, most of the Ptolemy's crew was under 30; there was little reason to believe that the case might not also be so for the EFA.

"Thank you," she repeats, and she smiles. "Does your work keep you in space a lot?"

The fundamental difference in cleaning experience is that Shiro Amada does not have to wear an NBC suit to do his.

Shiro Amada's appearance is... soft. It doesn't have the hard lines or little scars that battle-tested veterans wear like badges of honor. He's a youthful man, energetic but reserved. It all comes across in how he moves or holds himself. He wears his emotions on his sleeve, much of the time.

"My work?" Shiro glances down and smiles, laughing a little. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot I was wearing this thing." He grins for a moment. "Yeah, it does. Back and forth, up and down... wherever they need me, I go. Join the military, see the world, you know?"

"Is that why you joined?" Anew asks, shifting the bag in her arms. "To see other places?" Thinking about it now, she can't recall her reasons for joining Celestial Being, whether it was the desire to see the world or shared convictions, but it doesn't matter. Even if the reasons were different entirely, what mattered now was that she was doing what she wanted to now for the right reasons. For the world peace Celestial Being desired.

She turns to face him, still smiling. "Even though you can't see the sun set from space, it's really nice to look down on the earth, isn't it?" Every time she looked out at the Earth from the window of the Ptolemy, she could almost forget about all the problems going on down on the planet below.

"My name is Anew Returner," she says. "It's nice to meet you."

"Well..." Shiro looks up again, sticking his hands in his pockets. "...maybe a little." His expression gets serious for the time it takes someone to flinch. He forces it under a smile. "It's complicated. You probably don't want to hear about that," he adds, laughing. It's the typical 'avoiding a subject and expecting nobody to notice that is exactly what you're doing' laugh that those of Japanese descent are so good at.

He nods. "Yeah... it's something else. Not to mention seeing it set on another planet entirely; it's just... incredible." He can't think of a better word to describe it. "It's something you've got to see." His smile becomes earnest again.

"Shiro Amada," he replies. "And, likewise!" His day is getting better already!

Anew is not always the most perceptive person onboard the Ptolemy. She can notice the source of a malfunction easily; likewise, it's easy for her to deduce when something's done cooking just at a glance. But when it comes to human hearts, she's downright oblivious.

Expect in this case, when Shiro's aversion to the topic is all but obvious.

Anew doesn't press the topic further; she's not sure that she wants to, anyway. It somehow seems unfair, somehow, that she knows he's a part of the A-Laws--but she's not going to volunteer her employer's name, either. "Amada-san," she repeats. It's a nice name.

"You've been to another planet?" she asks. She's been in space before, in both the orbital elevator and onboard the Ptolemy, but she's never stepped foot on another planet. There were the colonies, too, but those were different. They weren't planets. "Was it very different?"

Shiro isn't too good at hiding his emotions from other people. He tried closing himself off to the world once, and he hated it for the time he could manage it. He's since forgotten how, really. Everyone hides from one another, but if you do it too much you just alienate everyone. He couldn't do that after the last time.

He smiles. It feels good, smiling for once. He hasn't had a lot of opportunities to do that lately, with the trouble with some friends aboard the Minerva. Not to mention Katharon and the Divine Crusaders coming out of nowhere now that they have La Vie En Rose... it's been a headache. This is refreshing.

"Yeah, a couple times." He reminds himself not to give any specifics. "It's been kind of a mixed experience. But I saw a sunset and sunrise on one, once; it was... well, it was sort of like Earth's, but with a lot more red. It was a beautiful sight. I'm sorry that I didn't get to stay to see it again."

Shiro isn't too good at hiding his emotions from other people. He tried closing himself off to the world once, and he hated it for the time he could manage it. He's since forgotten how, really. Everyone hides from one another, but if you do it too much you just alienate everyone. He couldn't do that after the last time.

He smiles. It feels good, smiling for once. He hasn't had a lot of opportunities to do that lately, with the trouble with some friends aboard the Minerva. Not to mention Katharon and the Divine Crusaders coming out of nowhere now that they have La Vie En Rose... it's been a headache. This is refreshing.

"Yeah, a couple times." He reminds himself not to give any specifics. "It's been kind of a mixed experience. But I saw a sunset and sunrise on one, once; it was... well, it was sort of like Earth's, but with a lot more red. It was a beautiful sight. I'm sorry that I didn't get to stay to see it again."

Anew has also had her share of troubles--most of them centering around her own work as a member of Celestial Being. Half of the crew was absent. Some by choice, like Sumeragi and Feldt, others by force, like Allelujah. And others still remained a mystery, like Setsuna and Christina.

She doesn't know how to interpret his words; he has a sentimental way of talking about it, but at the same time, he says it himself: it was a mixed experience. Had something happened that time?

"I have a few extra apples," she says. "I know it's not much, but if you'd like, you can have some." She pulls a few of the apples from the bag and offers them to him. "A friend of mine works onboard a ship, and he doesn't get to eat fresh things very often." She extends an arm towards him, somehow managing to balance two of the fruits in her palm. "If you're going back into space, you should make sure you have something fresh to take, too."

No matter where he goes, Shiro ends up having mixed experiences with it. Whether it's some trip across space that should be pretty easy and ends up with him nearly dying by running out of air, or a voyage to contact other lost colonies ending with being nearly eaten by brainworms and then Zuvorg but discovering amazing local brews, he seems to get the short end of any stick that is deceptively simple.

The sentimental assessment seems pretty accurate, actually. He liked the colony he visited that actually had people on it, but at the same time, found it a little too... militant. Maybe he'll go back someday, when they have relations established and a jump route set. Till then, he'll just have to dwell on memories.

Shiro's smile brightens a bit when he's offered fruit. "Oh, uh... well..." He's hesitant about taking fruit from someone he just met, partially because he doesn't feel like it's his to take. Then again...

He takes the apples with a gracious nod. "Well, thanks! That's thoughtful of you. I mean, we just met, so..." He shrugs a shoulder and pockets one of the apples. He's maybe not quite as dexterous as she is. "I appreciate it. Usually we've got freeze-dried stuff." He makes a face and laughs a little.

Anew never stopped to consider how strange it might be to offer fruit to a near-stranger--likely because she does not have the social skills required to realize how unusual it is. Regeneration expert, yes. Master of social skills, no.

The other apple is replaced back in the bag. "It's the same for my friend," she says. "All there is is freeze-dried food aboard. Occasionally, they'll stop to resupply, but they don't do it very often." It's been awhile since Anew can recall stepping foot on Earth--that might be part of the reason why she was so engrossed in the sunset.

"It's getting dark," she observes, eyes cast back towards the setting sun. Then suddenly, she turns, to face Shiro. "Amada-san," she says. "If there wasn't a war right now, and there wasn't a reason to fight..." She hesitates, as if wondering whether or not to finish her question. After a moment, she does. "...what would you be doing?" "

Shiro would think it's strange a little more obviously, but Anew seems nice, and not the kind of nice that is just going to lure you into a false sense of security and then poison you. Genuinely nice, without ulterior motives or anything. It's... well, it's nice. He could get to like her.

"Yeah... price you pay for crewing a space ship," Shiro laments with a little sigh. "But, well..." He just trails off, shrugging and smiling. "We've all got to give up some kind of comfort now and then so everyone else can sleep in peace, right?"

Shiro looks up. The sun is still setting, of course; why wouldn't it be? They just watched the sunset! Maybe he wanted it to stay, so he could just linger and look longer. Time, though, waits for no one. The question brings him out of his brief reverie, and he opens his mouth to answer, but pauses, exhaling softly as he thinks. He frowns, contemplating it.

"I'm not really sure," he says, somewhat sadly. "I always figured I'd be trying to protect Earth for a long time, but lately it's been... hard. Settle down somewhere, maybe...? I can't go back..." He shakes his head slowly, looking down in silence.

"I suppose I've been so focused on the past that I never really stopped to consider the future. Kind of sad, huh?" He looks back up at her. His voice is tinged with sorrow, but he tries to put a smile on anyway. It's not all that convincing.

Even Anew doesn't know what she'd do if this were all over. She asked Lyle a similar question a week prior, and the thought had been on her mind ever since. Even she was uncertain what she'd be doing in the future; Celestial Being was all she really had. If there wasn't a war, would there be need of a regenerations expert? Or a mobile suit engineer? She could cook, but she wasn't sure she could do it for a living. Not like piloting.

"I've thought about it for a long time," she says. "And even I'm not sure what I'd do if this world were different from the way it is now." The people of Earth have been at war with one another for so long that war is all she can remember, all she can imagine. "But I think if there's peace, we'll have as long as we need to to figure that out."

She forces a smile. "So even if you don't know right now, I'm sure you'll know in the future. Once you've made many friends had many experiences. Once you can think about yourself and not everyone else."

Shiro isn't sure how to respond to that at first. Being a pilot is all he really knows, these days. Sure, he could go do some stuff as a civilian engineer, but would that really be quite the same? He doesn't like the fighting and the killing, but can he /stop/ if he was given the chance?

Shiro doesn't know. He has his doubts about that. He lives to fight Zeon and defend the people of the Earth Federation. That's what's gotten him this far. If he had another purpose, maybe he could stop. But...

Shiro nods, letting out a soft, 'heh.' "Maybe... yeah. Maybe you're right. Just need some more time out there. It could be I just haven't figured out what it is yet." He looks up and away, and then back. "...thanks."

But Anew is gazing skyward when he finally turns to face her. "I should get home," Anew says, suddenly clutching the bag tight to her chest. "Thank you for your help earlier." She turns to look back towards him, and smiles. "I wonder if we'll see each other again."

It'd probably be better if they didn't; with as many people as there are in the world, the only place they're likely to encounter one another is on the battlefield, on opposite sides.

Shiro nods slowly. "Yeah, like I said, it was no trouble! But... I dunno." He shrugs, smiling. "I'd like to think that we would. It's a wide world... call it a good feeling though." A good feeling. He doesn't think they'll see one another on a battlefield; he thinks that she's just... someone who lives down here, rather than a Celestial Being engineer.

"Even if we don't, though, it was good meeting you, Anew. You've given me something to think about." Shiro reaches into his pocket and holds up the apple stashed within, grinning.

"And, more importantly, fruit."