[21:26] <Suzune> >> S-AdEva, Session 0, Intro 3: "Love and War" -
[21:28] <Suzune> -- January 11th, 2015. The Couture Residence. It was a few minutes away from Amalie, Cerise's mother, arriving home from work. The moonlight fell on Zerzura evenly outside of the relatively posh apartment. But what was Cerise doing? Or for that matter, what personal touches might she have added to the place, especially in her own room?
[21:32] * Cerise 's own room was rather utilitarian, all told, and she had a tendency to keep it pretty much immaculate. Nothing was ever out of place; her uniforms were all neatly pressed and hung up, the bed was neatly made, nary a speck of dust even could be found. There *was* a television in the room, for all that most of the time it just provided background noise to whatever Cerise was doing, typically tuned to news programs.
[21:33] <Cerise> That all said, the contents of her own room were not all that relevant at the moment, and the television was off; for Cerise was in the apartment's kitchenette, doing something that probably vaguely passed for cooking by a high-schooler's standards.
[21:37] <Suzune> >> Chicken, Brunch, it's all in the mind. She seems to be cooking away relatively decently, when a doorbell sounded. Was it mom? QUITE POSSIBLY.
[21:39] <Cerise> "Ah, just a moment!" Cerise calls out, doing a quick check of everything that was cooking to verify it could be left unattended for long enough to get the door.  "Who is it?" she calls out further, while continuing with... sure enough, frying chicken breasts, actually.
[21:40] <Cerise> There was an assortment of appropriate side dishes going too.  It was clearly dinner for two.
[21:48] <Suzune> >> "It's me~" Cried out the voice of - yup - her mother. "Just rang the bell to let you know. I'm coming in!" ...Soon, the sound of keys working the door, and the door opening (then closing) came, and her mother walked in. Also blonde and blue-eyed, though her hair was an even lighter shade, the woman was in a prim purplish-grey uniform with a small jeweled clasp. "How was testing?"
[21:53] <Cerise> "It was fine," came the entirely non-committal answer from the 'chef'.  Who was, just then, turning off the stove and wielding a meat thermometer to check the temperature for doneness!  Amalie was, of course, the one person in the world who Cerise was generally actually honest to when it came to questions about how well she did at something; that said, something about the way Cerise said 'fine' suggested that she was not actually content with the results herself, however factual the statement might have been.
[21:59] <Suzune> >> "Really..." Amalie said as she walked over. "That smells good though~" She was putting down a briefcase somewhere, and looked back slightly. "Well, I'm sure your ratio will improve with time and practice. And it's not everything, either."
[22:02] * Cerise smiles. "It actually was fine," she mutters. "But 'fine' isn't good enough. I won't settle for 'fine'."
[22:05] * Cerise peers at the meat thermometer, and nods approvingly, starting to plate the dinner. "Good, I got the temperature right on the first try this time," she remarks.
[22:10] <Suzune> >> "Wonderful!" She said, probably to the bit about the food... but went in to pat her daughter on the shoulder slightly. "Then fight on. I know you're strong enough to."
[22:14] * Cerise nods. "Of course, mother," she replies. "After all, I have to be the glue that holds the team together, right?" The plates are delivered to the table, soon followed by people's drinks of choice - in Cerise's own case, it was lemonade. Freshly made, of course, none of that storebought shit.
[22:24] <Suzune> >> Amalie had some mid-grade wine, post-Impact vintage. It was still spendy but not as much as something old. She sat down and wielded her utensils calmly. "Well then. Let's hope you do more than well, no? After all, there's the matter of the other pilots to consider..."
[22:27] * Cerise nods a bit. "Yes, how are they doing?"
[22:28] <Cerise> "I haven't really had the opportunity to talk to any of them but the Chinese girl briefly."
[22:30] <Suzune> >> Amalie started cutting her chicken demurely with her knife, and nodded. "I didn't think so, to be fair. Well... Miss Lei is someone you know, but... Miss Al-Shirazi has been very quiet and tense, and always messes with her watch about half the time I'm looking at her. Miss Almeida... seems alright, has a good head on her shoulders."
[22:34] <Cerise> "Does she now," Cerise replies.  It wasn't clear which of the two she was referring to.  "I've been thinking... don't you think it would be a good idea if we could find time for, I don't know, some kind of team-building exercise before anything really bad happens?"
[22:35] <Cerise> "After all, the four of us are going to have to work together in the thick of battle; it might not hurt for us to have some experience working with each other on the ground going in, however minimal."
[22:39] <Suzune> >> "Well..." She was used to vague statements like that, at times. "It's possible, though, that you may have a point. But Commander Moto has been heavily front-loading their schedules to catch up on basic training..."
[22:41] * Cerise sips the lemonade, making a face. "It can't be easy to cram ten years' worth of instruction into just two months' time."
[22:41] <Cerise> "... I don't think I put enough sugar in this batch," she adds, grumbling.
[22:44] <Suzune> >> "Ah, that's unfortunate... but you're right, it is a lot to squeeze in. He claims it'll all work out, though."
[22:46] * Cerise puts two and two together, or so she thinks. "Sounds as though maybe 'Miss Al-Shirazi' doesn't agree if she's looking at her watch all the time."
[22:46] <Cerise> "Either that, or she's just in danger of cracking under the pressure.  ... Neither is desirable."
[22:48] <Suzune> >> "I'm going to be honest with you." Amalie said, as she leaned forwards. "I don't exactly know what her problem is. She's... rather forlorn."
[22:51] * Cerise would have made some remark about 'You're ever not?', but she knew full well that there were times when Amalie just could not be honest for Official Reasons. It was just something you had to get used to in military life. "You don't need to mince words with me, mother."
[22:55] <Suzune> >> "If it's because you think she's worse than that, no. She's just quiet, distant, and hard to assess. It bothers me." Amalie sort of gently rebuffed.
[22:57] * Cerise seems a bit relieved at that. "She's staying with Director Saito, isn't she?"
[23:00] <Suzune> >> "I think so? She /is/ the one orphan out of the four current pilots..." Amalie mused, as she ate a bit more of the chicken.
[23:01] * Cerise nods. "Your explanation is probably right there."
[23:07] <Suzune> >> Amalie took a more firm bite. "Probably, yes. But since you met her, what did you think of Pilot Lei?"
[23:11] <Cerise> The chicken is, by Cerise cooking standards, one of her better efforts - it's cooked properly and well-seasoned.  "She's pretty nice.  Seemed a bit overwhelmed by it all, though, I ran into her just after her first time in the plug.  A bit shy, but she came out of her shell easily enough."  Munch.  "She didn't seem too impressed with the Director."
[23:16] <Suzune> >> A laugh. "I can understand her nervousness, and I can further understand her problems with Director Saito. She's... a bit quirky, even by NERV's standards. At least she's upbeat, though." A pause. "I hear she had connections in the past, actually..."
[23:17] <Cerise> "Oh, really now?"
[23:21] <Suzune> >> Amalie grinned as she sipped her wine. "Something with one of the founders of NERV. Helped them in the chaos after Impact. But then she kept showing she had actual talent, once hired, so I guess it's alright, no?"
[23:24] <Cerise> "Interesting~"
[23:25] <Cerise> "Like I told Jiao, Director Saito seems competent enough at what she does.  I trust her, at least."
[23:32] <Suzune> >> "Yes, you're probably right in feeling that way." Amalie said, as she continued eating between sentences. "We'll find out how she performs when the first Angel attacks, at any rate."
[23:36] <Cerise> "... Yeah."
[23:39] <Cerise> "How's _your_ work going, mother?"
[23:45] <Suzune> >> For a second, Amalie paused... and nodded. "Fair. Commander Moto is being especially demanding as usual, and I've been having to clean up after Director Saito's 'creative driving priveledging'. She keeps using different cars from the NERV motor pool..."
[23:47] * Cerise nods. "There's not anything I can do to help, is there?"
[23:50] <Suzune> >> There was a deep sigh. "No, not really. I mean, you don't have the role or place to be able to talk the Commander /or/ the Operations Director out of things and have it really stick..."
[23:51] <Cerise> "I suppose I don't, no.  Oh well, do your best~"
[23:53] * Cerise giggles a bit. "What's on the schedule for me that you're allowed to tell me about?"
[23:55] <Suzune> >> "Oh, for you? Well, there's a few more synchronization experiments, including basic mobility and familiarization... Then a lot of simulator hours again. You'll have some free time again, I can tell you that much. At least NERV has fresher Angel templates than the program did..."
[23:57] <Cerise> "Free time, eh."  Cerise didn't seem all that excited.  "Maybe I can get in even more simulator hours then."  Workaholic much, dear?
[23:58] <Suzune> >> "Aheh~" Chuckled her mother. For some reason it sounded like she didn't quite mind that response either.
Session Time: Sat Feb 08 00:00:00 2014
[00:02] <Cerise> "I don't know, Mom," Cerise responds, slipping into a more familiar mode of address.  "I'm just... not the kind of person who can just sit around and do nothing.  Can't relax that way."
[00:06] <Suzune> >> "Oh, don't think I don't know that." Amalie lolled her head to the side. "But I can't be faulted for making sure you don't overdo it, right? Maybe you could at least change things up a little?"
[00:09] * Cerise tilts her head in much the same fashion - like mother, like daughter. "... I don't know, and do what?" Sad though it might be, Cerise didn't even really grasp the _concept_ of just ... sitting around.
[00:11] <Suzune> >> "Go shopping, go talk with someone, play a sport...?" And Amalie was having trouble grasping just what she had indirectly done to her daughter that made her unable to stop working.
[00:18] <Cerise> Ah!  Sports were useful for physical conditioning, yes.  "... Mmm, I ... guess I could look into that.  It pays to stay fit, after all."  Completely missing the point.
[00:23] <Suzune> >> But Amalie let it slide. "...And who knows, you might meet new people!"
[00:26] <Cerise> "Nn."
[00:27] <Suzune> >> Griiiin. "It'll be fu~n."
[00:29] <Cerise> "There'll be time for ... 'fun' after the war."  \
[00:32] <Suzune> >> "..." For a while, Amalie just sat there, before rolling her eyes. "If you insist."
[00:35] <Cerise> "I do!  Time spent on frivolities is time spent not training, and that time spent not training might mean the difference between life and death sometime!  As some of us learned the hard way."  She was, no doubt, referring to her fellow neo-Spartans there.
[00:39] <Suzune> >> "But you... I mean... if you don't you'll..." Amalie shook her head, and took a quick sip of her wine, finishing what little was left.
[00:41] * Cerise lets out a sigh. "... I'll what, Mom?" The more familiar address again. She never did that frivolously, it was always a tell that something was wrong, one way or another. In this case, she was probably fussing about how much her mother was worrying again.
[00:44] <Suzune> >> "...Become all alone. I can't do everything for you in that respect." Amalie said, sort of leaning back.
[00:46] * Cerise rolls her eyes. "... Now that, you really don't have to worry about, okay? I'll have the rest of the team."
[00:51] <Suzune> >> "I suppose so." She said firmly. It was hard to tell whether she was just properly affirming it, or if she was applying some sense of resolve, or what.
[00:53] * Cerise smirks. "You're still fretting."
[00:55] <Suzune> >> "I can't exactly guess what your team will be like until you all spend more time with one another, after all..." Amalie added, a bit hopefully.
[00:56] <Cerise> "Well, then, see if you can get Commander Moto to approve the team-building exercise.  Regardless, we'll get along.  We have to, after all."
[00:59] <Suzune> >> "Sure thing about that team-building exercise." She said, finally finished with the not-drink part of her meal. "Time will tell, and hopefully, heal all."
[01:05] <Cerise> "In the meantime, I'll see what I can do about meeting the other two pilots."
[01:05] <Cerise> "If it'll make you feel better."
[01:08] <Suzune> >> "It will, yes." She said plainly.
[01:11] <Cerise> "Okay.  Uhh, did I have anything more on the schedule tonight after dinner...?"
[01:13] <Suzune> >> Amalie paused, and then smiled as disarmingly as she could. "Sorry, nothing more for tonight. I suppose if you want to do something it'll be on your own initiative..."
[01:15] * Cerise sighs noisily, in highly exaggerated fashion. "Mom." But then, she starts laughing. "You're trying so hard to get me to relax, it's hard to say no."
[01:17] <Suzune> >> Soft, genuine laughter came from Amalie, as she patted Cerise on the head. "Now, I'm sure we'll have something relaxing /and/ productive to do. I got some new sheets from Technical, and..." Soon, the night would pass on...