Patience Is A Virtue

[seethesun]

Who: Eleanor Lamb-Delta and YOU
What: Various preparations for the excursion
When: July
Where: Playback, Bobby B's, sports deck, the infinite cheese store, Calogna
Warnings: Thinking about death, possibly reckless self-experimentation with Eleanor's healing factor



My Momma Didn't Raise No - [Playback]

After issuing her challenge to Vance, Eleanor is now in Playback much more regularly, and now with the kind of actual training schedule one comes up with when one's mind is A. full of scientists, soldiers, and engineers and B. just a liiiiil' autistic. Find her here four hours a day; just after lunch, and just after dinner, working on her pinball skills with an intense expression. Her scores are climbing, but superhuman reflexes aren't a substitute for putting in the work.

That boy is putting on his robe and wizard hat god damn it.

Computers Can Only Do Exactly What You Tell Them To [Bobby B's]

Eleanor's still studying her coding books and going through the tutorials in them, and quite often she sets herself up in Bobby B's for it on the off hope that an adult might provide her with a smoke. Most of the time during this process you'll find her plinking away at code, waiting for code to compile, or very pointedly not swearing at her failed code, but every now and again you might spot her with Microsoft Paint open, designing little pixelated sprites...

Anime Bullshit [Semi-Closed; Sports Deck]

Hand-to-hand training will continue until morale improves. Thus far Eleanor knows she can essentially only train with Ruby, Dimitri, and Shouji, albeit for very different reasons, but she's starting to take more of an interest in firearms after her, ah, misadventure. Someone who's come for shooting practice may find themselves politely watched. Anyone who wants to train at hand to hand with her is gonna need to prove how tough they are in triplicate first.

Strategic Cheese Stockpile [Cheese Store]

Eleanor's taken it upon herself to help prepare for the upcoming excursion in her own way, namely by pillaging the cheese store ahead of time. Mister Summer seems to be arranging something, so Johnny does get a text informing him that Eleanor will be working with the kitchen staff to assist. Max Maximum and Dedue, on the other hand, get messages from Eleanor also announcing this intent and explicitly asking what sorts of cheeses and supplies from here might be most wanted and needed so that she can get them moved into the kitchen.

Of course, even if she didn't text you, the sight of this tall-ass girl with cheese, summer sausages, jam, crackers, and more orbiting her via telekinesis while she just pillages more stuff might be worthy of comment.

High Octane Bath Explosions [Calogna]

It's like the above prompt but Eleanor's taking inventory of the spa. No one has told her about bath bombs yet; maybe you can.

Wildcard

Fuck my whole life up

Comments

Playback

[neverleave]

Just after dinner is when you will find Natsuno, idly playing a game of Tetris. A stuffed doll floats above and behind him, the arcade lights reflecting in its stranger button eyes.

He nods at Eleanor in greeting, but otherwise keeps to himself, at least until he realizes how intense her pinball game is. The look on her face is what you'd expect from someone preparing for a duel to the death.

"Planning to challenge the captain to another game?"

Vance got himself a prom. Honestly, Natsuno is surprised there aren't more people trying to for frivolous rewards.

[seethesun]

"The Captain?" Eleanor blinks owlishly. "I've yet to speak to the man - no, it is my intention to force self-proclaimed 'pinball wizard', Mister Vance Hopper, to wear a robe and wizard hat. We've a bet on the matter, though he's yet to name his forfeit."

First conversation: deep feels over Young Frankenstein.

Round two: Eleanor is in fact capable of petty bullshit.

[neverleave]

Deep feels and petty bullshit: the Serena Eterna teen experience.

"Oh." A thoughtful pause. "Wear them for how long?"

[seethesun]

"For the duration of at least one public appearance." It's a low-stakes bet, but Eleanor looks smug anyway. "I'm afraid I do not know Vance particularly well but to be frank I found his insistence that I was somehow 'stealing' his tricks galling, so war it is."

[neverleave]

"I'd say there are better ways to pass the time here, but that'd be a lie, so."

He still thinks it's stupid, but the bar here is below floor level level.

"Don't forget to film it."

[seethesun]

"I could try to ensure your invitation, if you've a powerful need to see the event. Do you have some grudge with the gentleman in question?"

I cannot stress enough that this is being asked with extreme interest in potential hot goss.

[neverleave]

"Not at all," he says honestly. Vance has a tendency to bluster, but he staunchly objects to playing nice and accepting torture with a smile. They aren't friends, but Natsuno doesn't dislike him.

"I just think that if you have a bet with this kind of stakes, you should commemorate it."

He's always filming if his friends embarrass themselves, after all.

[seethesun]

"I suppose I should," Eleanor says with a light laugh. The machine is still going; she's running up her score, but from the look on Eleanor's face you'd think she was in a death spiral leading to a loss (she is, but that's because she's thinking ahead). "I see you've acquired a companion. Does it have a name?"

Yeah she noticed the doll.

[neverleave]

Ah yes. The doll.

Honestly, Natsuno finds the whole thing terribly embarrassing, especially after Rita got a matching doll in his image and it turned out the dolls hold each other's hands when close.

A lesser boy may be mortified at having to explain, especially after enduring Jade Curtiss' merciless teasing. But Natsuno Yuuki is nothing but committed. If the doll isn't going anywhere - he will own it and show zero shame.

So he replies without hestiation:

"Ritanaga."

[seethesun]

Raised eyebrows, gaze still on the game that Eleanor is slowly 'losing'. "Mister Natsuno, do you mean to tell me that you are friends or perhaps involved with the rather spirited young woman whose voice is, shall we say, familiar to all of the denizens here now?"

[neverleave]

"...if you ask if I'm dating Rita, than yes."

He guesses Eleanor isn't exactly a fan. Whatever, he already knows all about Rita's worst traits - and that her best easily outshines them. She's wonderful and he doesn't care what anyone else thinks.

[seethesun]

"I was, and congratulations. Anyone so willing to fight over absolutely nothing must be fierce indeed when she chooses to fight for you." Eleanor's expression is honestly wistful, even a little fond. "I wish you every happiness. Did she make the doll, or...please, do not misunderstand, the doll is adorable, this is not a critique of the doll."

[neverleave]

Natsuno is ready to answer the first part with cold disdain, but then it turns out to be... weirdly wholesome and surprisingly sincere.

"She is fierce," he says. It's one her most admirable (and sometimes maddening) traits. Natsuno will never forget the way his heart swelled the first time Rita got righteously mad on his account, how deeply she cared when he thought his own life don't matter. "Tear Grants made the doll, but the Erda made it fly around."

[seethesun]

"It's a good likeness. My sisters and I used to make dolls of our fathers, once upon a time. I haven't made one in..." The memory is strong enough that Eleanor stops playing and loses a ball, which makes her use some Adult Language when she notices. She tries to shake it off, but nothing doing, sadly. "Perhaps I should take the hobby up again, when Mister Vance is seen to."

[neverleave]

He looks back at Ritanaga. Tear definitely paid attention to details, with the hue of the hair and the pocket full of pens.

"They make nice gifts. You could even make Vance one, dressed like a wizard."

[seethesun]

"...That's genius!" Eleanor throws her hands up in excitement, immediately losing another ball, but fuck the balls right now. "Mister Natsuno, is that a streak of mischief I'm detecting in you?"

[neverleave]

In a perfectly deadpan tone and flat expression:

"Don't know what you're talking about."

[seethesun]

"I'm certain you don't," Eleanor teases. But her tone lowers, as a more serious thought passes her mind. "...Are you going, later this month?"

[neverleave]

"Absolutely not."

His friends and allies plan to stay as well. For once, he will stay out of it.

"And I hope you don't plan to either."

[seethesun]

"...I'm not, but people quite close to me are." Eleanor stands a bit indecisively before hopping up onto the pinball machine, hunching over slightly; it's a better view of Natsuno, and a bit more comfortable. "I had a recent misadventure which disabused me of a cavalier attitude towards the ship's ability to call us back, but..." she shakes her head. Looks away. "I also confess that, having come from privation, the idea of our environment running low on power is deeply frightening to me."

[neverleave]

He leans back against another machine, looking up at Eleanor.

"Nothing cavalier about it," he agrees. Natsuno isn't going to pry about what happened to her, but he learned a hard lesson in October, when he blew himself up and upset all his friends.

"It is scary. But this time everyone who goes is fully aware of the stakes. I'm sorry you have to see your friends going, but that shouldn't make you feel bad about staying."

[seethesun]

"I...don't feel bad about valuing my life. But I do fear the consequences if I fail to provide. Does that make any manner of sense?" In the tones of someone who worries she might sound insane.

[neverleave]

"Sure. The nothing is scary. But staying behind doesn't mean you're exempt, especially if your friends are going. Knowing someone you care about will get hurt is also fuel."

That'll make her feel better, right?

[seethesun]

"...It's not the nothing I fear," Eleanor whispers. "But what comes before. The starvation, the terror, the rage..."