Scene #1807: Tea and Darwin-isms

Owner	Pose
Guest Psyber	Despite it being the lobby for a major business, the Heaven or Hell office lobby is being used for other things at the moment as well. For instance, due to the slow day and few people coming in, Psyber is using the free time to make barbeque sauce in the lobby of his own building. This means that the half-angel has a table of ingredients in front of him and is currently whisking them and adding them into a bowl one by one. Right now he's working on the most basic of his sauces, so the ingredients are pretty basic. Ketchup, vinegar, sugar, pepper, that kind of stuff. He's got them over a pretty small single-burner portable stove and is stirring them with a whisk in a pot. All this to say: It doesn't look like there's much business today.
Samar	Despite the agreement Samar's made with Psyber, the Abyssals haven't journeyed to Boston-666 much yet. However, after all this time, one has finally decided to overcome her poor sense of being outgoing and travel to the city. It would be strange to see a nearly eight-foot-tall woman walking down the street on any normal day, but one with a single large horn emerging from her forehead and massive claws that look designed purely to break and tear is certainly unnerving in its own right. Darwin, at least, looks far too concerned about being out here in the first place to be any sort of threat, and she seems to make a point of gravitating away from anyone she passes on the street wherever possible. Strange that the largest and most imposing Abyssal on her own also seems to be the most timid. Finally, the Seaport Princess finds her way to the Heaven or Hell office, and she comes to a stop in front of the door with her huge hands folded over her chest. Red eyes look up and up to the top of the building, then sloooowly look to the door again. Cautiously, she lifts her hand...and knocks on the door three times, with a sound one would expect from heavy chunks of metal crashing against a hard surface. She winces a little at the sound; that's...a little harder than she meant.
Guest Psyber	Psyber winces at the massively lound sound, looking towards the door and shouting, "It's... open? Come in?" Psyber slowly stands up from the sauce-making he was doing to look towards the door and then slowly walk towards it. He opens it and then looks WAY up. It's not often he sees a woman who is this much taller than him. He also doesn't want to be disrespectful and keep his eyes on eye-level. That would be embarassing. "Uhh.... hi." He says a few times, "Are you lost? Can I help you?" He ponders, tilting his head a bit and half-staring up at her.
Samar	When the door's opened, Darwin initially finds herself confused by the apparent absence of anyone there. She peers to the left, then to the right, before she realizes that she has to look /down/ instead. "Oh-!" The Abyssal steps back a little, hands folded in front of her again and eyes cast down to look at Psyber with that ever-timid look of hers. "I'm...sorry," she starts softly, one hand lightly scraping at the back of the other in a nervous gesture. "I'm Darwin, the Seaport Princess of the Abyssal Fleet. I just...Samar told us this was a place we could visit now, and so I..." She trails off for a moment before she finds her words again. "...you're Psyber, right? Sorry if I...interrupted you or anything. If this is a bad time, I can go and come back some other time instead...?" More confusion settles over her features as she starts to smell the start of the sauce. A few sniffs of the air, a few glimmers of uncertainty in her eyes. Has she ever smelled proper cooking before?
Guest Psyber	"Oh, no, I said you guys could stop by whenever. So come in!" Psyber says, stepping aside and back into his office to clear her room when she asks if she should come by another time, "Have you ever cooked before? You can help me with a project I'm doing, if your hands can manage it." He points to the massive claws she wears. "I need someone to keep stirring the pot for me while I add ingredients. You came at just the perfect time." He starts to walk over to his little work station, waving her along with him. She can easily pull up a chair to it from the lobby and join in. He grins and says, "Aside from Wo, you're the first one to take the invite and come visit. I'm Psyber and this is my office." "I think the Abyssals are pretty fascinating." He notes.
Samar	"Ah...n-no, never cooked," Darwin replies with a shake of her head. She steps carefully into the office once the space is clear, ducking her head a little as if on reflex when she passes through the doorway. Her attention is occupied for several moments more with simply looking around at the open space until she notices the cooking area. Then she blinks, reaches out to take a chair, and hoists it over her head with one hand as if it were little more than a tree branch. Once she gets to the stove, though, his comment about the Abyssals makes her pause and look at him with surprise. "...fascinating? Most people don't...really think that. Especially not surfacers. Why?" Oh, right, she has a chair in her hand. The seat is set down in front of the pot, and Darwin sits down, her height ensuring that she still looms over the stove. One hand lifts, and while she takes a minute to look to Psyber for assurance, she takes the spoon between her thumb and index claws and carefully tries stirring the contents of the pot in a counter-clockwise path.
Guest Psyber	"Great! You're doing great!" Psyber encourages Darwin as she stirs the pot. He's carefully adding ingredients as she does so and taking note of the fact she seems to have both immense strength and some level of dexterity. Impressive. "Because the Abyssals want what anyone wants, to be remembered. I may not agree with the methods behind it, but I can respect the goal," He notes, milling it over while he adds some ingredients to the pot. "The only thing I don't understand is this..." He pauses, "You guys are upset you were forgotten. You want to be remembered. But wouldn't you want to do that as heroes of your nations instead of hurting so many people?" "Just me thinking, though."
Samar	Darwin stirs and stirs, peering into the pot as more ingredients are added. She seems fine with such a simple task, at least: her hand doesn't falter, continuing in that slow rhythm with almost mechanical precision. "Mm..." A faint, lightly concerned sound hums up from her as he explains his opinion. It's certainly less extreme than what she's used to, on both sides of the debate. When Psyber voices that question aloud, though, she's given pause for a few moments. It almost seems like she's not going to respond; she just continues stirring, over and over. "...they can't," Darwin finally murmurs. "It hurts too much. It is...sadness, and anger, and pain. All they want is to share it. All they can think of..." She trails off there, sighing quietly as she continues to stir. Whatever else she was about to say goes unsaid, silenced by another brief shake of her head. "I do what I can to make my sisters feel better. I heal them when they...come back hurt. I usually don't...go out like they do. It hurts enough to see them like this."
Guest Psyber	The pot smells sweet and slightly acidic, like a good, hot barbeque sauce should. The half-angel takes a spoon and tries a bit, thinking. Then he takes the same spoon and holds it out to her, "Tell me what you think of this." He says, trying to get her opinion. "Anyway, that's sad to hear. But what I don't get out of it is why they hate the Fleet Daughters," Psyber says genuinely. This isn't him prying or having a hidden agenda, he's just inquiring to Darwin, "I mean. Both sides want the same thing: Memories. Their Legacy. Shouldn't you all be sisters?" "It's not Good and Evil. Bad and Good. It's passive and active. Light and Dark." He hrms and then scowls, "But I know it can't be that simple."
Samar	Darwin finally pauses her almost mechanical stirring when the spoon is offered to her. She blinks, then stares at it for a moment...then, carefully, leans in and tilts her head back to help her mouth clear the metal collar around her neck. The spoon is taken almost entirely in her mouth, and she immediately gulps it down before pulling away again, all in one awkward gesture. She doesn't seem like she knows what to make of it. Her usual timid appearance settles into confusion as she mulls over the taste, licking and smacking her lips briefly. "...I...think it's good? Sharp, but...not bad..." The Princess shakes her head again before returning to her stirring, mulling over Psyber's own thoughts. "The Fleet Daughters want us to...stop what we're doing. But there's nowhere else for us to go. Nowhere else for...our pain to go. And by leaving us and...wanting us to stop, they've turned on us. Like the humans." It's not entirely clear if /she/ believes that or if she's just talking about what the other Abyssals feel. Still, a quiet sigh falls from her as she stares into the sauce. "...I don't know. I don't...think about it much. Everything is always so...dark, and painful. But I know Samar is looking out for us, and I never doubt what she says."
Guest Psyber	"I think the problem is that both sides believe in a certain absolute right," Psyber says, not commenting when the entire spoon is eaten. He'll replace that later, definitely. He somehow had forgotten that these ships might consume metal. He's glad he didn't lose a hand. "Good, good. It's probably done now, so all that's left is to let it settle a bit and brew off water so it gets nice and thick, like a sauce should," He says, smiling at her brightly. He'll address the other thing he said later. For now, he's scrawling down the recipe on a card, "If you ever want to learn how to do sauces for barbeque, I will totally hook you up." And then he does sigh, "Pain is hard to deal with. You cope with it however you can, but it never really goes away. It only lessens. I can understand that." He says to her seriously, before asking, "Nowhere to go? That's sad. I think neither side can achieve their goals with violence, though. Even if it seems necessary now." "It's hard to explain, though. I understand why you guys act how you do, though. It must be hard for you to see everyone fighting and hurting eachother, yeah? You don't seem like the violent type."
Samar	The subject of barbeque sauce gets another confused look from Darwin. She stops stirring for now, at least, since it seems like that's done, but it takes her a minute to think of how to respond. "...um...well, thank you. We don't really...cook at home, though. We don't have much reason to. But...I'll talk to you if I need to, for some reason." The Princess nods, a small gesture of thanks. With that done, she rises from her seat again, letting her arms hang at her sides. Her head remains lowered; unlike Samar, she doesn't seem comfortable with keeping eye contact for very long. "Mmn...I don't know what else most of us could do. We're...made for violence, after all, aren't we? There's not much else for us in the world, except each other..." Her hands lift again, claws scratching at the back of her hand with the scrape of metal against metal. "...I'm not, no. Sometimes my sisters are threatened, and I protect them, but...I don't go out like they do. Usually I just stay in our home and help them recover when they come back...if they come back..." Darwin trails off again, taking a deep breath before it leaves her in a slow, tired sigh. Her red eyes shift back to Psyber, then. "Ko-C...I mean, Kongou. She's been doing well here? Is she safe?"
Guest Psyber	"Just because you were made for something, does not mean that's all you are, does it?" Psyber tilts his head at Darwin, thinking it over. He avoids eye contact, though, since that seems to make her uncomfortable, "I mean, isn't that what you're fighting for in the first place? For the humans to recognize you are more than just tools of violence?" He smiles widely, "I'm an expert in this kind of thing, sort of. I built my whole office around helping people who thought they could only be or do one thing, and helping them find all of their potential, or non-violent outlets where they can." He shrugs a bit and turns off the stove, letting the sauce cool down a bit. "Kongou, or Ko-Class, is doing well. She is very happy here and I think you two would get along very well. You should come and visit her sometime again, when she's in the building." For all Darwin's frightening appendages, Psyber can clearly see she's a very gentle giant type. He sighs a bit and then adds, "Sorry if my philosophizing is bothering you."
Samar	"It's...not," she replies, breaking the silence that began to settle so she can dismiss his apology. Darwin looks back at the half-angel as she tries to figure out her own words, once more scratching lightly at the back of her hand. "...I don't get to talk with others much. Samar, sometimes, and...maybe Savo. Leyte and Anchorage are too angry. Rossel gets distracted. Wake...mostly doesn't like being bothered. So I usually just spend time on my own, or...listen to others." She pauses, then, with a light nod, adds, "...it's nice." Finally, she addresses his earlier questioning. "Some of them...wouldn't be satisfied with that. Most just want revenge, so that they can have relief, and rest. To...turn what they experienced back on others. Leyte wants to prove that she's strong. Savo and Rossel...I think they enjoy it, sometimes." The Princess shrugs a little a that. "I just want what will make them happy." Then another nod, as she returns to the subject of Kongou. "...I'm glad to hear Kongou is alright. I'd...like to see her again sometime, maybe. If she would want to see me. She warned me about those machines that were coming for us...after we protected that port city. I made sure to bring the Escort Fortress with me when I wandered out alone, thanks to her." Her head lowers again, her brow furrowing with doubt. "I'm...not sure what I could do for her in return, though..."
Guest Psyber	Psyber smiles at Darwin, "That's the nice thing about Kongou. She doesn't ever expect anything in return from the nice things she does. That's just who she is as a person." He says in a somewhat affectionate tone, "She once told me love is a renewable resource and no one has more of it than her, so she's happy as long as her feelings reach people." "That's what she wants, I imagine. For her feelings to reach you girls and for your feelings to reach her in return. That's part of why I believe in this neutrality thing." Psyber laughs awkwardly, "I don't have a goal to turn you all back. Or put you back to sleep. I just want both sides to understand each other so maybe something can be done." He exhales a bit, "Savo is the only one I've heard about except for you and Samar. She seems very... energetic, in her own way. In the end, I can't force you all to see my viewpoint. I don't want to come across as if I'm trying that, because that makes me another enemy." "If you want to repay her favor, though? Let her cook for you or something. I'm sure she'd be pleased as punch if you did."
Samar	Darwin gives another brief nod. She doesn't smile, even in the face of Psyber's laughter and affection toward Kongou, but she does seem to understand what he's saying. "...she's a good person," is all Darwin manages on the subject of Kongou, at least for the moment. "Maybe I can...come by when she's cooking, sometime." Darwin falls silent for another few moments, glancing down at the stove nearby. "...I don't feel like you want to force us to do anything. I...don't know what can be done, either. Kongou, Nagato...all the Fleet Daughters have hurt Samar more and more when they left. I've seen her each time one leaves, and it...hurts her. I've never seen her in as much pain as when that happens. She tries to hide it, but...I can feel it, too." Finally, she manages to look Psyber in the eye, even if it's only long enough to murmur a few timid words. "...just be careful, please." Darwin sighs softly again, shuffling aside a little in the direction of the door. "I...think I should be going home, now. Thank you for letting me help with the sauce, though. And letting me just...sit and talk, for a little while. It's nice, now and then..."
Guest Psyber	"Like I told Wo-Class. As long as you give me some advance notice, I can always accomodate a visit from you girls in the Abyssal Navy," Psyber says. When Darwin isn't smiling, Psyber lets his own smile fall away. He can't tell if she's always sad or just non-expressive. After all, Wo has to push her fingers to the corners of her mouth to smile. "Tell Samar I can understand why it hurts her. Losing friends, having people turn against you, people changing sides. It's hard on anyone, and I can understand how much it must hurt her every time it happens," Psyber notes, folding his hands behind his back as he stands up. "Thank you for visiting, Darwin. I hope to see you again sometime soon."