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Who: Celeste Blackwell and the fleet
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Can be found sulking around the SS Golden kitchen
When: Feb 6, evening

[The last time this girl appeared on the network, she was in quite a hot rage, so it might be odd to see her looking quiet and pensive now. Sad, despite a slight smile, to those who really look closely.]

I've been away for awhile - don't ask, I don't quite understand it myself - but apparently I've come back just in time for Valentine's Day to be around the corner. And normally I'd be the last person to bring up something like this, but...

[But what? She doesn't say, just asks her question.]

... have you ever been in love? What were they like? What really made you think "My god, this is the one" when there are so many other people out there who might've been just as good? And I mean, if you're in love right now and you still want to answer, it needn't be past tense. I suppose - I just don't quite understand this either, I never have, but that doesn't stop it from happening.

[She appears to be at a loss for a moment, before shaking her head and chuckling to herself.]

My mates would laugh themselves sick if they could hear me now.

[And that's all.]

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[ rei tries to ignore valentine's day and white day since nathaniel left -- and it's been such a long time since she's seen him, that she should be over it by now. but it's hard to forget someone who you deeply loved that much, and someone who changed your perspective so sharply. ]

He was brilliant. A politician, and amazingly smart. He could probably sell you your own soul for a nickel if you'd let him, but he was passionate, and wanted to do what was right. He never stopped working to make the world we were in better, and he was always quick to defend me even though I could take care of myself.

[ she hasn't talked about nathaniel in so long, but this girl seems to need the comfort. ]

I haven't seen him in years. He's home, now.

[Getting such an open, frank response right off the bat is a bit of a surprise to her. But she respects the gesture, listening with her head slightly cocked, nodding here and there.]

The world you were in... does that mean that his home isn't your home? [It's asked as gently as possible.] Everyone here seems to have hopped worlds at least once or twice, not just me. That's why the wording caught my attention.

No. We met in Adstringendum.

[ she's long since past being devastated, and she's done her mourning for nathaniel. but it's still a wound. ]

It's the world I was in before I got brought to the Fleet.

[It would be just her luck to show up here before Valentine's Day. Little reminders of people left behind.]

If you're expecting past tense shouldn't you be more focused on why it ended than why it felt real at the time?

[ Hera wanders into the kitchen just as Celeste is making her broadcast. It's an interesting question, and she busies herself with some vaguely tea-like thing as she considers it.

Why she's considering it at all - who knows? She's never really done so before. ]

Yes. And, I think I started to fall for him when I realized how much he cares for other people, despite how hard he sometimes tries not to.

[ Hm. He forgot that people tend to fall in love with only one person and that was it. His sister would always have that place in his heart, a place no one can tread, but his heart was not so small that it could not accommodate many others.

What is the point of love if it stops at one? ]

I have, many times, with many people. I loved them all.

Edited 2016-02-07 02:45 (UTC)

[With everything that's been going on with Riona, with her husband showing up but not knowing her and not really being able to talk about it but needing to, this post calls out to her. And this woman is asking for a reason, she suspects. Curiosity or comfort, who knows. She thinks on it for a long time before she answers, her voice soft.]

I confess that I don't know what this Valentine's Day is, but as to your query...

[She smiles, her expression distant as she finds the words.]

I married the man I love. We went through a lot together, and he was a bright spot in my life when everything seemed dark. He taught me how to laugh again, and helped me be more myself. I felt a connection with him very quickly and it's been there ever since. He loves me for who I am and not for what I am. When I had nothing he gave me everything. He can be unsure of himself and awkward, but he's one of the kindest, sweetest people I know. And one of the strongest, even if he does not always believe it.

That and we both have the same terrible sense of humor.

[Celeste gives a little nod at the confirmation, lips sucked between her teeth for a moment before she releases them along with a sigh.]

He sounds lovely. Remarkable, really - there's nothing quite like someone who could wreak complete havoc for whatever reason, or in whatever way, and chooses not to.

[She's known the ones who did and the ones who decidedly didn't, turning their abilities or skills to the worst possible uses and reveling in it; while the bad boys always have their appeal for her, the good ones seem to capture her heart.]

I was in a place called Eudio before this. Just a city, or at least we never saw anything beyond it. And it was the same idea, people from all sorts of worlds brought together and left to make do in the confusion. It was consensual at least, they recruited us instead of kidnapping us, but.

["But" again, with nothing following it. Again.]

[That's the kind of statement she'd often take as a challenge, but this time she considers it for a second instead, and her answer is mild.]

Maybe. I've only ever had one that never really started, and one that - [A little furrow between her brow, lips pressed together until she continues.] - isn't over. Not yet. Breakups are a whole new and exciting world I've yet to explore.

Is Valentine's Day some kind of romantic holiday where you're from?

["Valentine's Day" means about as much to Leia as "Life Day" might to Celeste. But the questions she asks are tantalizing ones, and Leia's willing to indulge today.]

It happened over a while. Years, when you come right down to it. I wasn't looking for anything like that, and he was...a cad, really. A prickly, sarcastic cad. [A wry little smile.] He still is sometimes--but he has a good heart in there.

There are plenty of other people out there, but they haven't seen the things we have. They don't know me like he does. And...well, that matters.

What about you?

[She's surprised when Hera opens up, but it's a welcome surprise. Celeste's eyes follow her work while she talks rather than looking at her directly.]

That's very appealing. The heart big enough to hold the world. And not just because it's sweet, either - I took a very singular, selfish pleasure in being special to him when he had such a huge capacity for love. Just that much more important.

[And it's drawn out her own confession as well, one that surprises her even more than what Hera said. It's true, though, and not surprising because it isn't in keeping with her character, only because it hadn't occurred to her.]

[ Hera chuckles a little. ]

I suppose I can see the appeal in that, in a way. Me, I've been working towards a... bigger goal, for a long time. He was one of the first people who understood that, and still wanted to be a part of my life.

[It's so, so much like what Caleb would say that she hitches in a breath, pauses for a moment before answering.]

You sounded just like him when you said that. The words, I mean. I think he loved everyone he met in some way. [Catching tears that are about to fall with two sharp swipes of her hand, one under each eye, she tries to find the smile with which she started this.] I - god, I probably shouldn't have asked any of this at all.

[ His eyes catch the movement of tears. Water for the dead. A princely gift and one that allows some of his defenses to fall. He flicks his gaze away briefly, to give her some time to regain her composure should she choose to. ]

I am unable to stop. I tried, once, to limit myself. But I could not. Every step is a step in love and heartblood. I would take on all the sorrows in the world for love.

[ And he did. ]

Valentine's Day is many things to many people. A cynical cash grab targeting soppy romantics and couples who can't work out how to show affection without a holiday especially for it, a day to terrorize singletons with the reminder that they're still single and all these other people aren't, a day to rub your relationship in everyone's faces, the day before a ton of unsold chocolate gets marked down to half price...

[Wait, that's taken her right off course. It was satisfying, but the story is much more what this is about, and she listens raptly until the last bit makes her laugh aloud. It's a relief to laugh through the pang in her chest.]

That is vital, I think. When someone can be ridiculous in the exact same way you can, and you feed off each other until anyone who walked in would think you were both complete nutters... [Her smile fades to something softer, but not quite so sad.] ... it's like your own world the two of you can escape to, laughing at the same things.

[This is the first network post that has made Shinji sit up and actually pay attention. With everything going on, he hasn't had time to think about love and whatever else. He's barely had time to think, period. Now he's thinking about it. He frowns at the screen. Hesitantly, he types.]

I don't think it's possible to pinpoint any one thing. Or even a handful of things. It's just everything all at once. That's what love is. [This is too embarrassing, so he adds,] At least that's what I've heard other people say.

They aren't the best.

[Kitty looks at her curiously. Her demeanor is calm, not confrontational. She's had some particularly bad experience with things ending.] It isn't over and he's hearing this now or isn't over because he's not in the fleet? [Not really the kind of thing you normally ask before even knowing a person's name, but these things happen.]

Well - all holidays are so commercial where I'm from that they can be rather hard to put much stock in at the best of times. But yes, romance is the idea.

[Somehow, this is her favourite story yet. A prickly, sarcastic cad. She loves it, the honesty and the acknowledgement of flaws and the fact that time and shared experience made it real. Not just a magical feeling. This is what she'd want to see in romantic movies, what would finally get her watching them.]

That's brilliant. It honestly is. I don't even like most love stories, which is why it's so silly for me to be asking this, but that's the sort I can get behind. As for me, I've been in love twice - the first was called "some Greek tragedy shit" by a mate of mine when I explained it all to him, so that gives you an idea of how it went, and the second...

[It's the sticky one. The one that prompted her to ask about others.]

... we knew we were on a time limit. It just seemed too good to throw away because of that, or to let pass without trying. I will see him again, someday, but all I can do in the meantime is wait and remember.

[Whatever reason this person has for using text, she feels like respecting it, and switches accordingly even though she's already shown her face.]

i think i can see both sides
i know exactly when i realised it and why
but i could hardly do a flow chart of reasons if someone asked for evidence
and im fairly sure id been in love for a long time before it actually struck me
its amazing how stupid you can be when you dont want to see something so obvious

so maybe youre right
everything all at once

[Honestly, getting Glitch to sit still long enough to talk is rare, but he seems to be folded up in some small space where he feels safe and there's barely enough light to make the zip on his scalp gleam.]

I don't know. I don't think so. I mean, I might just not remember, but I think I'd know, even if I didn't remember, if I'd ever really, truly been in love.

[Most of that explanation kind of goes over her head. Commercialism and its holidays aren't a thing where she's from. She wouldn't even be familiar with the concept of capitalism. Yay for being from a medieval fantasy setting! So she just... nods and goes along with it until she talks about the relevant parts.]

Yes, that sounds just right. Inside jokes and the same skewed perspective on things. [This woman sounds almost nostalgic, and it makes Riona's heart go out to her.] Did you know someone who made you feel that way as well?

So I've heard. Somehow I've managed to stick my foot in nearly every other pile of shit love's got to offer, but not breakups. It's absurd, isn't it? Completely backwards.

[She knew she could hardly expect to skate past this without a question being asked, not when she put it so vaguely, but it's still a struggle to find the right words.]

He's not here. And he's not from the same world as me, either. It's - it's all really complicated, but he won't be bound by worlds and timelines when he leaves Eudio. He can still find me, and he will.

[This is a topic Kaworu's been thinking about for lifetimes. He's sat with his loved one and thought about it. He's pondered it while alone in the night. Love means a great deal to Kaworu Nagisa, and he thinks it's a joy to share.]

I was in love before I understood anything about it. I thought this is the one before I knew what 'the one' meant, or what that person was supposed to complete. I didn't even know that I was missing something in the first place.

But there's no singular quality that results in love like that. It's the sum of a person. It's everything that person has ever been, and everything they have the potential to be. I know that if, after this, I lived an innumerable measure of lives, I would still gravitate to that person. I know that if, somewhere, I were to exist without that person, I would be barren. Love is fate. Love is guidance.

[All his countenance is soft, hushed, but practically aglow with a feeling of goodness. He must be happy to be in love.]

[It's funny on another level, because through all of that, she also knew she could never be the most special or important person in his life. But in Eudio, at least, she wore the crown of girlfriend.]

He didn't need to be everything to you all the time, you mean? He knew how to share your attention because you had your own business to be getting on with? [That piques her interest, because it's different, but she can understand how it would be rare.] That does sound like someone worth snapping up. Blokes can be so insecure.

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