Summary:The Overwatch team returns from a mission, and Veronica and Ava have a conversation about the past. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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As the soft chimes sound around the RESCUE campus, the landing pad lights flare, and the Augmenta armor swoops in for a landing, followed not long thereafter by the Overwatch VTOL aircraft. The chimes end once airspace incursion has ended, and life resumes apace around the campus.
As Doctor Kelsey showers and gets dressed, a message comes in from her assistant, and the paraplegic founder of RESCUE takes note of it. "Ava, can we postpone the after-action pow-wow for maybe an hour? I would like to check on something, please. I can unlock my suit systems and recordings now, so you can review and queue things up."
Roni does so, and then pulls on her civilian attire and slides on her labcoat before going for a roll (her own version of a 'stroll') out of the locker rooms.
Tracking Roni is not hard, of course; she is one of the co-CEOs of the company, and she makes a point to be locatable at all times when on-campus. But she's not chatting with anyone, and did not head to her offices in the Spire, nor her labs in the Wellspring. Instead Roni took the elevator to the ground floor, and went rolling out of the Spire to the small park-like space out front.
Previously reserved only for Toni's statue of her father, Ho Yinsen, a new statue has been added. It is to these that Roni has rolled up, sitting quietly.
"<Roger,>" comes the cyborg's laconic reply over radio. The doctor is given peace to herself as she gets ready to roll out. From inventory to hygiene and basic rest, everyone has their own uses for the extra gap of post-mission time.
Eventually another figure diverts from the direct links between buildings and heads to the campuses shaded heart but is babbling fountain. Posse's footfalls sound like any other member of Overwatch owing to her boots but the chief of security is down to her unarmored layer as she approaches with a tumbler in hand, having left the blue and orange panels and helmet behind for an automated cleaning. The suit itself however, the kinetic sleeve that sheathes her entire body from the neck down, is more than she'll part with.
Her green eyes are clouded and inscrutable as they shift from Roni to brush over the sculpted form of Ho Yinsen and land on the new addition.
"Hey." Roni murmurs, without really looking up at Ava when she approaches. She doesn't try another conversational gambit, but continues paying most all of her attention to the two figures in the statue: a man and a woman facing the observer, their closer arms around each other's back, smiling warmly. Given they are statues, one could be excused for not really spotting the echoes of elements in appearance to the young woman sitting in the wheelchair looking up at them.
The suit-bound veteran takes a sip from her tumbler then holds it out to Roni. "Coffee?" she offers with a glance before turning back to the statue as a cool wind blows through the courtyard. Her eyes scan the grass nearby and at its base for an explanatory plaque.
"No. Thanks." Roni murmurs. After a few moments, she rolls closer in and reaches out, touching the stone of the woman's toes. It would appear there's no plaque.
"No plaque yet." Roni murmurs, finally rolling back after a couple of minutes. Her face is wet, now, her eyes a little red and swollen. "They said they can install it tomorrow." She sits quietly for another minute, then gestures towards the statue. "Please meet Erin Elizabeth Kelsey, and Doctor Darren Michael Kelsey." The names should be a pretty solid clue. She doesn't explain more, at least not right now.
Ava takes her tumbler back for another sip and waits, watching quietly. For a few moments, her eyes flit away to some empty portion of the sky to the left - interacting with the invisible inner world of her cybernetics while giving Roni time with her thoughts.
The bionic woman follows just a little closer when the wheelchair backs away. She needn't mention how well her enhanced vision renders the contrast of red against fair skin or the residual heat of pooled blood in the doctor's soft face - the doctor herself is responsible for all of it. Ava's jaw sets itself somberly and her free hand rests half-curled by her hip. Naturally, unconsciously like so many other times, she settles into a standing rest.
Roni's introduction interrupts the cyborg's own thought and draws a nod of acknowledgement as a cool recognition lights in her gaze. "Charmed. Ava Posey," she responds to the stone pair, then looks back to their daughter. "Why the memorial?"
Veronica sighs softly and leans back into her chair, closing her eyes for a bit. "Yinsen." she offers at first, with a long pause thereafter. She has a thought, but isn't putting it into words right away.
"Toni wanted her father represented. She had good reasons. I agreed with them." Veronica offers. Which would be why there is a statue of Ho Yinsen here, and has been for a while. "After it was completed, when I first saw it, I thought of this. My parents are as much a part of why I do what I do as Yinsen is for Toni. So I decided to find a picture, and an artist, and ask the artist to make this. So they can be represented too."
Roni lets her eyes drift open. "I wanted to see it, now that it has been unveiled. But I honestly never expected it — them — to hit me quite this hard."
Ava smiles dryly and reaches over to rest a hand on Roni's shoulder supportively. Being to her right it's the metal one, more of the doctor's handiwork. "I've heard parents are like that," she agrees quietly. "What's their story?"
Roni reaches up, resting her hand over the cybernetic one on her shoulder. "Dad was a pediatrician. He really loved kids." Including, one would presume, his daughter. "Mom was a schoolteacher. They were awesome. They were also pretty well off. I mean, we weren't rich or anything, but we weren't struggling." She gestures towards the grounds around them. "They died in the incident that put me in this chair. And their estates gave me the seed money to start CUE, even while I was still going to college. That was the foundation of RESCUE." Which, given how long they have been together, Ava would know. But she honestly hasn't talked much about her parents. It just hasn't come up.
Ava has the grace to nod solemnly and give Roni's shoulder a small supportive squeeze, though her face is clouded more than remorseful. Now that she's done her inspection, the cyborg's eyes stay on her doctor rather than the lifeless stones. "It sounds like they set you up right. It sucks that they're gone, but you've done some real impressive work with the money they left you. Ya' sure worked a miracle rebuilding me."
Roni smiles wryly, if sadly. "Yeah. My parents did great. They were supportive. They loved me. They gave me the confidence in myself, so when I faced the challenge of surviving that incident, I had the strength to keep going, not just curl up and wait to die and join them." Roni hasn't talked much about what happened. "And the strength to attack my goal, my dream, and build CUE." Which is what led to the project with Ava.
"Rehab for that must've sucked too," the green-eyed amputee considers. "I think God's got a thing for fools and bastards; he's always taken 'em last."
They've talked about that before, back when they first met. When they started working together. But that has been years ago, no. Roni nods. "Sure it sucked. And it sucked harder, because I didn't just lose my legs; I lost my Mom and Dad. Much as I loved my aunt, and still do, she's no replacement for that." Nothing and no one could ever be, obviously. "Still not sure which of those I must be." she comments to Ava, giving a wry twist.
"I'm the bastard so that leaves you the fool," the cyborg jokes back with a grin, then shrugs. "We'll all die someday and join em. I just hope it's to something more interesting than a heart attack."
"Sure you don't want a hot drink for your nerves?" Ava asks, offering the thermos one more time.
Roni shakes her head. "No. But thanks." She's not looking for something 'interesting' to die from. But she has to know better than most that's the risk she faces every day, especially since becoming Augmenta. "Tell you what. Let's roll on inside. Maybe I can get you something tasty from the cafeteria before we roll up to the briefing room."
Even with her suit keeping her comfortably heated, Ava is ready to go back inside. "Sure," she accepts, taking her hand back and heading towards the Swamp. "But I'm buying for you this time."