Goodwill PR Tour!

[pump_action]

Who| The Director and volunteers
What| Goodwill PR Tour to Legion-Lacking planets!
Where| Rann, Tamaran, and Korugar
When| The following week
Warnings/Notes| N/A, will add as needed

[[Plot Note: Rann subthreads going up tonight. Tamaran tomorrow, and Korugar on Sunday]]
[[ooc: PLEASE WAIT TO TAG UNTIL I HAVE PUT UP SUBHEADERS PLEASE AND THANK YOU! have at it!]]

It's something of a whirlwind tour; each stop begins with a fancy dress evening meet and greet mingle, the following day there's a panel where they talk about their experiences, notable missions, what it means to them to be a Legionnaire and what they bring to the overall battle, and ends with a Question and Answer session where the accumulated crowd and reporters can ask specific things of all or specific Legionnaires. If they feel so inclined, time is made for demonstrations and talents. They break for lunch, then reconvene for two to three hours to autographs pictures and action figures or other wares and sundry people might want their favorite (represented) Legionnaire's signature on.

So far, everything seems to be going along just fine ...

Comments

[bachido]

Kubo snatches the book away.

"It's for my mother and father," he says, glaring at Rico, more for slobbering on his carefully curated record than for the insult. "They'll want to know what I've been doing."

Wash had warned him to let him know if Rico so much as looked at Kubo wrong, but did this count as wrong? It's rude and intrusive and nasty but it isn't violent - yet - but he still thinks he'll message Wash about the encounter anyway. He has no reason to under-record where Rico is concerned.

Especially now that Father is not nearby.

"Maybe you should make one for your family," he suggests. To anyone else, it would be a friendly suggestion, but for Rico, it's more an entreaty to behave at least a little. "They must be interested in what you're up to as well."

Kubo hasn't heard of tropes yet, or of 'Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas,' but it is what he's unconsciously banking on.

[truefaceofthelaw]

Rico lets Kubo snatch the book from under his hands. What a perfect opening. He's given the perfect segue to launch into targeted commentary, but when he opens his mouth, he's pre-empted by Kubo asking about his family.

What.

He's so off the drokking mark that instead of reacting with defensive tension in his shoulders as he's inclined to when anybody so much as mentions his family - no, he barely has a brother anymore - he snorts instead. "Who says I have one?" Rico says, flatly. "The Academy discourages the emotional connections that might come with that. But enough about me. What about you?"

He's not here to talk about himself, after all. What an insult. Normally he would've taken it for a targeted remark, but he has his doubts about how calculated this juve's research would be, or whether he'd have the capacity for it. He slams the book shut, palm flat on top of it. "It's a waste of time, resources, and effort. Nobody you're making that for will ever so much as see this."

His fingers drum on the cover.

"So what's the point?"

[bachido]

The last thing Kubo expects to feel for Rico by this point is sympathy, and yet, here he is, feeling that.

"I'm sorry. That sounds awful."

It goes a long way towards explaining how horrible Rico is. If no one had ever shown him kindness or love, if all he'd ever had was the Judge Training in a world of horror like America had described, then it made sense for Rico to be as aggressive and cynical as he could be.

"Mother and Father have both been here," Kubo points out, firmly. They could come back. No other thought cheered him up like that could. "People sometimes come back even after they go. It's not a waste to do things for people you love. Or to do things that make you think of them."

Pointing out that Rico only didn't understand that because he didn't grow up with anybody to love would only be cruelty, not an explanation.

Still, it is such an empty existence to imagine, and Kubo can't stop feeling unexpectedly sorry for the man.

"I hope you have someone to make a book like this for someday," he says, a firm little frown still stuck on his face. Sympathy doesn't mean Kubo wants Rico's hands on his book at all. "In the meantime, please take your hand off mine."

[truefaceofthelaw]

There's a moment of silence, as Rico just stands there. It might even seem like Kubo's words have finally gotten through to him, the polite hope that he would become a better person in time, and have somebody of his own to care for.

"Sorry?" Rico repeats, flatly. He stares at Kubo behind his visor, like he can't even believe what he's just heard. "Sorry?"

His grip tightens on the scrapbook, the binding creaking under his gloves. And just when it looks like it'll be crushed in his grip, he suddenly relaxes, leaning back and snatching the book with him.

"You're better off keeping it for yourself. A half-blind, scrawny orphan who kills everyone he cares about feels sorry. For me."

Rico starts laughing. Not a wild laugh, but a small chuckle that speaks of real amusement. In fact, it seems like he can't stop laughing. "You can keep your whatever with people you love if that's what you get from it." He grins as he starts flipping through the book haphazardly, keeping it just out of reach of Kubo's hands, turning it this way and that. "A bunch of empty pictures and nothing."