2022-02-22: Invader
- Log: 2022-02-22: Invader
- Cast: Asuka Shikinami Langley, Akane Shinjo
- Where: Tsutsujidai High School
- OOC - IC Date: 0096-02-22
- Summary: Asuka presents as a transfer student... for a good ten minutes!
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
Asuka had spent far more time on the trains between Tokyo-3 and Nouvelle Tokyo than she cared to admit. Each grand experiment beyond the first ended in failure.
She hadn't told Kaworu and Shinji she was doing this. First off because, that would be admitting she's invested. Second off because, what does she need either of them for?
Nothing. That's what.
Having skipped school again today for it, she rode the train again around mid-day. A spiral notebook recording each trip - and the conditions thereof. Right when she was about to raise her pen preemptively and make a red mark yet again...
... is the moment the fog rose, and she drowsed off, pen clattering to the train floor.
-=-=-
In the faculty office of Tsutsujidai High, Asuka Shikinami Langley was dressed in her uniform turquoise suspender skirt and blouse, white knee socks and brown shoes. A brown messenger bag over her shoulder. She'd stashed her winter coat, scarf, and gloves at a locker at the bus station.
"So... I'm just looking to walk around. You know, take in the full high school experience while it's in session. After all, I'll be attending after I move next year. I can manage that on my own..."
"Nonsense. Of course we'll give you a tour." The teacher, whose name and features were entirely unimportant to Asuka, smiles as he hands back her student ID. "And I know someone who'd be perfect for that."
"There's really no need for that-" Asuka was mid-huff, when the teacher swiveled around the mic for the PA system and announced...
"Shinjo, Akane - to the faculty office. Shinjo, Akane."
"Great." The girl ground the word out through her teeth, crossing her arms as she waited.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane is the school's most recent transplant, having been here just over a year now; like Asuka, she's someone who'd have moved at the tail end of middle school and had the chance-slash-frustration of getting acclimated to the city and the school at the same time. She's the natural choice for someone to escort a middle schooler through the ins and outs of the school.
Honestly? Right now? Kinda welcome. She's almost certain this is an outsider -- no one 'moves to' Tsutsujidai -- which lets her keep tabs on their movement, and what's more, it's... something other than sulking about how badly her plan with Renais went. (She's desperate not to think about that, yet it is, of course, all she's thinking about.)
-=-=-
Akane Shinjo arrives at the faculty office. She's shorter than Asuka herself is by a fair few inches, and she's all pleasant smiles as she approaches. "Hi," she says -- she's not *chirpy*, but maybe she's close. "What do you need?"
"We'd like you to give this young woman a tour. You moved here at the end of middle school, so you'd have the experience most like hers..."
Akane nods. At least she's being asked. "All right," she says, nodding. "I'm Akane Shinjo. It's nice to meet you," she says, playing her role oh-so-comfortably. "Do you want to ask me anything before we get started?" She sounds like a goody two-shoes.
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
Asuka is not smiles. If anything her expression is somewhere between grumpy and impatient when Akane arrives. When she does, she sideeyes her, barely even looking at her.
Like she's not even worth looking at.
"Asuka Shikinami Langley." She answers tersely.
She must be half-Japanese, with a name like that, at least it sounds that way. She definitely looks that way, with her auburn brown hair and lighter skin.
Casting a glance at the teacher as she says that, she just says, "Let's walk and talk." She says with a motion of her hand to follow, as she opens the door and walks out of the office abruptly, showing zero respect whatsoever for Akane's seniority.
Honestly she doesn't care too much if Akane follows or not.
Once away from the office and fast walking down the hallway, she checks to see if she's there. Her eyes mostly just looking around, "You don't need to show me around. All schools in this country are the same..." She notes rudely. "... but if you want to make yourself useful? Do you have any classmates with unusual hobbies? You know, idiots who are way to into kiddy stuff like 'The Seven Mysteries' or 'Occult Club'?"
A beat pause.
"... Or Kaiju?" She adds, suddenly.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Hm. Half-Japanese... 'Langley' is a little unfamiliar. Akane can't place it, save that it's not French. It could be Britannian, but she kind of doubts it. As Asuka takes point on her own tour, Akane books it a bit to catch up, then tries her best to maintain pace with Asuka. (It's not actually difficult; her body here can cope with a lot.)
"Yeah, right? I used to hear people talk about another school building change, before I moved... something about Zentradi-style stuff. But Japanese school buildings have looked the same since the Middle Ages." It's small talk of the type that exhausts her, but at the very least it lets her low-key show off that she's not some stupid kid.
The question comes, though, and... "Kaiju, huh?" She needs a moment to think. This is *definitely* an outsider and she's *definitely* being subtly pumped for information, she thinks. ... and now that she thinks about it, Ako and Marusa did mention there were some middle schoolers in from out of town...
Oh, of course. Akane puts the pieces together in the right order, finally shoving together Kaworu's thread with Ako and Marusa's. Right. Okay. "... Well, there's a few kids in my class who started talking about kaiju recently... everyone thought it was weird, or like it was a game or something," she says, remaining a *little* cautious at first.
She won't get anywhere if she doesn't start actively misrepresenting herself, at least not with outsiders. "I'm kind of a kaiju enjoyer myself, though. Especially the thirteen outside."
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
The small talk quickly begins to grate on her nerves. Oh sure, what she's saying could be useful to the investigation but Asuka is far too impatient to care if it is or isn't. Mostly she's just used to getting her way without having to actually deal with people.
All Akane gets is an uninterested glance during it. Which... may be a relief. This girl is obviously uninterested in actually engaging in meaningless talk.
Yet, when Akane answers, she notably doesn't speak to the other two topics... and goes right to Kaiju. Asuka raises an eyebrow. Not thinking it's anything unusual about her - but perhaps an unusual quality of the town that it's more focused on Kaiju than 'normal' weirdness.
"A game huh? You're a first year if I recall..."
She suspects it's Rikka Takarada, Yuta Hibiki, and Sho Utsumi... but, best to be sure.
"... What class is that?"
And then, the girl says she's kind of a kaiju enjoyer herself. And Asuka suddenly stops walking, staring at Akane...
There's silence for a long time, one, two, three seconds... then. A quick glance behind them in the hall, then to the side at the stairwell.
A hand suddenly lashes out like a striking snake, and grabs Akane by the wrist. Much stronger than the average natural human, a quick yank as she pulls her into the alcove shaded by a stairwell adjacent to them.
Akane's left with her back to the wall, as the other girl's left arm thumps the wall behind Akane near her head, in an attempt to block escape. Despite the age gap between them, Akane being older, Asuka is still taller. "What you're telling me then is...?" Her other hand fishes out a phone and taps it a few times as she briefly looks down, then holds it back up, showing a photo of one of the Kaiju on the skyline.
"You can see this?"
She's staring at her with a certain intensity.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"1-E," Akane answers, seeing no reason to lie. It might even help her nail down just who among the people she knows Asuka may actually have talked to. Why hide it? It's the same class as Rikka, Yuta, Sho, *and* Ako and Marusa. As far as intelligence to snag, this is at least something firmly along the line of best fit --
-- which is probably why Asuka decides to grab Akane. There's a firmness to that grip -- it doesn't hurt Akane here, in this world, but it's a genuine shock as she's pulled in and -- kabedon'd?
Her heartrate spikes. Asuka can probably feel her pulse in her wrist and it is... not, gentle. Her eyes widen a little -- there's some genuine fear in them, at this point. "Huh --" and then, she's shown a picture of a kaiju along the skyline.
"Yeah, I can see them," she says, recovering into calmness. "... You're not really a middle schooler planning to transfer here, are you?" She has to proceed carefully, here -- think fast, but not outthink herself. "... there's been a lot of people coming here from another world where the Federation's doing all this horrible stuff," she eventually says. "Are you here to invade?"
The answer from where Akane stands is definitely yes, but she has to dress it up a little bit.
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
Asuka's eyes narrow as Akane says she can see them.
"Then-"
Akane cuts her off. And Asuka glowers at her but waits for her to finish. "What are you stupid? If you can see that Kaiju then you should know I'm not really here for the tour."
Her head tilts to the side suddenly as she keeps staring at her with that same intensity, but the edge is gone briefly from her clearly being puzzled.
"What are you even on about? Invade? Watch your mouth. I'm an Evangelion pilot from NERV. I'm here investigating because this city has a Kaiju problem - that's different from a simple Kaiju attack. If you know there's Kaiju here, then you understand there's something wrong with this place - and why it needs to be addressed immediately ..."
Asuka's face leans over her, getting even more in her space. "... do you even understand how grateful you should be, that I'm here right now? Wouldn't surprise me if you're too stupid to know that though. After all, with talk like that you might not realize how lowly you are - that I've scraped morons with stronger anti-Federation sentiments than you can imagine off my boots before hitting the showers."
Asuka turns her phone around briefly, slowly switching it over to a picture... then, turns it around, "Now if you're done being useless - how about you tell me if you've ever seen this kid around before?"
It's a picture of Anti, in a Nouvelle Tokyo Alley. He's not smiling, there's a scarf ringing around his mouth.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
NERV... oh, right. Okay. She's here because Renais keeps showing up, Akane thinks. She can dress it up as being about the kaiju but she doubts they'd *really* care if one of their own wasn't entangled with the whole mess. Asuka presses even further into her space, and Akane --
-- reaches her limit on that particular thing. She decides to wait on actually saying it until she's addressed everything *else*, but she's now squarely into mad. "If you want to sound like you're not an invader, you're doing a pretty poor job of it," she says, delivering it with utterly flat affect. "And... yeah, it's not normal, but the town goes back to normal every day. I can't spend all my time freaking out about it with end-of-year exams coming."
When Asuka shows her the picture, she looks at it. Sure enough: Anti. "Sorry, I moved here when I was already done with middle school," Akane says, shaking her head. "I don't know any weird middle schoolers." She considers confronting Asuka's grip on her, at this point...
... but even as angry as it makes her, she can't bring herself to just say what she wants. She continues to be crowded into the wall. Her anger -- and fear -- steadily climb.
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
"What because I don't pretend to be a goody two shoes?" Asuka says in a tone pregnant with malice, "Like you? You think that's going to get you anywhere in life when anyone with two brain cells can figure out you're rotten beneath the surface?"
There's a sharp intake of breath, and Asuka's eyes contract.
"What are you stupid? This place doesn't even have proper evacuation protocols - and noone's working on them because everyone forgets about the attacks the next day. Even an idiot like you should be able to realize that you're one late alert away from getting stomped on or blown up - much less everyone around you."
As she indicates that she hasn't seen Anti before, Asuka locks her phone and drops it back in her bag.
"So how about a so-called 'Protector of Tsutsujidai' then? ... and if you say 'Gridman' so help me..." She warns threateningly as if to try to cut off an obvious answer, "...He attacked Nouvelle Tokyo's biggest train station in a mobile suit that was involved in a major Federation incident four years ago. That's not something we're going to let slide."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
'Rotten beneath the surface'? ... That's actually correct, but having it pointed out makes Akane blisteringly upset. "... I guess I'll have to pay more attention," is all Akane says, because saying more would give away so, so much.
The other thing, though... that seems like a good opportunity to chum the waters a little bit. "Protector of Tsutsujidai? And you say he... wait, that doesn't make sense, there haven't been any new mobile suits here since the One Year War!" Akane at least does Asuka the courtesy of seeming startled by this. "It sounds like... I'm right that you're from that other world, at least. And maybe something's leaking out...?"
She pretends to think about it, glancing off, away from Asuka's arms, still curtailing her exits. "I don't know about that either. But if I had to *guess*... Hey, actually, maybe it's someone from your world who knows about ours?" She pauses -- this is practiced, but it at least creates the illusion of working through it. "Maybe some weirdo wants to get more attention to whatever's letting you guys into *this* world, so he's shouting about it while he just... does whatever, with his new mobile suit."
Akane doesn't let the mask crack, because if she lets it crack it's going to shatter, and she still firmly believes she can go back to having her comfortable, safe school life, eventually.
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
To be fair to Akane, Asuka was more being mean when the 'good girl' mask drops than actually being a shrewd judge of character. She assumes that by default that anyone who is being nice just wants something.
Noone is selfless. Everyone is selfish. Even people who don't know they're competing to survive in life - still are.
Asuka does look somewhat confused though as Akane notes there haven't been any new mobile suits here since the One Year War. "That's right. It definitely came from outside..." She confirms, immediately. "... maybe you don't know about it, but it was a Death Knight from the Devil Gundam incident."
She doesn't even address that Akane is obviously right that she's from the other world but... something leaking out? However as Akane glances away, Asuka slides her arm down just fractionally - enough to bar easy escape all the more - to make it an active, concerted effort.
She's been cornered before herself, so she understands the mindset of someone who is.
"Could be. That's not something I can rule out-"
Asuka allows, sounding uncertain for a moment, as if Akane had at least caused some uncertainty in her single minded pursuit, "-but I was here during one of your attacks. One of the Kaiju said it was taking orders... that's unusual behavior for a Kaiju... so that makes me think, there's someone here in town, invested in these Kaiju attacks happening."
She stares Akane right in the eyes, Asuka's blue ones searching with their intensity.
"You're someone who can actually remember the attacks. Have you ever seen behavior like that before?"
Asuka could try to reassure her, that all they're trying to do is keep the town safe. That all they want to do is stop the Kaiju attacks - to remove the Kaiju that stand inert all over the city.
She doesn't do any of that. It's not her job to reassure the ignorant masses, just her duty to protect them.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"... Devil Gundam?" quick, act incredulous "Like some sort of... evil version of the thing from the One Year War? Wow, if you *are* from another world, it sounds like that one's totally out of ideas," she says. (It's easy for her to act like the problems of the outside world aren't real to her, like they don't matter -- at least for this long.)
Akane reorients, noticing the shift in Asuka's posture. Dammit. Akane's red eyes meet Asuka's blue ones... she seems to be getting -- not comfortable, but at least less intimidated overtly rather than more. "Someone who wants the kaiju attacks to happen... that's possible. Usually they're pretty focused until Gridman shows up, like they're going somewhere." She'd be dumb not to notice it -- and Asuka would be dumb not to notice it, too, if she were exposed to more kaiju attacks. So she can't just plead ignorance, since clearly neither of them are fully stupid.
"Only that one kaiju talks, though. The kinda... royal purple and gold one, right? With the accordion tubing on the limbs...?" She thinks aloud, "Or maybe it's more of a navy... anyway, the others don't." That prompts the illusion of reflection.
"Anyway -- it could still be someone from outside, too, right? When Zeon occupied Britannia, they'd still fight to protect the areas they controlled, even though they weren't the ones who had it originally." She shrugs. "Anyway... I feel like we're not going to get anywhere. I already told you what I can about the local kaiju. Anything else isn't my problem." She has to offload this damn girl before she starts getting too close, though... so... "... You could try tracking down this Gridman guy you mentioned, though. I'm guessing that's the giant of light who keeps showing up? Or one of them, anyway. I think there's three now."
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
"Out of innovation in naming? Sure." Asuka allows, "Out of ideas? We're so far removed from that era - that the 'White Devil' of the One Year War is obsolete." She says with no small amount of pride, after all she believes she's fighting in a top of the line anti-alien suit.
"Yeah. It'd be easy to believe it was the Kaiju terrorist - Beast... or involved with triple zero... but after the latest reports, I don't think so. Too much doesn't line up. Beast's Kaiju don't talk... they just follow orders."
Akane though points out there's only one Kaiju that talks, and Asuka slowly nods. "That's the one." Though she looks, frustrated? Like she was hoping for more useful information than simple confirmation... and now NEW thoughts that someone on the outside could be protecting Tsutsujidai. To what end???
"Could be." She gives this brusque grunt of annoyance, sounding thoroughly disgusted. "And you're right... you were absolutely useless."
Asuka does consider that having someone else who knows the state of Tsutsujidai could be useful, and maybe she's just not asking the right questions, but right now at least, she's thoroughly just... done. Being forced to deal with someone who doesn't want to deal with her is this huge waste of energy. If she fought back more than that, she could at least expend the anger - but some part of her holds her back from going too far otherwise.
She's just a nobody who wants to get back to her normal life. She disgusts Asuka as much as she envies her - it's not Akane's fault she's not a designer doll that can't have a normal life.
"And what, you think I haven't found Gridman?" That's a bluff perhaps, she's found the Gridman alliance but she really doesn't care about Gridman and just wants to talk herself up, "Of course I have. The two Ultramen I could care less about."
The arm is suddenly retracted, as Asuka turns back and away, "If I have more questions I'm just going to drop back in. You'd better cooperate if you want to get through exams."
She gives her a dismissive wave, the bully has apparently had her fill, "Anyhow I'm going to be looking around on my own - you do whatever you want. If suddenly the teachers don't let me in next time though - I'll know who tattled."
She walks away without waiting for her to respond.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Good, Akane thinks, at being absolutely useless.
The idea that Asuka's found and made contact with Gridman is interesting -- and Akane almost wants to press her on it... but she doesn't get the chance to. "All right. Just ask for me again if you stop by," she says, as Asuka retreats. She plays the pleasant, obliging ex-class-rep-but-only-because-she-kept-missing-class to the hilt. "Don't worry. I'm not going to tell anyone about this. It'd just freak people out."
On the one hand, that interaction went perfectly. Akane gave Asuka less than nothing and didn't out herself at all. On the *other*...
She has a newfound appreciation for just *how much* Anti screwed up outside, and what's more, she has even more reason to assume the Federation -- or maybe just NERV? -- is doing something weird with her space. Accordingly, once she's not being observed, Akane's posture is *fully* a sulk.