2022-03-26: Seven Days For Spring And Maybe One More In Between
- Log: 2022-03-26: Seven Days For Spring And Maybe One More In Between
- Cast: Akane Shinjo, Rikka Takarada
- Where: Tsutsujidai Park
- OOC - IC Date: 0096-03-26
- Summary: Akane and Rikka catch up a little. It's nice. It's normal. It's nice and it's normal.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Tsutsujidai's park... isn't like the parks in the real world, right now. As the seasons change in reality, things move in ways small and large. Cherry trees blossom; the blossoms scatter.
Here, there's just the low grey stone and the rest stops. Nothing changes. The world barely moves. The weather *fluctuates* -- there's rain, there's sun. It's actually kind of a scorcher today, honestly; the mid-afternoon sun feels particularly hot. In paved areas, it's bright and warm enough to leave a heat haze.
It's too hot even for Akane's summer-sun-loving self. She came to the park to try to get away from things, but in the end she can't quite get out of her own head. (She never can, here.)
She chews at her lower lip. ... maybe she should start telling her *local* friends as much as she's telling the outsiders. She snaps off a text. The familiar mediocrely-drawn form of a Taraba Kaiju accompanies it, as always.
> I'm at the park if you wanna hang o_
Akane looks at that. No, that's wrong.
> Hey Rikka! Did exams go okay? We can meet up at the pa_
No, not right either. Delete delete delete.
Akane sends a picture of the view from the park, and then:
> If you're free right now, it might be nice if you stopped by. It's fine if it's too hot for this kinda thing though.
There, Akane thinks.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Being recently off exams combined with today's harsh summer heat, Rikka doesn't feel like doing much at all. That's why today sees her sprawled out on her bed, determined to do absolutely nothi-
Beep.
Rikka draws out her phone, flips open the cover, and raises it to her face, pauses, takes note of the picture and reads the accompanying message once, then twice over before immediately sitting up.
> I'll be right there.
Looks like today's plans have changed already!
It doesn't take long for her to get ready and head out, taking another look at her phone to figure out where to go. That doesn't take her long, either, and soon she arrives at the designated place.
"...Hey, Akane." Rikka greets as she arrives, offering a wave and a small smile.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Of course she's here this fast, Akane thinks.
Sitting a little straighter, Akane feels a small pang of guilt at calling Rikka out here at all -- but it quickly abates. It might not even be noticeable to anyone but her, when usually her emotions are such loud things. "Hey Rikka!" she calls, with an enthused smile of her own. She scoots to the side a bit on the park bench, half-asking, "The sun's really beating down, huh?"
There's a moment where she considers what she even wants to say. She doesn't want to ambush Rikka right away with uncomfortably real talk -- it's a little bit heavy, and she's kind of trying to get away from that, but...
She settles for, "Are you having a good spring break? It's kinda weird to think we're going to be second-years soon... the time has really been whipping by since I moved here." It's a strange thought, for her -- stranger than perhaps she realizes, even. She honestly hadn't thought about the fact that even here, she might be moving forward, might be changing, even in just those incremental ways.
"And -- do you want some candy? They were doing a promotion, and I usually don't eat this stuff anymore..." She absently rummages in her bag. It sounds like a *lot* of rummaging -- a lot of random loose things.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Akane scoots to the side, and so Rikka accepts the offered seat, sitting down next to her.
"Hahah, yeah, it really is." Rikka replies with a small laugh, massaging the back of her neck. As for spring break...
"It's been nice to be able to just relax... school was a real killer there at the end." Rikka confirms with a nod, and pauses when Akane brings up the passage of time. Second-years... she hadn't really thought about that. "...It hasn't really set in for me either. It feels like it hasn't been that long at all."
She's had a lot bigger things to think about than school lately... though a part of her feels sad, like she's neglected something important.
"...Do you think we'll still be in the same class?" She considers, after a moment.
Akane begins to rummage through her bag, then, and Rikka glances over to her. She doesn't try to peek inside, but it doesn't escape her just how much she's rummaging through.
"Oh, sure! If you're offering." Rikka agrees with a nod, as Akane asks if she'd like some candy.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
The uncomfortable question, at least, is something Akane can answer. "The classes are mostly the same. They're going from six classes down to five! The first-year rosters were a little thin, so they split up 1-F across everyone else. But otherwise, yeah, we'll be moving up together."
How did she come by *that* information...? "... I snuck a peek when I went to the faculty lounge to see Todo-san -- you know, the new math teacher. He's actually getting shuffled up too, I think." ... maybe she was worrying about the same thing.
She actually needs to pull a few things *out* of her bag -- a few loose gilla, some bank cards, a bus pass, a couple of small scientific containers... *then* she finally finds it. It's just a handful of hard candies, but still.
She takes the opportunity to hand them to Rikka. There's a certain amount of hesitation in the motion -- at first it's like she thinks Rikka's hands are spun glass, and if she so much as touches them one of them is going to shatter. Once she gets close enough, though, the effect inverts, and her other hand comes up beneath Rikka's to stabilize it as she dumps maybe a little *too* much hard candy into her hands, almost greedy for the transient contact. "Here!" she says, with a smile.
"I'm getting extra lessons," she says, pivoting back to school. "Todo-san thinks I need to get out of my comfort zone, so he's got me learning 3D modeling. It's kinda exhausting. I'm only okay with computers. I bet you'd have an easier time."
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"Oh, that's good..." Rikka replies, visibly relieved when Akane explains that they'll all be in the same class again. Especially with everything that's been happening lately, it's nice to know that some things will be staying lately.
"Oh, I heard about him... I haven't gotten a chance to meet him yet, though. What's he like?" Rikka asks, curious, as Akane mentions the new math teacher. She glances, briefly, toward the loose items Akane draws out. Bank cards and a bus pass... she makes a brief mental note for herself.
She notices the hesitation as Akane starts to hand the candies for her... and the opposite, as she stabilizes her hand. Rikka doesn't seem to mind. Akane might be greedy for contact, but Rikka certainly doesn't make any attempt to disengage, either.
"Thanks." Rikka replies with a smile, stowing the candies away carefully. The conversation turns back toward school, then. Extra lessons - 3D modeling, to be specific. Rikka nods in understanding. It's true that she tends to be pretty good with computers, herself...
"Yeah, I bet that's rough... I'm sure you can do it, though." She replies encouragingly, then pauses for a moment. "...If you want, I could give you some pointers sometime? I haven't really worked with 3D modeling software before, but I bet I know a few things that could help..."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane had *hoped* to see Rikka eat again -- it was nice, on the bus, even if it wasn't her feeding her. There's something about seeing other people feeling joy, feeling nourished, feeling cared-for that activates her brain warmly. Then again -- carefully putting them away to savor them is that, too...
... she's fine. Maybe a little more awkward, though, is the offer of help. That's -- not how this is supposed to go. Her heart twists up in a knot, a little bit -- but the fear doesn't quite reach her expression. Besides -- even after they crush Gridman... she'll still have this. She's even laid out for Renais that even in the *worst* outcome she can imagine, she still wants this -- and it sounds like having it is fine there, too.
Maybe she can peek out. Just a crack. "Okay," she says. "I was kinda thinking of picking up a laptop... originally I was going to do it on my desktop, but my room is..." She rubs at the back of her head a little awkwardly.
Her brain tries to shift gears away from the grim spectre of intimacy -- and shifts with a clunk. *Now* the practicals come out. "... You know, now that I think about it, with how much class you've been missing lately... did you sneak off to the world the mecha come from?" she asks. "A girl from over there showed up at school a little while ago, too... things are getting kind of weird."
The shift in her tone is subtle, but hard to miss; there's a pressure, there, an expectation, that wasn't there just a moment ago. She expects full, complete honesty.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"Oh, laptops are good... It's great to be able to just lie down wherever and do what you want. ...Oh, maybe that's admitting too much." Rikka replies with a small chuckle. She doesn't pry about Akane's room - it seems like an awkward subject, as much as she's curious.
Akane changes the subject, then, and asks about the world outside. The sudden change of tone is subtle, but... intense, like a shift in the world itself. Rikka freezes up at the change as Akane asks that question, and points out how a girl from over there showed up.
...What should she say? But Akane does know about the kaiju already, and if she knows about the outside world...
...Besides. They're supposed to be working together. Shouldn't she be honest?
"...A few times, yeah. I didn't know what was happening at first, the first time..." She admits with some hesitation, massaging the back of her neck.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
For a moment, Akane manages to pivot back. "You do like to take it easy. It's hard to miss you, Namiko, and Hass's cuddle-pile." If there's teasing there, it's the sort of light, fun kind; she doesn't seem to feel excluded, at least.
It doesn't last, though. She scoots in a little closer. Normally, it might be nice, but there's something ominous about it -- or maybe that's just the sun ducking behind a stray cloud making the whole place a little darker.
"Every time I hear about it it sounds kinda horrible... the PLANTs at war? Whatever's going on with that woman from Chasseur? I wish it wasn't real." Then again... "... here isn't totally peaceful either, but I bet it'd calm down pretty fast if all the junk from over there stopped spilling in."
... maybe she shouldn't be too negative. Rikka ought to form her own opinions. "What did you think about it?" she asks, legitimately curious. "I don't know if I could make myself go. That's... a lot to handle."
... Maybe she should even push Rikka to go, though. It'd make her less beholden to -- all of this. All the plates Akane is spinning in the hopes that someday she'll be left alone. Rikka doesn't deserve it -- but then again... no, she can't be *alone*, alone, again. And Rikka doesn't deserve how much that world hurts, either.
... does she deserve how much *this* world hurts, though?
Maybe this whole thing was unfair from the start...
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"Do we really stand out that much...?" Rikka replies, with a good-natured chuckle. She doesn't seem offended by the teasing, at least, taking it as the light fun it's intended to be.
But, the conversation soon turns back to the subject of the outside world and Rikka's expression falls a little as she thinks about it.
"...Yeah. I'm not sure what happened over there to make everything go so differently... It's kind of sad." She replies, shaking her head. Where there was peace in Tsutsujidai's history, it seemed like the fighting never stopped... Reading up on it hasn't been a fun experience, but it's something she didn't want to turn away from.
"It's... different." She says, a bit lamely, as she takes a moment to gather her thoughts. "Tsutsujidai is so cozy, but out there it feels like nothing ever... stops. Like there's never any time to breathe. It's been a little hard to get used to."
She shakes her head a little.
"...It isn't all bad, though. I've met some nice people out there, too, and they're better at dealing with disasters..." She considers. "...Plus, the music scene is pretty interesting. ...Different, but interesting."
As for Akane going, Rikka considers that for a moment.
"...I'm sure it'd be pretty hard to go on your own. But, if you ever wanted to visit it with someone..." She starts. She lets it hang there a bit sheepishly, the offer unsaid but implied.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Nothing ever stops outside, huh... yeah, maybe that's true. Akane's moved around a lot. Then again -- once she stopped being *forced* to move, she stopped moving very much at all. She loses her footing, a little; she goes from pressing to melancholy, for a bit.
Rikka makes an offer, too. Akane wonders if she's ready for that. It'd... probably have to come with the truth, though. She isn't sure she could remain -- like this, if she left. She's made herself someone appealing -- that's why everyone likes her, isn't it? And to step outside, to strip that away, she'd have to be... plain old Akane again.
Rikka probably wouldn't want that, either. Tsutsujidai loves its god -- and its god is short and full-figured, with hair shading from lilac to grey. Tsutsujidai wouldn't care about a lonely girl.
"... It sounds like you're having fun out there. I really don't think I could pull it off, though. Maybe another time." She breathes out and shakes her head.
"Hey, listen... I should tell you what's really going on. That woman -- the Chasseur woman, with the black robot... she's going to attack again soon. Sayla, Guy, and I are trying to save her. ... When she comes, stay safe, okay?" She suspects Rikka, of course, of being a little more than 'her classmate,' at this point... then again -- if she wants *Renais* to come home safe, shouldn't Rikka be among those fighting? Wouldn't it be better with more?
... this got overcomplicated again.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"That's alright. You shouldn't push yourself if you're not ready... It's a big change." Rikka replies with a nod. She doesn't want to push Akane, especially when it comes to something as big as visiting another world. The important thing is that the offer is open.
...And that's when Akane drops a bombshell - the woman in the black robot is going to take again. Surprised, Rikka breathes in sharply. She remembers Akane mentioning before that she wanted to save her...
"...Right. I'll... make sure everyone's safe and out of the way." She replies with a nod, after taking a moment to regain her composure. "Are you... going to be involved? You be sure to stay safe too, okay, Akane?"
She doesn't want to see her get hurt... but, it'd feel hypocritical to tell her not to do anything considering all the danger she was putting herself in, even if she hasn't told her that part yet.
...Especially since she'd probably end up fighting, too.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"My role in things is... mostly over. I just had to tell her that if she won a fight here, against anyone who came, I'd..." ... this is such a horrible thing to admit to. It'll worry Rikka immensely, and Akane knows that. After all, Akane set her up that way. "... I'd join her."
... too ominous! Too ominous! "I mean I only said that 'cuz if she beats the guy with the drill knees, uh, we're kinda doomed anyway! It's not like I want that!" She gives a strained, nervous little smile, as she concedes, "The stuff that's messing with her head just sounded too horrible, and it's not really a problem I can solve." Careful phrasing -- but honest, at least.
"I'll probably be off to the side. I'm getting really good at keeping an eye on things with my drone," she notes. "And they told me they'd have some kinda car robot waiting for me in case things got *really* bad... but I don't think it's gonna come to that. For some reason, she's really worried about me... I don't think she'd even move the fight toward our side of town if she could avoid it."
She laughs at that, and admits, "It sounds crazy, right? 'I've got a weird parasite in my brain or something that's making me need to destroy everything, but I also really want a buddy that'll watch Tarabaman with me!' It doesn't even make sense." With a final little giggle, she concedes, "At least there's one normal person in my life, huh, Rikka."
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Rikka is, in fact, immensely worried!
"A-Akane-" Rikka starts... but, Akane quickly amends the statement and Rikka relaxes. ...Just a little, anyway. It's still worrying, especially the part about being doomed anyway if it doesn't work. She eases in a bit as Akane explains she'll be off to the side, and that they have plans to keep her safe should things get bad.
"...That's good. I'm glad they thought that far ahead..." Rikka replies, seeming a bit relieved at that. She doesn't know Guy that well - or at all - but she feels like she can trust Sayla to look after Akane, at least.
It's interesting, though, how much the woman in the black robot seems to care about Akane, despite the situation...
"...Maybe a little crazy, but it does feel like there might be some hope..." Rikka considers... and then pauses.
Normal person, huh.
"Yeah..." Rikka replies with a nod, suddenly feeling a little terrible for lying.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
... Yeah, maybe a little too far in ruining the moment. They're going to need at *least* a change of scenery to get past that one, she thinks, and maybe something more.
Taking a moment to collect all the things she dumped out of her bag while poking around for candies, Akane says, "I'm looking forward to second year with --" stumble -- "everyone. It's nice that they're not shaking things up much."
Something occurs to her. "Hey, did you get invited to the spring break trip with most of our class? I think Ako put everything together... I don't know if *everyone's* coming, but it sounds like it's getting pretty big. I'd call and ask her, but keeping track of everyone she's pitched it to doesn't seem like her strong suit..."
Why even ask, Akane thinks to herself. You're going to bait Gridman out with a kaiju whether or not Rikka's there. It doesn't make any difference... does it?
"Because I'm kind of looking forward to seeing you in a swimsuit, if you are!"
At literally any movement -- or non-movement, Akane brings a hand up to her mouth and grins impishly. "... hehehe, just kidding~"
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
The mood hangs awkwardly in the air for a moment, but thankfully Akane puts things back on a different track.
"Yeah, me too... I don't mind meeting new people, but I like our class as it is now." Rikka admits. So many people she cared about, altogether in the same room. It was convenient, in a way. And then, Akane brings up the spring break trip.
"Oh, yeah, I did... It sounds like she's been planning this for a while." Rikka replies with a nod. "...That's... probably true. Hopefully there's someone keeping track of her..."
And then, Akane says she's looking forward to seeing her in a swimsuit. Naturally, Rikka's mind screeches to a halt as she processes this and tries to figure out if she's serious about it. Everything comes to a stop... at least until Akane says she was just kidding.
Rikka laughs a little in that good-humored way, massaging the back of her neck as she relaxes.
"I'm... sure it'll be nice, though." She decides.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"The trip, I mean." She adds quickly, realising she left things a little too open.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Taking a breath, Akane shoulders her bag. "Marusan's pretty smart. I think between the two of them it'll go just fine." ... Well, excepting everything she's planning to do to it, but that's -- she can't think about that in this context. The trip itself will be fine.
Everyone but Rikka, Utsumi, Hibiki, and herself will even *remember* it being fine.
Good enough.
... besides, now *her* brain is short-circuiting a little too. Sure, the joke is flirtatious -- but is she getting flirtation *back*? 'It'll be nice' --
Oh. The *trip*. Right. Not. Not Rikka's thighs, literally and metaphorically living in her head -- right right yeah okay. Another joke pops to mind -- but if she starts stacking them it's either cruel or it's going to force the issue, and neither is great.
... So she just giggles, instead. Finally standing up, she says, "Let's get out of the heat for a bit... it's seriously too hot to be outside. I think both of us could use a bottle of tea or something!" Stretching out and rolling her shoulders, she says, "Really, after that we should probably head home, though... still, thanks for coming out."
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"Yeah, definitely." Rikka agrees, when it comes to Marusan. They complement each other pretty well, in that regard...
Akane giggles and stands up and Rikka follows suit.
"Yeah, tea sounds great right about now, actually..." Rikka agrees with a nod. She could definitely use an opportunity to cool down, and a chance to get in out of the heat would be great too.
"Yeah... but hey, no problem. It's been nice talking with you, Akane... thanks for inviting me." Rikka replies, offering her a smile.
This was definitely better than lying on the bed and doing nothing all day.