2022-05-11: Normal

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<Pose Tracker> Arriety Hearn has posed.


        Arriety is huddled down in a park (yeah, That Park, with the view of the river, next to the garbage can that gets routinely cleaned out... or refilled by the kaiju? for stuff for Anti to root through), seated on a bench with a blanket around her shoulders and head.

        She's got a bottle of water with her, and takes a big, long swig from it. She's thrown up twice now, but has largely worked through the physical reactions of her trauma. "What's going on... there, now?"

        She can't really see. The concert hall's far away enough now. She doesn't really want to think about the concert anymore. The old thoughts are wriggling their way into the ol' brain. Concerts just end in disaster, in trauma.

        She should give that dream up.

<Pose Tracker> BC-001 Minae has posed.

        Most of Minae's work was done in the immediate aftermath of the concert, four lightsticks bundled together to act as a signalling wand to direct people down the safest route away from the concert grounds. Here and there she'd helped with first aid as much as she dared to, but with Arriety limp in her arms she'd slipped away when the actual authorities began to show up.

        Since then she's stuck close to Arriety's side, making sure to remain within the other girl's periphery when she can and within her sightline when she can't. A convenience store got her some water and painkillers, with some money left on the counter along with a polite note. There's some bandages and snacks in a bag for good measure, in case low blood sugar comes into play.

        For now, she's got a hand on Arriety's back, rubbing slowly in what she hopes is a soothing manner. The fight is something of a dust cloud now, and it's the first time she's tried to really look through it to track what's going on. "Mm... I can't really see either. There's a lot of dust and debris," she replies quietly. "But I think most people got clear. There was a lot of security there."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

A drone sweep of the city tells Akane a lot about where people have stuck around. She finds someone... having freshly finished throwing up, on the other end of the park from the event? Hrm. Arriety did seem nice last time they talked... she could use an unassuming presence like that right now.

Granted, she has one most of the time... but she asked Alexis to give her a little space, and it's mean-spirited to run hot and cold.

So it goes that in Tsutsujidai -- still oppressively hot -- she decides to go say hello to the huddled masses. She approaches slowly but surely.

"Oh, hey," the lilac-haired girl starts. She looks between Minae and Arriety... hm. "I didn't realize you two knew each other," she starts, casually. "I heard the concert got really crazy after I left..."

<Pose Tracker> Arriety Hearn has posed.


        Arriety does find the hand on her back soothing. She's pointedly not looking at the dust in the distance where the fight is... well, it's finished by now, but she doesn't know that for certain, and she's definitely not gonna look. The heat's not helping. She gulps more water down.

        "We should go home," she decides all of a sudden, before pausing as someone else suddenly says 'hey'. "Oh... Akane! Um, yeah-- Minae's kind of my guardian. She helped me start everything as a kid, and we've known each other for years."

        She blinks a few times. "Were you at the concert too? It's a good thing you got out... there was a-- kaiju, or two... another kind of alien? My head's fuzzy. I don't really remember what happened." 

<Pose Tracker> BC-001 Minae has posed.

        The fact that her senses feel somewhat muted in Tsutsujidai does nothing to stop Minae being on high alert. The fight might track its way towards them, or there may be other students and concert-goers to help, or the noise and destruction might wake up one of the kaiju that sit motionless around the town's perimeter.

        Caring for her charge is a good way to occupy herself, letting her focus on something right in front of her rather than worry too much about what might be. It's something of a blessing right now that she can regulate her motions to not outwardly show any worry, well aware of how it might magnify Arriety's state - but she still turns quickly at the sound of footsteps coming their way.

        "Oh-- Miss Akane," she greets, and immediately frowns in good-natured concern. "Please be careful out here. I think the danger's subsiding a little, but it might be a lot safer if you stayed home and under shelter. Were you hurt at all?" are her peppered initial questions, before she catches herself and smiles a little helplessly.

        "As Arriety says, we've been together a very long time. Though we're friends as well, of course," she pouts, trying to add in a lighthearted moment in hopes it might help before she continues: "There was some kind of attack, yes. I didn't really see where it came from, but security were on scene very quickly. Though I can't believe someone would just immediately land on the stage to pick the singer up." 

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane actually has to take a moment and self-assess when Arriety mentions her head is fuzzy. Is the nerve gas getting better at affecting real people? Or is this just --

... okay, no. That'll take either testing or very careful, very specific questioning.

Instead: "Yeah, I was there. I didn't realize I was out as late as I was, and I didn't tell my guardian ahead of time, so I ended up having to leave early." She could talk about getting crept on, but -- no, a stronger person wouldn't have that happen. It's fine.

"Sounds like I missed a lot!" she half-enthuses, before elaborating, "'Someone,' huh -- a kaiju or two...?" She *does* find herself wondering about the other kaiju that showed up, admittedly. "Yeah, it's really weird that so many showed up at once, right? I know it's been kinda crazy here lately, but that's pretty strange." 

<Pose Tracker> Arriety Hearn has posed.


        Arriety drags her legs up and huddles in quasi-fetal position. She's still rocking opaque leggings even in this weather, which is possibly not helping, but she doesn't like bare skin against weather either, she's finding out. Her enormous jacket is also still around her, as are her gloves.

        ... yeah, there's no surprise she's overheating.

        "Yeah, there was even that VF..." Arriety remarks to Minae. "And that giant guy. Didn't look like a robot." She has no vocabulary for an 'Ultraman' or a 'Vessel of Light'.

        She looks to Akane. "Oh, yeah, I get how it is... Minae gets worried if I don't tell her where I'm going either," she remarks. "... yeah. It's--" A pause. "I kinda lost it. It reminds me a lot of the kaiju that showed up in our colony."

        As if to punctuate it, Myrme appears at this point -- a foot-tall Bean-shaped rhino beetle coloured silver with insect wings -- and plops on Arriety's head, which prompts a 'ugh'. "I got you some bottled water, Arriety! Whoa, who's this? Hey, I'm Myrme!"

        'Myrme' was the name of the kaiju-infested mobile suit she talked bout last time, which would also probably mean... 

<Pose Tracker> BC-001 Minae has posed.

        Minae is a trusting soul by default. Despite the kaiju attack, despite the wave of thoughts and feelings she had earlier around Tsutsujidai's isolation and the encroachment of the outside world into this anomalous town, she still finds herself smiling in support. "That might have been for the best, at least in this case. Though, to be honest, you didn't really strike me as the sort of person who really worried about curfew."

        Akane calls it 'strange', and Minae hesitates. "I'm afraid I haven't really been keeping up with what's been going on here," she has to admit after a moment, because what the pale-haired girl is saying implies... she's not sure if she should even ask in front of Arriety, but the other girl sounds a little more lucid by now. "Do you regularly get kaiju appearing?"

        "Given how quickly they responded, the event's security must have been very heavy. I can't really blame them in hindsight, I suppose, but it still feels rather irresponsible to immediately escalate while everyone was trying to get clear," the robot adds with a light pout, before drawing in a breath and looking back to Akane. "Thankfully, as best I could tell, most people were able to get away safely. I hope things won't be too bad there."

        Another kaiju attack!... Minae once again looks at Myrme, and then slowly up towards the motionless kaiju on the horizon. She's not really sure what to think about that impulse, or even if she's thinking of anything in specific. "Thank you, Myrme," she tries instead with a smile, and an approving nod at the bean trying to help out: "Good job."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane isn't exactly doing much better, with her heavy hooded sweatshirt and gradient tights. She's a little more used to it, but she's constantly guzzling tea. "Oh, that? I think that's called an 'Ultraman,'" Akane says, of the giant. "Like Tarabamen but... you know, actually happening." She weaves her way carefully around the word 'real.'

Looking over to Myrme, Akane instantly looks more excited. "Ooh -- hey there! A talking kaiju..." Not impossible -- she's made one, obviously -- but still... "You're kinda cute, in a way..."

When Akane's told she doesn't seem the type to worry about curfew, she ... decides to just carefully not comment on that, and focus on kaiju talk. Potentially self-incriminating, but it makes more sense. "Only a handful of people remember kaiju attacks here... usually it's just, poof! Gone the next day. Everything's back to normal. A few people started noticing around the start of the year... I notice, too."

That bit of careful phrasing out of the way, Akane circles back to security. "I'm surprised they brought... *that much* security. Normally this ward is pretty sleepy... did someone tip them off?" Then again, it wouldn't be the first time performers had showed up...

<Pose Tracker> Arriety Hearn has posed.


        "I mean, they've already been attacked once by those Zentradi remnants when they first came to Earth orbit... that was the one I got caught up in," Arriety remarks to Minae. "So it makes sense. ... geez, attacked twice. Hope Miss Sheryl doesn't think she's cursed or something."

        Arriety takes the water from Myrme, who immediately begins eating her empty one instead. Cronch cronch cronch, plastic goes cronch. The tiny kaiju looks up at Akane. "Plastic's kind of a guilty pleasure for me," she pipes up somewhat randomly. "But people praise me a whole lot when I eat plastic."

        "Ultraman... wow, I didn't think Tarabaman was based on-- something existing," Arriety murmurs. She looks a bit surprised when Akane says people just forget and -- poof! everything's normal the next day. "Wow, not even Nouvelle Tokyo has something that good."

        Did someone tip them off? "... maybe. Londo Bell was there when that kaiju attacked too. ..."

        She sighs. "I feel kinda bad, remembering it. ... the kaiju in our colony attacked our school first, for some reason. Completely wrecked the drama club room with those girls that made fun of me. ... I remember hearing that and-- well, I feel bad that I felt happy, inside," she remembers relaying that to Minae.

        "I mean, I didn't get to feel happy for long, since it started coming after me." She stares at Myrme, who's still distracted eating bottlecaps like they were M&Ms.

<Pose Tracker> BC-001 Minae has posed.

        The robot is a big cheat, of course. Hot or cold it doesn't bother her, but it's not like she's going to chide either of them for staying hydrated either. She's patient whenever they break for a drink, waiting for the conversation to resume. "Oh, I see," she notes of Ultraman, and pauses to evaluate that. "I suppose that makes sense. There've certainly seen stranger things in the last decade or so."

        The point at which she really pauses is when Akane tells her that aside from a handful of people, Tsutsujidai doesn't remember the kaiju attacks. Part of her is still trying to figure out the puzzle of the anomaly, and before she knows it, some inner instinct is examining Akane's words more closely. It's not the first time she's compared the place to a lucid dream - the train departure and the fog took her down that route - but the thought comes back to her again.

        Another impulse rises up past it, though. "That must be very difficult for those of you who can," she says with genuine feeling, a frown on her face again. "I thought it was bad enough when you mentioned being the only ones to see the kaiju on the horizon, but attacks as well? ... we're not supposed to just take these things in stride and carry on. It's important to decompress and work through things later."

        She nods along with Arriety's comments. "I don't think it was a matter of anyone being forewarned, I think it's just Miss Nome being that big a star. I think you're right that they must have been erring on the side of caution." Not to mention scheduling a concert in a mysterious pocket location, which still feels... very short-sighted to her.

        The robot rubs once more at Arriety's back. "I can't blame you for feeling that way in the moment, given your history with them. Everyone's allowed the occasional stray thought. It's okay," she smiles. "And it's good that you've reflected on it since, too." 

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Sheryl keeps getting attacked? Huh... well, maybe that makes Alexis and Grace make more sense, Akane thinks to herself. If Sheryl is secretly attack-prone, maybe Grace is *her* Alexis.

A plastic-eating kaiju... "Ooh, yeah. If you can process it into something that breaks down, that's huge," Akane enthuses to Myrme. ... something seems to click in her brain as she says that, though. A kaiju that can fix a problem... it's not exactly dissimilar to the Venora, but there's something to Myrme's approach that activates Akane's brain in an unexpected way.

On the other hand, Arriety mentions... *huh.* "I think that's kind of a crappy thing to feel, but like, I get it." It's one thing when it's her people, her world -- another when, no, it's definitely real people Arriety is...

... but wait, what does that say about the time she asked Anti to clean up his mess with Asuka? What about what she's thinking of asking him next?

... okay, yeah, she's a bad person too. That Minae says it's okay to feel that way is the real weird part of this whole thing for her. "... you guys sure let a lot of stuff rock," is what she eventually settles on. "But yeah! Honestly, I think it's better this way," Akane notes, on the topic of taking things in stride and moving on. "People don't even remember the people who died. Everyone can just... have their normal life."

<Pose Tracker> Arriety Hearn has posed.


        "I still don't believe some of the things you say you've seen, to be honest," Arriety does remark to Minae with a raised eyebrow. Minae's seen a lot of shit! And her world's just a little too small for her to make that jump right now.

        Myrme laughs, at that point. "Huh... I could be a superstar or something! Come watch the plastic and space debris-eating Myrme!" she guffaws at her own joke, and keeps eating.

        It's difficult for those who can... "I guess... that's true. But... don't you wish you could just forget, sometimes? I don't blame them for being that way," Arriety comments somewhat bluntly.

        She stops, and takes out a little film canister. She pops a pill, without even asking Minae if she should. It's one of her benzos. She's still not calm enough, even after this long.

        "See, Miss Akane agrees," Arriety gestures towards the lilac-haired girl, her tone getting a bit more dour. "Like, it makes sense why, but that's a real awful thing to think of anyone, even your bullies, wishing they were dead."

        She slumps backwards. "That wasn't even the worst part. Someone died protecting me... like... what'm I supposed to do with that? Manga and anime make it sound so easy. 'You should live honouring them' and all that. I'm so tired of people dying around me..."

        A longer pause, shaking her head. "Sorry, Miss Akane, that's real bad stuff. The meds'll kick in a bit." 

<Pose Tracker> BC-001 Minae has posed.

        "Well, working with the GGG was something of an experience sometimes," Minae has to admit back to Arriety with a quiet smile tinged with just a little nostalgia. "At the time, I didn't really have any context for exactly how unusual most of it would seem to a normal person. By the same token, to me, Winter Wonderland was full of curiosities to try to figure out."

        She's faced with two people wishing they could just forget - and she softens into a sympathetic smile. "I think that's a fair impulse. And it might be easier that way, to just forget and move on. Of course, I wouldn't blame them, especially since it sounds like it's beyond their control. Still... it's a shame they're leaving the rest of you behind, as it were, to be the only ones who remember."

        Minae is smart enough to realise that this is absolutely not the time to ask Arriety how she'd feel if she forgot Winter Wonderland, never mind that the question isn't one that would have an answer they could predict. Instead, she nods with understanding at the sight of the medicine bottle, offering the bottle in her direction as an implicit agreement.

        "I'm not saying it's a good thought to have," she adds gently once Arriety's taken the pill. "And I'm not saying you shouldn't feel remorseful about it in retrospect. Just that I can understand why you'd think that way, and that I'm not going to take you to task for it any more than you're already doing that yourself. I think it's better to take a lesson from it and look forwards - even if that can feel difficult at times."

        Perhaps it's her perspective or her history saying that. Algernon brought a very real consequence to a downwards spiral.

        She lets out a slow breath at Arriety's last statement, a frown flickering across her face. She could say that it's not Arriety's obligation, but she knows the situation's a lot more complicated than that, what with Myrme and the Zeta and the Federation's eyes on the situation.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane glances at the pills for a moment. That's... Akane would never be that comfortable taking medication in front of someone. It invites so many questions, so much assessment by prying eyes. ... Arriety's kind of brave in her own right, Akane realizes, even if she doesn't think it.

Akane doesn't realize she's staring a little -- and shakes herself out of it by focusing on... wow, that's a whole mess too, actually. "... yeah, no idea on that one," Akane answers the question of someone dying for you. Even the thought of Anti -- an existence she created, who she owes nothing (everything) -- dying on her behalf was Too Much. "Sorry, uh, yeah."

Akane looks to Minae, now, chewing on that whole thing in her head a bit. "Well... I think it's fine. *I'd* rather know than not know," she muses. "But I do kinda think it'd be easier to just keep pretending things were all normal."

Despite the heat, she puts her hood up after saying that. She needs just a *little* more of a barrier, now.

<Pose Tracker> Arriety Hearn has posed.


        Arriety accepts the bottle from Minae and downs the water, before digesting what the counselor has to say. "I do get the lesson. ... not sure I'm 'looking forward' the way you want. It's still a work in progress after all this time."

        In some way, the thought of being private about her medication never crossed Arriety's mind because... she never started out at any semblance of 'normal' in other people's eyes -- what does she care if they who think of her the weird girl who doubles up in pain and scowls and hides in the closet know she takes pills? They probably expect it. Jerks.

        She does, however, instantly and intensely feel that 'oh gosh I just dropped a bomb on the conversation' dysphoria and makes an immediate leap of a smile on her face. "Hey, did you ever finish that landscape of yours? I think that was what you were talking about, right?"

        A pause. "I'm... kinda curious about trying. Having a hobby where I can make something with my hands. I don't know where to start, though." This, at least, isn't a lie-to-get-people-to-like-her-again; she is curious. "And my hands are kind of... klutzy." 

<Pose Tracker> BC-001 Minae has posed.

        The robot lightly tilts her head towards Akane. "Like a lot of the questions around this sort of thing, there's no single right answer. I can't turn around and say that one thing or another is absolutely true, and I can't decide for someone else what their values should be." She pauses, and goes as far as to wrinkle her nose, which she's always found rather complex to do properly. "There are times when that in itself isn't a very helpful thing to say, I know."

        "But I can at least make sure I don't blame someone unfairly," she sums up, before glancing over at Arriety with a smile. "For instance, do you really think I'd claim you have some kind of time limit? We're all works in progress, I think. I can't consider myself complete until I get to taste your food," she suddenly adds out of nowhere, probably picking up on the impending shift in topic.

        "Should we move somewhere more comfortable?" she immediately chips in as she listens along to the lighter conversation. "A fan would probably be good for the two of you, or a bit of a walk." You can absolutely see the point at which she very nearly starts talking about how it's okay for Arriety to try something new, but manages to barely hold herself back. She's used up all her lecture points for now.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane *receives* a gentle offramp. Usually she's the one giving those. It's a nice type of thing to receive, honestly, and she takes it almost immediately, even if it (unbeknownst to Arriety) is actually yet more kaiju talk. "Yeah, I did. It kinda fell apart after I finished... I think it was a little overambitious. But I learned a lot and changed things up! Now I'm back to my usual smaller stuff, but I figured out a lot."

... actually, wow, they're *both* offering some offramps. "Sure thing -- we can go shopping. At least getting to the mall would let us get somewhere air conditioned..." She could REALLY use air conditioning, honestly, right now. It'd certainly make it easier to keep that hood up.

"Wait -- cooking? Huh... I usually just buy instant crap, but I've tried cooking for people myself a little, lately, too... what kinda stuff do you make?" It's a good topic for a walk to the shopping center or something, at least.

<Pose Tracker> Arriety Hearn has posed.


        Arriety pauses at Minae, and says, "I'm still not sure if I'm pushing something unfairly on you on that. Like, I'd totally figure out how to make motor oil cuisine work for Super-AIs," she grumbles, but it's not with annoyance in her heart. She just wants to do right by her guardian.

        Akane explains that her creation fell apart after she finished. "Oh, wow... that's a real shame. But it's-- good to learn from it. Yeah, I've had that lesson too, when I tried making kimchi the first time."

        Which segues nicely to Akane asking what sorta stuff she makes -- "I've been learning how to make Korean cooking, since... well, my family are Korean, and I... still kinda identify that way too, even if I'm from space. I'll happily make some for you, if you want. I'm getting confident with my bulgogi."

<Pose Tracker> BC-001 Minae has posed.

        The robot has only half of the conversation, but she can figure out some of the rest of it from there. "Ah, like a diorama? Mm, I remember Ah-ri had to make one of those for school at one point. It was pretty hard getting everything to balance. I think we ended up using some sneaky glue in places," she admits a dark secret in a placid tone of voice.

        As they walk she's sticking close to Arriety, just in case. A little normalcy in a sleepy town wouldn't hurt, but she's not about to pretend that they're out of the woods just yet. "You're not pushing anything on me," she promises with a brighter smile. "I'm excited to see what we can think of! I know Omoikane suggested we use VR, but I'm not sure that'd really be as satisfying for either of us."

        "Ah-ri's listed as a pilot, but she's ended up behind the mess hall counter at two different battleships now," she notes for Akane's sake with more than a touch of pride. "I think I prefer it that way, personally speaking. It suits you a lot better." 

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Oh, uh... I don't eat much," Akane answers, rubbing at the back of her head. Arriety seems to be doing better than she was when Akane approached her, at least, and she's kinda happy for that, though. "And my guardian is kinda particular about what I eat... I wouldn't mind watching you cook, though! I've been trying to get into the habit of making food for my friends instead of just buying them crap."

She looks to Minae, then Arriety, then Minae again. "Wait -- is that a thing...? Do robots really drink motor oil and eat, I don't know, tires or something?" *That* has her giggling, as they walk. It's an absurd image.

"I guess even on a ship people need to eat, though," she reflects. It's something she's never really thought about before -- the mundanity of being on a warship. "It sucks that they have you piloting even though you should probably just be cooking."

<Pose Tracker> Arriety Hearn has posed.


        "Uhhh, don't remind me of that science fair project," Arriety whines at Minae. "I don't know what possessed me to make a little volcano and how much I insisted I wanted to make it explode... and it went all over the place and triggered the fire sprinklers..."

        Still, it's not such a traumatic memory she's not just dissociating from it. She must've had a bit of fun calling some fire engines to school. "Oh, some robots totally drink motor oil. I've seen some of the Super AI from the Braves, and they had these giant teacups sized for them and was just sipping oil out of them!"

        She pointedly leaves the question of whether Minae drinks motor oil to the counselor, though.

        "Y-yeah, I'd probably be happier as an assistant cook. I've learnt a lot," Arriety reflects in turn. "I totally get it, though -- I love making food for my friends too, watching them taste it and everything... sure, I'll do that sometime."

<Pose Tracker> BC-001 Minae has posed.

        "Hmm... that's a shame! I suppose if they're just looking out for you to make sure you're alright, then it's fine, but it's nice to share an experience like that," the robot muses, before pausing. "... well, I say that, but it's not like I'm any good at cooking myself. I can follow a recipe to the letter, but that doesn't mean all that much."

        "I still have a record of the volcano somewhere in my albums. Even if you weren't proud of it, I certainly was," she maintains firmly, though her smirk suggests she also had quite a bit of fun with the chaos that went down on that day.

        She has the grace to look entirely bemused at the larger Super AI antics. "It's true. I'd heard of some of them 'getting together after work to tip back a cold one'--" her tone of voice completely indicates how much disbelief even she has in that sentence, "--but I'd never really seen them do it. Maybe it's because I'm so much smaller? I need some for maintenance every so often, but I'd never really thought about it as a... drink?"

        She considers that a moment longer. "Maybe we just each have our own habits that we pick up along the way. --but that doesn't mean I should stay set in my ways, either," she adds to reassure Arriety. "If anything, I'd just never imagined someone would want to cook for me. So I'm looking forwards to it."
SCENESYS: Anti has posted the scene Upheaval at 19:00 ET on 05/27.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane decides to let the topic of her guardian slide a bit. She *really* doesn't want to cross those streams, now that everyone seems to think Alexis is the bad guy for... *helping fix Renais.* This relationship can just remain casually friendly forever.

"I'm actually pretty good... I used to spend a lot of time on my own, before my guardian came to help take care of things, so I got used to cooking for myself. I'm really good at substitutions and stuff!" If only for a moment, Akane is just a girl talking about cooking. It's... sort of nice, actually.

"I wonder if you're even engineered to do that. I bet they have to do that on purpose," she wonders aloud at Minae. "Sometimes you just aren't made right to enjoy the world like a normal person. That's just how it goes!"

<Pose Tracker> Arriety Hearn has posed.


        "I mean, you've cooked for me by following recipes when I was real sick. That counts for a lot," Arriety is fast to jump on Minae's defense. "Sometimes, deviating from a recipe means disaster, even if I'm curious and wanted to try it out for its own sake..."

        Minae ponders on the nature of Super AI and oil, and she scratches her cheek. Something Akane says rings in her head, though.

        Not made right... to enjoy the world like a normal person.

        "... normal, huh..." Arriety somewhat visibly deflates after that. "I mean, normies kinda suck, in some ways." She's feeling real glad the numbness from the benzodiazepines are on full blast right now. She forcefully clambers onto another topic.

        "I wasn't any good at substitutions... I don't have a real good sense of, like, how to do flavour profiles."

<Pose Tracker> BC-001 Minae has posed.

        Minae nods along with Arriety. "Mm, but it's difficult to have confidence in what I make until you taste it and tell me how it feels, I suppose," she muses, one of the rare times in which she doesn't seem all that upbeat about herself. "Substitutions, especially, were something it took me a long time to get my head around. Imagine repairing a car with a different kind of screw. Even if it's got the same head, you wouldn't expect it to work."

        She hesitates as the conversation takes a sudden sharp dip downwards, but smiles in quiet understanding. All of the Winter Wonderland crew were misfits in their own ways, big or small, and she's certainly counting herself among that number. "... maybe you're right. But I think it's fine to enjoy the world as yourself, instead, whatever that happens to mean. Maybe we won't ever figure out how to get Arriety to cook for me, but it'll still be fun to try, I hope."

        She picks up on Arriety's comment afterwards, back to a light frown and a lighter topic. "Maybe I should ask some of the other Super AI if they're--" she hesitates to even say the word, especially after 'knocking a cold one back' "--connoisseurs?" It's rare to see the robot rapidly falling even further out of her depth. 

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"... Wouldn't it be nice to be one, though?" Akane asks Arriety, on the topic of normies sucking. It's unclear if Akane misses Arriety wanting to off-ramp from this particular topic or just isn't taking it, but either way...

... Minae at least manages to force it a little by going back to the most ridiculous topic. "I can see where that'd be really weird," she reflects. "For me it's just... a fact of life, I guess? Like, I was always just kind of cooking with whatever leftovers and stuff, so I..."

... blegh. Too autobiographical. She can cut it off there, at least. "I, uh -- I should actually probably... there's some other shopping I need to do, that reminded me," she concedes. "Hang in there, you two!" She doesn't retreat at *speed*, but it does look like she's breaking off.

<Pose Tracker> Arriety Hearn has posed.


        "I mean, that's kind of the way it is for a lot of cooking too, like... like, baking," Arriety brings up to Minae. "Sometimes you just don't know if it'll turn out good and you just have to... trust the other person. Heart of the Brave, and all that, right?"

        Substitutions are basically a mystery to her, though. Cooking with whatever leftovers and stuff...

        ... honestly, that hits kinda close to home too -- in the years Seo-yun was desperately trying to raise her by herself, prior to Rena and Eight arriving with their own family adding a little touch of normalcy... normalcy...

        Wouldn't it be nice to be a normie?

        Arriety's mood darkens in that predictable way she does when she starts equating her own journey of recovery to being a normie and conjures phantom bullies in her brain telling her 'see? don't you feel so much better now that you're a normie?', and Akane suddenly disengages from them. "Y-yeah, sure..."

        Beat.

        "I kinda, uh, let's find a bathroom. I need one right now," Arriety blearily says. "With a bidet. That plays music. No more than five minutes, honest."

<Pose Tracker> BC-001 Minae has posed.

        Minae's about to say something in response to Akane's suddenly veering back onto an unpleasant topic - but it's gone in the blink of an eye as the pale-haired girl seems to get stuck in her memories, then suddenly start to break away from them. She's left scrambling to catch up, before the obvious and important points reassert themselves. "--well-- alright, but please be careful! Things have already been quite busy tonight!" she calls after Akane with concern.

        "... okay," she says with quiet urgency as she turns back to Arriety, scanning the little provincial shopping centre they've ended up in. "... music might be a bit of a tall order, but we'll see what we can do. I can play something if you need," she quips - but softly, as she takes Arriety's hand in hers to act as a stable point to lean on.

        "I think you're just fine as you are," she promises, but leaves it completely at that for the time being, heading in search of a place of refuge.

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