2022-05-19: Predecessor
- Log: Predecessor
- Cast: Anti, Riku Asakura
- Where: Tsutsujidai
- Date: 2022-05-19
- Summary: Riku finds Anti. They talk. Riku offers an alternative; Anti makes a decision.
<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.
There is a boy in the park, with hair which hasn't been washed for a week -- and which, notably enough, was washed a week ago. He isn't quite as recognisable as the scraggly waif who haunts Kamesan, most of the time, because --
Anti is dressed in a wine-dark purple uniform shirt, with long sleeves, and matching slacks. Instead of a raggedy scarf around his neck, he has a loosely-hung black bow tie, which manages to resemble something a bit more of a bow around his collar.
He is, of course, still digging through the trash, because his transformation has not afforded him all the powers of this universe. One hand hooks at the edge of the trashcan, while the other reaches in, rifling through the refuse. His head's all jammed in there, so he can see what he's doing.
They're new clothes, but they're already getting dirty!
<Pose Tracker> Riku Asakura has posed.
Riku, was taking a run through the park. He wasn't slacking on his training regiment, because he fears what would happen the moment Nebula House showed back up with Laiha, and he was found slacking. Still, He can't complain about the results of it. Every day he's a little stronger, and that means he can protect more people.
He pauses as he runs across someone digging in the trash can on his path. Well, it was more like he ran by, saying a friendly hello as he ran passed. Then it hit him that the person was digging in the trash, and he backed up still jogging to see if what he was seeing was right. He stares for a moment and then speaks up to the kaiju.
"Um...did you lose something in there? Maybe your watch or your phone?" he asks, stopping his run. It was way too hot out here for it anyway, he thinks. Besides, it loos like this well-dressed person is getting their clothes dirty, and thus needs help.
<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.
Rustle, rustle. Anti offers no acknowledgement to the greeting; neither does he look up when Riku jogs back to stare at him. He's used to ignoring the people of Tsutsujidai, as much as Tsutsujidai is used to ignoring him.
It's only when Riku asks him that direct question that -- well, Anti keeps digging, not looking up in the slightest. And then three beats pass, and Anti puts together the fact that he knows that voice -- the person Nidaime called 'Riku', at the concert.
Slowly, Anti withdraws his arm from the garbage can, pulls himself out of the opening, and turns to face him.
"No."
It's a standoffish reply, gruff and low, but it is -- finally -- an acknowledgement Riku is there, talking to him.
<Pose Tracker> Riku Asakura has posed.
Riku doesn't say anything for a moment, doesn't he know this kid? He swore he saw him somewhere before? Though his answers were gruff and straight to the point. He sighs, and actually reaches over to brush some garbage off of his shirt when he turns to face him. "Gota keep these clothes clean."
Then he asks the obvious question.
"So why are you digging in the trash if you didn't lose anything?"
<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.
Anti's chin jerks back, when Riku's hand closes into his personal space to brush a forgotten straw off his shirt. His gaze centres on him and does not leave for an instant, with that burning sunset intensity.
"I won't get sick," he insists. It might be a strange thing to say, to keeping his clothes clean. Anti thinks it makes perfect sense.
And while he's in different clothes, those are indubitably Anti's eyes -- the boy Nidaime knew, during the concert. He has that same gravel-gruffness to his voice, too.
He watches Riku in silence, for long moments, before he answers: "They throw out food." Anti had money, and then he brought an entire vending machine's stock of granola bars and also a shirt. That's okay, though, because he has solutions to the problem of not having money.
<Pose Tracker> Riku Asakura has posed.
Riku tilts his head at the comment of Anti not getting sick, but he is now sure he knows him...and where he met him. The Second called him Anti, and he is the Kaiju that attacked him several times now, but also the one that helped him.
"Oh," he comments, knowing the meaning behind those words. "It might not make you sick, but it isn't great either," he says with a sigh. "Alright, come on. Follow me. I'll buy you some good food. I think we needed to talk anyway."
"I'm...a friend of The Second," said in such a way that the real meaning was clear. Because he then tilts his head to the nearest Kaiju in the city skyline. "She's worried about you, you know?"
<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.
Anti doesn't know Riku knows that part. He might have a much different reaction, if he did.
Instead, cautiously, Anti rises from his squat to trail behind Riku. He is silent on the matter of them needing to talk -- but if Riku's going to feed him, he'll take that much.
"..." Anti's lips part, when Riku says that Nidaime is -- worried about him. His eyes narrow; finally, his lips thin, pressed tightly together.
He glares, and is silent.
<Pose Tracker> Riku Asakura has posed.
Riku takes him to a place that is both cheap and filling. A small Ramen shop that the Second and he ate at not too long ago. It's not really a restaurant, but one of those carts that have some weather-protecting curtains to help keep the sun or rain off. He holds his two fingers up, "Two Tonkotsu Ramen's, please."
Sitting down he motions for Anti to sit. "It's better to eat a good meal...even if you gotta make sure it's cheap. I can show you some tricks on how to eat cheaply...but I assume you don't have an easy way to make money."
"Do...you have a place to stay? Friends? Relatives?"
<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.
Anti hops up onto the seat, when it's demonstrated. He's never ducked under the veiling of the cart to enter a place like this; everyone's always watching the food, so there's no point. His gaze darts around, though his head doesn't move terribly much.
He grunts, at Riku's assumption. He doesn't have an easy way to make money, given the only way he's ever made money is by answering questions, and that's a dangerous thing to do.
Perhaps that's why he's so quiet, now.
After long moments, though, Anti settles on: "Yes." By the letter of the request, he's telling the truth. He sleeps in the park, which means he has a place to stay.
And he has relatives.
... does he have friends?
<Pose Tracker> Riku Asakura has posed.
Man, Anti was rather gruff. Honestly, he doesn't understand why The Second is so...
The memory of The Second in that same seat, holding her cheeks in her hands when the topic of Anti came up.
He can't help but smile a little. It was cute.
The grunt on the other hand causes Riku to think. "Alright, so how about a job? If you do a thing, you get paid. I used to do a bunch of part-time jobs before I came here," Riku comments, but what could Anti do..? Customer service is definitely off the table. Maybe there is a place where he could stock shelves?
"The Second was worried about you because...of what you did at the concert. You protected her, and a lot of people. You killed the Kaiju that was there, even though it was sent by your boss," Riku muses. "Are you going to be alright? I can't imagine they're happy with you."
"I'm more than happy to show my appreciation though. So I'll buy you dinner now, and a promise to keep you fed, if you want."
<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.
Anti's gaze snaps to something harder, when Riku says just what Anti did, during that concert. The change is subtle, but immediate -- all his muscles tightening, his feet shifting against the chair so the balls of them are resting on the crossbar, his chin ducking over his neck, his hand lifting from the counter.
The way his fingers curl, as if preparing to hold something entirely aside from chopsticks.
He glares, intent, as Riku keeps talking. As he --
Worries about him?
Anti's head ducks a little further down, glaring Kubrickian through his scattered bangs; his hand lowers, back down to the counter. "..."
Think. Process. He knows who Anti is. He doesn't know who Akane is. He -- he doesn't know enough. He doesn't understand this at all.
"Why?" Anti says, finally, a word under pressure, compressed to such a small space.
<Pose Tracker> Riku Asakura has posed.
The Ramen is quickly served, and Riku grabs his bowl and starts scarfing it down. If he notices the tension in Anti, he doesn't seem to notice...or he doesn't react. His ability to put food down is pretty amazing, though the two Kaiju likely have him beat in that. He finally puts enough of the bowl away to slow down.
"This place really has some good Ramen! Better than the stuff you can buy in stores. It's always better when it's made fresh, I think," Riku says, calmly.
"Because I was where you were once. Created by someone to be used as a tool. Being in a world where you just barely fit in, were very few actually look to see you're hurting. But, I found people who believed in me, no matter how things looked."
"I also know how difficult it can be choosing between what is right, and your family. It's hard to resist giving in to wanting to be loved and accepted by someone who created you, no matter how they treat you. So if you want to talk about it, I'll always have an ear. Though I understand if you don't...I don't want to put you in any danger."
"So, it's not much, but I can at least buy you a meal or several. If you need anything else, you just have to ask."
<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.
Anti frowns, watching Riku, intently. So intently, he doesn't even immediately go for the ramen, which is the surest tell how serious this is.
To be used... as a tool? Is that what Anti is..?
He thinks of how uncomfortable it's been -- every time someone has noticed him, scrounging on the sidelines. Those times are notable for all the times no one has.
His expression draws in, with greater tension in his cheek and his brow and the lines of his eyes. A little twist of his lip, where his teeth dig in behind them.
"I..."
Choosing between them... resisting giving in to...
"I'm not your ally!" Anti snaps, and the word rips through the threaded peace-bond of his voice, raises it to that more familiar razor-point. His hand slams down, right beside the bowl Riku brought for him. His gaze snaps back to it, as a bit of broth falls onto his fingers, threatening to spill.
He takes a breath, through grit teeth. "... I don't need anything from you. But I'm taking this."
Anti subsequently grabs the bowl of noodles and begins upending the entire thing into his mouth. CHOMP CRUNCH SLURP.
<Pose Tracker> Riku Asakura has posed.
Riku stares at Anti when he's just...dumping the entire bowl into his mouth. It's both impressive, and frightening at the same time. Someone who's even faster at this than The Second. Anti's power to eat Ramen clearly surpasses his own.
Though he snaps back to reality after a few moments of stunned wonder. "Right, that's true you're not. Maybe that'll change one day, who knows. However, I would at least like to be friends. Friends don't have to be allies, you know?"
He sighs, "And we have a mutual friend. The Second. She feels she might be in danger because of what happened at the Concert."
"I also owe you that fight you wanted. Pick a place that is without people around, and I'll face you, as I promised. Then I suppose we can get noodles after," he says with a grin.
<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.
The noodles, of course, get everywhere. There's some in his hair; there's broth over his collar, sinking into the light summer material of the shirt. Anti doesn't even realise the chopsticks have a use.
His mouth is very full, for a while. It is a shorter while than it should be, with that much food. He just chomps and chomps and chomps, not pausing for breath, barely pausing to chew.
He eats with the desperation and ferocity of someone who may never eat again.
The empty bowl drops back to the bench. A stray noodle falls from Anti's lips to the floor. Another is caught behind his ear. There are some shallots, still stuck to his cheek. Do these ruin the pressure with which Anti gazes at Riku, all boiling-embers and bracing?
Maybe not. They both know what he is.
And Anti knows what Riku is, now, all the pieces fit snug together.
"She is." He answers, a gavel coming down in sharp judgement. "She needs to forget about me. I," Anti's voice pauses, grows a shade tighter as the screw turns, "can't protect her."
Because he was protecting Nidaime, he didn't protect Akane.
And now, Akane is...
His gaze shifts down, off of Riku; his bangs shadow his face, leave his features indistinct.
"Leave." It sounds like a demand, except -- it's still tight, around his throat, too insistent. He's asking. "She won't be satisfied until the Vessels of Light are all gone. I was made to kill Gridman, but now you're here, too. It won't be long, until..."
Until what?
Until he has to kill Riku, too?
"I can't refuse that sort of request," Anti says, without spelling it out. "You're not just some human making life difficult. I'm telling you to leave before it comes to that."
<Pose Tracker> Riku Asakura has posed.
Riku has to try and suppress laughing looking at Anti now, despite the seriousness of the conversation. He wishes he could reach his phone without probably pissing Anti off. Though things turn darker fast, and the smile is stolen from his face, though it's not anger or disappointment. It's definitely sadness.
"It's not that different for me either," he explains to Anti. "I can't abandon The Second. I can't abandon Gridman either. I can't abandon the people of this city. And...I can't abandon you either. There are real people that will be put in danger if I chose to leave, and abandon them. There is also something I am investigating that is important, that drew me to the city in the first place."
"Why can't you protect The Second?" Riku asks, "Until..?" The questions that really bring Riku's focus on. "I also understand if you choose family over anything else. As I said before, I wouldn't want to put your life in unnecessary danger."
<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.
"Too many." Anti concludes, once he's listened to Riku's justification. "What will you do when not abandoning one means abandoning another?"
His fingers curl, in his lap, to a fist. "Because I answered the Second... I failed her. She was counting on me." A different 'her' to Nidaime, surely. "I can't worry about anyone else. Now... I have to make it up to her. I..."
Riku isn't going to abandon Tsutsujidai.
Riku is a Vessel of Light.
It hurts -- on the inside, not like where the hot soup hit his hand. Because he knows what his orders are; he can make his inferences. But he doesn't want to. He doesn't want to! If only Akane would tell him to, he could at least say he doesn't have a choice.
But Akane is locked in her room. She's not well.
Anti's eyes blink shut, quite, quite tightly.
"I'll fight you," he says, takes the opening Riku has given him. "When there's no one in the fields. Appear, and I'll be there."
Is it kinder to say he won't give him a choice to leave?
<Pose Tracker> Riku Asakura has posed.
'Her', Riku wonders who 'Her' is. Is he protecting someone he loves? Is it his creator? Even though they left them to eat out of the trash? No...he understands. At that moment in Belial's embrace, he wanted to feel the love of his father. He sighs, nothing about this was going to be easy.
"Protecting someone does not mean standing in the way of danger all of the time. It doesn't always mean putting your life on the line. Sometimes you have to stick to what you believe in, and sometimes even go against what they want, because at that moment what they want might be more harmful to them than not giving it to them."
Riku pauses and holds a hand up. Ordering two more bowls. "Well, then let's eat up today, Anti. I'll be there too. But...I want you to think about something until we fight. What does it mean to protect someone? Does it mean doing everything they want, even if it harms them...or does it mean doing what's in their best interest, even if they'd hate you?"
"You should tell them when and where you're fighting me. Don't worry, I'll fight you alone."
<Pose Tracker> Anti has posed.
"... all right." Is Anti agreeing to the food, or the thoughts Riku offers him? Even if he denied it, they'd still live in his brain; as an auto-intelligence kaiju, Anti can't just discard information. He is always learning. Always evolving.
He will become a creature great enough to crush Gridman. That's why he can adapt all these things, take their strengths into him. For that reason... for that reason...
Anti believes in killing Gridman. Doesn't he?
... and isn't that what Akane wants?
Would Akane hate him -- if she knew he was doing what he was doing for BioNet -- just so she wouldn't get dragged into it?
If he told Akane...
... if he told Akane...
... would she tell him not to?
A dozen-dozen questions, all twisting through his mind -- he gives voice to none of them, stern expression and closed lips.
But he eats the ramen.
He eats the ramen, and then he leaves, without a word of thanks.
And he wonders, with a full belly: how can he call someone like that a friend when he might well have to kill him?
It's not like he feels good about it.
<Pose Tracker> Riku Asakura has posed.
Riku eats with Anti, in silence after that. At this point, there wasn't much to say, everything was on the table. He believes that Anti will find his answers because Riku has faith in everyone.
When he turns to leave, Riku speaks up. "Goodbye, Anti. See you soon," As if he was saying goodbye to someone who wasn't going to try and kill him soon.
He also picks up a phone. Pecking letters instead of swiping.
'sayla we ned to tak'