2022-07-06: Cleaving
- Log: 2022-07-06- Cleaving
- Cast: Akane Shinjo, Rikka Takarada
- Where: Tsutsujidai High School - Rooftop Passage
- OOC - IC Date: 0096-07-06
- Summary: As Tsutsujidai shifts on its axis, Akane tries to do what she can to spare Rikka from what comes next.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
It's been a while since Akane worked up the guts to call on Rikka. She's been at school lately! Consistently, for most of a month, even! But... the vibes have been just a little off. Akane, Ako, and Ramo eat lunch together, but the conversations stay a little awkward and... light on context even by their standards. They're making an active effort to talk about nothing. (It's obvious this isn't Ako's speed at all.)
But that's where it's at.
Rikka receives another letter in her shoe locker. The enthusiasm doesn't reach this one.
Rikka,
Come to the rooftop walkway between the main building and the practice building after school.
I have something to give you. It's important. Bring your bag.
Akane
Akane's waiting, of course. She always is. She's got her bag, and she's got one hand in it. The other hand holds a box of tomato juice, empty, crinkled.
The heat is reaching miserable levels.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Rikka notices when Akane is missing, and notices when she's present. And Akane has been present at school consistently for most of a month! That's good. ...It should be good, right? Rikka hasn't been eavesdropping, exactly, of course, but she notices things - things just a little off between Akane and her school friends. Maybe she should do something, but she tries to put it out of her mind.
After school one day, she finds a letter. It's... different, than usual. It feels more direct. Rikka pauses for a moment, reading the letter over once, twice... and then, after school, making her way up to the rooftop walkway as directed.
She hefts her backpack a little as she passes through the door, shifting the weight as she looks around, spots Akane, and starts making her way over to her.
"Hey, Akane." Rikka greets. "I got your note."
She fans herself, briefly. It really has gotten pretty hot lately, hasn't it?
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane clenches her hand around her juice box when she hears Rikka's approach, then glances over. Try as she might to keep her emotions clamped down... there's part of her that can't quite stop herself from meeting the sight of Rikka with a smile.
It's a little more melancholy this time, though.
It feels unfair again, Akane thinks to herself. She only came by what she's about to give Rikka because of Alexis -- or, well, Grace, but Grace is Alexis's friend so in the end it amounts to the same thing. If it weren't for who she really is, how she really relates to Tsutsujidai... she'd never be able to offer this.
"I've got two things for you," Akane says. It's like those little moments with Sayla on the bus, in the park, or in Aya -- those times when the emotions drop out of her voice. "Let's get this one out of the way."
She produces a chart. It's become familiar enough, now; Akane redraws it a little better. Cleaner lines, better arrangement.
It connects several incidents outside Tsutsujidai and inside it to an 'Unknown Hand.' Most things have been rendered in black; the Unknown Hand gets a comfortable lilac-pink, and every line out therefrom a sunset red.
"People keep coming around and asking about this stuff." No inflection. Absolute blandness. "I thought you should see it all laid out like this, too."
As if she didn't just do that, an enthused smile and a promise: "You'll like the next one better!"
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Akane smiles and Rikka smiles back reflexively... though it fades a little at the look on her face, the way her hand is clenched tightly around that juicebox. Akane speaks, the emotions dropped from her voice and Rikka freezes in place.
"O-okay." She replies, watching as she produces a chart filled with names and events. Rikka looks it over, her brow becoming increasingly furrowed and concerned as she reads it. Alexis is... the most immediate and obvious name on the chart, from what she knows. Then, there's the 'Mystery Boy'. She... has a feeling she might know who that is, remembering her conversation with Kaworu, but she's not sure she wants to put the name to the label.
And then, finally, there's the big lilac mystery, to which many red lines are connected.
"'Unknown Hand'...?" Rikka reads out, before looking back up at Akane. "People have been telling you about all this stuff...?"
She didn't realize Akane was so well-connected to people outside.
"This is a lot to take in..." Rikka says, shaking her head in disbelief. If this is true, then there's someone out there responsible for everything that's happened here lately, or at least closely related to it. But, there isn't much time to process it. In a jarring turn of emotons, Akane gives her a smile and a promise.
"U-uh, alright." She replies, still reeling a little.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"I pay attention to what people tell me," Akane answers, flat and distant. "I tell them what I know and they tell me things too. I've given similar charts to two different groups from the other world's NERV. If you see Alouette -- the girl I was riding with when that mess with Renais happened -- or the pilots of those really skinny giants, they'll have the same thing you do, though... maybe not as up to date just yet."
She considers whether to drill in on that. She could ruin the next gift. What she settles for, instead, is: "... Things are getting pretty dangerous, and our neighborhood feels like ground zero now, huh."
... Right. All the way back up, now. Akane reaches into her bag again, and produces: two backstage passes for Sheryl Nome's next tour. Unfair or no... they'll add a little carrot to what she's about to say next.
"You should take someone with you! I feel like it's a little much to ask Namiko or Hass..." ... That's about the limit of playfulness. When she offers a follow-up, "... Maybe Hibiki. Sayla. Renais. Or maybe someone new you want to get close to. A lot of those NERV admin types who keep showing up could show you a nice time out there," it comes out with the same flat-and-sharp delivery as anything else.
In the end... maybe Akane's two gifts don't differ from one another as much as it seemed like at first.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Akane gives a flat reply. ...The distance in her voice hurts a little. Rikka was surprised, but this must have been a lot to take in for her, too. To have the problems of another world suddenly thrust on her shoulders... Or maybe they've been pouring in for a while.
"That's good to know... I guess it's good for everyone to be on the same page with everything going on." Rikka comments with a nod. Akane had met Alouette again, though... that makes sense, with what Alouette said.
"I did see her the other day, actually - she said you were nice." Rikka replies.
She is, of course, unaware of what actually happened.
...But, it's true, though - Tsutsujidai does feel like ground zero for a lot of things.
"...Yeah." Rikka agrees with a quiet nod. It's been a while since she's had to bring out Synchrotank... how much longer is that going to remain true?
Rikka is still a little reeling from what she's just been shown, so her response isn't... quite as enthusiastic as it could have otherwise been, but it's obvious how she perks up a little when Akane produces a pair of backstage passes.
"W-wow... Seriously? How did you get these? I didn't even think they were on sale yet..." Rikka replies, mystified.
"Yeah..." Rikka agrees, though, with a small chuckle in regards to Namiko and Hass. ...It's true. She wouldn't want to take one without the other and, besides that... a part of her doesn't want to expose them to the world outside yet.
...Maybe that's selfish of her - trying to keep a part of her social life clear and safe from everything else that's been going on lately. Just like she hasn't told her mother anything about what's happening, how she still makes a point of keeping the two mobile suits concealed in the junkyard.
When Akane continues, though, it's as flat and sharp as before... and feels also a little pointed, at that. Rikka flinches a little.
"I'll have to think on it, but... wow, thanks. This means a lot..." Rikka says. Sheryl has rapidly become one of her favorite artists - she's the kind of person that leaves quite the impact.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane's first reflex is: 'I don't know how she got that impression.' She manages to keep it in her head in favor of a nice, "I think she's pretty nice, too. She... had a lot of nice things to say when we were in that little French mini car. I get the idea she's kinda like me, but..." She realizes there's no way to maintain the illusion, and runs out of sentence.
It's going to come crashing down anyway. But... Even a week more. Even a day more in the world where Akane is a bystander and Rikka is a hero. Even a minute.
... Besides. She gets one last little play at being the ex-class rep who spoils her classmates when they're down, the ex-class rep who people love without intrusion. It's... best if she lets herself enjoy that tiny little slice of what's left.
"I made friends with Sheryl's manager before the concert fell apart. ... well..." Conceding the point with a rub at the back of her head, she admits, "... friends is probably the wrong word. Her manager's kind of a sketchy person, but... we had a talk about how things got ruined. She even offered to try another concert *here*, but... I think that's a little risky."
Rikka tells her it means a lot. Akane wonders, briefly, how it means anything at all. The gift is... essentially illusory, as far as Akane's concerned. Not even the bare minimum -- less, because she feels like it tugs at an invisible leash around Rikka's neck that the Repli-Compoid doesn't even know exists. Pushing her away by drawing her in.
For all she'd *wanted* to strangle Guy, all those months ago, Akane feels like she's *actually* strangling someone else entirely.
"... so," Akane says, unable to stand the feeling of her own mental landscape for another second. "Any plans for summer vacation?" They're only two weeks out from the 40-ish days of no school, at this point.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
'Kinda like me'? Rikka is curious about what Akane means by that... But, the sentence fades out without a conclusion, so she doesn't press the topic further - not if Akane doesn't want to talk about it.
Akane explains that she made friends with Sheryl's manager... who is, apparently, a sketchy person.
"The music business is probably just like that, I guess..." Rikka admits. She has no idea what it's like behind the scenes. A part of her would like to keep it that way. "...It was nice of her to give you the passes, though. But... yeah, you're probably right."
...As much as she feels like she owes Namiko and Hass another concert, after what happened at the last one.
She hesitates for a moment and there's an awkward silence that Akane breaks by asking about summer vacation. Rikka... actually has to think about that for a moment.
"...Not really? I'm probably just going to wing it..." She admits. She can't be sure when the next big thing is going to happen. Sure, the Gridman Alliance could probably handle a kaiju without her. It's not like it needs to be her at Synchrotank's head... but a part of her doesn't want to give that up.
And at the same time... she has other reasons for wanting to keep her summer open, too.
"...What about you? Do you have anything planned?" Rikka asks.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"... Yeah, same. I have no idea what I'm doing lately," Akane concedes, and for a little while, she lets that just... be about school. It's a reprieve -- she lets herself fall into the fiction.
(... Is it really fiction? For all that everything else is true -- she really is a teenager, and really has no idea what she's going to do with her summer vacation in totally mundane ways. Her context has changed, sure, but...)
"Marusan's suddenly really pushy about hanging out," comes a follow-up -- pivoting from *just* the fact that she's returned to a life spent holed up in her room. "It used to be that she'd spend all her time with Ako or at Dance Club or... whatever else she does," she doesn't know she's been betrayed and in turn doesn't betray Marusan's secret, "but it seems like she's a lot less busy now. I bet that'll keep up through the summer."
(She hasn't put the pieces together. For all she's good at drawing those kinds of maps about disruptions to her fixed world, she's less good at it for anything else.)
It feels like she has nothing else to say on the topic of summer, so she doesn't; instead, she turns her gaze away from Rikka, up toward the sky of her sleepy city.
It is, after all, the limit.
"... I know it goes back to normal every time," she reflects. "Sure does feel fragile lately, though, huh? I wouldn't blame someone for figuring out how to run away."
'Fragile.' A far cry from 'beautiful,' in Akane's mind.
Pushing away from the railing, Akane asks, "I bet you have to open the shop tonight, huh?"
One last look out at the sky -- then to Rikka. With a wistful smile, she follows up with, "... I probably shouldn't keep you."
It'd be nice if all that meant was that she expects Rikka needs to go back to Aya soon.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"Oh yeah...?" Rikka replies. Akane doesn't have an idea yet, either... It's a little surprising, but maybe not so much lately, either. A part of her considers asking if she wants to do something... but, maybe that's a little too forward now, especially considering all the heavy topics this conversation has passed through. It doesn't feel like the right time.
She listens, though, as Akane brings up Marusan. Rikka thinks on this for a moment. She doesn't actually know much about what Marusan does outside of school, come to think.
"Maybe she's just trying to make up for lost time?" She considers. "That's what I'd do if I suddenly had a lot of free time, anyway."
Akane's gaze turns upward and Rikka's gaze follows it, up to the sky.
"...Yeah." She admits. Fragile... that's not wrong. But... "No... I wouldn't blame them, either."
It wasn't the choice she made, even with the opportunity, but she wouldn't judge someone for doing what they need to do.
Akane brings up the shop, then, and Rikka pauses for a moment. ...She's not wrong, though she would've like to talk for a little while longer.
"...Yeah, you're probably right..." She admits reluctantly. "...It was good talking to you. And... thanks again."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
'Make up for lost time.' That's a pretty idea, at least; Akane wouldn't mind that. It's certainly an explanation that spares her any deeper concerns -- so she latches onto it. "Maybe you're right," she says, with a nod.
The reluctance in Rikka's voice stings. All that effort to shove her away, to find her better, kinder, fairer friendships. ... Then again...
This is what Akane had wanted from the start, right? An unfair, helpless love. A love she'd never have to fear losing, never have to imagine having a world outside her.
...
...
Maybe she's just unsatisfiable.
Akane heads toward the practice building. "... I need to tell the Dance Club something about Kaworu," Akane says, explaining why she's not headed straight for the main exit. They could walk home together, but... Akane thinks she's done enough wrapping around Rikka for now.
"I'll see you tomorrow."
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"Oh, yeah, I guess they should probably hear something, at least..." Rikka admits. ...She hadn't thought of that. He might be absent for a while, so someone should cover for him. She nods, then, and takes a step back.
"Yeah, see you tomorrow." She replies. She takes one last look, then turns to walk away.