2022-08-12: Gone
- Log: 2022-08-12- Gone
- Cast: Akane Shinjo, Sousuke Sagara, Sayla Mass, Renais Cardiff
- Where: Nouvelle Tokyo - Apartment 410
- OOC - IC Date: 0096-08-12
- Summary: Sayla, Renais, and Sousuke investigate someone who's no longer here.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Nouvelle Tokyo.
The criminal element tends not to make it to this particular slice of the city; it's an unassuming little slice of the city near one of the sluice gates. It's not far from the waterfront; Waterpolis is just on the other side of the bridge to G-Island City. If you were looking at it in comparison to Tsutsujidai, it'd definitely be easy to see where small adjustments in Nouvelle's city planning could have led these places to swap around, to become the thing they are --
-- out in the PLANTs, now.
Most relevantly, though, we find ourselves at: an apartment in Fujiyokidai. It's an unassuming mid-sized apartment, in a building full of them. Lots of one-bedroom occupancies for individual workers, young couples, and high schoolers with absent parents.
It's somewhere easy to get lonely.
No one's checked in for months.
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
Mithril's SRT - the Special Response Team - serve two key functions. The first one, the one everyone remembers, is that each and every one of them is an elite pilot, which the Primary Response Team cannot claim. The second one, more often forgotten, is that each one is fully capable of operating as an elite ground agent in their own right.
Sousuke Sagara has received the gathering place. Don't breach until the meeting is made, but gather together at the appointed time outside. When he appears, it's right on time, stepping into the hallway. He's dressed in a deep green jacket - a bit hot for this kind of weather, but he's got it open at least, displaying a black, nondescript shirt underneath. Over that is a brown canvas messenger bag, the type with rigid sides so its content can't be as easily read. Steel grey eyes cast around as he draws near to the door.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
It's not unusual for Sayla to have business in Nouvelle Tokyo. Or even this section of Nouvelle Tokyo. The residential section... less so.
She steps off the train, and walks to the station. She checks her phone. No messages, which means things nothing horrendously bad. That's a relief. Leina will still be asleep. They're on a schedue anyway.
She's dressed casually, a short sleeve blouse, jeans, sneakers, a simple hat and sunglasses. She hastily ascends the stairs for the apartment. Sagara's there, good. She gives the sergeant a nod.
"So this is the place, huh?" This had given opportunity for Sayla to identify other things. School records, family information, all that. "We want to minimize disturbances here. In and out without notice, ideally. Do you have local police frequencies?"
Renais should have relevant experience here, but she starts digging for her lockpicks anyway.
<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.
The last few days have felt like a return to the old normal for Renais; tracking leads, interviews, "interviews..." even a tense confrontation with a supervillain.
Just like the old days.
Said supervillain, a certain caped 'Devil', gave her the distinct sense that they needed to be quick. So, having given notice to Heart-2, things were set into motion. A time and date was set. The next day.
Renais waits at the end of the block, looking about as inconspicuous as a cyborg loitering on a street-corner *can*, until she sees someone approach.
She walks quickly; she's there by the time Sayla arrives. "Sergeant. Doctor," she greets the pair, calmly. "This is it," she confirms, looking up at the building. To Sayla's question, she nods, and taps next to her ear. "Not a fan of doing this in broad daylight, but..." She lets out a small sigh and steps up to the door. Taking a moment to examine the lock, she pulls out her own lockpicks, kneeling down and starting the delicate work of picking the lock.
"We may not have long. I gave the outside a look overnight, there aren't any traps outside, but there's a good chance the devil's got a few surprises for us inside..."
CLICK.
Renais turns the doorknob and, slowly, carefully, opens the door.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Apartment 410. Shinjo.
Picking in is easy; it's not a particularly, direly secure lock. Sayla and Renais are both experienced and that experience makes this trivial. Inside...
It's... an apartment. It's clear that it hasn't been used in some time -- there's a thin layer of dust on everything.
To Akane's... credit?, there's not much left to rot. Every dish is away in a nice cabinet, save an empty bowl with the thinnest residue of miso soup now long, long evaporated and a drained-dry boxed tomato juice.
It's about the size you expect from a Japanese apartment for not more than three people; a single kitchen-dining-room-living-room assembly, a door to a bathroom, a door to a bedroom.
Decorations are pretty sparse.
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
"Interruption won't be a problem," Sousuke declares, eyeing the one window at the end of the hall. "Uruz-2 is monitoring communications." He tips his head, indicating an earpiece. Wired down into his collar. He's old-fashioned, that way. "If we need time, Uruz-6 is on standby."
Hopefully nobody gets to see Kurz's new party trick today.
The door opens. Sousuke's eyes cut around, sweeping corners like he were entering a guaranteed-hostile compound. He doesn't reach for his gun, a habit he has to visibly restrain himself from doing.
"Cleaned thoroughly," he observes. "...everything except the final meal."
<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.
Renais steps inside carefully, a (relatively) small pistol in hand, held at the ready. She has none of the compunctions Sosuke does here, evidently. She sweeps the area carefully, making her way over toward the table. She smirks, lifting up the juice box and chuckling quietly. "Yeah. This is hers all r..."
She stops, turning her head slowly to stare at Sousuke. "'Final meal?' Sergeant Sagara, you should choose your words more carefully." She's tense in here. Very on-edge.
It feels... full of ghosts. The same way her apartment did, after five years passed in a month.
"Well... this'll tell us a lot about her, if nothing else," she murmurs. "Half-expected to see her sitting here waiting for us. Expecting us."
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
This is reassuring, that they have extra overwatch. "Alright,. Notify us of any movement. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a hidden alarm or something."
She then nods to Renais. "Understood." Sayla's response is quick, pulling out her secure phone and taking a few quick shots around the room- so they can reset things they disturb. "...We're not going to be able to hide we've been here without time but... I get the feeling no one's going to check." Sayla pauses. "See if you can find anything that indicates the last time someone was here. My guess is Feburary 0095." Sayla's steps are measured. Controlled. She looks to the bowl of soup, and the tomato juice.
Sayla reaches into her bag, and slips on a pair of latex gloves, before picking up the tomato juice, looking for an expiry date to confirm her suspicions. "...This was probably her last meal before Kerib took her." If you can call it a meal. Sagara has the same suspicion.
Without an newtypes around, Sayla can let her emotions be felt. And the main feeling is she hates this. The level of dust tells her that no one else looked after this place. No one noticed. She glances in the fridge before moving on. "...Let's keep going."
Already, some of Sayla's questions are being answered. And she doesn't like the answers. She breathes out slowly. "...No. Look at this place. There's no way Akane would come back here." Back to this dusty place of loneliness and isolation. "She fled it for a reason."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
The place is as empty as it is small. Nothing greets anyone save that ongoing emptiness.
Sure enough, the tomato juice would expire this last February, suggesting -- given the 10-18 month expiration cycle of such things -- that it's... at least in the right zone. If someone checks the fridge, a similar story tells itself. Certainly there's nothing unexpired -- though it's mostly canned coffee and other durables. Nothing that's going to smell bad, at least.
The bathroom door and bedroom door are both open. The bedroom is cluttered, in a way the main room isn't; the bathroom, however, is pretty boringly normal. A few medication bottles -- nothing 'interesting.' (She has 10 refills left on the lot of them, but the interval has expired, of course.) A few bottles of budget hair product. A towel, left crumpled in the corner -- not moldy, mercifully.
The bedroom is a bit of an undertaking to get into; while cluttered, it, too, is pretty unassuming. A small stereo system. A couple chests of drawers, a poster for an anime movie set to come out at the end of 0096. A couple of plushies... one photo from -- judging from her uniform -- her first year of middle school, with a frame labeled with her name in Western script.
She looks happy then, at least.
At the end of her bed rests an electronic keyboard, too. ... really, it's just -- an unassuming little room. The sheets are balled up a bit, as if someone had a fitful slumber -- and then simply vanished one day.
<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.
Renais continues her sweep--uneventfully, until she reaches the bedroom. She takes a couple of steps forward, and just... stops, and stares. Her tension melts away, into a sort of.. melancholy nostalgia. Sadness. Yearning.
She moves forward slowly, her wariness forgotten as she lifts the photo, wiping a thin layer of dust away from the glass with her fingers. She simply stands there and looks at it for a long moment, silent.
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
He doesn't apologize beyond to glance around. Sousuke's personal investment in this isn't zero, but it is second-hand. He brought gloves of his own - just cloth, not quite the perfect choice but it's better than his bare hands - which he dons before opening the refrigerator, taking stock as directed. "Not completely empty," he notes. "Not much but nothing highly sensitive to spoilage." Honestly, Sousuke basically lives like this, so he's having a tough time judging. "She didn't make a point of emptying everything out, at least."
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Sayla looks over the medications arrayed on the counter. "...No conditions to worry about from these," she says quietly, but... Well. That's not her business, or anyone else's. Quietly, waiting for Sousuke and Renais' attention to be somewhere else, she secrets one of the bottles away.
This means she's last to the bedroom as they enter. Renais is caught up on the photo. Sousuke is caught on other details. "...Sagara, can you check that chest of drawers? Don't go digging right now, quick glances will do."
She steps through the cluttered room. "...She must have liked music before. Not many people would spend the space on a stereo system otherwise." And the keyboard... She takes another few photos, including the poster. The plushies look normal, too.
"Renais, can you take a look through the wardrobe?" She asks, trying to pull Renais back in to the zone. As she does, Sayla crouches down for the classic hiding spot of kids and teens everywhere, and gets a small torch to look under the bed.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
All of Akane's drawers and closets and wardrobes, at least, contain one thing: Normal teenage girl clothes. No grand surprises. The Akane Shinjo of the past was a little bit of a school uniform drone with not a lot of other clothes of note. Even her other clothes are things she could probably pass off as uniform-compliant beneath a cardigan or a blazer. Not enough confidence to experiment, perhaps.
The photo shows her with a handful of other students; it's a new-student welcoming photo from 0094.
Underneath the bed is a small box; there's no lid or anything. What there are, however, are:
Tarabaman sofubi. Her collection is modest but not small; it tilts toward revival figures from older Tarabaman shows. It's... no surprise, probably. She also has a handful of data cards in plastic bags; the bags are labeled, of course, with which Taraba series you can find on a given card. (Oh noooo... piracy.)
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
Sousuke finishes up in the kitchen and moves into the bedroom. He shows neither embarrassment nor much in the way of reaction at all about looking through a teenage girl's possessions. He's one of those! And Kaname's not even here to have some inscrutable problem with underpants.
"Unremarkable," is his verdict. "I see primarily uniforms and assorted casuals." ...
He finds himself thumbing his jaw line in thought. His connection to this isn't direct to Akane, but he has the data, at least. "I would venture she spent the most time in this room," he says, standing from assessing the lowermost drawer.
"My initial assessment was that she had cleaned the main room thoroughly before departing. From this I think she it's more that neither she nor anyone else spent much time there to start with."
<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.
Renais doesn't move much when the others come in, but finally nods when Sayla gives her an order. "Yeah." She carefully sets the photo down. "... I guess it makes sense that she'd make an idealized self in the other world." She hadn't really thought about it before, when she was looking into Akane.
She takes care as she searches the wardrobe. Gentle shuffling of fabric, clicking of coathangers. After a few moments, it stops. Sousuke simply hears a quiet, shaky exhale, but to Sayla...
She's crying. It's too much. To be here, at this point in a story just like hers... someone she doesn't know if she can save. Someone who'll end up worse than her, if she doesn't. A hollowed-out husk.
She goes down to her knees--ostensibly to search the drawes at the bottom, but she just puts a hand over her face.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
"...I think your assessment is apt, Sergeant." Sayla's response is a little terse. "She was alone in here." Alone and vulnerable. "And Alexis must have offered her an escape. Hell, he even gave her Anti." A family member who was supposed to care about her above all else. Or a tool she could throw away.
She pulls out the box of secrets, the things Akane had to hide from the world. "...Tarabaman?" She's loosely aware of it due to Utsumi but... "Do either of you recognize... these." She grimaces, putting the box on the bed.
She looks to the fpicture Renais was looking at. A very different girl, but you can see the similarities. She'd known, from the school records. Black hair, slender... But still definitely Akane Shinjou.
Sayla walks over to Renais, putting a hand on her arm, below the vents on her cooling coat. She's very quiet for a few moments, before... "...We've been here a while. Can you go on lookout? Sagara and I can clean up the rest." It's not an order... but it could be interpreted as such, if one needed to save face. "And then we'll clear out and regroup, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
Sousuke glances as he hears a sound from Renais. He is not, quite, the human cinderblock he used to be; he registers what he's seeing. But...
...what to do about it is a lesson he has not reached yet. He turns his attention back down, turning to regard the Tarabaman bin, especially once it seems Sayla gets hold of the Renais situation. "Tarabaman, I believe," he says, with zero emotional attachment. "The Gridman Alliance gave me a brief education. I...don't know the specific models." 'Models,' like a robot. "It appears Shinjo was also a collector."
Dimly, he thinks of Shinji Kazama, his friend at school. They'd first bonded over military hardware, and Kazama still hadn't quite given up on getting Sousuke to adopt modeling as a hobby. Different. But a tie he understands, lightning up in some distant hallway of his thoughts.
<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.
Renais tenses, just slightly, and looks up at Sayla. Wiping her fingers over the tear marks on her cheeks, she shakes her head. "No. The police haven't even noticed us. I..." She sucks in a breath, then exhales. "I think I would rather be here."
She stands and lifts up the box, digging lightly through it and retrieving an insectoid, vaguely humanoid figure. "Heh. Super Nalgus. She's got good taste," she murmurs. Looking back over at the other two, she nods. "These are all Taraba kaiju. Soft vinyl figures... honestly, I think these monsters are her favorite things."
Placing the figure back in the box, she picks up a disc. "Most of them have chips in them so you can scan them into games. Or..." She shuffles through the pile of discs briefly. "Or download the chips onto blanks." She never did that, herself. Not that she hadn't contemplated it.
"Eclatant was my first season. Reruns when I was nine or so. That's what he's from," she gestures to the figurine she'd pulled out. "Incredible fight, but it ruined the suits. " A contemplative silence. "We talked about that the first time Akane and I met. That specific fight, in fact..."
Is there any of that girl left, she wonders? The girl Alexis preyed on... who needed help, but only found hurt.
Renais picks up the box, carefully, holding it like something sacred as she deposits it back into place under Akane's bed. She sniffs.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
"Alright." Sayla lets Renais recenter herself. She steps back, as Sousuke gives her a background, and Renais expands. "...I see." Sayla takes a long slow breath. Memories of childhood, hidden away. "...These are well kept. She hasn't abandoned them- but she felt the need to hide them. In an apartment where she's the only inhabitant." Sayla stalks around the room. "...What does it tell you about who Akane is?"
Sayla walks to the bedroom door. "...We're not going to share what we found here. Not yet, at least. There's nothing here that everyone needs to know. But it's past time I spoke to her."
Sayla looks at the bed, and...
Quickly makes it, tidies it, with the efficiency she used at medical school and on the white base. She repositions the plushies slightly. And with no explanation, she starts towards the door. "I think we've found all we can find. I don't want to draw attention and I'd rather discuss things in a less desolate atmosphere, if you don't mind."
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
Renais' input, he can only nod at. More information. "A way to conceal information. I see," Sousuke says, in his usual 'taking away the wrong lesson' way.
Then, Sayla's puts forth a question she probably thought was rhetorical. "It's possible they contain dangerous agents that have to be handled and stored carefully," Sousuke ventures. "We should be cautious. Modifying seemingly harmless objects such as toys to contain dangerous payloads is a common tactic."
The several layers on which that is ludicrous go unexamined by him, and he nods to Sayla's decision. "Understood," he says, and moves to leave, eyes scanning around carefully just in case something has changed on the way out.
<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.
Renais closes her eyes and sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. Exasperation. She's going to skip the comments about the chips. "... No. No. What it says, Sagara, is that she was used to hiding herself. Hiding the things that were precious to her. Even after the threat of discovery was gone, the paranoia remained."
She looks in mild confusion as Sayla makes the bed, giving her a curious look. "Weren't we supposed to leave everything as we found it, Dr. Mass?" she inquires. And as they start to leave... "Mm. There's... a cafe down the street, on the edge of the commercial district. I--"
She gives the bedroom, the photo, one last look. "... I nearly shot that girl..." she murmurs. She's quite aware of how real that was--despite the sheer unreality of it all--but it's hitting home again as she sees the 'real' Akane, the middle schooler. The girl who looks happy, in a way that Akane doesn't.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
"...We were." Sayla says, quietly. "But this place hasn't been touched in eighteen months. Kerib can probably tell her house was broken into if he wants. But if Akane comes back here..." She pauses. "...It might help her if she sees that someone cares, even a little."
Sayla laughs a little at Sousuke's comment, more as a release of tension. "No, not in this case, but the reaction is worth it. But she wouldn't have risked harming those by applying a chemical agent. They're too important." She pauses. "And as a warning, I think Miss Chidori would be very offput if you did that to something precious to her."
Sayla pauses. Things had been advancing quickly. "Alright. We move to the cafe." She's the last one out, locking the door. She looks to Sousuke. "Can you ask Uruz-2 to set up a camera to watch the apartment? I want to know if anyone follows our lead."
She walks over to Renais. "...Tell us what happened. Quietly."
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
"I see," Sousuke says to Renais, slowly, cupping his chin. His faces suggests maybe he doesn't. Sousuke occasionally has trouble with the human side of the equation, that way.
"Of course. She has made that clear previously." That hamster's a narc. "She knows about most of the traps now, anyway," Sousuke affirms. ...maybe a concerning choice of words there.
As for his followup instructions, he steps aside for just a moment. "Understood. Not a problem." Then he brings his hand up to the earpiece to activate speech. "Uruz-7 to Uruz-2," he murmurs, stepping aside to relay instructions.
BBSYS: Post 179, 'How Antagonists work on SRTMOO' has been published to Daily Spotlight by Lucine Azul.
<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.
Renais nods, sighing quietly. She crosses her arms under her chest. "I... went to speak with her about BioNet. I'd pieced it together, from Anti and the Second's reports." She's quiet a long moment. "Some of it I knew once, I think. The Devil cut it out of me. But... I followed the trail. Discovered he was selling Akane's designs to BioNet..."
"I confronted her about it... she barely seemed to care. It... it stung. She knew what they'd done. I told her. But..."
Renais lifts her golden hand. "I don't think I'd have actually pulled the trigger. But I pulled a gun on her. Pointed at her forehead... she grabbed my hand to push the gun away. Bare-handed. Long enough to burn, but she didn't... she didn't even react."
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
This... explains a lot. Miss Chidori... has much to deal with. Sayla does not envy her.
What Renais says explains a lot. Sayla lets her finish speaking. Sayla's tone is firm. "That makes sense. It's why he intervened during the attempt to rescue you." The cogs in Sayla's brain are building up speed. "...Sick bastard. When you talked, I assume you became a face for people who have suffered at BioNet's hands in her mind, and then Alexis sold the designs." This is a leap. She moves forward a step.
"Unfortunately, that was enough." Sayla says, as she walks. "It plays into Kerib's hand. I wonder if he was counting on it." As though pointing a gun at someone means you don't care. Sayla sighs darkly. "...I won't deny it. You screwed up and I think you know it. But it tells us something. Whatever Akane is now..."
Memories of a roar echo in her mind. "...she's not entirely human." She can't make that hypothesis here. Sayla bites the inside of her lip. Information, but how does she use it?
"...Renais... what kind of person do you think Akane is? Beyond the facade she presents?" She's never thought to ask how the oldtypes see her.
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
Sousuke returns, noting, "Uruz-2 will prepare a camera package," to complete the lifecycle of orders.
Renais is much closer to the heart of this than him. The layers this operates on - emotional manipulation, abuse, victimization, and nuanced, complex psychological games...
What he knows is this is not Uruz-7's battlefield.
Still, he finds himself muttering, "Transformation...?" with a mix of confusion and something else. Another thing that doesn't make sense to his world...
<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.
Renais sighs. That stings, too. The confirmation that she fucked up. She was expecting it. She knows it, but... it still hurts to hear.
"... She's lonely. Desperately. Starved, even, but... she's pushing people away because she doesn't think she deserves anything better. I think she identifies so strongly with kaiju because... she doesn't identify with people. This is all... it's about trauma, right? Being scared of the world, scared of these horrible things people do to each other."
Renais looks down. "If you associate the concept of 'person' with things like that..." She looks back up, and over at the other two, "Don't you think you might want to escape from that, too?"
<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.
To Sayla, there's a sense that she's not *just* talking about Akane, particularly at the beginning. She chuckles, though. The smile doesn't reach her eyes. "The Devil said I was projecting... but I think maybe we're just a lot alike."
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
"Thank you, sergeant." She takes a moment. "Oh, I wanted to let you know that Anti's recovery seems to be about complete. But you might have some difficulties with the safe house." There's a long pause. "...Leina says he's currently sleeping on top of the wardrobe rather than a bed." Another pause. "And judging by household expenses we suddenly had to replace the entire pantry."
Then a pause. "...I'm not sure, exactly. I'd say your guess is as good as mine. I didn't expect it to suddenly become a PLANT." Sayla lets out a sigh. "In all honesty, Sagara, I have no idea how Tsutsujidai works right now except that in it has something to do with Akane and her feelings." She sighs.
Turning her attention back to Renais, she hears her out again. Sayla gives a nod. "So you've seen the face she thinks she hides from everyone else. Normally, I'd say you can't force someone to accept help..."
Slowly, Sayla gets a grim smirk. "...I hate to say this, Renais. But it might be time to take a cue from your cousin and Koji." Sayla can't half believe she's saying. "So here's my plan of action. I need to talk to Akane, and see what I can get from her in person. And then..."
She lets out a low, grim chuckle. "I think I need to see a man about how to kill a devil. Or at least make him bleed."
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
Sousuke nods to Sayla's notification. "I have secured one of the other apartments in my own building for his use. I believe you advised me he should have his own space rather than share my own quarters, so this should suffice, while still allowing us to assist him if anything arises."
He does tip his head down, though, bracing his chin in two fingers. "He's lived on the streets until now. It's how I met him. I taught him some survival techniques for that environment, but it's likely he'll have very little idea how to behave in an independent situation." He looks to Sayla. "I will leave the decision of when to move him to you, of course, Doctor. A gradual acclimation of some kind may be required."
He's off thinking about that after that...though his face and thoughts do sour at the mention of how Tsutsujidai works.
He remembers Kaname calling out to him. 'Put your spirit into it!' That had worked; he more or less has the hang of it, now. But...
It still bothers him. That's not how things are supposed to behave.