2022-10-07: Shrinking
- Log: 2022-10-07- Shrinking
- Cast: Yuta Hibiki, Alexis Kerib
- Where: Tsutsujidai - Kamesan Park
- OOC - IC Date: 0096-10-07
- Summary: Alexis continues his circuit ride between Akane's friends.
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
Quiet. Still.
Somehow, Yuta's apartment still feels oppressively quiet even with music playing. Maybe the song spirits Nidaime always talks about are absent today? He sighs, putting down his phone. Refreshing the same few websites over and over had gotten old. Maybe one of his friends would be available to hang out?
Tapping on an icon of a few musical notes, Yuta sends an emoji of a waving cat to Kaworu. Moments pass. No reply... Yuta sighs. Vit says it's 'cringe' to double text, so his only option is to wait. Could something have gone wrong at NERV again? Yuta flips over to a news app. Everything looks quiet enough -- at least, nobody's reporting on an Angel attack.
Well! If company won't come to him, maybe he could go out and find some! Being in a place with other people seems like it'd help improve his mood at this point, even if he doesn't talk to anyone. The park should have a good amount of people. Packing a small backpack with a water bottle and some cookies, Yuta heads out.
The walk is short, and pleasant. Even if it isn't 'real', Yuta likes the air here best of anywhere he's visited. It's cleaner, he thinks, somehow a little sweet. Reaching the park, Yuta finds an empty spot beneath a tree -- not THAT tree, of course. He doesn't even want to look at THAT tree. His backpack rests on the ground next to him, and Yuta leans against the trunk. Yeah. This was a good idea! The sun is bright, people are riding bikes or walking around... He already feels a little recharged.
Humming a familiar tune, Yuta feels confident in himself. Comfortable shorts paired with a green t-shirt featuring some kind of geometric design are cool in the evening air. It's another one of his recent ventures into fashion! He pulls out his phone, tapping Akane's icon this time. Today's message is one he'd been saving for a while.
>hey there!
Two pictures follow. The first is two cats cuddled together, one licking the other. The second features the same cats, but the licking cat is making an comical expression of utter disgust.
>hope you're having a better day than this guy! haha :D
<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.
Yuta Hibiki isn't the only one who enjoys taking a moment to appreciate the beauty of Tsutsujidai. This is a very familiar shape of a heart for Alexis, after all -- one he adores enough to keep chasing endlessly. He translates through the park, glancing around. It isn't exactly satisfying, in the conventional sense -- no, in the end the only feelings he can truly appreciate are baser, crueler ones.
... still... there's something nostalgic about this.
He isn't alone in the park, though -- far from it, but even counting only those his narrative has assigned interest and stakes to, he has to share the space. A message goes out at a time Akane's a little too busy to read it.
Yuta finds himself engulfed in shadow and flickering light a moment later.
"Oho. Is this seat taken?" he asks, at about a 140 degree angle from Yuta along the circumference of a tree. "I'm pleasantly surprised to find you here! I thought I owed you a visit, after I left poor Akane-kun to fend for herself with you in... June? July? It's been some time. You'll have to forgive me -- she keeps me so terribly busy."
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
Before Yuta even has the chance to put away his phone, Alexis is here! The strange, sudden twilight brings a moment of panic with it -- jumping to his feet, Yuta's hand clutches around his phone. He's ready to use it as a weapon -- or at least throw it!
Thankfully, the phone stays safe and sound. Frozen, Yuta stares at the alien now sharing his tree. It's only the second time he's seen Alexis, really, and it's just as unsettling as the first time. Perhaps more, even, knowing exactly what Alexis has been doing to Akane's heart. Is he here to attack Yuta? Or to set off a kaiju before he can have a chance to transform?
A few moments pass by. Nothing drastic happens. Instead, Alexis seems to want to make polite smalltalk? It's really weird, and Yuta doesn't know how to handle it. If he'd just attacked, that would make sense, but this? What does he want? Yuta's left off-balance by this enough that he simply shakes his head. "No, you're welcome to it." What?
"Y--yeah, it's been a while!" He continues, slowly sitting back down. Yuta keeps his eyes on Alexis, though, not resting his back against the tree as he was before. Though, at the mention of Akane... A bit of anger flashes in Yuta's heart, and he glares. "You're the one responsible for all this! It's your own fault you're busy!"
<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.
The teal panels of Alexis's face light up all at once as he says, "Ah, good," and settles in next to Yuta. He's been... occupying his own body a lot more, lately -- it's a curious sensation for someone used to existing as an insubstantial mask and cloak. "This is a lovely park." The flames at the back of his head flicker in the breeze -- somehow not burning the tree.
"Hm. Is it really? Your friend seems to have had a mistaken concept of the situation as well," Alexis says, seeming to stretch out a bit; at the very least, his cloak seems a bit flatter against the ground, now. "I don't do anything Akane-kun doesn't ask for! She requests a world, and there is a world. She requests a kaiju, and there are kaiju."
He looks out toward the city proper, sounding a little wistful. "This is such a beautifully small world, though. Exactly the size she requested -- and it shrinks at her command." 'Shrinks' in the metaphorical sense, no doubt -- loses people, removes things. Empties out.
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
The way Alexis moves is unsettling, in a way that's hard to pin down. Perhaps its the warmthless flames, or the ever-present mask... No matter what, the inhuman nature of the alien makes it easy to remember what he is. Their enemy.
Yuta listens to Alexis' reasoning. It matches up with what he's heard from Akane herself, in the rare occasions she's talked about her methods. It doesn't seem like he's lying, but there's got to be more to this situation than the simple way Alexis puts it.
"Alright." Yuta says, glancing away to watch a passing duo of playing children. "...how many times have you done this kind of thing? How many people have you created worlds for, or kaiju, or -- whatever you're capable of?" Idly, he picks at the grass, making a little pile of torn up blades. "Are they always this small? And do they always 'shrink'?"
A breath, and then, a bit of heat returns to his voice. "What happens to the people you've made things for once you're done with them?"
<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.
"Oh, I assure you, I've seen the beginnings and ends of countless stories," Alexis half-answers. "This one is particularly interesting, though. Akane-kun cuts a fascinating figure as a God." Yuta seems intent to dig into the difficult questions of the matter, and Alexis doesn't want to spoil every twist and turn of the story... after all, it's much more fun with an audience that isn't jaded to all the tropes.
"Different people hope for worlds of different sizes -- but every one of them is equal in value." Alexis does not spell out what that value is; it's best left to the imagination. "And, hm..."
What does happen to them? (It's embarrassing to admit, but Alexis is a first-timer at this. He's reading a couple of scripts to the letter, but... what happened to the catspaw Kahn Digifer used? What about Blackholeian's?)
"... Well! I'm sure things will vary in this particular telling," comes his final answer, betraying nothing. "The knowledge of how these things go is something Gridman may be able to share with you, in time. I'm sure he'll remember it fondly." A gentle twist of the knife.
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
"You're not going to give me any straight answers, are you?" Yuta says, shaking his head slowly. "No wonder people call you the Devil. I don't know much about religion, but you fit the picture of what I read. Twisting words, ensnaring them in a terrible place after pretending to give them what they want."
Even against someone like Alexis, it's hard to be hostile. Yuta feels a twinge of guilt for his nakedly contemptous words -- which is stupid! Come on, this guy is the cause of everything! It's dumb to want to be nice to him! If he'd only shout at Yuta, or threaten him, it'd all be so much easier!
Yuta doesn't have a very good poker face. When Alexis mentions Gridman's memory, he winces. It's painful both because of his own experiences and Gridman's. The two aches entertwine in his heart every time they merge together. "...what would you know about it? Have you gone up against him before, in a situation like this?"
Pulling a water bottle from his backpack, Yuta keeps his eyes on Alexis all the while. "So. What if I asked you for a world? Would you give me one? Or do you only work with human beings? Is there some kind of trade involved?" He takes a long drink.
BBSYS: Post 295, 'Awaken' has been published to Cutscenes & Logs by Lina Lombardi.
<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.
"Oh, that's very clear water," Alexis muses, as Yuta pulls out a water bottle. He's silent for a long time, as Yuta takes a drink. He even lets him take a second one, if he wants; he has nothing but time, after all. All the time he's spent in this particular world is a drop in that bottle, to him.
"This is something that has played out numerous times on numerous worlds -- whether I was the party at play each time doesn't hold much sway, does it, Yuta Hibiki?" He remains still. Stillness is something Alexis finds all too easy -- the gentle, comforting embrace of the eternal 'now.'
The last question, though... that holds some surprising interest. "Really? Oh, you do inherit so much of her loneliness -- I was surprised, but I ought not be." As the teal panels blink on and off, they take on almost a... pouting quality, all bunched up in the middle. "Creation is always an act of feeling -- and a world is always at least some small slice of a heart. You can hardly create something worthy of love without imbuing it with a little of yourself!"
... A metaphor? Or ...
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
It's a little unsettling, having Alexis' masked eyes watch him drink. Yuta limits himself to the one, putting the water bottle aside. "...yeah. Everything's cleaner here. The air, the water... It's hard to adjust to the outside world, in some ways." Was this part of Akane's 'gift' to them? Does she love her creation, as Alexis says, enough to attend to such small details?
Yuta holds Alexis' gaze as best as he can. A bead of sweat rolls down the back of his neck. "I think it'd make a difference. Knowing why you want to do any of this is important." A long, long moment of hesitation. The sounds of Tsutsujidai fill in the empty spaces in the conversation. Birds, people, even the rustling of the tree above them. Yuta's hand stops tearing at the grass, coming back to rest in his lap. "...maybe there's a way we can save your heart, too."
"I--" Does he inherit Akane's lonliness? Is he lonely? Yuta looks surprised. "I'm curious!" Yuta insists, pushing that thought away. "Anyone would want to know the... circumstances of their creation." Alexis' reaction is so strange. Is the alien being genuine? What would he know about love and creation? This creature who can even turn flames into something lukewarm. Has he ever felt anything strongly?
"So you trade a part of your heart for you to make a world, then?" Yuta tilts his head, red hair shining in the dying sunlight. "I guess that makes sense." A delirious, idiotic idea comes to mind. Should he -- After a few false starts, Yuta gets the words out. "So, what about it? How about making me a world? I'll give you as much as my heart as you want, as long as you leave Akane alone."
<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.
Yuta fixes Alexis with his gaze -- and it seems to work. There's something about being observed in certain ways -- feeling seen -- that puts Alexis just a little bit off kilter. Anti had become quite talented at it by the time they parted -- so too, now, is Yuta... or was it Yuta who always had such a strength? If Anti has copied this from Yuta Hibiki, then...
"Oh, to be young and self-sacrificing -- thinking your heart capable of being reduced to scattered bones and rising again from the pyre," Alexis muses, mixing metaphors. ... Hibiki really is so terribly like her. (Different 'her'. Different conviction.)
"I'm perfectly content with your relationship with myself and Akane where it is," he eventually answers. "I know when an offer isn't made in good faith, Yuta Hibiki! I can hardly imagine you abandoning this world -- not with the..." A vague gesture with a hand, "... other two still in it. Besides -- I'm sure Gridman wouldn't allow it."
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
"What..?" Yuta breathes, finally breaking away from looking at Alexis. He couldn't take it another moment. A pang of sympathy echoes out from his heart to the tips of his fingers. If he can't handle five minutes of looking at Alexis while talking to him, what must it be like for Akane to live with him? Maybe she's used to it, or they have some kind of different bond as... God and devil of this world?
Maybe he should talk to Rikka about it.
His hand returns to tearing at the grass. The little pile is getting bigger, and he watches it for a moment. Something he can control. Something he can do. It's centering, and Yuta finds the strength to look back at the alien again, if perhaps not as strongly as before.
"I see." Yuta can't hide the relief in his voice. The thought of putting himself in Alexis' hands terrified him, but -- "I would do it, you know. To protect her, and everyone. To save her and keep her safe. I'd do -- I'll do -- whatever I have to. Even if that goes against what Gridman wants."
It's a good thing Alexis doesn't know his friends' names. Or at least he doesn't find them interesting enough to speak out loud, which also must be a good thing. On the other hand... Alexis seems to relish in saying Yuta's full name. Maybe it's the alien sending him the opposite message? Or maybe he's overthinking it. This must be how Alexis operates, making you doubt yourself, and believe he knows everything...
Beep.
Before Yuta can say anything else, it happens once more. The young man freezes up, lifting his arm to stare at his wristband, waiting for it to keep going, but..? "What is wrong with this thing..." Yuta murmurs, poking at the wristband. He doesn't dare expose the Acceptor with an enemy nearby, but Alexis surely must know it's there.
<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.
Alexis observes the small pile of grass as it builds up. If he has some interesting thought about it, though, it goes unvoiced. "Such conviction -- the willingness to do anything, become anything, change in any way if it means things continue as they are..." Alexis seems to wonder at that.
He considers following up -- but there's a stray beep. It interrupts the rhythm of the conversation -- leaves the old topic of Yuta's convictions and his love to rot. "Oh? Is that some sort of -- kaiju notification device?" Alexis asks, and in so doing perhaps gives away some small slice of the game he's playing.
(Make no mistake: it is still him who's playing.)
"Are you so sure there's something wrong with it?" he continues. "Perhaps Akane has changed tactics. She did mumble something about her kaiju attack strategy being outmoded in France." It's a hint -- a prompt. If every gift from Alexis is poison, though: what poison lies in this apparent truth?
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
Yuta can't adjust to the way Alexis speaks. It's always halfway between complimenting him and insulting him, couched in that formal language. Blue eyes search those lit-up blue panels. Why is he like this? What made him this way? Was he always this way, or is there a good person in there, somewhere, that Yuta could bring him back to?
"I'm pretty sure you know." Yuta says, scoffing. "Yeah. It usually goes a little berserk whenever a kaiju appears. Beeping, flashing. Lately, though, it's just been doing the one beep. I can't find any sort of pattern to it."
Is Alexis offering him information..? This isn't unheard of. Akane herself gave him advanced warning of a kaiju, once. But will Yuta be able to find the truth hidden in the alien's twisting words? It's too good a chance to pass up. But he has to do this casually.
Taking another drink of water, Yuta glances out over the park. Hopefully, he looks somewhat uninterested. "Oh?" He says, wiping an arm across his mouth. "Some kinda mini-kaiju, or something? Something to fly under the radar?"
A mini kaiju is a stupid idea. Maybe stupid enough to bait Alexis into showing off how much he knows.
<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.
Alexis is still a little bit trapped back at the idea that he, too, is in need of saving -- all the more reason to spin Yuta around, though. The more Yuta searches, the more determined Alexis is to make sure Yuta finds nothing.
(They're all similar in that way, are they not?)
"Hmmm... an interesting idea. So small that it could exist between the connections in hearts -- or so all-encompassing that it becomes atmospheric noise," Alexis muses to Yuta, allowing him more data. (For all Alexis is great at manipulation -- powerful in presenting facts out of order in a way that aids him -- he, too, is easy to lead around a bit.) "It could be either! Or it could be one of Earth's own kaiju -- God though she may be, Akane is hardly the mother of all monsters!"
He thinks a little harder about that. "It wouldn't be the first time she attacked from stealth, either -- though I seem to recall that that other kaiju of hers had to intervene in that case, rather than you. Perhaps she's trying the ambush strategy again, and your detection has simply become more powerful?"
It's easy to offer possibilities with nothing attached to them.
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
This is a game they're playing together. That much is clear to Yuta, as is how far he is out of his depth. Alexis is a master at this, and Yuta gets uncomfortable telling white lies to keep his identity a secret. But, he has to do his best! For the sake of everyone!
Yuta doesn't reveal the Acceptor only reacts to Akane's kaiju. He's sharp enough to know they need to keep every advantage they possibly have close to their chests. "Oh, that little guy?" Yuta's face looks puzzled as he considers that battle. It feels like a lifetime ago, now. "Another ambush kaiju would be pretty surprising. All the ones we've faced lately have been pretty obvious."
"You sure have a lot of ideas!" Yuta flashes a smile at Alexis. He moves closer to the tree, leaning back in a faux-display of comfort. It brings him closer to Alexis, only a few inches between their shoulders now. "It reminds me of guys talking about video game characters online. Which ones are stronger, which ones are faster. A lot of times they rank them, like -- here, let me pull it up on my phone."
Yuta's phone emerges from his lap, and the young man navigates to some sort of gaming website. A table appears on the screen, each row a different bright color, several characters' faces appearing spread out over the whole thing. "The worst ones are rank 'F'," Yuta explains, pointing at the bottom row. It's a sad grey. "Then it works up to 'S', at the top." In contrast, the S-ranked characters are emblazoned over a bright gold banner.
"Get it?" Yuta asks, in a friendly tone. "I'd put Mecha-Ghoulghilas on S, I think. It was always really effective at both fighting people and causing a lot of damage."
He lets the conversation dangle. The invitation is obvious -- where would you rank this mystery kaiju, Alexis? Don't you want to categorize them with Yuta? It's fun, all the guys are doing it!
<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.
"Ah! A tier list!" Alexis is familiar with this, of course. "Akane has shown me several of these for Tarabaman -- both the heroes and the kaiju. She does enjoy online message boards," he explains, though he does peer at Yuta's phone. "I personally prefer the two-axis charts -- the ones that show both self-sufficiency and overall power."
"On your chart, I'd put any hypothetical kaiju Akane makes right now squarely in F. She really is in quite the slump," Alexis notes, a black-and-red finger snaking out toward Yuta's phone. "On mine, however, it ranks much more favorably! It's quite powerful -- provided one builds a team around it. It makes quite the nexus for such things."
... wait, did he just definitely confirm that there's a kaiju involved and that it's one of Akane's --
"You know, though -- a young man like you ought to focus more on the smaller, more personal things in life. How have your new classmates been treating you? Akane mentioned that 2-E has some new students... Miss Pommier and Miss Nagisa, was it?"
Maybe he's wise to the manipulation and deflecting. Maybe these aren't as disconnected as they think.
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
Alexis knows about the internet? Yuta tries to take this in stride. It makes sense, really -- Akane loves the internet, she'd definitely have shown it to her patron.
Blue eyes dart to Alexis' masked face when he speaks about the 'hypothetical' kaiju. Yuta does his best not to clench his hand into a fist. He has to stay casual. He has to remember every word this devil offers him, exactly as he says it. There could be all sorts of hidden meanings.
"Oh, man, that's rough." Yuta says, his voice just a hair strained as he tries to keep up the act. "She's such an amazing sculptor. I hope she can recover." It's an odd thing to say about a vengeful God creating monsters. Yuta feels his heart speeding up from the tension.
Thankfully, Yuta is given a reprieve from his act when Alexis mentions those names. "Wait, what?" He lowers his phone, looking up, up, into the alien's mask. "New students... How is that possible? I haven't heard a thing about it! Pommier and Nagisa?!"
His relief in Alexis not knowing his friends' names is out the window, now. Alexis does know their names, quite clearly, and friends beyond those who live in Tsutsujidai. If this is Alexis' attempt to get Yuta off the topic of the mystery kaiju, it's certainly working!
<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.
'Beyond those who live in Tsutsujidai' -- is that really the case, now?
"Oh yes -- I'm surprised, though I understand that you and the junk shop girl have a tendency to skip, or get called upon for tasks elsewhere. Even a fabricated meat-thing can only be wherever they are, I suppose." Sounding genuinely concerned, he asks, "Does -- does the idea of more students in your class upset you, Yuta Hibiki? Akane mentioned you even enlisted Alouette's help for some -- school function or another she observed. Is it so strange for her to transfer in?"
Every panel lights up. The smiling silence lingers just a bit too long.
Then, he thinks to append: "Perhaps it's simply the connections you've made -- with her, with Akane, with your other friends -- that keep drawing people into town." Alexis wonders if this gives away too much, but it's given now. "To give Akane the peace she requests, you'd need to sever all of those."
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
Yuta bristles, now. Alexis isn't holding back. 'Fabricated meat-thing...' If that's how he sees repli-compoids, what must Alexis look like under that cloak? For a wild moment, Yuta thinks about tackling the alien and ripping that cloak aside, seeing what Alexis really looks like for himself.
"No." Yuta manages, his teeth gritted. "I'd love to have my friends close by, but... Miss Pommier and Miss Nagisa both have things they're devoted to in their own homes. I can't imagine they'd just abandon those and come here. I don't understand it. And why wouldn't they tell me, or Rikka?" Blue eyes look up at Alexis steadily, brows drawn together in concern. The longer Yuta speaks, the more beseeching his voice becomes. Why is this happening? Alexis' glowing mask reflects back at the alien from Yuta's eyes.
Every panel lights up. Yuta watches. What do these lights mean, anyway? Are they some kind of emotional display? Is this Alexis' way of laughing at him?
"Connections..." Yuta repeats softly. This feels important. The pieces are all here, but he can't see how they fit together. It's frustrating! Yuta wants to throw his little grass pile, but he's afraid a display of emotion would scare off the alien, ruining any potential leads. "She can only have peace or connections, but not both? That's... so sad."
Maybe he needs to be a bit more bold. A soft breath in, and Yuta reaches out, trying to put a hand on Alexis' shoulder. Or at least, the side of it, kinda? Somewhere accessible. Somewhere friendly. "Please, if my friends are in danger, please tell me what I need to do."
<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.
"There's little in the world that changes for want of a single person!" Alexis replies, yet again all teeth. When Yuta reaches out to him, though --
-- that's too far, too much. Alexis scoots away, and in an instant, he's pulled back up to his full height; whatever time he'd allotted for repose is over, it seems. "Why would I spoil your journey? Oh, I'm sure there are plenty of people who would tell you what to do. Sorting through them will be the work of a lifetime -- don't you think, Yuta Hibiki?" The question is subtle -- he wants Yuta to retreat inside himself to search for an answer. To the question, to his own questions, to the puzzle of 'love.'
... Mostly because it gives him time to slide behind the tree he's chosen -- then past another -- then, ultimately, to be gone.
<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.
More twisting words, only increasing the amount of distress on Yuta's face. "It's not spoiling, it's just -- a little hint, right?" He tries, hand reaching out --
And grasping nothing. "Wait--" Yuta tries, lowering his hand. But Alexis is gone. Practically choking on frustration, Yuta slams a fist down into the grass. Damn it. For some reason -- tears come to his eyes. He can't really identify why, but he blinks them away as quickly as he can.
There's no time to act like this. Yuta pulls himself together with a shuddering breath, and picks his phone up again. Thumbs tap-tap-tap, tap-tap-tap against the screen, faster than they've ever gone before. Every snippet he can remember Alexis saying, as verbatim as he can manage, is hurridly recorded. Before it slips from his mind, before any of this useful information is lost--!
Once he's finished, Yuta leans back against the tree, clutching his phone tightly. The alien's words echo in his mind. 'Don't you think, Yuta Hibiki?'
It's going to be a long time before he's able to move on from this conversation.