2022-10-08: A Style I Don't Recognize
- Log: 2022-10-08- A Style I Don't Recognize
- Cast: Ako Furuma, Akane Shinjo's friend Ramo Marusa
- Where: Tsutsujidai - Yumi Foundation
- OOC - IC Date: 0096-10-08
- Summary: After Ako takes a Saturday no-day and Marusan a Saturday half-day, the two of them talk about the world they find themselves in and about the people who find themselves in that world.
<Pose Tracker> Ako Furuma has posed.
Ako Furuma has been having a bad, bad, bad day. After her meeting with Kaworu, she had poor sleep. And then, things changed.
She didn't go to school today. Told her parents she was, and then sat somewhere all day. Didn't call in sick, but, who knows.
After school hours, she works up the courage. She texts her girlfriend.
<ako: can we meet>
<ako: please.>
<ako: yumi foundation, they won't mind. it's important.>
<ako: i think i'm losing my mind>
If asked to clarify, she just asks to explain in person. And she knows Marusan won't turn her down if it's like this.
The Yumi Foundation Office is clean. Comforting. It's a charity, after all, and also Ako's been there before.
Ako Furuma comes in, tells them who she's there to meet, and then goes to the office to meet Marusan. Chairs, desks, the works.
Ako does not sit down.
She paces. A bad sign.
"Hey. Sorry if I scared you." She fidgets with her own hair, not uncommon, but stares Marusan in the eyes. Far more rare. She hates eye contact, even if Marusan is the most likely she's okay with it.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
School is... weird. Akane's present, but more than that -- new people keep showing up. The sudden influx of new students (and even a new teacher!) has Marusan kind of thrown off -- and they all seem like they're good friends with Akane.
It leaves her with an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. It's not that she's unhappy to see Akane with other friends, but... everything just feels off. She takes a half day, and goes to the MacDaniels near the Yumi Foundation office to decompress -- a total rarity for her. Things feel like they're accelerating at an accelerating rate.
<marusan: Absolutely.>
<marusan: I'm just down the street. Do you want anything from MacD's?>
When Ako arrives, Marusan's there, of course -- with anything Ako wanted. She says, "It's fine," chewing at her lower lip a little bit and fidgeting with the straw from a now-empty drink cup. "What's happening?" She has a hunch, but she doesn't want to pry; while their relationship is a little easier now than it was, she still doesn't want to be someone who pressures Ako.
<Pose Tracker> Ako Furuma has posed.
Ako just asked for a soda - no food, which is rare, because she can demolish a thing of MacNuggets.
Once she's there...Marusan asks the question. Ako grabs her soda, takes another pace back and forth, and then speaks.
"This is gonna be a lot."
Ako waits a beat, and then plays with her straw. "I met with Kaworu Nagisa yesterday, from school. He told me...some stuff I kinda already knew, and confirmed some stuff I wasn't sure about." Ako's keeping a secret, of sorts, so she's being as vague as possible.
"We talked about Akane. He's investigating her for some reason...but...I've been worried about her, so...I just brushed it off. But then I couldn't sleep after- what he showed me."
Ako reaches into her jacket pocket. There's a drawing. It's of Rei's Evangelion, stitched together from hazy dream memories. "I drew this after a recurring dream. One where...it protects us during the mountain trip, but gets attacked by a kaiju, and bleeds all...over...me." She swallows, shakily.
"He showed me the real photo of it. Why couldn't...I remember until now?"
She does not point out anything else. She might be crazy, or if it reals, she might hurt Marusan. "Is this moment even real?"
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Marusan closes her eyes for a moment. How did Sayla play this -- Miss Mass was very kind to her in the same moment, so... she wants, badly, to repay that with the same level of thoughtfulness.
"Kaworu Nagisa... the first-year?" she starts, just to be sure. She can guess why, though -- and that only becomes more obvious as Ako mentions the other half of the situation. "... I don't remember that -- but I know why I don't," she affirms. "It's -- the thing outside the window. The one on your right." A moment passes. Marusan encourages, quietly: "... try not to scream if you look, but it's okay if you do. It doesn't move."
Marusan looks very tired, but she's trying her best to be warm. "That's... what was preventing you from remembering."
<Pose Tracker> Ako Furuma has posed.
"Yeah. I helped show him around school when he transferred." Despite Marusan's request, Ako doesn't look. She can't. She's avoiding the windows. Because...
She points out, to the exact place it is, without looking. Her finger lingers, before curling. Seeing it might make her stress even worse. "You...can see it too? I'm...hah, relieved. I'm not *that* crazy, huh?"
Ako sighs, and scratches her head. "I feel like...everything has to wrap into Akane. Call it a hunch, but, why else would she alone be investigated?" Distracting herself. "Why are there monsters in the PLANT- he said, it wasn't always a PLANT. I don't know what that means, but I'm scared. I couldn't...talk to my parents about it, so I ditched."
Ako takes a step closer, and then takes a sip of her drink. "But it feels like there's something only I can do here. Why else would I see?"
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Marusan absently twirls the straw in her hand. She's the type of person who always wants to be moving in some way --
-- but there are probably better movements to make at a time like this. Marusan moves over to Ako, taking a deep breath in through her nose and then -- "I'm going to touch you on the shoulder," she says. Normally she isn't quite so telegraphed, but... right now she wants to be extra-gentle with Ako.
"... It's Akane," she agrees. "She's... do you remember when I had you help me get people ready to evacuate the school, but I wouldn't explain why, and then there was the fire alarm?" Her head hangs a little bit, as she finally puts a hand on Ako's shoulder, just like she said. "That was really a kaiju attack. Like the sculpture she showed us that one time."
She brings her other hand -- the one holding the straw -- to her forehead. "Her guardian's abuse... doesn't stop at not buying Anti new clothes. I mean -- she's... it's not just that he's making her, but it's --"
She returns to her previous seat and slumps into it. "I didn't want this to hurt you, so I -- kept it to myself."
<Pose Tracker> Ako Furuma has posed.
Ako nods as the touch is signaled, but freezes up anyways at the revelation. The kaiju attacks...the kaiju...are...
"But..." The touch snaps her back to reality. The mention of the abuse causes Ako to step back once Marusan takes a seat. "He....he's..."
She's angry. Seethingly angry. But she's quick to clarify. "I don't blame you. How could I have ever believed you? We couldn't see the same thing. But..."
Ako suddenly clicks her brain on. She needs snap focus to actually Do Anything. "Then all of Akane's new friends at school people are talking about...*something's* going on." Ako inhales, deeply, and then exhales, avoiding hyperventilating.
"We should go to school as normal. Pretend nothing has really changed. And just...be there for Akane. I'll dig into the situation. I have to. I can't- stand by and do nothing..."
Ako would cry, if she was a crier. Instead, she's just rocking on her feet.
"Is there anyone you know I can talk to about this? Anyone else...? You do so much, I can't just solely rely on you..."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Marusan needs time to sort through all that herself. "I think... actually --" Marusan pauses. "Give me a second. I need --" She goes over to the corner, snagging her school bag and rummaging through it for a pencil and a piece of paper. She's starting to put things together, but --
While she's getting situated again, she says, "Miss Mass said the same thing to me when we talked about it. That the most important thing I could do was be there for Akane -- give her a place to come back to when she's ready." Not if. When. It has to be when. Marusan can't -- stomach 'if.'
"Miss Mass knows. I think Leina does too. They've been taking care of Anti... I think he got kicked out of Akane's house or something," she says, tapping her pencil as she tries to sort out her thoughts.
She starts out listing new students. Pommier. Nagisa (O). New teachers. Ohta.
"Wait... wasn't Pommier on the school team with Yuta and Rikka...? But that was before she transferred..." Ramo's brow furrows.
<Pose Tracker> Ako Furuma has posed.
Ako grabs her phone and begins typing into a word document (she hates handwriting, but likes drawing, weird). "Leina...she invited me to volunteer here. If it wouldn't bother you, it might be the stability I need right now...?" Ako will defer to Marusan here if she thinks otherwise, but it's obvious she's heavily considering it.
"I'll talk to them when I can. For now...Nagisa is of no relation to Kaworu, pretty sure." There can't be TWO alien Nagisas, can there?
"Ohta...no clue. Pommier, though - I'll try to meet with her in school soon. Pick her brain a little. I'll be subtle."
Oh no.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"I'd like that," Marusan agrees. "I went location scouting for the offices with Miss Mass and Leina... I actually picked this one out myself." She blushes a little -- love piercing through the fog just a tiny bit -- as she notes, "I wanted you to be able to try MacDaniel's without having to go to the one across from the school's bus stop."
... yeah, she's a dork.
'I'll be subtle.'
"You won't, but... mrh. Hm." Her brow furrows. "Wait... hold on. Ako -- this is... weird question time, but..." She took a picture of the board for Ako today, since she was gone -- and she has footage of the Deculture Festival events, too...
"You're the fashion expert," she starts. "Do you think you could take a look at Pommier for me? She doesn't dress like she was dressing at the festival at all..."
Marusan did catch a picture of Alouette -- with her jacket all in deep reds, with those barcodes and broken heart motifs and her new sunglasses. She texts that one to Ako first; after about a minute of flipping through her phone, she follows up with Alouette's blue and white casuals from the first day she moved in, and a little of her from the Millympics. None of the shots are actually good or of Alouette directly because... well, she wasn't aiming for that. But her outfit is at least visible, which is the important thing.
<Pose Tracker> Ako Furuma has posed.
Ako smiles softly that Marusan likes that, but then they get back to work.
"...no, I probably won't." Ako concedes, but then looks at Alouette's two outfits. She starts with the old video.
"Very stylish for casuals. I could see her on the runway when she's older - French fashion, accustomed to dressing nice. She's proud of herself."
And then she looks at the new outfit. She goes blank for several moments, brain still working.
"Did she get banned from the high-fashion places? She doesn't even...this is deliberate, but it's not the same person's wardrobe unless they had a breakdown. Broken heart is obvious symbolism, the barcodes are...damn, does this girl think she's property or did someone else dress her? It's-"
A pause.
"It makes me think of Akane, but I can't quite place why." It's the eyes, but she's a fashion expert, not a color-alone expert.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Nodding to the first part, Marusan taps at her cheek. "Okay, yeah -- I got kind of the same vibe? But I don't think I could have put it into words like that," she says. The second part, though...
"Right? It's like -- trendy, not -- fashionable? There's a difference, right?" Marusan is not nearly as attentive to this as Ako is. What snags in her brain, though, is that second part. It's --
"Oooohgh... no. That's... I don't like that. Akane asked if I wanted to go shopping with her... she said she expects to be going a lot, since she has friends moving in and she wants to treat them." This time it's her turn to go blank as her brain works its way through things.
"... when I talked to Miss Mass and Leina about Anti," she doesn't actually remember which of them she brought this up to because her brain feels fried, but it keeps the conversation going, "I said... I thought she might be getting worse because she didn't have Anti at home to throw everything down to."
She chooses her next words delicately. "That... might... not be her problem anymore, and I don't -- mean in the way where she's getting better."
It's said.
It leaves a knot in her stomach.
<Pose Tracker> Ako Furuma has posed.
Ako nods as Marusan agrees with her. "Yeah. Trends aren't always *good*. Yankee, gyaru, those can all be trends, but they're not always done well."
"...she's treating her new friends to- god! She looks good, how can she not make others look good too?!" Ako is distracted, momentarily. It helps. But then it sinks in, especially as Marusan reveals what she's thinking. It's hard, it's scary.
But Ako is suddenly feeling emboldened. "Ramo. Can I touch you?"
If it's a yes, she moves to sit next to her and grasp her hand. She speaks either way. "Listen. As long as we're there for her, as long as we do *something*, instead of nothing...we can make a difference. That's why I think we 'woke up', if you compare it to a dream..."
"People care about Akane. Kaworu did, too, I'm sure of it. So if we believe...maybe we can make a miracle happen."
Ako doesn't know if she fully believes all of this. But being close to her girlfriend and saying powerful words helps her feel stronger.
Maybe that's a miracle in of itself.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
The knot remains in Marusan's stomach. She's always oriented on doing things because if she's just thinking and not doing... it's pretty bad for her. "You can," she mumbles out, looking down at the paper. She never did get around to drawing or writing out what she was thinking -- it got too obvious.
Her hand tightens around Ako's. "Something, instead of nothing..." Her posture sags -- but this time, she has Ako to lean into. It's a much nicer feeling. "You're right. We have to try."
Her lips quirk up into a smile. "Maybe you could invite the new people out?" comes a suggestion, after several moments' more thought in companionable, warm silence. "Work from the bottom up. It's not going to be easy, and I get the feeling they're not going to be comfortable with the help either, if they're... so wrapped up in her -- whatever -- that they're fine with," a gesture to her phone, and to the pointed symbolism of a broken heart with a barcode underneath it, "That. But..."
Smiling with tears in her eyes, Marusan says, "Things started getting better for me when Miss Mass just... took me out to dinner instead of letting me keep working. It starts with the little stuff."
<Pose Tracker> Ako Furuma has posed.
The warmth and contact is comforting. "That's a good idea. I may not be subtle, but I'm not THAT unsubtle. I'll be their friend. And I'll do everything I can."
"For all three of us. So that we can go to days where we are happy together..."
Ako smiles, tears finally starting to well. "Let's just sit here a moment..."
She wants to bask in Marusan's light, just a bit longer. She has something only she can do.