2022-10-21: A Bird Without Wings, Can No Longer Fly
- Cast: Alouette Pommier, Guy Shishioh
- Where: Tsutsujidai
- Date: U.C. 0096 10 21
- Summary: After a long week of exams, Alouette receives a visit from Guy Shishioh, who sees the ways she changed with his own eyes.
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
YESTERDAY, ON ORBIT BASE:
"'ey! 'EY! K-7! I see you there! I don't care if you're the Prince of Space or whatever, you're not usin' the Division docks! Back in your lane!" bellows Ayame Ushiyama (nee Hatsuno) at the Mobile Operator desk.
Guy Shishioh and Yang Long-li can't quite suppress a chuckle between themselves at the bombastic interim Mobile Operator's handling of traffic control, sitting far back from her at the command seats. "It's certainly gotten lively with her around, hasn't it?" Yang muses, conversationally.
Guy's own grin locks up a bit, taking in the Main Order Room as Ayame threatens to put a Federation captain in the Spender Life-Ender right out loud on recorded channels. "Yeah," Guy says, distantly. "Really has."
TODAY, IN TSUTSUJIDAI:
Alouette's new residence receives an unexpected knock at the door. It's Guy Shishioh. He thought about wearing the uniform he's worn damn near continuously since February, but considering the circumstances, he's gone for something just a little less branded, and in fact it's a pretty normal suit, of the type he normally wears mostly when the Federation Council wants a piece of him. Brown, because his character design is from the 90s. One lapel has a GGG Green emblem; the other, GGG Blue.
The first thing she sees, though...is a bouquet of mixed flowers, held forward in presentation.
"Can you believe it?" Guy says, casually, grinning. "Last 'good luck on your exams' set they had in stock."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
It was certainly an odd time for a new wave of transfers into Tsutsujidai High, with exam week kicking in not very long after. Especially considering Tsutsujidai's.. unique cirriculum. Alouette feels lucky that she knows so much about kaiju from her past experiences of being up close and personal with them.
With only one exam left to go, Alouette feels pretty confident, but she certainly hasn't neglected her studying; her desk is full of scattered notes and diagrams. Not only that, she's found herself to be a pretty popular study partner due to her reputation...
Right now, however, she's taking a rare break after a long day of stimulation, wearing a simple but elegant nightgown and a bottle of one of those mediocre, but healthy caffeine drinks in her hand. But when she hears a knock on the door, and Guy Shishioh's voice through it, she's quite surprised.. she wasn't sure she would get to see him again, so there's a feeling of bittersweetness inside.
From her conversation with Mamoru and Ikumi, they established that Orbit Base will largely accept her decision, and let her live peacefully in Tsutsujidai. Still, she /did/ leave without any notice and even disabled the Program Drive.. her former Chief would have every right to deliver the proper punishment for that.
Guy isn't that type of man though, and with that in mind, she lets him come inside. And indeed instead of some NERV paperwork, he brought in.. flowers! He's here to wish her well on exams... Alouette was so focused on cutting away her identity as a member of GGG, that she never considered that her former colleagues might still want to treat her as well, a friend.
"Oh! Thank you, Ch- Guy!" she corrects herself. "Tsutsujidai's subjects are.. very unusual, but I'm doing my best," she strikes a brief confident pose. "I've been helping to tutor some of the other students on some of the harder subjects too."
And then, her face fades into that more neutral expression. "By the way, um.. thanks for being understanding. It was a difficult decision to leave, so I apologize for it seeming so abrupt." It's something she has been dying to apologize for, but now that the chance is in front of her, she struggles to get the words out. But then that unnatural smile, foreign from the one Guy knew her to have, returns as she places the flowers on her desk next to all of her notes.
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Guy helps himself in, peering around with all the curiosity of a parent inspecting quarters for the first time - Alouette has her own family, of course, but those few months left an impression on Guy he has not been making much effort to quash. Maybe it was sevenish years ago for her, but it was two, for him. Not to mention how recently she'd been--
Not the time to dwell on that. Partly, he just wants to see her. Partly, he wants to see with his own eyes what's become of her. She's not quite as glum as he thought from Mamoru's description, but... He manages to keep that grin on, even so. "Yeah? That's good. Just like I taught you. We count on each other to pull through." He nods with a smile.
....still, when she addresses the elephant in the room, his face goes just a bit crooked. "'Understanding,' heck, Prickle was gonna call G-Hound," he says, matter-of-factly. He sets his right hand in his pocket. He leaves the left out - the one most centrally tied to his Evoluder powers. "But Yang's sharp. I really underestimated that guy, I think. He figured out that you would never do all that under..." His eyes cut to the skyline. "Normal circumstances," he says, alluding but not attacking.
He reminds himself again: This isn't a Ruin Apostle. He's not doing this to cause her distress, and doing that won't help. Attacking the precept only hurts them both.
But even so, as she moves to set the flowers down, that unnerving smile settles on her, and he feels the urge to poke. "What got you in such a hurry, anyway?"
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Alouette doesn't seem to mind Guy peeking around her room, after all, he is like family to her as well. She fondly remembers those shoulder rides when she was little. But now, she's all grown up living in her own place...
That being side, the room is positively barren, with school necessities, a fridge, and a bed; almost as if a reflection of a void in her heart. It's missing those setpieces that makes Alouette the person she is.
"That's right," she agrees when Guy says we count on each other to pull through. Although she abandoned the fight against the Ruin Apostles, she hasn't given up on helping people through their struggles and making sure they're not alone. "I think I'm part of the reason why Akane can still smile. So I don't want to abandon her."
And then when Guy mentions Prickle about to call G-Hound, her face twists into a genuine look of distress. Their connections to Blue Cosmos certainly aren't lost on her. "That's... good," she slowly responds in regard to Yang preventing it. But the mention of "normal circumstances"... what could that mean? "If you mean shutting down the Program Drive.. I think I was just scared. Even geniuses can act irrationally, you know. Still, I suppose fixing it now is out of my hands." She ruefully smiles. It would be so easy to fix it, after all.. but she wouldn't be surprised if Ikumi never wanted to see her face again. "But you're Braves, so I know you'll pull through."
And when Guy asks what got her in such a hurry, she already gave away half the game when she mentioned Akane. So she continues from that train of logic. "Ever since we stopped fighting Akane's kaiju, I realized we'd have to fight the Ruin Apostles... and I couldn't do it." From there, things get strange, and the lines blur from dream to reality. She simplifies it for Guy. "Akane offered me a peaceful place to stay. Since we are no longer formally enemies, I accepted. That's all..."
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Not much, huh. "Really should've brought some more housewarming gifts, I guess," Guy says idly, considering the walls. "Ayame wanted me to bring you the replica champion belt she has from Neo Neon Devil Pro Wrestling 0087, but her husband threatened to divorce." He laughs.
Of course, even bringing up Ayame is a subtle probe....because Ayame being in the conversation at all means they've had to call up the semi-retired Mobile Operator. And, evidently, her husband; and, implicitly, their child. Guy is so often a man like a wrecking ball. Sometimes people forget he's a Chess champion and perfectly capable of playing a longer game.
Part of the reason Akane can still smile....he lets that slide, on first reference, partly because soon after the look of alarm at dropping G-Hound makes his own heart twist. Ugh. He's gonna see that one in his dreams, isn't he.
Speaking of dreams: He makes a visibly confused face. "Stopped fi--" he says, out loud, before stopping himself. But he can't hide the piercing, searching look he gives her after that, several seconds before he blinks it away, hiding his mouth with a rub at his lip before he comes back away with a strained smile. As far as Guy's concerned, he sure never gave an order like that. "I understand what you mean, though. It hurts a lot," he says, fully seriously, eyes training off and out the window. "Fighting people you care about...No...even just not having them around, is like a nightmare sometimes..."
....that one he has to rush a breath out to shake off. 'No longer formally enemies,' she says, and it sticks in him like a dagger, more than he expected. No...for all the kindness he and Mamoru have resolved to show the girl...right now, she is absolutely his enemy.
He finally reaches into his pocket and pulls another something out. "Ah, right, speaking of the whole situation with the systems damage," he says. This one's a strange little capsule, a few inches long, about the size and thickness of a large test tube. But it's capped at both ends by a small metallic apparatus, and a plasma is glowing in the center. When he lightly tosses it to Alouette, it doesn't move at all the way gravity would demand, floating like there were none at all. "It's a gift from the Three Doctors. A little gravity toy they all put together. It's Dr. Hirata's gravity tech, of course. Then Dr. Nozaki put together the energy systems. I think Dr. Inubouzaki did the systems programming, though I have no idea where he found the time, pulling all nighters to try and have Program Drive back up by December. They say, no hard feelings."
'I offered them a dream,' Akane told him. So this is what that looks like. For now...he can only try to remind her there are things worth waking up for.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"Don't worry! I'll probably go shopping for some decorations after exams," she responds enthusiastically. I'm considering some idol posters... maybe Sheryl Nome? Rikka really likes her and I can see why." With decorations like that, her living space really would come to look like a typical 15 year old girl's. Although the mention about Ayame's replica champion belt gets a laugh out of her.
And then she considers what Ayame being there at all means. "She was the Mobile Corps Operator even before Hana, wasn't she? So she had to come off leave," Her eyes go a bit distant. "Still it sounds like she brings a lot of energy to the base," She musters a smile. She also respected Ayame as her senior, even if their personalities couldn't be anymore different.
"Do you ever wish you could stop fighting too, Guy?" It's a difficult question but it's already been a difficult conversation. "I know I'm lucky enough to leave because my position isn't quite as essential, but.. how can you keep going? You knew them longer than I did and Mikoto is your..." she stops there, not wanting to bring up too much painful emotions. But this is an important question to ask, because she wants to know what sets them apart. Why she couldn't live up to the Oath Sworn in Courage.
Alouette takes a moment to study the capsule Guy gives her, a gift from the Three Doctors. Even for a small toy, it's a marvel in engineering, perfectly bringing together each of the respective scientists' fields. And so it fascinates her, a feeling of scientific fascination that left her a few weeks ago. "Tell them I said... thank you," Even if just for a moment, her older, more natural smile returns to her face as she lets the contraption gently float above her hand.
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Guy can't help but crack a grin. "Idols, is it? I never figured you for the sort. I think I'm too warped by hanging out with the Whites for so long..." He laughs at himself, scratching the back of his head.
Someday he's going to hear Fire Bomber and his head will explode.
"I was gone for that entire time. I think I met her during the Primeval war once or twice, since Hana was with Mamoru so much back then and Ayame was with Hana a lot in those days too, but..." He waves the thought off. "She's definitely energetic. I think the Orbital Ring traffic control people are getting scared of her."
And then: She gets her own hit in. His eyes turn down, and for just a moment maybe it looks like he feels like the only one in the universe. Lucky enough to leave...not essential...?
He thinks back to the way she cried when he walked into Orbit Base again for the first time. The way she mustered herself to rebuke him even with tears still in her eyes.
God, how he wants to strike at it. Drive his entire spirit at the crack he can see in her beliefs, the factual failure he saw minutes ago that could unspool her perception. But he can't watch her cry that way again. Not knowing it won't do any damage to her real shackles. His teeth grind. He still hasn't spoken.
"You're still one of the only people I'd trust with my back, Alouette," he says, a seeming total nonsequitur.
And then he looks back at her, and he does his best to smile for her, strained though it is. "Sometimes," he says, as if the words never left him. "You know, when all this started, I just wanted to be an astronaut. A space researcher like the old days. Renais is the one who reminded me I don't have to give up on that." He chuckles, and only then finds the strength to look Alouette in the eyes.
"Because they need me. Because I believe in their courage, even now that it's been turned against me. Because..."
He shakes his head, just a little. "Because the thought that they have those poisonous thoughts in them for even a second longer than they have to burns me like a fire," he admits. Words he didn't mean to say. Words that aren't just targeted at the Ruin Apostles.
He falls quiet. "I will," he says, and draws in a long breath, straightening up to look out the window again just to recenter himself.
Then he looks to her anew, and seeing that proper, natural smile on her face makes it easier for him to bring back his own.
"Everyone has the strength to be a hero," he says, quietly. "A Brave. I learned that fighting the Primevals. It's not something anyone can lose."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"I think for me, it was an acquired taste. But I have a lot of respect for the charisma idols have," She answers. This was a conclusion she came to on her own, although Sheryl Nome was a recommendation from Rikka. "Actually, Kaworu's currently showing me how to play the piano. If I ever do a performance, maybe you should come watch." Of course, she probably isn't actually ready for one quite yet, but it's an aspiration.
"Oh wow... I can almost imagine the kind of profanities she used on them." Alouette was able to be sufficiently intimidating on those duties, but only towards those who can understand French, of course.
And then Guy takes a while to respond again, seemingly trying to find the right words. Eventually, he calls back to that previous conversation, when he said she's one of the only people he would trust with his back, and she listens intently. Hearing that meant a lot back then, and it still does now, but... she doesn't understand. Even after she betrayed that trust? Why does she have trust she doesn't deserve anymore?
"You believe in their courage..." she repeats, internalizing the statement, but she is not yet at the point where she can apply it to herself. But she does understand that Guy is a lot like her in his circumstances, someone who was supposed to be ordinary, who became extraordinary and stepped up out of necessity.
And then he concludes that anyone can be a hero, no matter what happens. They are words to keep in mind later, even if they bounce off Bujack's inhibitions now, and all she musters is a slow nod.
There is silence for a few moments, and then Alouette speaks again. "I'm glad you visited." And then she takes one final look at Guy's expression: sorrow overcome by determination.
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Hearing her hear him out...he knows the shackles on her won't let her recover for him the way he wants to see so badly. But seeing her like this gives him some strength.
He told Mamoru, he didn't want them to have memories like his. The searing pain and flashing rage that was the Chemical Bolts, driving him, binding him, chains driven through his skull and into his body's most vital nerves and veins. Seeing her like this..subdued, misled, but not shattered...
He can live with himself, letting this persist just a little longer.
He steps toward her, then. Bends a knee, like he did that day in Orbit Base. "Alouette. I promise you. No...I swear."
He gives her that same tender smile from that day, and sets both hands on her shoulders. "...a gentleman shouldn't sweep a lady up on his shoulders, right?" he begins, and then pulls her into a hug, holding her tightly against him for several long moments. "No matter what is happening...no matter what you're feeling now..."
The words catch in his throat, briefly. The last time he said this, it got people killed. It got Papillon killed. But that was different, so different, and he can't let the demons of the Trinary Solar System get between him and people who need saving.
"No matter what that fear put in you. I trust you, Alouette."
He releases her then, before his own desire to simply pick her up and fly away takes hold, and stands up. "I'll come again, then," he promises her, and turns to go.