2022-12-04: Layaway
- Log: 2022-12-04: Layaway
- Cast: Akane Shinjo
- Where: Tsutsujidai
- Date: U.C. 0096 12 04
- Summary: Akane continues her steady sulk through town, now that the last kaiju she'll ever make lies dead.
A nameless kaiju's dead body sits exactly where it fell.
Akane stands below it, outside a small boutique. A corner of the roof sags from grazing damage, while the building next door is destroyed. She's moved less than a block in two days. Hasn't eaten. Hasn't slept.
Staring into it with a dull, flat expression, still soaking wet from the rain that hasn't ceased for days now. The clerk -- a tired-looking woman with kind eyes -- blinks at the presence of... anyone outside, honestly.
She walks over to the door, opening it and looking down at Akane. "Are you all right? You're going to catch a cold if you stand outside like that..." After a second, she tries, "You can come in. The boss told me not to skip unless the building fell over. With the roads closed, our customer base is pretty small, though..."
Akane stares at her blankly, and mumbles, "okay. i'll come in." Her feet shuffle her in, in a daze; her eyes track to the wall, where a paper calendar sits.
December 4th.
Oh.
Akane turns to leave almost as quickly as she'd entered, but as she moves to turn, something on the floor catches her eye: a bright blue pair of headphones with a snowflake design on the ears. They're over-the-ear, and the quality looks stellar, too. Not quite audiophile, but definitely an upgrade from earbuds.
Akane stares at them for a long time.
The clerk looks at her thoughtfully. "... Oh, I must have missed those while I was cleaning up. A lot of stuff fell off the shelves. Are you looking to pick those up?"
"don't have my bag. no money," Akane replies, limply. "they're nice."
The clerk purses her lips, looking between the box and Akane for a little while. "Tell you what. It's not like we're going to do any real business with most of the roads to this part of town closed. I can hold these for you."
"Why bother?" Akane sounds incredulous.
The clerk shrugs. "You look miserable. Figured I could do something nice for you."
Akane takes a long look at her. She's not a god who could issue orders anymore. Maybe she never was. "do whatever you want," comes her answer. She sees no reason to stop her -- it's clear that holding them will make her feel like she did something.
Besides: whether she makes it back to this part of town with her bag in tow again isn't really her choice anymore, is it? So neither will the headphones be her problem.
... especially since she'd need them by tomorrow anyway.