2023-01-27: Room for Kaiju ~PROMISE~
- Log: 2023-01-27- Room for Kaiju ~PROMISE~
- Cast: Akane Shinjo, Guy Shishioh
- Where: GGG Orbit Base
- OOC - IC Date: 0097-01-27
- Summary: Guy Shishioh and Akane Shinjo talk about what comes next for them -- as well as about Triple Zero.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
After her talk with Akamatsu, Akane has a little more free reign to move around as she will; there are areas that it's still weird for her to go to, but the gym isn't one of them. She can't exactly stay in her room eating everything forever without restraint without... getting moving a little bit.
Besides, she's very motivated right now. It's almost Valentine's Day.
Her pace is pretty sedate, though; she's given the weight room a shot but she's honestly a little too much of a wimp for most of what passes for even low-weight options around here. She can hit the treadmill. Walking is fine.
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Guy Shishioh has been VERY BUSY. There are SO MANY PEOPLE who want SO MANY ANSWERS. Not only that, but the Galeoria Pliers need to remain operational for... ....a bit, while they sort some things out. Like when they can turn them off.
Fortunately, restoring communication means Guy doesn't have to make Renais independently reinvent dimensional science for that part, so staff can be properly reassigned around, the Three Doctors and Prickle can take over operations in the crashed Wadatsumi, and GUY can finally do off-time things like sleeping and hitting the Orbit Base gym.
He's dressed down, as one might expect for the occasion, though the tank top and workout shorts are as GGG Green branded as ever. "Well, well," he says, with a light laugh. "Finally got enough energy up to explore the space, huh?" He steps on over, then past her, to a conspicuously larger and reinforced machine. But he doesn't step on before turning with a grin. Watching her walk for a moment. "Good to see you up."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane freezes up when she hears someone else address her -- and ends up sliding down the treadmill a bit more than she'd like. She scrambles to get back into position, and then hits stride again. "Yeah. I had to ask Akamatsu-san if there was anywhere I couldn't go. Then we did shiritori for a bit. ... it's kinda nice to do that with someone who isn't Alexis. I lost, but..."
Akane rubs at the back of her head, keeping her other hand on the treadmill. "I guess I'm getting more okay with losing, ahaha..."
Managing a slightly ragged sigh, she gets back to it. "I don't really wanna be here, but I guess I eat like a normal person again... and I don't really wanna pace myself with honmei-choco." She doesn't touch the obvious yet. Maybe it's... a little heavy.
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Guy chuckles at that, leaning against the firm support of his reinforced treadmill. Just watching, for a moment, and then nods. "Yeah, we had a discussion or two about it. Best you feel like you can stretch your legs."
He hops on and taps the keys for a few moments.
The reason for all the reinforcement becomes apparent, because even set to 'light jog' that thing rapidly spins up to like 15 miles an hour. "Chief Akamatsu's got a heck of a way with words! Not every engineer can claim that! Heh, might be the Shishioh in him."
Feet touching the spinning belt in quick thumps, incredibly quick. "Ah, is that what's lured you out?" Hmmm. He could tease her about her eating, but he seems to remember Mikoto saying he must absolutely never do that to a girl ever? Something like that. "Just good motivation! Expecting to get a lot, are we?"
He is...also avoiding the elephant in the room, to judge from the fact he has yet to attempt to say her name.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"Ahaha, yeah... I was originally going to just ask if I could make chocolate here, but I caught a glimpse of the kitchen and it answered the question." Akane gradually lowers the treadmill speed so she can have a more comfortable conversation.
"... God, she's great," she says, letting out a content sigh. "I was so scared she'd hate me, but..." She laughs. "... Rikka and I are a thing now. I don't wanna hitch all my hopes just on her, but..."
Akane watches Guy go. It's absurd, frankly -- but that's kinda interesting in its own right. Being someone who'd unapologetically stand out in any context... that definitely is courage. "Thanks for..." Not killing me? Believing in me? Giving me a second chance? None of those feel right.
"... everything," she offers, awkwardly. "I wish I'd just... felt like I could take it instead of having Alexis keep forcing the issue."
Renais had floated an idea, but... is it the right time to ask? Tentatively, she starts, "I asked Alouette this a long time ago, and she said 3G wouldn't turn away a heart with courage." Step, step, step, as Akane continues forward-and-back at the same time... but with a fresh perspective.
"Would it turn away a heart that wanted courage? I'm still really scared, but... I'm not gonna just not notice that you guys helped Renais and Alouette put themselves back together." There. It's said. "I want to finish school so it'd only be part time, and I'm not as smart as Alouette, and I don't really know what I'd do, but..."
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
It is absurd. Cyborg Guy could sprint at the speed of a bullet train and even if an unarmored Evoluder Guy is slower, he'd still top out in the hundreds of km/h. But he's not trying to show off, either. It's just what someone with his capabilities has to do to keep their body honed. And he gives her a considering look, a little hook of a smile but a sympathetic eye, at her awkward thanks. "You gave us a heck of a time, won't lie to you about that." But rebuking her for what she'd done to hurt them doesn't get him or them anywhere, so as he must, he lets it go. "But he put you through a lot, too. Getting you somewhere you can start to rebuild is step one, but I'm confident you'll get there. You've got friends here, OK? We won't let you down."
And then, she makes a request, and THAT forces Guy to slow himself down to a walk, so he can actually turn and look, with all intensity. "...hm."
"Think about it a little," he advises her, with a nod. "I'd be happy to. I'll find you something myself, don't worry. But don't commit yourself to something too soon, either, OK? You've just had a big shock."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Think about it. That's fine. She can... do that much. "I don't want to just -- spin my wheels forever. I get that you're being nice to me, and I'm trying to be okay with that. But I need to move forward, too. ... but I'll think about it." Even if the smile that crosses her face as she says, "I guess I have a lot of choices ahead of me," is pretty weak --
-- it is, in fact, a smile.
For a little while, they continue at a nice, even clip; Akane picks up the pace a little on the treadmill. She can fake a lot, on the looks front -- even still, it seems -- but... she does need to eat and sleep, now, so it's best to treat her body as if it has needs.
A thought occurs to her, as she gets to a jog. "Man. We could've gotten here a lot faster if I hadn't made that deal with your friends still stuck dealing with the Oath Over Omega." That could have been a major inflection point the other way; really, all of her intersections with Triple Zero's path through the Earth Sphere could have been. She sees that, now. "I barely even get where my head was at... well, no, I guess it was the same place it was always at." A thoughtful pause. "On my shoulders."
She lets that one land -- with a clunk, if it has to -- and then gets to her actual point. "I'm pretty mad at myself for getting played by your buddies still. If I'd been any more successful with my kaiju, I guess it would have ended up like the particle thing you mentioned. At this point I'm glad it didn't, but... I don't get how I could have been so stupid. Triple Zero just makes me so mad."
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
"Oh, obviously. I think getting involved in something with people will help you a lot. That's why I want to make sure when you commit, it's because you're interested, not just because we're here." He gives that smile again. "So you can have at least half the fun I do!"
He lets that sit for like three seconds before chuckling, "Ehhhh maybe that one was trying too hard?"
They settle into routine. Guy sets himself up at a slightly less absurd pace, this time, to let her have something she can aspire to, rather than marvel at. He's nodding, as she opens back up, makes some conversation-progressing hems and "Yeah,"s and then actually slows to look at Akane at that utter clunker of a pun with the face of a man who has NO idea how to answer that. Fortunately, she moves on and Guy gets back to his jog. His position is tenser, now. Akane's not the only one the subject upsets, much though he tries to hide it. "Some of the brightest minds Humanity's ever produced. Don't feel too bad. They're good at, uh, everything? It's why they were with us to begin with."
"Pretty similar, yeah," Guy says, this one low and still perhaps a bit stung. "I'm pretty sure that's why they noticed it, and I wouldn't be too surprised if that's why Mikoto is who they sent. She was immune, after a while. Her nervous system regenerates rapidly from abnormalities."
Triple Zero just makes her mad, huh. "Yeah. It's...scary. We just have to focus on getting through to people, for now. The implications of Orange Site and the cosmic will to Return to Zero are for after that."
There are, like, five mental shortcuts he's using there to keep his head from shattering, of course.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
He's not the only one approaching the topic that way; Akane picks up speed, though. Having a physical way to vent her anger -- even just by moving her feet -- has always been good for her, and here it's no different.
She notices his feelings. "It feels like you guys have this down to a science. Start with the person you can get to and keep going up from there, huh," she starts, and bit by bit, she starts to twig to something in Guy. Maybe it's the tension in his limbs, or the way his voice drops low as she mentions the parallels between her approach and one Guy already experienced. Even if she's spent so long shoving it down, she can read people -- indeed, flinching from that is part of what got her into this mess.
"... That settles it. I don't know if helping means joining 3G yet, but there's no way I'm letting myself take something like this just lying down. I want... everything you're willing to give me on Triple Zero and your friends. Maybe I won't come up with anything, or I'll just come up with the same thing I did with Renais, but... who knows. Maybe I'll see something you guys didn't. I don't think I'm smarter, but... I might see it differently."
Her own voice drops a little low as she says -- and it's almost chiding -- "You feel like 'cuz they're your friends, every minute they're hurting is your responsibility, right? Maybe even your fault for getting GaoFighGar totaled during the festival, or not getting the hammer guy back, or something. You're okay at hiding it and trusting your friends, but still..."
With an awkward scratch at the back of her head, she notes, "There's no way I can give you any crap for that, but at the same time, do you really think you wear that kinda thing better than a god?"
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
"Yep. Best we've got," Guy admits. "As long as they're based out of the J-Ark, their mobility is basically unbeatable. Even if we found them they'd just move to somewhere totally unrelated. So...handle the fight you can reach, right? Seems like we get in that situation a lot."
His feet hit the treadmill quick and steady. He's nodding, and formulating his response to her request, when she almost offhandedly knocks him for such a loop he actually stumbles on the treadmill. That recovery's graceful, but he does actually have to do it, feet quickly regaining control before he hops to the unmoving side, takes a couple breaths to get his head back together. The face he gives her is...not a little plastic in the grin area. He scratches his chin. "Starting to think we only made you more dangerous," he says, just a hair of a tease.
That last time he felt Mikoto's mind brush his through the Limpid Channel, as her neural regenerative ability slowly lost ground to Triple Zero's total infection. Go and fight. We believe in you.
That grin's gone when his eyes turn away. "They're counting on us to save the world from them. Right now, that's what I can do."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Guy stumbling at the comment tells Akane she's close to on the money -- and it's humanizing, a bit. 'Vessel of Light,' it seems, doesn't matter much -- if it ever did -- when someone has your number in a totally mundane way.
"Hehehe... well, if you did, maybe it's 'cuz you're gonna need that later," Akane replies to Guy, grinning. Hers is no less plastic than his -- but no more plastic, either. "Triple Zero better watch out! Dangerous Akane is on the case!" Her cheeks puff out just a bit after a second, and she admits, "That one sounded cooler in my head..."
She turns her head forward, rather than looking to Guy. "... I'm through trying to run away and manipulate my way around this stuff. Even if the real world sucks..." Her smile gets less plastic. "It's the world where I met people like you -- the world where Rikka and I can be together. I guess I can fight for that, even if it is kinda scary. We're gonna make it the world where you and Mikoto can be together, too, and it's not gonna just be you."
She feels so much less strained, with something to point herself toward. So...
"... Promise?"
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
good gravy this girl has his NUMBER.
After a slightly flummoxed few seconds, Guy finally settles into a much less guarded smile. "World's not nice. 'fraid I can't promise you that one. But...there's still beauty worth protecting."
He glances off, finding a viewport to spot the stars through. Mikoto...
Thinking about her with his guard down nearly destroys him on the spot. Maybe it's obvious when he has to stiffen his whole posture to rid himself of demons.
But still, he pulls himself into a grin. "Yeah, ok. Promise."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Getting Guy repeatedly makes Akane start to flinch herself -- but, she reminds herself... maybe that's not a sign she's thoughtless. Indeed, it might be quite the opposite -- a sign she's taking getting to know Guy seriously.
Akane finally turns the treadmill off -- because she's starting to sweat, which is gross, and she needs to lie on the nearby weight bench looking increasingly boneless. Letting her head roll to the side, she looks out the same viewport Guy is. "So beautiful," she agrees.
A beat, before she says, "... I need to get used to eating food and sleeping and exercising again before I do anything cool and dangerous though... Huaaah, I'm exhausted..." Stretching out a little, she mumbles, "But the honmei-choco..."
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Guy lets it sit for a long few moments, clearly taking it in, thinking about something far away. And then he gets back on, because *he* knows where the day spa is.
"You've got to really take care of that body now. I had to get used to it again too."
He chuckles. "So, if you don't want to go straight back to a nap, give me a few minutes to finish this routine and I'll show you where the pool is."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane notices the 'too' there, and there's some curiosity -- but she lets it slide for now. They've had plenty of heavy talk and she's pretty sure she'll end up repeatedly putting him off base if she talks.
"There's a pool?" Akane asks, excited. "I can definitely put off a nap for that."