2023-02-01: In Repair
- Log: 2023-02-01- In Repair
- Cast: Alouette Pommier, Akane Shinjo
- Where: GGG Orbit Base
- OOC - IC Date: 0097-02-01
- Summary: Akane and Alouette have a serious talk about Akane's upcoming plans -- and about their friendship.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
The Gutsy Global Guard's hangar - Alouette is currently attending to some of Guardienne Aviaire's repairs - which, even after using Hell and Heaven, isn't exactly what you would call intensive, as much of its weapons are made of digital matter.
The smashed pieces of the GaoMachines that make up GaoFighGar sit in this room - a sight that never quite loses Alouette's eyes when she spends time in here.
Nevertheless, the atmosphere in the hangar is a very quiet one at the moment - Galeon never seems to make much of any noise, and the other Bravest Robo Corps aren't currently up for repairs.
In an atmosphere like this, Alouette very easily works herself into a rhythm - even if there's so much on her mind right now - people, places, events. As it happens, one of those people in her thoughts is on her way here - catching Alouette's attention... her potential co-operator.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane's always been the type to alternate between trying very hard not to think about something and dwelling on it; she's had a lot of time to recover, but at the same time... she realizes she owes it to 3G to reflect on how things got here. Her clearance to wander is surprisingly broad, too, so --
She steps into the hangar, her gaze sweeping over the assembled machines -- as well as those in various stages of assembly. It's not long before she spots Alouette, too. Seeing her amid her damaged creations stings a bit... which is all the more reason not to avert her gaze.
"Alouette," she says, her voice soft enough that it might get missed in the sounds of repair. She approaches a little closer, asking, "Are you doing okay?"
Her eyes end up resting on PhantomGao, rather than Alouette herself. She doesn't quite wince, but her eyes track down and to one side, and she presses her lips together a little tightly.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Alouette notices Akane as she approaches closer and closer. "Akane," she returns, soft inflection of her own. "I didn't... think you would wander over here." But she doesn't turn her away, letting her stay as close as she'd prefer.
And then Akane throws out a very difficult question. "Am I.. okay? Hmm..." Alouette pauses, for about half a minute, then decides she trusts Akane with the true answer. "I don't know. This is probably even harder to talk about for you than it is for me, but.. I feel like if we don't we won't get anywhere." She says, between keystrokes. "It's about the last battle.. the one where you were a kaiju."
She looks at PhantomGao herself.. the very key to victory she sent out to bring Guy home, which very nearly became his coffin in Tsutsujidai. "Hell and Heaven," she states, and then clarifies. "You probably didn't see me use it, but I did. I thought it was the only way I could get you out.. and it did help Anti reach you. It's just..."
How does she even word this? "It took a massive strain, holding together that much power. Just so you know, I regret none of it because it helped bring you here.. but Leina thought I should talk to someone about it. At first, I thought Guy was the obvious answer. But now that you're standing here, and asking me how I am... I thought maybe it was you I should be telling." And come to think of it, maybe that was what Leina was implying, after all.
"Ahaaaa, maybe that was too much of a tangent. But I heard the good news about you, and maybe it's related." Alouette's tone lightens, slightly. "I did want to talk to you about what becoming a 3G operator entails... but I wanted to say it more privately than the radio." She twists one of her curls. "I'll probably end up choosing to fight again, and I might even need Hell and Heaven's power again in the future." Her gaze turns from PhantomGao to Akane's eyes. "If you're my operator, it's like you're holding my life like a thread. I know that much with Guy. It was myself, more than you, that I blamed when GaoFighGar got destroyed and Guy nearly died." At this point, she's actively trying not to look at the shattered GaoMachines.
"What I'm trying to say is.. are you really okay with it? I'm not about to stop you but.. I want to make sure you thought out your decision first. Only then I can support it."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Alouette doesn't know if she's okay -- that's a little nervewracking. So even someone with that indomitable 3G spirit can falter. Obviously Akane knew that -- she's seen it up close -- but the way she says it does leave her feeling more than a little ashamed of herself.
It'd be much easier if she could blame Alexis for all of this, since it happened after she was transformed. It's deeply tempting, too -- but she owes it to Alouette to admit her own role in proceedings, just as she owes it to herself to concede Alexis's. Letting Alouette speak as long as she needs to, she considers what she ought to even say to all of that.
"I don't mind that you brought it up at all," Akane says, even though she flinches inward a tiny bit as she says it; she's not strong enough to bear the weight of her past without flinching, yet, nor has she quite managed to share the load enough that she doesn't need to. "I've seen what that type of attack does to people... Renais tried it too. Back when we first met." Her focus moves toward Alouette and away from the GaoMachines, too; the past is important, but it's not as important as the person in front of her.
"Thank you... for being willing to take that kind of risk for me." Once she's said it, she feels a little better.
It also makes it a lot easier to take the other half as seriously as she needs to. She listens to that, too, of course; Alouette clearly takes her position very seriously. If anything, she seems to take it even more seriously now than when they first met; that might well be Akane's... not fault, but it'd be hard for her to miss what changed in the interim.
A long silence passes. Akane briefly cuts into it with a, "I need a second." Her brow furrows, her consideration of the situation clear on her face.
"... I think that's why I should do it," she eventually says. "I pushed you guys to the breaking point... a lot of times. If 3G needs operators on the battlefield, it's getting stretched pretty thin." The next thought is a little more complicated, but... "... You guys were strong when I couldn't be. I guess it's kinda dorky and lame, but I wanna try to be your strength, too."
Opening and closing her hand a few times at her side, fidgeting with her fingers, she briefly pulls back -- and then forces herself to extend a hand, instead. "I want to be brave," she says, finally meeting Alouette's gaze without flinching.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Alouette listens, a little nervously, to Akane's response. She notices the strength it takes to even face what happened on that night, and she notices that she didn't bring up Alexis at all. Of course, in that moment, Alouette was fighting to save Akane, not to stop Alexis.
"...She did. Hell and Heaven's power comes from combining two forces that weren't meant to be. Honestly, I didn't plan that at all, neither did I think I even had it in me, but..."
"You're welcome, Akane." A warm smile emerges on Alouette's face.
The long silence is passed by, a few clicks and taps sounding in the interim, as Akane takes the time to really think about what she wants to do.
And the decision is clear... Alouette is a little taken aback, not by the decision itself.. but the sheer earnestness in it. "In that case, we'd love to have you, Akane. And if you think that's dorky, then you already passed level one of the 3G entry test." She grins.
Her glance turning more serious, Alouette watches Akane's hand for a few moments, how it opens and closes... and finally reaches out. "I think... you're already brave. That handshake is more than enough proof for me." Alouette slowly, carefully, but happily takes it, for as long as Akane is willing. "It's not about having the stubbornness to suffer alone, it's about having the courage to reach out." And she decides there's a bit more room for that dry humour. "...Article 5, Paragraph 14 makes that one clear."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
While Akane is listening, once they shake hands and let go, her hand trembles a bit. So she's really doing this... she's really taking a step forward. It's scary -- her stomach feels like it's turning in a knot -- but at the same time... she's not running away.
Tearing up a bit, she steps forward and -- without hesitating, or even asking, wraps her arms around Alouette in a hug. "Thank you so much," she murmurs. "I'll do my best..."
Swallowing and stepping back -- she doesn't want to hug Alouette too long (nor can she quite bring herself to, anyway), she admits, "I'm actually pretty confident I can do the job... it was most of what I was doing in Tsutsujidai in my room. Or at least there's a lot in common."
Another deep breath. She keeps steadying, now that she's actually moving forward. "I'm really looking forward to being able to support you. ... maybe I should learn my way around a wrench, too? It seems like there's a lot of stuff that needs fixing..." She rubs at the back of her head, embarrassed.
She has to lick her lips and take a few breaths before she finishes, "What can I do to help you out before I start operator training? I don't want you to feel like you're getting ignored 'cuz everyone's taking care of me."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Another thing Alouette is caught off by is the hug... but certainly not in a bad way. She just lets it happen, feeling like Akane deserves the initiative on this one. And feeling joyed that it's the first time they can hug for real.
"I know you will. After everything we've been through, there's very few people I'd trust with my back more than you." comes from Alouette, quietly and softly, not quite realizing where she picked up that phrase in the moment.
When Akane lets go, Alouette steps back too, and she does note that Akane doesn't seem to shy away from something like what she did in Tsutsujidai. "That sounds right. But here... there's a fair bit of guts involved, too- you'll see." She can't help but giggle a little. "If you'd like I could bring you to the Main Order Room and show you how it's done." She's tempted to bring up how both her and Hana watched hours and hours of Mikoto videos as part of their own training... but that sounds like a story that'd be happier once they bring her home.
"I'm looking forward to it, too. And I'm sure Ushii would be happy to show you that sort of thing. Although..." she looks towards GaoFighGar's remains, a key part of today's conversation despite never being spoken in words. "Mm. I feel like once again, that 'little one' will come in handy - that its story isn't over. I don't know how, but.. if you'd like to work on it together.." She kind of mumbles this part out. With Galeon back for the time being, they don't need GaoFighGar repaired right now. But maybe part of her feels sad seeing it all destroyed all the time...
And then Akane asks what she can do to help, which Alouette considers. "Well.. I'm going to be taking a lot more leave time starting now." She glances over to Guardienne Aviaire this time. "It might help to have someone make sure all my um.. things are being properly taken care of while I'm not here." A pretty simple request, all things considered. But it'd help all the same with the how busy the Orbit Base is.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane startles at the admission Alouette would trust her with her back -- it's... an honor, and kind of a crushing weight at the same time...
... but it's not one she has to bear alone, either. Still a little misty-eyed as they break away, she says, "That sounds really nice... I could use the help getting used to it. Hana seems really nice... she let me borrow a couple outfits until I could get someone to bring up more clothes for me, and I wouldn't mind saying hi to her in the Main Order Room."
Glancing off to GaoFighGar as Alouette does, Akane nods to her. "I kinda get it. If it were really over, they'd have just chucked it out, right? Just because it's not a huge repair priority doesn't mean it's not worth keeping..." Something about that gnaws at her -- no, she tells herself. Not yet. Wait for someone who might be able to do something about it, like Liger.
Alouette needs someone to take care of her things, huh? That much Akane can do with a smile. "Sure. I don't know if I'm going to be around Orbit Base every day either... but I can at least check up. I'm probably gonna be up here at least once a week for a while for some in-depth medical stuff, so I can check in at least that often..."
Breathing a sigh of relief, Akane takes a half-step away. She doesn't need to cling... she can rely on Alouette a little more than that. "Maybe you can help me with something, too. I noticed all the operators' outfits are a little unique... if I do this, do you wanna help me design mine?" Rubbing at the back of her head with a strained smile, she admits, "Youuuuu've... already seen the kinda stuff I come up with if I just go on my own."
Laughing at herself, and perhaps being laughed with... it's not a bad feeling at all.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Misty-eyed herself, Alouette nods, as Akane steps away. "We'll definitely make time then. And yes, Hana is a total sweetheart. She was the first person here to help me break out of my own comfort zone, at least." And the borrowing of her clothes also gets a thoughtful look.. sometimes Alouette wonders how Hana can pull off the looks she does. "Oh, really? That's really kind of her, too." Is all she says about the matter though.
"Admittedly, I probably wouldn't have let them," Alouette asides in regards to just throwing out the parts. "And it's true that a significant amount of its design philosophy lives on in Guardienne Aviaire... I'm mostly just thinking to myself, though." Alouette trails off. One day, the time will come.
"Merci, Akane. It's not such a big deal that you would need to check more than that. I mostly... didn't want to put some kind of huge favour on you." But starting with that small piece of trust and progressing from there? She can do that.
Alouette stays in place, listening to Akane's request. "Ahaa, you're right.. no one else wears," She tugs on the underdress sleeve under her main blue 3G dress. "One of these, for example." She does look up and down Akane to see what hers might be. She's definitely a hoodie gal, and she could see that being part of it. "Certainly! There's a lot of room to make something cute with uniforms like these." And when Akane pokes fun at her own previous design sensibilities, Alouette can't help but briefly laugh along with her. "Right... the uniform should preferably be something you can actually walk around in.
There's a momentary silence between the laughter, until Alouette speaks up again. "Geez, I wasn't expecting to have a conversation like this over repairs. It's... really nice though." She smiles. "And I can't say how much it means that you thought through it that much... and still came to the decision that you did." That it's out of a willingness to be strong for her.. for 3G. "It'll be a pleasure working with you, Akane."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"Huh. You're not the type to throw out that kinda thing even if it hurts either, huh," Akane reflects. ... no, she tells herself -- wait a little longer. ... it's still reassuring to hear that Alouette's like her in that way, too.
"... It did look good," Akane says, with a pout, on the topic of her previous... clothing-based indiscretions. "I can't believe I was walking around in it all the time though! ... could be fun to bring something like that out for special occasions, though..."
It's nice to have a friendly, casual conversation about all of this. When Alouette affirms it'll be a pleasure working with her, Akane says, "I'm looking forward to it. Thanks, Alouette. You're a really good friend."