2023-02-24: Moving On

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<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        A bit more than an hour ago, the main dining table of Villa Mass was set for a big dinner. Some might say she'd overcatered, but those people haven't had to feed a group of eight including a kaiju, two Ashtas and a young woman relearning the importance of food.

        But in almost any other circumstance, this would be overcatering.

        Each place at the table had an apple with the core cut out- fresh enough to not be oxidized. There are *many* meals on the table, among them a large pan of seafood paella- with plenty of prawn and squid. The centerpiece of the evening however is a atlantic salmon. While the body had been prepared as sashimi, the head and tail had been slow roasted, the offal had been seared and lightly salted, and the skin had been dried in the oven into crackling. Even some of the bones had been deep fried/

        But when you have eight stomachs waiting for a meal after moving, well...

        Sayla poured her third flute of Cava for the evening, looking rather pleased with herself. "Thank you everyone, for helping out today." Technically two days, Sayla had moved everything out of her room for Akane to move into. "If I may, I'd like to propose a toast," Her eyes look to Akane and Rikka first, then the rest of the room. "To busy homes, and to our newest resident. Salud!" 

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Getting Akane's things together has been something of an ordeal; she's picky about who she lets into her room, which has added a little unnecessary difficulty. She's spent much of the last week-ish moving things from her room to Aya. After that was the concert, and now... well, it's about as handled as it's going to get, and she's headed down from the concert with Sayla, Leina, and Rikka.

(Akane knows she was... a little difficult about the moving process, but it's complicated! She knows what's important to keep in there, what can come with, and what ought to stay. She could just explain that no, the garbage staying where it is is absolutely not negotiable, but then she'd feel compelled to explain why it's not negotiable and then she'd have to confront that and so would everyone else.)

The day's proceedings, even if moving her stuff in, have been a little bit much for Akane... she could use the meal for sure.

When Sayla proposes a toast, Akane gives Rikka's hand a quick squeeze before raising her own glass of tomato juice. "Salud," Akane toasts.

... she's a little misty-eyed about it. It's been almost a decade since the last time she had something resembling a family meal. "Thanks for helping me with all this," she continues, and it's not the first time she's said it. She feels like she can't say it enough to feel fair, after everything that's happened.

The spread before her had been a little dizzying, too. Is it really okay to have this much food? It tasted amazing, though -- she's still thinking about it, judging from the way her eyes sweep across the wreckage they'd left behind. 

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.


Despite how picky Akane is, Leina has been, patient with how finicky she is about the fine details of where this and that goes into her room and that she absolutely needs this thing that looks like garbage there.

At dinner Leina of course, has had no trouble digging in, because it's all delicious and she is an Ashta that has never quite grown out of the mild food insecurity of their youth. However, her eating has been broken up by reassuring Judau that no in fact, squid is delicious and he'd be missing out.

Repeatedly.

R E P E A T E D L Y

There may have been some sibling bickering over this point, though it's never broken out into anything more than light verbal squabbling.

Nursing her own flute of Cava, Leina raises it herself at Sayla's toast, "Salud!"

At first she doesn't add onto it, letting Akane speak misty eyes and all, "We're happy to help, to be there for you. I kind of just see this as part of your new beginning...?"

Leina smiles her way and adds her own small addendum to the toast, "To the start of better things for you Akane, much better."

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

Renais had spent a good portion of the last couple of days helping with the move-in; it would've only been the second or third time Akane had seen Renais in anything but her cooling coat and bodysuit--and tonight is absolutely the first night the girl's seen her in anything more than utilitarian-cute clothes.

She's wearing a high-waisted suspender skirt in dark blue, not unlike the one she picked out the first time, with a short-sleeved button-up in a lighter pink, and ribbed 'tights' in the form of her bodysuit, in the same color as the skirt. It all looks very cute, leaving aside the necessity of the black glove covering most of her right forearm.

Akane's thanks elicit a warm smile from Renais, bigger and warmer than the girl's likely used to seeing from her. It's clear--Renais feels at home here... and she's glad that Akane has come home.

"Salud!" She proclaims to the toast, lifting her flute of Cava. "To home." She takes a sip, then works on the last few scraps from her plate.

<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.


Roux Louka had returned from space. Again. There was a job to do, now, and it was not one that seemed that arduous comparatively. So Roux tied her hair back, put on a plain sea-green T-shirt and a pair of battered work trousers - literally the only actual pants she owns unless you count a beloved Normal Suit - and did her share of carriage and carting.

At one point, though, she said something important to Judau Ashta.

"I saw that man," Roux said to him: "Full Frontal. His intervention... it probably saved us, Leina, Banagher, me, the Garanceries. But..."

"He sucks," Roux continues. "SO bad. I cannot even begin to summarize to you how much he sucks. It's like if Haman had a less charming older brother." (Even Roux recognizes style.) "SERIOUSLY--"

(Also endearments and other such mushy things; but those are private!!)

NOW,

Roux looks deliberately at someone while raising a forked squid to her mouth, putting it into her mouth tip first, and slrrrrping the rest up. While chewing, she raises her fork as if to say 'what?' -- though, inauspiciously, she winces. Just a little. At what?

(Gah!! I bit my cheek!!)

At the toast, Roux raises her glass. "Salud!" she says. Then, back to Akane, she says with a genial look, "So, if you have to live on Earth, this is a pretty good place to do it, right? Sometimes I'm afraid I'll get lost around here, or turn left and just... drive all the way back to Ghardia accidentally or something."

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

It's a little bittersweet, helping Akane move out. It's something she's admitted to her before, but Rikka was going to miss living next to her, and being able to see her in school... It's not like she won't be seeing her anymore - and, in fact, she'll be seeing her more now than she ever did before - but it's unavoidable that it marks a change.

Still, Rikka's happy for her. This is good for her, and as such, she's done everything she can to help with the move - getting her out, and in. She's fallen... a bit behind on her training regimen now that the big performance is a month behind her, but it's still done wonders for her - this time, she doesn't run out of stamina after the second box.

And now... everyone's gathered at the table for dinner. Rikka is seated next to Akane, of course. It's nice to see everyone gathered here - even the faces she's only just begun to know through this. And, Sayla proposes a toast! Akane gives her hand a quick squeeze and Rikka smiles back at her before raising her own glass.

"Salud!" Rikka echoes.

With that, she gives Akane an encouraging nod, and digs in!

...Eventually, the dining winds down and Rikka leans back in her chair, content.

"That was really good..." She says with a sigh, before looking toward Akane. "What did you think?"

<Pose Tracker> Knight has posed.

        "Salad," Knight reports, having just cleared his mouth of a mouthful of salmon bones. They go CRONCH. He loves them.

        He demonstrated the values of a cardboard box during moving, because, as he explained in his terse manner, boxes are good places to nap. So is the top of the wardrobe. So is the dresser. So is the inside of the wardrobe. There are a lot of good places to sleep.

        He drinks the drink. It does not cronch.

<Pose Tracker> Judau Ashta has posed.


BEFORE

Judau Ashta, dressed in a simple red tank top and jeans, squints at Roux as she tells him the horrible truth about Full Frontal. Haman he has little to say on: it's still a sore spot, even now. As for the rest:

"I mean, yeah," he begins, "he seems like he needs a good punch. What with the name an' all."

JUDAU ASHTA: his logic is beyond comprehension.

"Wait -- like brother, so, y'mean like, he's got the hair--"

Judau continues as such, using his hands to mime the vague approximation around his head of what could charitably be called 'HELMET HAIR' as move-in day proceeds apace until,

                NOW,

where Judau Ashta is just getting done with a spirited debate (pedantic sibling bickery) with his little sister over how no, the only thing he's missing out on with the squid is not getting MURDERED by HOOKS, and did she even KNOW squids have two huge MURDER ARMS they can just hide inside their bodies to ambush with, AND their tentacles can keep moving for up to an hour after death?! So you do the math!! (It's been more than an hour; Judau is bad at math).

He has no problem piling on the prawns, though, on top of the rest of his mountain of 'every single other seafood offered.

'What? They're just sea insects' had been his logic about why eating prawns and not squid should be fine, which; see earlier commentary about Judau and his logic and comprehension.

The rabble rabble eventually dissipates as Sayla begins her toast. Judau's harrowing plate of food is completely gone, leaving only a grim specter of fish bones in their wake. He takes his glass, like everyone else.

But, having never learned or cared about proper toast etiquette, he's drinking by the time

        'Salud!' ('Salad.')

rings out.

Judau blinks. His brows screw. He tries to figure out why everyone is announcing this, rapid fire.

And, perplexed, Judau just sort of... fires off a two-fingered salute Akane and Rikka's way that transforms into a thumbs up halfway through, while drinking, because if everyone is asking for a salute and no one is getting it, absolutely -nothing- is going to get done here, so he might as well bite the bullet!

Honestly.

BBSYS: Post 724, 'Diamond Crevasse MV Release' has been published to IC News/Rumors by Sheryl Nome. 

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        Sayla can't help but shake her head at Judau, both for his dismissal of squid and his salute. Oh well. It meant she got more of the legs. She'll leave explaining it to Leina, for now. "You're more than welcome, Akane. It means a lot that... this is where you want to be." She nods to Leina. "I agree. I'm looking forward to it."

        It's probably best she missed the discussion about Full Frontal, she doesn't want to dwell on him any more. Instead she's just... smiling. "I'd almost given up on seeing this place fill up... I'm happy to be proven wrong."

        She smirks at Knight's response to the fish bones. "If you want, I can have some of those prepared for snacks. You just need to promise not to eat them all at once." She sighs, remembering why there were locks on the pantry.

        She looks over to Renais now. "So, am I going to have to make space for the GGG carpool to land? Shouryu's been very careful about the grass, but..." There's a long pause. "...Honestly we probably need a proper landing pad in general, don't we. We've got more than just the cars and the air transport and Judau's bike..." 

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane -- at this point quite full, and honestly feeling a little bloated -- leans back in her seat, draining the last of her tomato juice and... honestly kind of wishing she hadn't, a moment later. It seems she has finally found the limits of bottomless teenager stomach after years of a slightly sideways relationship with having a body.

"I hope they're not just for me," Akane replies to Leina, with a smile. Renais's smile, in turn, actually gets her... almost embarrassed; it's such a different side of Renais that it's actually hard to wrap her head around.

Dinner conversation with Roux comes easier than Akane expects. "Yeah! I'm a little nervous about having to learn Spanish, but... my French is okay. I've been drilling on it for like a year, and I guess it's easier to pick up some of the languages around here once you know the other ones..." Akane has absolutely no idea what to make of Judau, but the more she watches him... the more Leina makes a certain kind of sense to her. When he salutes in response to 'Salud,' she bursts out laughing. It's good-natured. Mostly.

Knight's fondness for a wide range of napping spots... may have influenced Akane to make some mediocre decisions later. She seems delighted to see him well-fed, too. "You know, I never would've thought to deep fry the bones," she reflects. Leaning then to Rikka, she starts: "Amazing," and then adds, "Any favorites? I've got a long-term cooking project, but... I could learn a couple other things~"

Sayla begins discussing a proper landing pad -- oh, wow. Akane hadn't quite processed that Sayla was beyond 'rich' and into 'RICH rich.' "It does seem like a pretty full house... Ehehe, it makes me a little nervous, but... this might be better." She knows Knight did just fine, after all.

"So -- what's for dessert?" she asks, and then --

-- her stomach makes the ugliest digestive noises. Her hand comes up to her face, and she mumbles, "I was kidding. I am so full." 

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.


Talk of Full Frontal draws Leina's gaze up to Roux, then slowly over to Judau, as if assessing reactions, before...

"They call him a Vessel for a collective will of Spacenoids, but all I've seen is that he's a Vessel of bullying a grieving kid in over his head - who is also a Spacenoid, mind you! If he's meant to be on our team as Spacenoids, I wanna know when we can trade him to the other side, where he belongs."

She concludes with a similar one as Roux, "He sucks." Yes there's a lot of context behind what he is but that's sort of an intelligence secret she's not going to share at a dinner table.

Her response to Judau's pantomiming a helmet leads to, "No he's infuriatingly well coiffed. Believe it or not, he ditched the helmet part of his image."

NOW

Leina demonstrated how hookless and unmoving these squids truly are by VERY MATURELY raising a whole squid on a fork then eating it without breaking eye contact.

It's as if she's daring him to save her from the deadly squid by running around and performing the heimlich on her right now. When did Leina become such a daredevil!? Is this Sayla's influence?

She gives Knight a rather unusual look at crunching the bones before she remembers he's a Kaiju, sometimes it's hard to remember! Sayla though suggests preparing snacks and Leina looks thoughtful, "Hmm, I can start budgeting for a regular supply of them going forward."

Either way Leina despite it all, manages the biggest smile at Sayla's happiness on filling this place up. It's something they've both been looking forward to for years. "It's been a great year, for both of us. For all of us in that respect."

After all, she was in the same boat as Sayla in that respect, the two of them and the cats in this home together...

Akane's response Leina maintains the smile as she says, "Of course not! There's more than enough to go around in that regard~" And...

"Pfft, it'll be fine. Just listen to me and Sayla bicker in Spanish enough afternoons and you'll be a master in no time." A beat, "But I'm happy to help lend a hand."

The landing pad discussion prompts her to say, "It actually might be that time for us to start considering..." Leina trails off as if thinking how to put it, "... further renovations than that, even."

Akane's question about dessert prompts an immediate, "Crema Catalan-" Before her stomach makes those noises, and Leina actually allows a small giggle.

"It's fine, anything you can't eat, he will." As she cants her head sidelong at Judau, "His stomach is bottomless."

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

Renais observes Judau with a mix of puzzlement and amusement, brow furrowed. She leans in toward Leina and Roux, and quietly asks, "He's always like this, then?"

Knight has her wondering if maybe a better jaw is all he needs for unassisted crab-cracking. Looking to Akane, she says, "French is a good start for Spanish. They're not really co-intelligible, but knowing one Romance language makes your second *much* easier. You'll mix things up, but... trust me. You'll pick it up."

And, giving it a moment's thought, she replies to Sayla, "It might not be a bad idea, if we can find the space." She takes a sip of her drink. "All it takes is one mistake and the roses are ruined." 

BBSYS: Post 725, 'A Departure from Despair' has been published to Cutscenes & Logs by Sheryl Nome.

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.


Renais' question about Judau only prompts a faintly exasperated but mostly affectionate, "Girl, you better buckle up, because you have no idea."

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Judau... sends her and Akane a salute? Rikka is briefly baffled before she figures out where things might've gotten mixed up. She offers him a small wave.

...So, this is Leina's brother. The more she sees of him, the more she becomes certain that he can never meet her mother, for her own sake. The idea is terrifying.

...It's nice to see Knight looking so well, though. This is her first time seeing him... like this, and she's a little surprised? ...It's a good look, though.

She looks Akane, and is glad to hear that she enjoyed it... and then, a difficult question is posed to her.

"Ahah... all of it...?" Rikka admits sheepishly. "It was all really good... The paella was definitely a hit especially, though..."

She just really likes seafood - but this probably doesn't come as a surprise to her.

<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.


THEN

"Well, he's blond, of course, but I mean, kind of? It's more wavy," Roux answers Judau. "And believe me, I wanted to - but -"

Roux's eyes roll back into her head at the statement of Full Frontal's nature as a vessel for spacenoids. She can make light here, on Earth, where he's not. (For now...)

Even so.

("It's Spanish for kanpai," Roux asides to Judau.)

(She nods grimly at Renais' question about Judau.)

Towards Akane, Roux says, "Oh, it's not that hard - I hear French and Spanish are pretty closely related! Just make sure you're learning AEU Spanish, because all the stuff for Britannian Spanish is uh -- well; it's not great." She takes a deep breath and lets it out, leaning back and taking a healthy sip of her wine. "My family was sort of French before we moved to space!" she tells Akane. "But I don't think anything's stuck with me, other than the looks."

And then there's another question.

"Then you ought to do what they did down there in Northern Africa," Roux says, "and dig. I don't know if you can conceal it somehow, given the scale of it, but you'd at least be less obvious if instead of a big lit-up landing pad you just had, I don't know, something for your personal craft and..."

"Like..."

Roux's lips thin as she struggles to not say 'a pool or something' and instead gets most of the way to, "I don't know, a water feature or like -- modern statue park? But you have like thirty kilometers of space underneath you if you just dig it out!"

<Pose Tracker> Knight has posed.

        "All right," Knight nods, with impeccable seriousness, to Sayla's offer of snacks. He is immune to weird looks on this subject. He has a VERY sturdy stomach.

        His question to Leina, meanwhile, is: "Who filled the vessel?"

        He doesn't explain the meaning behind the question; he just expects her to know.

        He stares at Roux, as she reveals that there are Different Spanishes. "Understood," he nods, as the background details of living here click into place in his mind. "Do your best," he issues, to Akane.

        "Renovations... they'll be loud," Knight scowls. "Buer and Foras won't be happy." As the one cat who can talk, it's his duty to raise feline concerns regarding the house. He takes this duty, as well, very seriously.

        He's a very serious young man!

        But when Leina says that Judau has a bottomless stomach...

        Knight just locks eyes with him and shoves an entire prawn which has yet gone uneaten into his mouth. The paella was, as Rikka points out, wildly popular, and so...

        CRONCH.

BBSYS: Post 726, 'Ruler of All Known Prom' has been published to Public by Emilia Eschonbach.

<Pose Tracker> Judau Ashta has posed.

Let it be known: were it not for the need for salutes (and/or salads), Judau would one hundred percent be calling Leina's squid bluff. Because that's what family is for: escalating games of chicken. ... Squid...chicken.

As it stands, Judau remains blissfully oblivious as to any back and forth regarding the True Nature of Judau; he just kind of blinks as Akane bursts into that laughter, looking back and forth for a precious handful of 'what'd I do??' seconds before Roux elucidates. Judau blinks; he rubs the back of his head.

"Aheh, yeah, totally knew that! This is just..."

'how we do it in space' is what Judau was going to say and then he realized there are -other spacenoids in this room- including Leina and Roux, who will actively call him on his nonsense!

"... ..."

So instead he just drinks more wine after five seconds of silence.

Most of these are new faces to Judau -- but the young man seems to take to new people just as easily as he does to old friends and acquaintances; it's the vast, newtype power of a (slightly oblivious) sense of confidence. Akane recommends dessert; Judau's eyes light up, holding up a finger. When she clarifies, that finger slowly lowers. Leina is right, though: Judau Ashta's stomach is bottomless, a fact that he takes great pride in, if the way he grins a beaming grin and swipes a thumb proudly under his nose has anything to say about it.

"Heh heh. Yep! An' you seem alright by Dr. Mass and Leina, so if you ever got anything you need help with, I've got your back!" Judau, it should be noted, is just talking about picking off Akane's leftovers. He realizes about four seconds after the fact that it could be considered like a general offer, and blinks. And yet --

"I mean like -- even if it's not just eatin' your food, if you got any problems, or whatever!" He still doesn't hesitate to make that possible interpretation solid fact, because you look out for the people you live with. And don't charge them for it. ... u...sually

"I can even help out with the Spanish stuff, I picked up a thing or two!" he didn't even know what salud meant he literally did not do not take him up on this if you value your ability to learn spanish

Talk pivots towards the possibility of renovations. FURTHER renovations, Leina mentions. Judau blinks. And, seeing opportunity, he interjects:

"I bet you could fit a whole underground hangar down there! Like... I got the Double Zeta, right? An' I've been doin' pretty good at keepin' him hidden"

SMASHCUT TO JUDAU FLYING THE DOUBLE ZETA TO BEECHA'S HOUSE, THROWING A TARP OVER IT, AND SHOUTING 'HEY DON'T TALK TO THE COPS THIS TIME ASSHOLE'

"... but there's just nowhere to put it here that doesn't make it obvious, an' it'd make deployin' a whole hell of a lot easier." Pause. "... for all the totally legit reasons I would."

As Roux talks about kickass water fixtures, Judau feels a TWANG of Newtype Pressure. He blinks. He looks at Knight, staring at him. He stares back.

Draining his entire cup of wine, one giant gulp at a time.

a rivalry is forming... 

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        "Tip to tail eating is honestly something I'd expect to see more of these days." She takes a sip of her cava, thinking. "But it does mean you discover some interesting preparation methods. And the kitchen is yours any time you want it, if you want to experiment."

        She does nod to Knight. "You're right. They weren't keen on me extending the tunnels, either. I wonder if there's a way that's easier on them..." She turns to smile at Rikka's compliment. "It's based on my mother's recipe from when I was a kid. A bit more attuned to my tastes, personally. Though I am planning on teaching someone else to put their own spin on it." She winks at Akane. "Leina and Renais have their own versions now too."

        Sayla rolls her eyes. "Britannian 'Spanish'... Besides, you'll be fine. The school is multilingual, like I said." She stops to childishly stick her tongue out at Leina for her learning suggestion.

        Roux gets a laugh, though. "The PPL special, huh?" Judau doubles down on the hangar and... "...It's not a bad idea, is it? I might have to ask if Sayaka if the firm who built the old labs are still around." She scratches her chin. "We could put up a guest house too, we're not using that vineyard space."

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

Renais grins at Rikka. "You'll be eating well when you come over here. I don't think I've had a miss since I moved in!"

She looks over at Knight, "Well, if we do renovate, I'll do my part to keep them happy... one of the few advantages of running so hot." A smirk crosses her lips. "Oh, and I keep meaning tell you... you look good, Knight." The smirk blooms into a smile.

Swirling her drink in its glass, thoughtful, she looks to Roux. "I can't really speak to how good it is to live in for a spacenoid--but I still owe you a shopping trip, don't I? We could go out into town and you can get the lay of the land... and then we can put together a couple of outfits for you."

"--Ah... speaking of which, Akane, what do you think of the place? I know you haven't had long to get used to it yet, but..."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Full Frontal has largely escaped Akane's notice; as he's come up every now and again during dinner conversation, she's actually been a little nervous about asking what the deal is. She'll catch up, but it's always been a little difficult. Leina gives her the piece of the puzzle she was missing, though, and there's a little relief in that. She visibly relaxes once she's heard that part.

Nodding to Renais, she says, "Yeah, I'm definitely nervous about mixing them up, but... I think I'll be okay. I can at least navigate a city in Spanish and ask where the bathroom is now." She laughs, rubbing at the back of her head.

"The paella was incredible, ahahaha... the recipe feels really... I don't know how to say it, but it's not like restaurant food at all?" It sounds like that's a good thing, to her, too. When Sayla mentions people learning it and putting their own spin on it, Akane says, "I do like seafood... I think I could definitely do something with this, eventually."

Oh God. Different Spanishes? Akane decides to kick that one down the road, with a, "My best... yeah, I think I can handle it!" It's obviously strained -- but Judau offers to help, and indeed clarifies that he actually means helping. "Leina's already told me a lot about you, so I'll definitely keep it in mind!" Akane says, graciously allowing Judau to live.

(Besides. She will actually ask for his help, if... probably... not with education. She knows better.)

Renais asks the direct question. "... I'm not sure yet," she admits. "I like the house, but... I'm still kinda worried about going out. It's a lot different from anywhere in Japan..."

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.


Better watch out Judau Ashta, Leina is very good at the game of 'Squid Chicken.'

"That, is a very good question." Leina says, making eye contact with Knight. And maybe in this moment, Knight can tell she knows, but perhaps he can also tell - she can't answer that.

"We do! I'm eager to try Renais' version again, see how she's refined it!"

Leina does eye Judau as if her senses were on high alert on for some nonsense, but he realizes it - showing surprising growth! And instead drowns whatever he was going to say in wine.

Leina's proud of him when he immediately says he's got Akane's back, but then she realizes, "Wait you mean in dessert don't y-" He clarifies it isn't just that, and she slow nods, cutting a sibling callout off at the pass. Before her eyes flick over to Akane, "I'm going to have to warn you about more things soon, feels like."

Well, for the moment as Leina lays her cheek on her chin, looking straight at him as she says, "Una o dos cosas que dice? Puedes tomar ese real literalmente."

Sayla gets fire returned with her tongue stuck out and a pulled upon eyelid, briefly.

Judau does earn a giggle as he talks about the legit reasons he'd deploy in his mobile suit, "Oh Judau..." Leina can feel that Newtype Pressure in the room, and so she slowly looks between Knight and Judau.

"Any eating contest the two of you have, you're taking it outside to the veranda." Leina warns cheerily as a separate source of newtype p r e s S U R E grows. A quite lovely smile on her face like absolutely NOTHING is wrong, "Agreed?"

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Rikka listens with interest Sayla explains the history behind the paella.

"Wow, a family recipe... That's really cool." Rikka remarks with interest, and then looks toward Akane with a small smile. "...I know I'd definitely be interested to see what you do with it..."

Renais says that she'll be eating well whenever she comes over.

"I'm kinda jealous that you guys eat this good, honestly." Rikka replies... and then pauses before immediately clarifying, "...Don't tell mama I said that."

She doesn't mean anything by it, of course.

Akane admits to being worried about going out, and Rikka offers her a smile.

"...Just let me know if you ever need anyone to go with you. I'm sure anyone else here would be glad to help, too. It might help you to get your bearings." She offers. 

<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.


"Oh god knows," Roux says to Knight, even if she wasn't the one asked. This is because Roux is on her second glass of wine.

Knight locks eyes with Judau.

Roux sips her wine. She leans back in her seat.

Judau kills his in a single swig. Roux takes a larger sip.

"It might make sense to build a second house instead of adding on to this one," Roux says to Sayla then: "I mean, I feel super bourgeois to even SAY that but you could use modern stuff, right? Just up to the minute, and also have a - I don't know, a secret firepole down to the hangar, right?"

"Mm hmmmm," she says to Renais. "Absolutely. We're just next door to Paris, right?" no roux it's like at least 30 minutes

To Akane, Roux says, "That's because restaurants use a ton of dirty tricks! My parents ran one so I know most of them, but it depends on the cuisine. Homemade food always tastes a little different, but it's usually better for you; less salt." Sodium is a dangerous beast.

Akane expresses concern about heading out, though. "-- I thought you were from the PLANTs?" Roux asks, blinking several times. "That's where Tsutsujidai was. Right?" She looks at Leina. "I saw the pictures of the giant clamp thingy. I'd recognize that wasp waist hourglass design anywhere." Back again to Akane. "But meteors are actually *incredibly* rare, they've just been able to collect them in the places where they just kind of - stay."

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

Renais glances over at Roux. "Akane is from Japan. It's... complicated, I'll explain later." 

<Pose Tracker> Knight has posed.

        Knight seems satisfied with asking a good question, for now. Maybe it's not dinnertime conversation. Maybe he doesn't want to overwhelm Akane with everything all at once. Maybe he'll talk to Leina about it, later.

        Lightning sparks, metaphorically -- it IS a metaphor, right??? -- as Knight meets Judau's eyes. He, too, drains his wine.

        ... a very expensive rivalry is forming.

        There's still positive regard communicated through that FLASH OF NEWTYPE PRESSURE, at least; Knight does approve of Judau helping his big sister, after all. Even so--!!

        -- there's another flash of pressure.

        Knight frowns, sinking down just a little in his seat. "Understood," he affirms, ceding to Leina's might.

        "Things changed for me," he affirms, to Renais, "so I changed, too. I'm carrying the sword, now." It's not immediately obvious -- though some might be able to tell -- that he means 'carrying it on his person, instead of keeping it in the vague hammerspace of himself'.

        It's about walking to where you need to go.

        "Mama's food is good, too," he adds, to Rikka, still entirely serious.

<Pose Tracker> Judau Ashta has posed.

Leina says SOMETHING in Spanish.

Judau Ashta calmly sets down his glass, closes his eyes and responds, as if reciting from a list,

"No soy penalmente responsable."

... Because some things are just important to know in every language you can learn it in, and it's important to know where your priorities are.

Yes; there are certain things Judau is very good to have your back for and education is certainly not one of them. Akane is wise.

His attention is grabbed by the BEGINNING SPARK OF FUTURE CONFLICT; Knight, too, is someone he is passingly aware of (but likely not aware that he is aware because when first told about then-Anti's presence in the villa Judau had rightly assumed they were somehow housing a godzilla-sized kaiju and became deeply intimidated by the mammoth tesseract-scaling of this palace) but even if they haven't met before now...

"... Sup dude."

... some things are simply fate.

Judau offers Knight a grim nod of acknowledgment -- but his -deathly serious- attention diverts, as Sayla speaks. "--Right?" says the young man from Jupiter-sort-of, looking back Sayla's way. "You got a lotta people here who could probably use a place to keep their machines safe an' secure. An' if we keep 'em here, I can help Leina with pilot training without jumpin' through a buncha hoops to get to the Gundams. Makes it easier to keep up on the Double Zeta's maintenance, too. An' then I don't hafta worry if Mondo's tryin' to sell stuff he thinks I won't notice is missing."

Really, though. Some people might have contentious memories related to their particular weapons of war, but for Judau -- the Double Zeta is practically like family. He just wants to make sure it has someplace safe to call home, too, dumb and sentimental though that might be.

and he's not above shamelessly mooching to achieve it!!

Speaking of which: he's currently and brazenly supporting Roux's suggestions with something along the lines of "Oh, shit, yeah, a pole would be awesome! You could have, like, alarms blarin' an' everything, an' some kinda, huge underground tunnel system to shuttle the mobile suits wherever you need -- huh?" when he is thankfully distracted from his runaway imagination by the familiar mounting pressure of LEINA ASHTA. He blinks. Frowns. And he waves a hand through the air at her condition, glumly conceding: "Yeah sure okay whatever." before his attention turns towards the conversation on how Akane is adjusting. The pact is sealed, but the jokes on Leina:

Judau doesn't even know what a veranda is supposed to be. Check. And. Mate.

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        Sayla puts her finger to her lips at Rikka's request. The secret is safe.

        Besides, Sayla still needs to get back at her for the Hot or Not competition. At least that thing hasn't spread.

        Her eyes narrow at Roux. "...A secret firepole, huh." She shakes her head. "You really want a full secret base, huh?" She drains her Cava, before looking at Judau and Roux seriously. "We can look into a hangar, whether we give it the full 3G treatment remains to be seen, but it's easier than working from sporadic points all the time, or borrowing Domon's access to the orbital ring..."

        She stops herself. "...But for now let's focus on what you want it would need and stop me talking about work, hm?" She pauses, and looks to Knight and Akane. "We'll let you in the secret soon, you both have the right but... maybe not tonight? We're supposed to be taking it easy."

        Sayla leans back. "Honestly, it was a surprise to see how much you'd grown up suddenly. I know Nidaime had changed over the years but... The sword suits you. So does the suit."

        At the same time, Buer has finally decided to explore the crowd and see if anyone had the decency to leave something for her. She sniffs at Akane tentatively before... rubbing herself against Akane's leg and then walking over to coil her tail around Knight's leg. Sayla smirks. "Told you." She taps the table. One more thing.

        "You're staying tonight, aren't you Rikka? It's a bit late to catch a flight back." (It isn't, but Sayla's not giving her an excuse.) 

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

There is something going on here. There is definitely a pressure that wasn't there previously. Akane glances from Knight to Leina to Judau and back again. ... she'll let that one happen.

"I dunno -- mama's cooking is really good," Akane enthuses to Rikka, agreeing with Knight. "You can really taste the love." She smiles, and it's a very warm thought indeed --

-- and then she has a bunch of things to explain to Roux. "Uh -- I actually need a lot of salt, so sometimes that's not super bad," the young lady explains, rubbing at the back of her head. The other part... "So it originally was... in... outside reality? I don't really get this part yet. I had to ask 3G to walk me through it -- kind of like... psychic space that's also physical? And there it was part of Nouvelle Tokyo, but with a bunch of... Tokyo landmarks..."

... she realizes her life is really weird but now she's committed. "Anyway, then it kind of fell out into the Junius area as a PLANT and started drifting. And now they're moving it to ... some other side? For administrative reasons and to stabilize the orbit."

She looks down at her mostly-empty plate, staring blankly. "There is no good way to explain this," she concludes. "Anyway, I grew up in Nagoya, then moved to Tokyo right before the occupation. Then to Nouvelle Tokyo... then back to Tokyo again... then back to Nouvelle Tokyo again... then to another neighborhood in Nouvelle Tokyo. Then to psychic space."

This is the easiest telling of this she's going to have, she realizes, as the conversation turns back to secret underground hangars.

Akane nods to Sayla, and then -- there's a cat?! There's a cat! Akane reaches down, giving a gentle pet of farewell before Buer moves over to Knight. "I don't mind waiting for whatever it is," Akane says to Sayla, giving a firm nod. "It's been a lot of travel the last few days... I'm kind of a delicate old lady inside, ehe." 

<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.


Renais updates Roux on where Akane's from. "Oh, which?" Roux asks, which is probably not Sensitive of her. She was thrown off, perhaps, by that sensation of inter-sibling and feline-adjacent

                        p r e s s u r e

and also the wine.

Back to Sayla, who seems to be going for it: "Well, you need a hangar space obviously, and probably also facilities for maintenance and storage," Roux tells Sayla, gesturing with her glass as she reaches over to refill it. "I think you might also want secret residential facilities for the sake of people who you don't want to officially admit to having on hand, but you could go crazy with THAT, too. I heard they built an entire town somewhere in Japan."

And back to Akane, who tells a story that is weird, except --

-- except --

Outside of reality?

Another world...

Roux's eyes soften. "Well, it's all in the same flow if you were able to get here. It sounds crazy, though. You should write a book or something!"

"Then you should catch up on your sleep!" Roux continues. "You feel way better after getting eight or nine hours for a few days. You barely notice it. I mean maybe *I'm* the ancient lady here," sip, "but that's just my experience!"

She pauses.

"Is Mondo seriously still involved in the Double Zeta??" Roux says with sudden heat. "If I see him around here I'm going to kick him in his ass!"

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Sayla agrees to conspire and Rikka laughs a little. Knight says, then, in his usual serious tone, that her mother's cooking is good too, and then Akane agrees, and Rikka's heart melts just a little. It's really nice to know people appreciate her, even if she tries to act tough about it sometimes.

"...Yeah. She's really good at what she does." Rikka agrees with a warm smile.

And... Akane launches an explanation on Tsutsujidai, and all the places she's lived. It's good to hear her actually talk about a before.

While she's hanging on Akane's every word, though, Sayla blindsides her with a question. Fiendish!! Rikka's mouth hangs agape for a moment.

...She does really want to say yes - and Sayla has cut off any avenue of escape...

"...It is getting pretty late..." Rikka agrees with a nod. 

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.


Leina just peers at Judau, long and hard as he says something in Spanish. Leina then reaches into her bag, and produces a card, which she hands across the table to him.

"We have a very good lawyer on retainer. IF, something happens, please do not hesitate to call." A beat, "She's a Spacenoid Civil Rights Lawyer familiar with Earthnoid law."

She clarifies, because that feels like it would be very important for Judau to know, when it comes to trust levels.

Roux asks her about Tsutsujidai and Leina's response is, "It's kinda complicated? It's-" Akane starts explaining, and Leina's eyes blink twice at the full extent of the explanation, "-what she said, exactly that." She did know the sequence before Tsutsujidai quite well after the parent talk but-!

Judau sells up the hangar part, and Leina eyes him, "That'd be a plus. Honestly looking forward to showing you what I've learned since then." She doesn't REALLY think she can beat Judau in piloting but??? She at least won't embarrass herself, probably. Then he invokes...

... Mondo. And Roux...? "Yeah I'm curious about that one too. Elle is always kind of... iffy on whether he's uh... actually turned over a new leaf or not-? So like, when we get a hangar noone give him the codes, please."

As Judau acquiesces to where eating contests will take place, Leina allows a smile, "Good, good-!" Surely he knows what a Veranda is right? Surely? They have several! He's been out to them!!!

No, score one for Judau Ashta in this exchange.

All this talk though, Sayla heads it off when it comes to telling Akane and Knight before looking Knight's way, "Agreed, honestly, your new look really suits you! You're going to be quite the heartbreaker."

Leina winks at him, before noting Buer, "You already won Buer's heart, and that's not easy to do!"

Her eyes twinkle with mirth as Sayla refuses to hear a no from Rikka on the possibility of her not saying tonight. She says nothing about that, though she's looking a little smug right now if Akane and Rikka look...

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

Renais smiles. "I haven't eaten much of her cooking yet... but I love her coffee a lot. And that'll do well enough as an explanation, I think. Mine would've gotten bogged down in dimensional science," she confesses.

Looking over at Leina, she grins a little more mischeviously. "Not sure who this Mondo is, buuut. If I catch him him on the grounds, it sounds like he's out on his ass." She cracks the knuckles on her bare hand.

<Pose Tracker> Knight has posed.

        Knight, deathly serious, replies to Judau: "Nummuch."

        WHERE DID HE LEARN THAT? WHEN DID HE LEARN THAT?!

        (Smash cut to Knight lurking just out of frame as Judau goes about the villa, watching him, keen and silent, with all the presence of one of the villa's cats. When one expects a rampaging kaiju, feline curiosity is surely easier to shake.)

        Luckily, though, Leina has EXPRESSED HER OWN MIGHT, which means there's still prawns on the table. Knight actually does shell the next one, covertly, only to covertly drop his hand down to offer it up to his wizened mentor.

        It's important to show respect to one's elders by giving them proper snacks. Their teeth aren't always as good as yours.

        He doesn't make much of a comment on where they were located in space, because Akane has already explained. He doesn't need to explain over her!

        "Yes. I can break hearts," Knight confirms, to Leina. "But I won't kill anyone if I don't have to. I can look where I'm stepping, too." A beat, and he adds: "Samurai Calibur gave me this sword. So, I'm using it instead." Instead of his circular saw, that is. "Since he trusted me with that."

        "Roux Louka is correct. Sleep is important." He looks to Rikka when she decides to stay, and says, in turn, quite serious:

        "I have an extra box."

        ...

        he's doing his best

<Pose Tracker> Judau Ashta has posed.

"Heh heh. You're alright, Knight!" Feel dread: Judau has begun to teach Knight the Ashta Way before they were even properly introduced...!! Things can only improve from here.

Leina invokes the dread word 'lawyer.'

Judau's expression screws up like he just ate an entire bag of atomic-sour hard candies. Even in the wake of the clarification. Lawyers! Laws!!

Still, he ultimately concedes by taking the card and pocketing it.

"IF somethin' happens," he repeats, and adds, "... that I can't solve myself."

Which, really, just covers such a wide range of possibilities.

Judau, of course, is happy to see how far Leina's come; and if nothing else, happy to impart what he knows, with the sheer similarities of their machines. In the meantime, Judau listens to Akane's unusual circumstances. He's only passingly familiar with her entire situation - most of his time since coming back to Earth has just been trying to get his bearings in the wake of steadily ramping madness of which the events in Tsutsujidai was a big part - but his brows still furrow, the slightest bit, as she talks of psychic space.

"Damn," he offers, "that's a rollercoaster." And since Roux says the rest more eloquently than he could, as is his dynamic, he just slowly jabs a thumb in her direction in agreement.

The thumbs still gesturing her way when she talks about being an ancient lady because Judau doesn't actually notice she's laid down that dangerous bait but fortunately--

Is Mondo seriously still involved in the Double Zeta??

Judau's thumb retracts because he's bringing his hand up to scratch his cheek thoughtfully. Is Mondo still involved?!

        An artful silent flashback sequence rolls here, showcasing a series of moments Mondo nearly got them killed or tried to steal the Double Zeta, including a distressingly recent-looking one of him trying to pry the High Mega Cannon off with a crowbar before Judau punts him off and chases him away with a pipe.

"Hellllllllll no." Judau jabs a finger Renais' way. "She gets it. You can just toss 'im and he'll go away for like, a week. Sometimes I use a pipe if I gotta. He's got a thick skull, he can take it."

Even Judau's loyalty to dubious friends has its limits.

He'd express various other ways that you can intimidate or Uncle Phil Toss Mondo out of the picture but Knight's talking about literally breaking people's hearts and so Judau's spending a moment to slowly look sidelong at Leina in a way that expresses, purely and simply,

        'Why are you trying to get people to murder'
because obviously that's what's going on here.

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