2023-03-01: A Reunion I Recognize
- Cast: Akane Shinjo, Ako Furuma
- Where: Kamesan Park, Tsutsujidai
- Date: U.C. 0097 03 01
- Summary: Ako and Ramo reunite after three months. They keep a promise, and Ako makes another.
<Pose Tracker> Ako Furuma has posed.
When Tsutsujidai returned to proper reality, that didn't mean contact with loved ones was immediate. There was still processing, distance issues, and the fact that some had ended up in...odd places.
Ako Furuma has not been in Tsutsujidai in months. She had not spoken to any of her friends, to any of her loved ones. Her family grieved the best they could. They were on Ako's mind, but also...
Ramo.
As soon as Ako's shuttle finally made it into VERTEX range, and she could charge her phone, she did so.
[VERTEX] superakochan: ramo please tell me you got this one
[VERTEX] superakochan: im so sorry
[VERTEX] superakochan: im so sorry
[VERTEX] superakochan: im so sorry
[VERTEX] superakochan: i have so much to say and do and and and please meet me at the park? i cant do this over phone
[VERTEX[ superakochan: my words spaghetti
[VERTEX] superakochan: i already videochatted my parents so they probably wont care right
[VERTEX] superakochan: please.
The park is a place for lovers, sometimes. Ako is here. She's in a t-shirt, jacket, and jeans - not her usual, since those were worn, but something casual she was given. Her dyed hair has already started to fade from time - wherever she was, she didn't have time to redo it.
She's twiddling her fingers, sitting on a bench with her jacket pulled around her. She's watching the trees sway, but is keeping her eyes on the entrance for her partner. She grieved. Did Ramo?
Did Ramo move on? She can't believe she would, after this short period, but the heart and mind can be mean.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Even if Marusan has found other ways to keep herself stable, she's been terrified for Ako the whole time. Nights have been a lot harder than days, and the Yumi Foundation (and school! There is still school!) keeps her plenty busy. Keeping herself together has been a project, and not just a project for her.
She's started to wonder if there hasn't been some horrible accident outside Tsutsujidai, though. It's a thought she's kept to herself, but even so...
... when she receives a notification on her phone she drops literally everything else. She's not even bothering to check out of work -- she just grabs her bag, calls "Personal emergency!" and breaks into a dead sprint.
[VERTEX] dancing.pawn: Park it is. I'm at the office. 15 minutes? Actually... let's make it 25. I need to pick up something.
She's not going to press Ako if she's that overwhelmed. She doesn't need to text someone; she needs a partner right there and she needs her right now.
She sprints through the park, looking for that familiar Ako; it takes her a second to realize that she might look different. "Ako? Ako!" she calls, before --
There she is. Ramo runs toward her, and without hesitation, embraces her. "I missed you so much," she whimpers, a messenger bag (a new one!) hanging at her side. The abrupt movement makes it flop open a bit, revealing...
... a MacDaniel's bag with a 20-piece and a 10-piece nuggets.
<Pose Tracker> Ako Furuma has posed.
The doubts sit until Ramo is there, and is running forward, calling her name and embracing her. Ako is surprised for only a second, before both arms move to wrap around Ramo, going for a briefly too-long hug just to feel her warmth. The doubts die.
And it's not because of the chicken nuggets, though those are a plus.
Tears are welling in Ako's eyes, though they're not exactly sadness. "I was such an idiot, Ramo...are you okay? I was scared too..." She chokes down her tears, with a pause. "Is that a new bag?"
It's less of a non-sequitur and more of an attempt to distract herself from all the evil her brain is doing. "Why did this have to happen...god...I'm gonna warn you now, I'm going to be a mess."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Ramo doesn't let go of Ako until Ako herself is ready to let go. "I'm... well, I'm good at distracting myself. I wish I wouldn't have had to for three months, but... I made it through." Ramo struggles a little to be fully honest -- but not for Ako. "And yeah, it is. I needed something a little heavier-duty while the city was locked up... I was running a lot of errands on the Yumi Foundation scooter."
A beat, before she adds, "It's fine to be a mess, Ako. This was..." Well, she's started catching up with news from outside as part of work. She knows what's going on out there.
After a moment of silence, she says, "... Let's go sit down. I want to eat nuggets with Ako." ... Just saying it gets her a little misty-eyed. "But... what happened out there?"
<Pose Tracker> Ako Furuma has posed.
Ako nods once, silently, before moving to take a seat with Ramo. "I did say we'd eat them when I got back..." She laughs awkwardly, but with a small smile on her face.
As they sit together, Ako breathes in. It's gonna be hard to explain. It's clear she feels *guilty* about it.
"I thought...I could fight for Akane. Make the world better, you know? That there was something only I could do. I see all those robot heroes - the White Base crew from history, that Guy Shishioh I met, etcetera, and I went...how hard could it be? So I stole a junk machine from the scrapyard and tried test-piloting it..."
She sniffles. "I was so, so, so wrong, Ramo. I'm not a hero, I'm just some dumb girl who doesn't know how to do anything. I got picked up by a ZAFT ship right after the distortion, and I stayed there until, uh, someone did a warcrimes? I think it was their allies, actually, so don't tell anyone that part, I don't want to get interrogated, I don't know anything." She laughs awkwardly again, only to diffuse the situation.
"Since then, I've been transferring between shuttles and refugee centers until today they finally got me back. I'm so sorry for scaring you..."
She's gonna eat nuggets *after* she says all this. Give Ramo time to process and respond.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Ramo listens. She's silent as Ako speaks -- she's had her own share of experiences while Ako was out, but... she can tell Ako's in a worse place than she is, so she can wait. "Ako... it's good that you tried, even if it didn't work out," she starts. "I'm not mad or anything. And..." Now fully situated on a bench, she puts her arm around Ako, saying, "You know how to talk. You're also a pretty good artist." She pulls the nuggets out of her bag, shifting things around. (Ako gets the 20-piece, of course.)
"A lot happened here, too. Akane's... away from her guardian. She moved out of town after the world opened back up... There's still stuff I don't know and don't get, but that's the basics. Miss Mass is taking care of her and her brother." Taking a ragged breath in, Marusan adds, "Britannia tried to take over the food and medicine supplies while we were cut off... One of the GUTS committee members got shot, too. There were a few kaiju attacks, and, um, some other mobile weapons."
... embarrassed, she admits, "I also overworked myself until I fainted, but that's not a big deal. I mean, I've done that before."
"Anyway, it's... jeez." She fluffs out her black-brown hair, and says encouragingly, "You need to get your dyejob fixed. My treat?"
A lot of that is heavy... maybe what they both need is to start moving back toward normal.
<Pose Tracker> Ako Furuma has posed.
Ako wipes her tears away as Ramo puts her arm around her, pausing to glance at her between nuggets after Ramo's done. "Since when did I know how to talk?" It's meant playfully, an attempt back to that normalcy she senses.
"Akane...good, good. I'm glad. I'll need to send her a message once I'm situated, do you think she'd like that?" And then, her attention snaps back to what Ramo offered, having gotten sidetracked mentally.
"Oh...oh! That's a good idea. My hair *sucks* right now, so I'd appreciate it, thank you. ...isn't prom coming up?"
"Crap."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"You're talking right now," Marusan teases, with a little push at Ako's shoulder. "You managed to tell me more about the outside world than anyone outside of work in like two minutes."
Marusan thinks about whether Akane would appreciate a message. "... Yeah, I think she'd be happy to hear from you. I get the feeling she's worried about you. We haven't talked about it because... she's had this whole run worse than I have and I don't wanna dump even more on her?" A vague gesture. "Either way. I bet it'd be a lot off her mind."
Ako mentions prom, and Ramo's smile turns a little mischievous. "Oh, yeah. I didn't really get it, I needed one of the Ashford people I met to explain it to me like three times?" She laughs, asking, "Do you want to go? I didn't know how you'd feel about crowds so I don't want to volunteer you, but... I want to go with Ako, if Ako wants to go."
<Pose Tracker> Ako Furuma has posed.
Ako nods. "Yeah...I'll contact her tomorrow. I'm sleeping once I get home, I miss my bed." Another small laugh, as she closes into Ramo's touch. "Normally, crowds suck and I'd say we should just go do something private. But..."
Ako considers. "It sounds normal. And I think I need that. Something stupid and teenager-y. And besides, we'll be one of the best-dressed couples, if you'll let me help plan your outfit."
Gears start turning in Ako's head. There's suddenly a look in her eyes. A designer's look, eying over Ramo and basically figuring out what she'd look nice in. And then a pause.
"Wait, crap, we only have like, a week, don't we? I'm gonna need to work fast..."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"Yeah, we do only have a week." There's a pause, before she adds, "Akane's offering to cover half, so we can go a little out-budget or get rush shipping. She said Rikka wanted to help, too." Ramo knows why -- Akane knows that Ramo is bad at accepting gifts and prefers to either work for it or collaborate -- but she's not going to read Ako in on that part.
She can also see Ako's gears turning, and squints at her a little bit. "... what are you going to stuff me into," she asks, and while it's flat, it's a good-natured, teasing kind of flat.
<Pose Tracker> Ako Furuma has posed.
"Sick." Ako is cheering up already, even if she's just happy to be here, before covering her mouth to hide her mischievous grin. "Suit or dress?"
She hasn't decided which she'll wear, but she needs to know Ramo's to compliment. "Don't worry. It'll be movable and really cute. I'll draft some designs and send them to you once I've had rest. For right now...I just want to spend time with you...unless you have to run back to work, in which case, sorry!"
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
That's actually a bit of a question. Is Ramo cool enough to pull off being a girl in a suit...? She has to think about it for a few moments, but ultimately, she concludes:
No, her hair's too long for it to vibe. She could wear it up, but she's never found an updo she likes that's presentable. (... it also tends to make her look a bit too much like she works at a cabaret club.)
"Work is usually pretty understanding about personal emergencies. You are a certified disaster, so I have plenty of time." She pops a nugget into her mouth, and -- through it -- keeps talking. "I'm always happy to spend time with you."
<Pose Tracker> Ako Furuma has posed.
Ako takes note, nodding. Dress...she thinks *she herself* could rock a suit, but does she want to? Decisions, decisions. She has a week! Plenty of time. Right?
"Wait, who certified me?" Ako smiles, before looking back at the trees, taking a bite of nugget. And then, a pause. "God, I'm trying to think of things to say that are cool, cute, or cool-cute, but I'm failing. You mind if we just sit here for a bit? Your presence is enough for me..."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"I did," Marusan answers, and there's a little bit of truth in that -- she did escalate the priority of searching for Ako by a step in the Yumi Foundation's refugee-related work unilaterally. She gets to be selfish sometimes.
Leaning into Ako, Marusan agrees, "Sure. Let's sit here as long as you want. ... Don't you dare let these nuggets get cold, though. We already waited three months for them."
<Pose Tracker> Ako Furuma has posed.
Ako freezes. And then pops another nugget into her mouth, rapidly. "Of course not, that's nugget abuse." She finishes chewing before continuing.
"But...I won't disappear again. I promise."
She's never getting into a cockpit again, that's for sure. But...that's okay. She wants to be at Ramo's side instead.