2023-03-18: Chart Counsel
- Cast: Akane Shinjo, Alouette Pommier
- Where: GGG Orbit Base
- Date: U.C. 0097 03 18
- Summary: After another successful intensive ops exam, Akane Shinjo once again presents Alouette Pommier with a chart - this time, out of trust.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
It's been a little while since Akane's last intensive in-person exam, which means she's just had... another one! This one was, mercifully, proctored by Dr. Sai and not the Chief, because it's cross-disciplinary -- managing the care for a victim of a science crime. (Today's hypothetical draws from a Titans era laboratory raid, but it's been emphasized where things were cross-disciplinary.)
Akane's marks on this one are actually quite high -- she'd just squeaked through Manual Fusion Out, but this actually seems to be more her speed rather than less.
... it's been kind of confronting emotionally, though, and once Akane's out of the exam itself, she's needed to take some time to pull herself together... which means she's in the cafeteria. She could use some slightly-too-salty-but-otherwise-delicious (so, extra delicious) pasta.
After about ten minutes, she remembers the other thing she wanted to talk about, and snaps off a VERTEX to Alouette, suggesting they meet in the cafeteria to talk about something. (Business -- important, or so Akane says.)
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Akane caught Alouette at a good time - her shift is just about over, which means the Orbit Cafe was just about where she was headed next anyways.
She knew Akane had another intensive ops test today, so she's not too surprised to receive another VERTEX, expecting to talk about how that went. 'Business -- important' suggests something else though, so she can't help but wonder what's on Akane's mind as she makes her way towards the cafeteria.
Taking the open seat across from Akane, she decides to start on that topic anyways. "So... how was the test, Akane? I'm pretty confident you did well this time, but..."
She sets down a mug of tea on the table in front of her, as well as some pastries she's willing to share. "That's not the only thing you wanted to talk about, is it?"
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"Exhausting," Akane admits, rubbing at the back of her head. "It's pretty easy for me to get really into a simulation, and in the moment I can handle that kinda stuff but now that I have a little bit to process it it's pretty heavy..." Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath in through her nose, she allows herself to admit, "... I can do it, though. Even if it's hard."
She chews at her lip, saying, "I'm kinda surprised I didn't get kicked out. Dr. Sai says it's not uncommon for the kinds of things 3G deals with to make psychic attacks on the support staff, but I still feel like I screwed up."
Looking down into her pasta, she adds, "... I think in hindsight that should've been obvious, though." It was, after all, her go-to strategy.
Breathing out, she says, "I've been thinking about it a lot since then. The Banshee and Puru-1, I mean. I'm... starting to piece some stuff together." She taps at her phone, and asks: "Wanna see?"
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"Exhausting... yeah, it can be." Alouette nods, sympathetically. "If you were working on cross-disciplines, then in a real situation you won't have to handle it by yourself." She adds, although she's sure Akane knows this by now. And she smiles as Akane admits she can do it, even if it's hard. "I know you can. It'll get easier with experience too.. even if some things won't ever stop being stressful."
"...I think at this point, they add that to our hazard pay." Alouette says, a little too seriously, about psychic attacks on support staff. "I think it's as you said about what Alexis told you about someone like me or Renais. There's no reason we wouldn't try and help you instead of punishing you for something you couldn't control." She takes a thoughtful sip.
"I've been thinking about it, too. It's hard not to with the nightmares, but..." She leans a little closer to the phone in the awkward sort of way you have to when you're sitting across from someone. "Let's see it."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"Even then, it's like... I feel like I have to at least know what everyone else is doing," Akane explains, a little limply. "I ended up reading big chunks of the Research and Intelligence handbooks for this one so I could track it fine, but still!"
Akane takes a bit to eat some pasta. She really needs it. Her free hand screws around on her phone a bit, while she listens to Alouette on the topic of psychic attacks. "That's not how I'm used to things going," Akane admits, a touch distant, on the topic of punishment for something uncontrollable. "Getting my head around that is -- still pretty new."
... the time comes to talk about what's been eating her, though. "I know Alexis is involved with the Banshee and Puru-1 so far. I've been trying to put together stuff related to that... let me send you this over VERTEX, too." She briefly shows Alouette a chart, then sends it via DM. "I figure if there's anyone who's supposed to deal with feeling-monsters, it's us..." She laughs nervously, then rubs at the back of her head, then ultimately faces down into her pasta again.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"That's reasonable," Alouette replies. "I don't mean to imply you're not capable, and it sounds like you're on top of your studies, so well done." She adds. "It sounds like having you sit in on more research or intelligence assignments might be a good idea too."
It took Alouette a while to get her head around that herself, coming from an organization like BioNet. So she just nods and lets Akane take it at her pace. "...Right, and if you decide you need time off after a psychic attack of sorts, you'll get it. But we're not taking the decision away from you."
Alouette leans comfortably back into her own seat, as Akane sends her the image in VERTEX form. She takes a few minutes to look it over, seeing how each point connects.
"I have to wonder what his game is. There's not a lot that leads to what he's getting in exchange for his support." She cups a finger on her chin. "Unless it really is just a taunt... think about it. He always tried similar tactics to draw aggro towards Tsutsujidai... towards you." She points out, referencing a very similar attack on the Photon Power Labs, on Shiro Kabuto. "Could it be that he's trying to make his involvement obvious to, for whatever reason, draw us into it? ...Or maybe just you?" She recognizes Akane's intelligence-gathering as productive, but maybe dangerous all the same.
"I had the same thoughts, on the feeling-monsters part, that is." Alouette nods. "I thought maybe Hell and Heaven could do the trick if we know there's an unexpressed feeling inside. But then I concluded it was too dangerous without more data. ...Maybe I'm not ready to risk it all again like that." She admits, looking away from Akane for a moment.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"That might help, yeah..." Part of Akane is worried about being annoyingly underfoot in a circumstance like that, but at the same time -- how else is she going to learn, if not by being underfoot for a little bit? It's a bit of a messy thought, though, so Akane eats a little more pasta. (How does she put it all away? Surely she hasn't been waiting two years to eat.)
"Yeah, that's kinda what has me stumped too. I get that he's involved, but... why? How?" Alouette, though, points out that he may be trying to draw aggression rather than anything else -- and that seems to make something click for Akane. "... If he's trying to get us into the conflict, he thinks it's something we'll screw up," Akane reflects. "Or it'll make me worse, but... I do kinda think this is more than just me. ... I wonder if that thing about someone already betraying me matters here, too, though -- like some part of this is way closer than I think it is."
Her head cants slowly to one side, and she puts a fist up to her cheek, lips pouting a little bit as she starts thinking about it. "Hell and Heaven is too risky right now. Maybe that's even the play -- this isn't like a Zonder Core. It's just a cockpit. For all we know once we extract it they'll set off a bomb inside, or something..."
The mention of Alouette's previous play at Hell and Heaven makes Akane flinch a bit. Taking a deep breath, she admits, "... I don't want you to have to do that again either. That's kinda the thing though, right? 3G seems like it's about sharing that kinda weight." With a sigh out through her nose, Akane concedes, "... it's still pretty new to me."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"...Right, and he always gets eerily confident when he thinks we will screw something up." Alouette taps her fingers, remembering their unpleasant visit in the Wadatsumi. He was maybe a little too right when he asserted he'd have countless other projects even if they rescued 'Akane-kun'.
She also considers when Akane says it might have to do with someone betraying her. "Mmm.. I hate playing into such an obvious ploy to get us to distrust each other." She fidgets some more, recognizing that even if it's painful, Akane might be onto something. Would it be enough for Alexis to move if it was really nothing?
Alouette clasps her hands on her cup as Akane says it's too risky. "You're absolutely right. This isn't something that purification can handle either... maybe we need to think a little more outside the box if we're going to outplay him."
She smiles wistfully as Akane admits she hopes she doesn't have to do it again, either. "...Yeah. I know I can trust Guy, or Mamoru or Ikumi to handle it when the time comes, if I can't. But if I can use that power to save someone... I want to have the courage to do it." She breathes out. "That's why I don't have any regrets." The Banshee situation just makes her hope she won't learn to have them.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"Normally I would too. It makes me really mad that I have to take it seriously. But he said something to Leina about Sayla keeping an enormous secret from her, and then that secret came up and immediately blew up in her face. And that's really more his speed anyway -- tell you something true then wait for it to hurt you." Breathing out, she admits, "I know I told you and Marusan I thought it was probably just him jerking me around, but now I can't be that sure..."
Akane entertains a few different possibilities, now -- she isn't voicing them yet, though. "There's so much it could be... I guess the only thing to do is kick this to Intelligence and see if they think it's anything."
Massaging her temples, she ultimately lets out a sigh and tilts her head straight up at the ceiling in exasperation. "... Too much for now," she has to concede -- and rather than suck and die, she pivots topics. "... How was prom for you?" she asks, instead of pressing on it. "I think the main stage dance Rikka and I got in is up online now, if you missed it."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"Right.. there was no way that was coordinated. It's not the first time either... him leaking all my secrets to you was probably supposed to have a similar effect." Alouette considers. "It's probably a bit of both.. jerking around with the truth. So..."
When Akane suggests this as an Intelligence problem, Alouette nods. "We avoid pointing fingers and let Intelligence do their work. And then we'll be on standby to work out a solution."
Alouette smiles at the mention of Prom, unsure she'll be able to go much heavier than that. "Aha, I watched it as soon as it went up. You were both amazing.. even if I'm sure there's a bunch of references I'll be like 'you really went there, huh?' when I actually watch the show." She clasps her hands together, in a congratulatory manner.
"As for me, a lot better than expected... even if the party room was full of menaces." She never did figure out that green-haired girl's deal did she?
"I actually, well... met someone. Sho Tachibana, she's a Getter pilot with NISAR... but let's say she's also a pretty good kisser." She takes another sip from her tea, eyes averted from Akane for a moment. "Really though, I think we're going to try going out, so wish me luck~"
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"Yeah, exactly..." Akane chews on that for a little while -- but ultimately decides it's not productive to dwell on. Prom is an easier topic by comparison, even if it was a topic where all eyes were on her.
Laughing at the mention of references, Akane affirms, "Haha, yeah... so we only did it because I got off rhythm, but there's a bit in the show during one of the big formal dance bits where Serena steps on Cecilia's toes -- we did that to have an excuse to reset a little. There's a few other things, too, but I'll let you catch those on your own~"
When Alouette starts averting her eyes and talking about another girl, though, Akane's expression lights up all at once. "Oh re~ally," she starts, leaning in. "I'm kinda surprised you're the type to kiss and tell, but I'm not that surprised. Have fun with it!" It's good for Alouette to be getting that kind of opportunity too... the people who worked so hard on her happiness deserve their own happiness, too. "Are Getter pilots really, you know..." Vague, emphatic gesture. No context!
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"That is very clever. And I bet.. the formal dance episode is definitely going to be even more interesting with that context." Alouette grins. "We really should put time aside for that... I'm looking forward to it."
"Hey.. look, you were the one who asked...! I just went above and beyond the prompt!" Alouette mock-pouts at Akane's teasing.. but it kind of feels good to be teased like this at all.
Akane's question gets a laugh out of Alouette for sure. "I don't know quite what you're insinuating... but you should've seen our dueling match. There was definitely that spark... and then she was so dashing afterwards. I don't know how she does it!" She replies, before clarifying. "Tie, by the way."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"Remember, there's two! And there's a piece of promotional art that kinda implies a third one post-show and that one is killer," Akane says, brightly -- and then gets right back to teasing Alouette a little bit.
"A spark, huh... -- and ooh, evenly matched. That's always a fun dynamic, though sooner or later one of you is gonna outpace the other one on something." Akane finishes off her pasta, slurping up the noodles enthusiastically.
... it's honestly a delight to get to be like this. The anxiety of another intensive test is fading a bit, as she talks, even if some of the talk is heavy. It's much, much easier not to be alone.