2023-03-24: Junk Data
- Log: 2023-03-24- Junk Data
- Cast: Rikka Takarada, Hass, Alouette Pommier, Akane Shinjo, Namiko
- Where: Tsutsujidai - Junk Shop Aya - Residence
- OOC - IC Date: 0097-03-24
- Summary: As Hass and Akane's conditions improve, they go over all the things that happened in Hass's absence.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
A few days have passed since Hass was unleashed upon Tsutsujidai - and through the combined efforts of friends and the Braves of 3G, she was saved. It feels like a dream to Rikka. Hass's condition had been plaguing the back of her mind for so long, and to finally have her back...
...Well, she doesn't waste any time. The moment Hass is well enough, she invites her to her house, along with Namiko, Alouette, and Akane.
Which leads to now, where everyone has gathered in the Takarada living room. It's fairly cozy, featuring two sofas with a coffee table in between them and an attached kitchen and dining area. Refreshments have already been laid out - food and drink. Snacks, mostly. Rikka herself is sipping at a yogurt drink, but she pauses, looking Hass's way.
"So, um... how are you feeling now?" Rikka asks. She's heard the reports, but... she wants to hear things from Hass, in her own words.
<Pose Tracker> Hass has posed.
Hass spent a couple of days aboard the Wadatsumi, mostly for observation's sake; after a night at home, she's more than happy to visit Rikka. She arrives wearing a black skirt, comfy-looking sneakers, and an electric-blue hoodie with a simple geometric design across the chest. The front pocket looks... oddly full, and seems to stir a little as she sits.
"Better," she answers, cheeks lifting slightly in a smile. "I'm not at a hundred percent yet... I'm scheduled to start physical therapy next week, which is gonna suck, but... I'm just glad to be home."
And then, peeking out from her hoodie pocket on the side closer to Rikka, is the head of a white cat with inquisitive golden eyes, surveying the room before addressing Rikka with a chirp of "Mra?"
Hass moves to scritch the cat's head gently, eliciting purrs. "Sorry... I hope you don't mind too much. Ravage started getting whiny when I left. He's been missing me too."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Alouette might've not been part of her inner friend circle like Rikka or Namiko was, but Alouette still fought as hard as she could to save Hass, no matter if she could deliver the finishing blow or not. She can sympathize with her as a now-fellow former victim of BioNet, but...
She wants to get to know and support her as a friend too, so she happily accepts Rikka's invitation. Alouette has been in the Takarada living room several times by now, but she still carries herself with a certain care as she seats herself on the sofa, hands clasped on her lap.
Alouette looks Hass's way and offers a slightly shaky smile. "It's.. nice to meet you, Hass. I'm Alouette Pommier - we were in the same class for a little while but..." That's it's own can of worms so she doesn't let it dwell yet. "...we didn't really get the chance to talk too much then. I hope, now that you're back, we can change that." The smile solidifies.
"I imagine you might have a lot of questions. I'm with an organization called the Gutsy Global Guard, and it's our job to deal with these things so.. I'll try my best to answer whatever I can." Despite that, she's not actually in uniform today, opting for a white-blue jacket with a light wing-motif, paired with a checkered skirt. If not told otherwise, Hass might just see her as an ordinary, if not fashion-minded teenager.
First though, she turns her attention to another new friend: Ravage the white cat. "Aww -- he looks like a really sweet little thing." Despite generally liking them, she's actually not entirely certain how to interact with most animals? So she favours the kitty with a smile from a distance.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane's already here, of course; she'd planned to fly back to Villa Mass before things happened with Hass, but... right now she's not actually permitted to fly! Pushing her dark hair back a little, she sits with one elbow up on the back of the couch, sipping at a yogurt drink of her own. Her lips purse a little along the straw, as she absently pops her glasses on.
At her side rests a satchel with an oxygen concentrator inside; she's presently wearing it, the tubes inserted into her nose. It should only be another couple days of this, at least as a regular thing. ... still sucks, though. Even if she's managing it here among her friends, she hates looking this weak.
Akane lets other people ask and explain, first. She smiles a little when she sees the cat, before adding, "Ah -- if you didn't already figure it out, I'm... Akane, from class." With a slightly strained smile, she adds, "How I got involved here is kinda... a long story, and I think it's better if someone else tells it. And -- I went back to my natural hair color. Or at least closer."
<Pose Tracker> Namiko has posed.
Namiko, of course, swung by to check on Hass and deliver get-well flowers and a balloon, in her usual fashion of partying up any space she can. With a few things off her chest and plans made, she's been smiling more in the remaining time apart.
And now the time arrives!!!
Namiko sweeps into Aya with a cupholder full of Assorted Boba and a big grin. "The party may begin!" she declares, all but twirling back to the living room. She sets her bounty down on the refreshments table, grabs her own drink from it, and then proceeds directly to Hass and puts her butt in a seat.
"Oh hey there..." Namiko titters, as Ravage makes himself known. "Yeah, I just bet he's been lonely."
Then her eyes finally scan up to Akane. "Oh, golly, hey Akane!" she brightens. "It's been a while? I like the hair!" Her eyes unmistakably look STRAIGHT at the breathing tubes, but she is tactful and plays it off well.
"Which reminds me, Rikka Takarada, I did not get to scream incoherently at you two at the dance!! What!!"
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"That's good to hear..." Rikka replies with a relieved sigh. "And, yeah. I'm..."
Rikka stops herself for a moment, and has to recenter for a second.
"...I'm just really glad you're back." She says. ...She's briefly, distracted, then, as the contents of Hass's hoodie pocket emerges. Rikka is briefly struck by an emotion one can only describe as, 'Oh My God, It's a Kitty'. She's probably seen Ravage before... but still! Cat! Some things never lessen no matter how many times you see them.
"It's no problem at all. I'm glad to have him here, too. Isn't that right?" Rikka says, beaming at Ravage.
She looks toward Alouette as she introduces herself. Rikka nods, as she says she'll do her best to answer what she can.
"A lot of things have happened... I'd like to do what I can to help you get caught back up, too." Rikka says with a nod, and then looks toward Akane. She can tell she's a little strained... but, she's glad to have her here.
And then! Namiko! Rikka goes just a little red as she gets called out and laughs, just a bit sheepishly. It looks like there's one thing she needs to catch Hass up on right away...
"Yeah... surprise! I did say it was someone you knew... It's a shame we missed you, but it got to be a little much so we snuck out early." Rikka replies, then looks toward Hass. "So, about that... Akane and I are dating now! We have been for a little while..."
<Pose Tracker> Hass has posed.
Hass nods to Alouette, "I remember. I was a little sad when you left... we'll have to make up for lost time." She really likes Alouette's hair, and never got the chance to tell her.
Granted, she doesn't say it now, either...
"The Gutsy Global Guard. They told me when they were debriefing me," she nods again, sticking a straw underneath her mask to take a sip from her own drink. She seems a bit surprised as Alouette explains she's part of GGG herself. "Wow... you're my age, right?" ... she's got a lot of questions. She starts putting them together in her head. "He's super sweet," she nods, as Ravage slowly extrudes himself from the pocket onto her lap, sitting upright and continuing his observations of people and place.
"--Ah, Shinjo-san... I almost didn't recognize you... you look good!" She goes a bit pink, embarassed, seeing the sort of shape Akane's in right now. "... you're okay, right?" she asks, a little skeptically, eyebrows furrowed.
Ravage hears his name, ear swivelling in Namiko's direction. He glances her way and meows once.
Oh. It's time for two drinks now, apparently. She grabs a cup from the boba tray, ideally one of the new flavors, and sticks *that* straw under her mask to take a long drink. "Mmm. Thanks, Namiko!"
--wait. That's right, she remembers. Rikka and Akane...! "You two got together, that's right! Namiko told me a couple days ago when she came to visit." She's grinning under the mask, eyes half-lidding. "...always had a feeling you two were meant for each other."
Ravage, meanwhile, hops down off of Hass' lap now, trotting over to Rikka and looking up at her, wide-eyed and curious. His tail does a gentle sway this way and that.
"Right... questions," Hass says quietly, thinking more as she watches Ravage. "... Namiko mentioned the lockdown. I know something happened, but I haven't looked too closely at the news." More quietly, she adds, "One of the people that debriefed me told me about the basics of this whole 'zonder' thing, and said my anxiety about that stream is probably why it broadcasted that, but..."
It doesn't really make it any less embarrassing, does it?
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"Aww--" Alouette emotes, as Hass remembers her leaving, and even being a little sad about it. She reaches for some tea and refreshments herself as she adds, "Even if I won't be attending the same school anymore, we'll have plenty of chances before we graduate. That's what GUTS is for, right?"
Hass also seems a little surprised they're the same age, despite her being a member of the Gutsy Global Guard. "That's right. It's a pretty complicated story, but if it means I can help like this... I'm happy." She concludes.
Alouette smiles widely as Hass and Namiko learn the good news from Rikka! "...We were all waiting for it to happen, weren't we?" She adds, to Hass's statement. Maybe not Namiko - who was adorably clueless about the whole thing until the very end.
Hass asks her questions, and Alouette first looks at Akane, who seemed nervous at the prospect of telling her own story.. maybe she'll leave Akane's part of it for Rikka to start - while she'll explain the 3G dimensional stuff. For now, she gives the basics. "It might sound hard to believe, but Tsutsujidai was... built from a human heart. When the heart became destabilized, so did Tsutsujidai from reality." She explains, as simply as she can. "It took the efforts of all the most brilliant engineers and scientists we had on hand to build a tool to staple Tsutsujidai back to reality, so to speak."
As for the Zonder question... "That ongoing situation brought Tsutsujidai into the international spotlight. That's why BioNet, the criminal organization who mass produces Pseudo-Zonder Metal, set up a hideout here in the first place." She shakes her head. "I'm sorry they used you and your struggles. But... I hope it doesn't discourage you from following your dreams. I'm sure you're so much more than one bad day."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"Thanks, it's... I was kinda expecting it to go bad? In middle school it wasn't dark enough, hahaha..." She says that like there's a story behind it. Most of Tsutsujidai's residents might not understand what that kind of story entails, though... and it's kinda too gloomy a topic to dig into here, anyway. Taking a breath and then a quick drink, she smiles for Namiko.
"Haha, yeah. It's two months, but it only wasn't longer because my guardian kinda got me to screw up a bunch of stuff in my personal life." That's a gross oversimplification, but there's nothing in it that's a lie. Hass follows up by asking if she's okay, and Akane has to think about that. "The injury wasn't great? But I'm not bad. Apparently this is a pretty mild version of what it could've been." Playfully, she adds, "Geez... darn... having to stay a whole extra week up here before school starts up again. Oh noooo."
When the lockdown comes up, Akane's shoulders tighten. ... well, the telling's never going to be easier than this version with this group of people... if she can't do this, she's doomed.
She lets Alouette do a lot of the heavy lifting -- but some of this she is going to have to explain for herself. "The heart it got made out of was mine," she says, voice quiet. "I was told I could do whatever I wanted to it, because it was my heart. And what I did was..."
Shaking her head, she says, simply, "Unacceptable. And I don't think deciding what parts were the worst of it is really my call." Here, she looks to Rikka, too.
<Pose Tracker> Namiko has posed.
Namiko lets Hass' concern for Akane speak for them both.
Honestly, Namiko also hasn't spent much time with Alouette in a while, she's just a bit busy doting on Hass to immediately lock on to the blonde. She gets a smile and a wiggle of her fingers now, at least. She knows about Alouette's affiliations, of course - the lockdown sure did do a lot to expand Namiko's understanding of the world, even if how much she digested of The Whole Thing is...dubious.
Case in point, as Alouette lays out the basics of The Thing and Namiko makes a face like she's sucking on a lemon.
Akane supplementing it makes the normally kittyfaced girl full-on grimace for a moment, before she rallies herself with a big breath in and leans into Hass, managing to go directly from 'this is awkward' to 'well may as well blow up all the doors and windows,' with a conspiratorial, "Definitionally the cutest girl in school," and a titter.
BBSYS: Post 801, 'Next School Year and Graduation' has been published to Announcements by Beam Coat.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Rikka looks pleased as Hass and Alouette get along. They're both important friends to her, so the fact that they seem get along well is a relief. And she's glad that Hass likes Akane's look, too - and, the fact that they're together. Rikka smiles, glad for that... but she laughs a little, too, as Alouette adds her own comment.
"...It feels like almost everyone had us figured out already." Rikka comments, looking toward Akane. She doesn't sound too upset by that, though.
Rikka leans forward to give Ravage some well-deserved pets when he approaches her, as Akane speaks on her injury. She chuckles at her comment.
"It's a tragedy, I know, but we'll just have to get through it together." Rikka jokes back with a playful nudge.
Her expression gets serious, though, as it's time for explanations. Things are... about to get heavy. But it's a conversation that's been a long time coming. These two are her best friends, and she's kept so many secret from them for far too long.
Alouette takes point, explaining how Tsutsujidai was built from a human heart - and how that heart was destabilized, resulting the lockdown, and then the way it was brought back to reality. Akane explains that it was her heart that Tsutsujidai was made from.
"...Yeah. You, me, everyone from Tsutsujidai... We were born to inhabit Akane's city." Rikka says. Akane looks to her and Rikka takes a breath - and then takes Akane's hand for a moment, squeezing it gently before continuing.
...She knows this is going to be rough, but she needs to explain it as directly as possible.
"Akane's guardian gave her the means to create kaiju. Using these kaiju she would... correct, the parts of the city that upset her. Tsutsujidai would be destroyed. ...People would die. And then it would be rebuilt by her kaiju as if nothing had happened. But the people who died would still be... gone. And the rest of us... the same kaiju would make us forget - we'd remember them as if they'd died a long time ago, and forget that the attack even happened. ...You won't remember this, but... there was a time when Tsutsujidai wasn't even a colony." Rikka explains. "Since the beginning of last year, I've been fighting Akane's kaiju alongside Gridman... I only remember all of this because I met him."
She shakes her head.
"She's not making kaiju anymore. You heard how she feels about what she did. But... I won't tell either of you how to feel about this." She says. They have the right to come to that decision on their own... whatever it is.
<Pose Tracker> Hass has posed.
Hass giggles a little, "Well, I wouldn't say *waiting*... but... I'm glad my feeling turned out to be right." She looks toward the pair happily, taking another drink.
The explanation--that Tsutsujidai was built from a human heart--simply elicits a slow blink from her at first. "From a... human heart." Her eyebrows furrow thoughtfully, with more than a little bit of puzzlement. "What does that mean? How..."
Her attention turns to Akane, who explains more. She glances at Namiko briefly as she adds on her own remark, and... "So... Tsutsujidai was made from you? *For* you? You're our age, though, right? I've... lived here my whole life."
Hasn't she?
More or less oblivious to Hass' confusion, Ravage simply purrs and pushes his head into Rikka's petting hand, grateful for the attention.
Hass, meanwhile, is... silent for a while, after Rikka's explanation. Unsure how to process this information.
"... I see," she says, eventually, her eyes downcast slightly, nudging tapioca pearls around with her straw. "You two... got together afterward, then. After all of this was over." She looks slowly between Akane and Rikka.
"I... how am I even supposed to respond to something like this?" she laughs. "A lot of my memories... and everything before, what a couple years ago...? It's all..." She closes her eyes.
"... no. It's not fake, is it? I'm... still me, right?" She looks at Namiko. Her expression's difficult to read, but her eyes are fond. "And you're still you." To Rikka, she nods, "And so are you..."
"It doesn't change anything, does it? It sounds like you had a shitty guardian, Shinjo-san... and if someone who's been through all of it can forgive you for whatever you did, I think," She pauses meaningfully. "The least I can do is trust her."
Her cheeks lift, and her eyes smile. "After all... we wouldn't be here at all without you."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Alouette may have just been about to go on a serious and weighty infodump about the state of the world as Namiko's known for all her life, but she's still friendly and cheery enough to favour her with a smile and a little wave of the hand back first. They'll definitely need to make time to hang out too.. there's a lot to talk about both in the world of mecha-piloting and regular teenage girl stuff.
Alouette is relieved as Akane and Rikka both add information she didn't quite feel right sharing. That the architect of this world is Akane herself, and that she was able to use kaiju to destroy and rebuild it... ridding it of people she didn't like.
Alouette pays attention to Namiko and Hass's responses. At first glance, Namiko at least seems to recover first, coping with a joke. Hass... struggles, and Alouette worries. As an outsider, Alouette can't quite ever understand how she feels exactly.. even if she sympathizes with having memories messed with. Her gaze focuses on Akane first, and then Rikka.. will she know what to say?
Ultimately, Hass decides to place her faith in Rikka's forgiveness of Akane, and affirms her identity. Alouette just nods at the conclusion she comes to.
Even as an outsider, though.. there's still a warning Alouette can make clear. "You're right. Akane's guardian was awful. And unfortunately.. he's still out there, with powerful allies." Alouette begins grimly. "Still.. the outside world has a lot of ugly parts, but it would be wrong to say that's all there is to it. As long as you keep your faith in each other."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"Ahahaha... sounds like you're taking it okay," Akane answers Namiko, nervously but not without warmth. "Though, uh -- huh, I guess it has been a bit. I didn't look quite the same... I definitely don't quite fit the clothes I picked up in Tsutsujidai. If you still think I'm cute, well..."
Then she lets Rikka talk. Her eyes widen a little at 'Akane's city' -- it's a description she's still... not sure how she feels about, now that she's had time to relate to the world a different way. Who is she, to this half-PLANT? Is Akane Shinjo a god? A kaiju? A victim? ... and are those designations final, carved in stone?
"What I wanted was a perfect world -- nothing bad in it. But... my definition of Bad was pretty wide. I killed someone for smooshing Gridman's lunch." Volunteering the act and the motive seems... reasonable.
When she asks for clarification, Akane says, "My guardian helped me make this world after what happened at Junius Seven. It was kinda coming for a long time, but that's what set me off." She leans forward a bit, and says, "I didn't, like... personally set anyone up though. I just kinda wanted -- a world to exist that was a certain way, and that needed people in it. In the end you guys are just... people. I told Rikka once that I wanted someone who'd understand me and said that was her, but to be honest I'm not even sure that's really how it went down anymore." She laughs, though it's really more of a labored breath.
Looking Hass over a little, she says, "Don't try to rush it. It's actually pretty okay to be mad. I... took away you guys' ability to choose that for yourself for a long time." She looks down and to the side. "I didn't save you expecting that to make up for it. I just thought -- that's what it means to be you guys's friend."
Alouette drops the other part of it. "... yeah, there's... that too. Actually, Namiko -- that does give me a quick question. How'd you spend the day after prom, and... can anyone back it up?" She swallows, before adding, "It's -- related to my guardian, but I don't think I should tell you how exactly. It'd get... weird and messy."
<Pose Tracker> Namiko has posed.
Namiko plays it off well, but...
Her hand does creep toward Hass and her fingers curl uncomfortably into her hoodie - her hands seem busy - as the explanation goes on. Namiko has heard most of this, at this point - she worked too closely with the Tsutsujidai Rescue Team not to have. But it's not...entirely something she's taken the time to digest, and the way her gaze suddenly can't find anyone's eyes makes that obvious. "I'm still kinda figuring out how I feel about it myself," she says, slowly. "But..."
Namiko just leans the whole way into Hass and wraps her up in a big hug. "Yeah. We're here and we've got everyone together. We're here and nobody's going anywhere! The rest is...details, right? "
She does, however, crack a smile when Akane says it's OK to be mad, even. She leans out enough to give Hass her space back. "It's a lot to think about, but...I mean, Rikka trusts you, right?" She gets that smile of hers up. "That says everything I need!"
She is CLEARLY preparing to transition this into some tangent, presumably about vetting Akane on behalf of the Council of Rikka (rikkas on council: zero) but Akane swings it around first. "Eh?" she asks, blankly. "I mean...no, probably not, I guess. I think I spent it,"
Moping about Hass.
"Just kinda messing around at home, you know? Might have come by here for some lessons with Mr. Gai."
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Ravage pushes his head into Rikka's hand. That gets her to smile a little, and she focuses on him with that hand as she gives Hass time to... process. She can hardly blame her. She remembers what she went through when she first learned about it - it was a long, difficult road. She knows what it's like. She can tell, too, that this isn't easy for Namiko either...
Akane offers a specific act, and some clarifications. Rikka listens, but doesn't interrupt.
"That's right." Rikka confirms, as Hass points out that they got together after the fact. She doesn't tell her how to respond - doesn't interrupt her as she works her way through it. And the result she comes to... in the end, Rikka smiles a little, widening just a bit when Namiko wraps Hass up in a hug.
"That's what I feel, too. Wherever these memories came from... they're mine, and I say they're, we're, real." She says, and looks toward Akane. She considers her words for a moment. "...I've been thinking about that, too. I think... whether not that might have been the original point, it was only when I started to figure things out for myself that it became possible."
She nods, too, as Alouette gives her warning. It's important that someone tells her about that.
"Akane's guardian... He's named Alexis Kerib. Big guy, scary mask. Dresses in black, wears a cape. ...A lot of smoke around him. The first time I saw him, I thought he was an alien." Rikka says. "I don't know if he'll ever bother you, but... if he talks to you, try to find a reason to excuse yourself politely."
She smiles, though, as Alouette mentions how there's more to the outside world than the ugly parts.
"Yeah. I gained a lot. Good music, good friends... There's a lot of important experiences I wouldn't have had otherwise." Rikka says. ...She goes quiet, though, when Akane asks Namiko about the night after prom. She doesn't interrupt, letting whatever answer she gives stand for itself.
<Pose Tracker> Hass has posed.
Hass nods to Alouette, and looks understandably distressed as Akane explains in more detail. There's a little wince as she explains she killed someone for smooshing Gridman's lunch. Her eyes go to Namiko's hand, gripping her hoodie.
She still squeals a little in surprise as she's swept up into a hug, and holds her tight for a few moments.
She clings to the girl's hand after she disengages.
'It's actually pretty okay to be mad.'
"... maybe I am mad," she says quietly, in contrast to Namiko's simpler conclusion. "You... did some pretty awful things, it sounds like. But it's all kind of. Numb. Right now."
"But even if I am... you're not just some monster, or someone I'm going to hate." She looks over toward Rikka, then back to Akane. "I think I owe it to the people who saved my life to try and forgive."
An alien wearing a cape... someone like that sounds like they'd be difficult to miss. She nods, "I'll keep an eye out."
There's a worried look for a few moments, as Akane asks where Namiko was. "Is there anything you *can* tell us about that...?" she asks Akane, looking puzzled.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"... Okay, that helps," Akane says, pulling out her phone and taking a few notes; she needs to find this Gai and follow up, but that's helpful enough. "I can't share too many details, but Alexis is doing something involving a weird mobile suit and I'm trying to figure out some things about, like -- where people have been relative to it when it comes out. Anything helps."
Rikka explains the rest, and... Akane just lets her. It's better that they get Rikka's explanation of Alexis than hers.
Finally, for Hass, she adds one more clarifier: "Rikka, some of 3G, and some of the people I moved in with are working on it. Hopefully... it won't come up again."
That seems to be enough heavy conversation for her. "... Does anyone want anything to eat? I don't mind cooking, and Takarada-san does let me behind the counter..."