2023-05-03: Cafeteria Camaraderie
- Cast: Alouette Pommier, GaoGaiGo Team
- Where: Orbit Base - Orbit Cafe
- Date: U.C. 0097 05 03
- Summary: Alouette and Ikumi sit together with tea for lunch, catching up and reaffirming their friendship.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
By all means it's a pretty typical day up on Orbit Base, as in, there's nothing actively exploding that immediately needs 3G's attention.
For Alouette, this means the typical scanning for potential threats and sifting through the plethora of data provided by the mobile corps team.
Eventually, like clockwork, it's break time, and Alouette takes her usual pick of chamomile tea and scans for a good spot in the cafeteria.
"Is it okay if I sit here? It's been a while since we've had tea together." She chooses the table Ikumi's seated at, placing her tray down without truly waiting for an answer. "You usually have lunch with Mamoru-kun, don't you? I wonder if he's busy with something..." She takes a sip of her tea, and then pushes the tray more towards the middle of the table. "Either way, I brought some pastries we can share. Honestly, I usually just get whatever Hana recommends, but she's taking my post right now so... I had to experiment a little." These ones are pretty soft and puffy, layered with different fruits on each one.
<Pose Tracker> GaoGaiGo Team has posed.
Ikumi Kaidou is currently sitting with a cup of tea at a table. He eats light on-duty, but can afford splurging with friends, so when Alouette appears with pastries and asks to sit, he nods. "Of course, I enjoy your company. How are you doing?"
The topic drifts to Mamoru. "He's doing some training, said he'd eat later. Normally, he doesn't avoid taking a break, but I think with all the excitement and newcomers, he wants to be on top of his game. Especially with..."
Ikumi pauses, moving to take a pastry tentatively.
"I keep wondering how many people could secretly be out there, infected with Triple Zero. Amuro Ray, Char Aznable...Mamoru takes it in stride, as there's people who can purify them, after all. But my upbringing's much different than his was."
Ikumi catches himself, though, making the topic dark, and tries to includye a joke. "Ah, but, well, that's a downside for me, definitely. I didn't learn how to say wa-ha to punctuate my sentences."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Alouette smiles when Ikumi tells her that her company is pleasant, and takes a pastry of her own. "I'm doing well! I went to a concert with some friends last weekend, it was a lot of fun. It's nicr to be able to relax like that once in a while."
"What about you, Ikumi? And... how's your mother doing?" She asks, taking a short bite afterwards.
About Mamoru, she's surprised to hear that he's the one working himself hard for once at first. "He's always wanted to set a good example as the Captain, hasn't he? Still, we better make sure he gets his proper rest. Hana would probably freak out if he pulled a muscle or something during his training." She laughs softly....
...Before the topic turns to Triple Zero. "...Right. The other Ruin Apostles, the ones from outside 3G... they're a lot harder for us to predict." Alouette frowns. "Especially Char Aznable. He probably came closest to ending this world out of any of them." She taps the handle of her teacup restlessly. "I'll fight as hard as I can. I'll even gather the strength to use Hell and Heaven again if I must."
"But if there's more of them than just the old members of GGG, I wonder just how long we'll have to fight." She joined the fight specifically for them. It's a little frustrating to have to fight the likes of Char Aznable too, even if they won't give up in the face of people like him, either.
When Ikumi makes that joke though, Alouette's expression turns back into a smile. "Hehe, but you did say it before, remember?" She grins, remembering her dramatic return to GGG, after Bujack. "His personality really does rub off on you more than you'd think." She mock-teases.
<Pose Tracker> GaoGaiGo Team has posed.
"Good, good. Concerts are a lot of fun, I hear." He does not dwell on the fact he's never been to one, and instead, Ikumi turns towards the topic of his mother.
"She's doing fine. Peaceful. She probably won't be alive much longer...she was already an elder when she adopted me. I made my peace with it years ago, but she keeps on kicking. She could be a Red Planet warrior pretty easily." He jokes, even if he's slightly more somber than usual. "You wouldn't believe it, but Mamoru's the smart one. I'm just the musclehead." He playfully stretches a lean bicep, where he had basically no muscle definition at all, because he uses telekinesis for everything, before biting further into his pastry.
"Good. But don't overextend yourself. I'd hate to see you get hurt."
Finishing his pastry, Ikumi nods, taking the mock-tease seriously. "Yeah...we're related in only the strangest of senses, but I still consider him my brother. He's been there for me even when we barely knew each other, so."
"How's schooling? Are you still attending, did you make any friends at GUTS? There's strangely a lot of piloting types there..."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"They are! Maybe we should all go to one sometime." She offers, feeling like Mamoru has a lot more experience in that department.
Alouette listens attentively when Ikumi talks about his mother, considering his feelings on the matter. "I'm glad to hear she's well... and that you're both able to treasure the time you have together." She nods. This sort of thing is important to her, too.
Alouette laughs when Ikumi calls himself the musclehead, and looks down to her own arm... which is also quite lean, but probably more well-built than his, considering she's a fencer.
"I know. I won't try to do it all by myself, either. I already made that mistake a long time ago." She nods, when Ikumi tells her to be careful. "It's really fortunate we can all count on each other."
"I haven't known either of you nearly as long," she starts, taking a sip of tea. "But it's clear to tell how strongly you care for each other. ...even if you don't always say 'wa-ha!'" She tries to mimic Mamoru's voice there when she says his iconic line.
"It's going really well," She answers about school, and GUTS. "I started dating someone, too. Sho Tachibana from the Neo Getter Team." She adds, enthusiastically. "She's a pilot and a fancer as well. We've been on a couple dates. She's really strong, and smart, and pretty, and..." She starts gushing, of course. "Well, I think you get the point. You know what I sound like when I'm swooning over someone." She laughs.
<Pose Tracker> GaoGaiGo Team has posed.
Ikumi nods. "I'd like that." He takes a sip of his tea, meditating on the taste. "She gave me a life outside of being a weapon. I'll forever be grateful towards her."
"Yeah. We're a good team. Without being part of 3G...I think we'd all be in much more dire straits. But we've got each other."
Ikumi does not wa-ha when Alouette does it. Instead..."Slightly different pitch. You gotta *feel* it to do it." He teases.
As Alouette tells him she's dating someone, he squints. Not because he's against it, but for a moment, there's a bitter appearance in his eyes. It may be worrisome, until...
"A *Getter* pilot? Don't they make crazy faces and blow up dinosaurs?" He lets his smile finally crack here. "I don't understand this whole dating thing. It might just not be for me. Mamoru's married, but...I've only ever had interest in one person and she just got engaged. I could be more broken up about it, but..."
A laugh. "I'm happy with my job."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"I can understand that," Alouette nods slowly. "It's why I'm so grateful to 3G, and my own mother, for taking such good care of me." She's only come to recognize recently how distant in scale, yet similar their stories are.
"I don't want to even think about where I'd be if not for all of you. But we'll always have each other. That's our strength."
"Hahaaaa, you're right. That really did sound off... That must mean it's an Amami family special after all." She takes the teasing in stride.
Alouette tilts her head as she notices that sharp change of expression in Ikumi's eyes... Ah, yes. That tends to be the reaction when she tells someone she's dating a Getter pilot. She wonders if Braves have a similar reputation. "That's... pretty accurate. Although there haven't been any dinosaurs to 'blow up' lately, so the Getter team offered to tear up some BioNet bases instead. Isn't that nice?" She sounds dead serious, somehow.
"I still can't believe she got engaged.. after all that effort I put in to bring her up to Orbit Base that one time, too!" She shakes her head disdainfully. "But if she's happy, and you're not upset about it..."
"Normally I'd chide you for not understanding," she admits. "But it really is possible it's just not for you. There's plenty of ways to find happiness that don't involve romantic love at all... it sounds like you understand that pretty well."
"But who knows?" She takes a long sip. "I think things like romance tend to hit you when you don't expect it at all."
<Pose Tracker> GaoGaiGo Team has posed.
"Yes!" Ikumi agrees strongly about their strength, laughs about the Amami family special, and then nods about BioNet bases. "That's good. The more allies we have, the sooner we can demolish them once and for all."
"Perhaps you're right. Someday, I might find someone. Someday I might not. Mamoru keeps comparing me to solitary birds, who can either live alone or mate, and..."
Ikumi squints as he bites into a pastry, giving the thought after he swallows. "I'm not *that* birdlike, am I?"
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"Yes, and once we do so.. I hope less people will have to go through what I did." Alouette says, before she takes the last bite of a pastry.
Mamoru really is perceptive. "That's an interesting metaphor, I never would have thought of that. Although..."
"I think we're both a little bird-like, hehe." As she says that, she picks up the now-empty tray from the cafeteria.
"It's about time I take my shift, I can't leave poor Hana waiting forever. I'm glad we had the chance to talk, though. Au revoir!" She waves as she disappears towards the exit of Orbit Cafe.