2023-09-18: Mind Tax
- Cast: Teletha Testarossa, Kaname Chidori
- Where: ???, Nouvelle Tokyo
- Date: U.C. 0097 09 18
- Summary: Tessa and Kaname reconvene after Kaname's assassination attempt. Both agree: Leonard sucks.
<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.
Jindai isn't safe.
After the attempt on Kaname Chidori's life, that much is clear.
Instead, Kaname sits in a nondescript room in Nikkoudai ward, watching a 0080s action movie on television, with a slim, dark-skinned woman sitting in a chair across the room, reading on a tablet.
A safehouse, with a Mithril agent on protection duty. Out of contact with her friends--not to mention Sousuke--with no social media access, and just a burner phone to access the web with, she's been... deprived.
Kaname crosses her legs, glancing over at a small notepad and pen with the letterhead of a local hotel.
... for the first time in a while, the Whispers really feel like a curse.
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
There's a knock on the door. Two taps. A pause. Three taps. And a few raps in between. It's morse code for Tessa's Initials. Three T's: Name and Nickname, before she opens up the door proper with a key.
On her face is worry. Worry, shame, a hint of anguish, and the stress of someone who's been getting far, far too little sleep. There's a nod at the Mithril guard; She's been informed of the circumstances, and she's got some food from the local konbini. Triple-checked beforehand, of course.
"Kaname..." As soon as the guard returns to his post, she moves in. Hugging. Embracing. Squeezing.
"I'm so glad you're alright."
<<I'm so glad you're okay.>>
<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.
Kaname looks up at the knock. So does the guard, who stands and moves to the door, hand on the pistol at her hip. Kaname's ears are as she listens to the pattern... and seems to relax a bit, though the guard doesn't. At least, not until the door opens and Tessa steps in.
"Colonel," the guard nods, a relieved smile on her face as she pokes her head out the door, looking either way down the hall before nodding once more to Tessa, then closing and locking the door.
Kaname stands as soon as she sees who it is, and she moves in as Tessa does, hugging the girl tightly. "Tessa..." she murmurs. "God... I was so scared..."
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
A tight, tight, tiiiight squeeze, pressing herself for the confirmation that her girlfriend was alive. There's littel to think about, that storming sea of emotions slowly calming down, bit by bit before eventually separating herself. "...I'm so glad." ONe moment of pure weakness before she tries to compose herself again, breathing in, breathing out.
"I brought some food." It's just some light packaged meals, pre-checked. "How...have you been holding up? Any nightmares? Anything in your head?"
<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.
Kaname inhales gently before she allows Tessa to separat. She'd missed that scent...
The guard can't help smiling a little at the sight of the two reunited, but she only looks for a moment before returning to whatever it is she's reading.
Kaname, though, lets her hands slide down Tessa's arms as they separate, giving the girl's one free hand a fond squeeze. It's difficult for her to think about much else except that she's here, they're together...
... though the fact that their third is still missing stings.
She takes the bag from Tessa, taking out the bentos and drinks, laying them out on the table, then selecting one for herself. She offers another to their guard, along with a canned coffee, which she happily accepts.
Then, finally, she sits. "I'm... surviving. No nightmares, but... it's hard not to think about it. My head's been pretty quiet the last few days, so... I guess there's that, at least."
There's a long pause. "What did the report say?"
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
She's not one to turn down food that's been Properly Compensated by Outside Funds (Read: Mithril's paying), a small sigh slipping out as her eyes drift to the side of Kaname's. Sousuke's not here. It stings. She laid into him, and still...She knew he wasn't coming back.
The pop of a coffee, and a gulp. "Fourth one today." Fourth one...Of the cans?
"What was said there backs up everything we learned when inspecting onsite. Was...Was he there?" The flickers of wrath. "The assassin, we've already identified as best we could, and they were acting alone. You shouldn't expect anything else unless there's another separate faction hunting you down."
...She can't help but take another swig of the can. "The shock will pass. I'm aware of that."
<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.
Kaname frowns. "Have you been sleeping?" she asks, though she's pretty sure she knows the answer.
'Was he there?'
Kaname winces, slightly. "Leonard Testarossa." She nods. "... Yu Fan something, right? And I don't... I don't know about that. She said something... that this was her Sensei's wishes, and that she wouldn't stop trying to kill me."
She looks away from Tessa. "He's a creep, too. I think he's into me. Bleh." More quietly, she adds, "At least it let me keep him from killing Wraith. He had these two... like, micro-Arm Slaves with him. Autonomous, maybe a little over 250 centimeters..."
"Plan 1211. Alastor," she murmurs.
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
"Five hours. Maximum." It's a practiced response, but it's still the truth. How many times has she said that to Mardukas? The question is up in the air.
"...I see." She swirls the can, taking a bite of the meal. "For the time being, we'll have to move you around every so often and keep you off the grid. Until she's dead, we can't...stop this." Her throat dries out. She's condemning a schoolgirl to move around. "You'll...I think you can attend school, still. Just be vigilant. There is a bodyguard, no matter...how things get." The words are similarly practiced. It's painful, to say such things. An assassin out for Kaname. To never stop. But what other recourse was there? This was what she wanted. This was what she pushed for. To help others, to help people afflicted like her.
"...Him? Into you?" A raised eyebrow. "I know why, but I wonder if that's the power of twins..." An absent-minded tap of can against chin. "So he's still that way." Another sigh. Its becoming a pattern. "And Alastor..."
A small mutter. "So he's done it."
<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.
Kaname puffs out her cheeks and sighs... but doesn't chide Tessa on it. 5 hours is better than 4. She closes her eyes as Tessa explains what they may have to do... and nods lightly. "... I... understand. It fucking sucks, but... better than dying, I guess." She watches as a musclebound man in a tank top sweeps a minigun across a battalion of enemy soldiers in the movie, half-expecting to hear Sousuke pointing out something about how unrealistic the situation is.
... The worst part of this is the lack of privacy, right now. Having to show a bit more restraint than she'd like to, with a third party in the room.
She looks at Tessa as she thinks about Leonard, quirking an eyebrow. "The power of twins? 'Still that way'? What do you mean?" she asks. "... and done what?"
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
"So I'm frequently told." A morbid joke for a morbid occassion. Death does suck, but its the gallows where the temperature's the lowest. Quite nice, in a dark manner. She's idly watching the movie, watching those soldiers move across. It's hard to get enjoyment from them.
...After all, the one who'd be critiquing the weapons being wrong for the time period isn't here.
"...He wasn't lying when he stated his name." That was all she should need to piece together the relationship. "And minimizing an AS engine to around the height you stated is...Something thought impossible." Of course, she had theories and ideas, but to think he pushed it to such an extent that they'd be viable...
...He's one step ahead of me. Again. There's an instinctual snap of the chopsticks from the sheer frustration of her grip.
<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.
Kaname chuckles a little, both at the joke and Tessa's remark. "I know. He talked about you..." Quietly, she adds, "And I fucking hate him. I wanted to punch him, but those fucking brutes of his would've killed me."
She nods to Tessa. "Yeah... he was bragging about it. I saw some family resemblance... the brilliance, especially, but..."
She reaches over to squeeze Tessa's hand. "He tried, but he wasn't anywhere near as charming as you are."
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
There's a bristle of reassurance coursing across her body at that. So it's not just her. Good. Always, when hearing about him...Well, it's nice to know her sentiments were shared in multiple avenues. "He's not above that, even if he is in love." A glance over. "...Though I'm more in love." She's saying that so noncomittally, gazing for a second before returning to her food.
She's trying to eat with those broken chopsticks and succeeding. Trying her best to relax, to spend a bit of time to simmer in something that isn't her own mind. "Of course he was..." Such was Leonard's way. To push and prod, to maneuver himself and leave everyone else behind for his own goal.
Though, her hand does pause. "I'm...honored you think that of me." She tries to squeeze that hand back. "I hope this situation doesn't last long..."
<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.
Kaname blushes red, a little surprised at how casually she says that... then, she leans in and kisses Tessa on the cheek as she eats. "I love you, too. Honestly, Tessa... knowing I have you does a lot to help, even when we're far apart." She wishes she could say the same for Sousuke, right now.
"... I... have to trust that everything will be okay. For now, though... I just... we're here, together. I want to savor that. Right now... things are okay." She smiles softly.
She finally reaches over to grab her meal... and hands Tessa a new pair of chopsticks, getting up to grab herself a fork from the kitchen. She sits back down and gives Tessa another little smooch.
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
<poem> The lightest jolt of surprise at the sudden cheek kiss, flashing between the fugues of work and the lucidity of being in the moment, trying as she were. "That's good...That's good to know, honestly. I can say the same. Thank you, Kaname." Words tinged with regret. Sousuke's own training...
"...Mhm. The days are only getting busier. We have an idea of what Leonard's affiliated himself with, and Mithril isn't too kind to people who've wronged them." The embers of retaliation. "Just..."
"...I should be gone by midday tomorrow." Only tonight. To rest. To enjoy a warm bed. And then back to it.