2023-09-29: Flock Together
- Cast: Seolla Schweizer, Alouette Pommier
- Where: Tsutsujidai
- Date: U.C. 0097 09 27
- Summary: Seolla's visit to Tsutsujidai brings her back towards Alouette's orbit, where they discuss how far the city has come in relation to the world's current events, and their own purposes.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Less than a week remains on the clock before the Division Train leaves for Mars, and then Jupiter. A trip Alouette has been absolutely physically and mentally prepared for the moment it was announced.
To her, there's simply nothing more important than finally confronting the Ruin Apostles, and rescuing them for sure this time. But she couldn't help but feel irrationally sentimental about the whole thing, either. Just prior to this she lingered a rather long time around the Jindai area, after handing in her temporary leave of absence, and now --
She's here at Tsutsujidai to see the sights one last time before it's time to leave. A city that blossomed so much since she first stepped foot, it's become quite the important place to her - and yet another place she can consider home, even if it's already been a year since she actually 'lived' here.
She reflects on all this quietly as she watches the water flow down the floodgate, taking in the cool autumn breeze that's so much a stark contrast to both the blisteringly eternal summer, and perpetual rainstorms from earlier in the city's 'life'.
Although it might distract her, she definitely won't complain if she runs into any familiar friends while she's here - it's part of why she stopped by in the first place!
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
...And this type of weather much, MUCH better suits Seolla than tepid, endless rain. It's 'looking cute in fluffy bomber jacket' weather, after all! Granted, there's a limit to how cute she can look when she's still recovering somewhat from a gash torn in her abdomen, and she's walking around a little stiffly, but-
Visiting Rikka and staying over for dinner and crashing on her couch was energizing and healing, if mostly in the un-physical sense! A large bottle of water at one hip, Seolla's come out to the floodgates to fill up on water from one of the nearby filtered fountains - and that's of course when-!
"Ah! Alouette, a-hiyaaaa, it's been a long while-!" Seolla steps forth a little closer to the operator, careful not to overdue it, the dull ache in her core reminding her. Resting her hand on the railing at the floodgate's dam, Seolla looks out over the amassed water and the blue it reflects, instead of it being so muddy and expansive.
"...It really has become sort of a much easier place to just be in, huh..." Seolla ponders. "...Even though it started off so upside down and difficult...that's a nice thought."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Alouette also, has a strong preference for such weathers where she's able to wear fanciful layers, rather than bulky heavy raincoats. She wraps a fashionable blue and white striped scarf below her neck, pairing it with a matching flannel jacket over her ruffled shirt.
"Ah! Seolla, it's really good to see you again." She exclaims, as Seolla slowly approaches. It's a surprise to see her all the way out here, but it's definitely a welcome one. "That's a really cute outfit, by the way," she adds, as she observes that fluffy bomber jacket. "Really more of the perfect mix of cool and cute than anything."
Although she's nothing if not observant and she does notice the slightly strained way she walks towards her, the tell-tale signs of a hidden injury. "How have things been for you lately, anyways?" She breaches the subject more subtly. "I don't think I ran into you at school or anything yesterday. And it's not like we've been able to see other much, since we helped save that friend of yours from that awful doctor. Or even since Murasame tried what he did, even." She frowns, in recollection of both doctors. It's no wonder they're one of the most common phobias in the Universal Century, perhaps.
The Earth Sphere stops for no one, but even still... the floodgate water begins to flow on. "Yeah. It's pretty hopeful, isn't it?" She agrees, with Seolla's own thoughts on Tsutsujidai. "Even if it took some asserting, it's worth just as much to the world as anything else. They never should have had to fight for it, but now this very city sets an example for the entire world. That there's nothing beyond 'fixing' no matter how many crises have the world in hold."
"I'm going to be leaving for Jupiter very soon to do own part. I think Akane, Rikka, and some of their friends are probably coming too, actually..." She explains, as the sky gleams. "You can see the blazing King of the Ruin in the sky far clearer from here than you could on Earth... but strangely, I'm not scared at all as long as I'm here." She laughs, slowly.
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
While Seolla would loooove to give a big, fancy twirl letting her jacket floof and whirl about - thaaaat's still a bad idea. So instead she just ruffles its bottom and takes a generous sip of her water. "...It's sort of the first time I'm getting to really dress up for the fall. Thank you. You're a natural at looking elegant yourself!~ ...you can probably tell I'm not at 100%, and it's a kind of nasty physical injury, but really, I'm fine. Might have a rough scar, but I just...I felt so cooped up that I didn't want to spend my medical leave just laying in bed for no good reason.""
Seolla's attention does turn to the 'windows' of Tsutsujidai - and yeah, that projection she had no idea what to make of looms even closer here. "...You're totally right. That thing's completely overwhelming on every level, but standing here, it seems a little...pathetic, maybe?~ Like it's trying so hard to spook this place that tried so hard to exist, and yet, we're all standing in a field of defiance. Nnn. Hearing that you're leaving for such a dangerous place..."
"...I almost wanna go with you. I can't, I shouldn't - but..."
"...hah. Everyone who is going is...really important to me. I'm more scared of staying here and doing what I'm good at, than I am of venturing out into the unknown and taking stupid, insane risks. That's gotta be the brave spirit in a nutshell, huh?"
Alouette brings up Arado and Murasame, and Seolla does blanch a little at that. "...That's maybe why I'm worried. I've gotta stay here with all those bastards and hunt them down with all my might, and the people I save from them have...other destinies. ...Rikka's been good to me from the moment I met her, and that never changed even today, when I still feel like I'm wildly in debt to everything she's helped do for me. I..."
"...it's a little tough to be way more alone when you all go out there. I...really don't know what to do about that..."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"Why thank you~" Alouette opts on flipping her hair, matching Seolla's energy instead of going extra and doing one of those twirls of her own. "A physical injury, though? Geez... I don't know where you would have gotten that, but I really hope it gets better soon." She nods, continuing to shuffle her feet a little. "I get what you mean, though. The last time I got badly injured, I spent it all wallowing in a hospital bed. It was completely and totally miserable!" And yet, at the time, she still felt like it was better than showing her face at the Deculture Festival, she silently remarks to herself. "It can definitely be better to get some air like this... as long as you're not pushing yourself too hard!"
"Pathetic, hehe..." She giggles at Seolla's assessment of the almighty King of Ruin, herald of the Invisible Burst. "The way it has to rely on the indomitable spirit of the Braves to even do its dirty work... just what does Triple Zero think it is, anyways?" She answers, with a hint of sass even towards the Inevitable Cold Death of the Universe.
Although Seolla's wish to come along with them even if she can't gets a thoughtful expression from Alouette. "It's a little exciting, getting to drop everything to venture so far away from the place that hurt you. To become part of a mythology greater than yourself." She says, quietly. Is that another reason she's so eager for this herself?
"But the Earth Sphere has a place for you and your 'bravery', too. I'd like to hope that we aren't long... but even I can recognize that there's people I'm leaving behind on this trip. People I love."
"I say that, but... I can't blame you for feeling like you'll be alone, Seolla." She frowns. She can't exactly promise she'll keep her safe from monsters like that when she's out of the planet, when people like Rikka are, too.
"So the least I can do is..." She takes out a slip of paper, scribbling down some contact information. "That's Sho Tachibana, if you remember her from school. She's my partner, and one of the capable people I know. And that's Mamoru Amami, Captain of GGG's mobile corps. He's staying behind to monitor things on Earth, last I checked. They're both people I trust with my life, so if I can't keep my promise to you..."
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
Seolla takes both contacts close and quickly inputs them in her phone - it'll take a bit for Seolla to trust people that closely, but if Alouette vouches for them...
"...It'll take maybe more than bravery to get through this. I mean, the problems down here are...a bit beyond me." Seolla sighs a little bit, looking out the opposite window - towards the distant blue Earth. "...Stuff about Federation members seceding, negotiating just who can do what in the Orbital Ring, coups happening left and right...it's one thing to be a spear against the world's enemies. It's another when the world's eating itself alive a little. Besides...!"
Sheepishly, Seolla admits, "I haven't really had a great time with my studies. It's all a little complicated, and...remembering things is still not the easiest. I sorta...it's nice that Jindai's so inviting, but I'm kinda barely graduating at this pace. History with answers is already pretty hard for me, and now I'm finding myself in the middle of history without any answers..."
A resigned little sigh, as Seolla stops thinking so much about the distance, and keeps herself focused on Alouette's eyes. That's what this is all really about. That's what it's always been about. The Ruin King, the fate of the Earth Sphere...
...it just can't matter to her.
"...promise me you won't get too mad if I say that I really just think I like getting revenge on the bastards that hurt people. I know it's not ideal to say! I know it's supposed to be for better reasons than that. But when people like you, like Arado, like Rikka and Akane and Leina, get pulled free and it's my finger on the trigger helping to do that...that's the only way I really feel like I'm doing the right thing. Sorry if it's not that idealistic or brave or anything. Ehehe~"
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
"I don't mean to say you have to get in touch with them. But... if you ever can't get ahold of me anymore, that's about the closest thing I can offer." She says, slowly, with a resigned smile.
"You're probably right. I mean... I think if I went into politics or something like that, I'd end up driving myself to total madness. I guess laser focusing myself on this one goal is enough to keep me going strong." She admits.
She does look sympathetic when Seolla mentions having a hard time of it with her studies, thanks to her issues with memory. "It sounds tough. I wonder if a study group or something like that would help? Tessa-san or Kaname-san seem pretty smart... they might know a thing or two about how to let the information stick in your head." Which might be helpful advice if they didn't absorb much of their knowledge from extra-dimensional Whispers!
She sees that look in Seolla's eyes though, that sign there's something more to this. As she admits her true intentions, Alouette doesn't seem upset, her eye's expression totally unchanged aside from the moving gleams in them. "I'd be the last person to tell you it's wrong to be selfish," she answers softly. She thinks she made it clear enough that her motivation for fighting the King of Ruin isn't just the fate of the Earth Sphere. Not really.
"I know it was your actions that contributed to putting Murasame in prison, and I can't thank you enough for that, no matter what your reasons might've been. But I have an important question... once you've taken your revenge, what do you see yourself doing? ...Do you think you'll be able to reunite with the people you call friends and family?"
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
"...I mean...I didn't think about that. I didn't really assume it was ever going to end." Seolla admits with a sigh, gripping the rail a little tighter. "...They're not exactly running out of horrible bastards. All I really dreamed of was getting me and the people important to me out of there - and I guess all I can think of now is giving other people like me that opportunity too. Maybe they have bigger dreams."
A troubled little laugh makes it's way from Seolla's lips, finally evading from Alouette's eyes too - as she admits, "...Most people who don't have much to do besides fight...they can't do it for very long. The decision is gonna get made for me, in the end."
How terribly fatalistic! With a light grimace at how she soured the mood, Seolla puts her hands up and blusters, "...T-that might just be the really rough predicament we're in though! D-don't think too hard on it, could be the pain medication too, all sorts of things! ...Alright, I'm not gonna let anything bad happen to me until you all come back, THAT much is for sure, Alouette! And besides, Tessa's counting on me for a whole lot!"
Pursing her lips off to the side, Seolla tries to whistle her way past the idea of a study group with those two... "...They're both in a whole league beyond me. Like. A loooot of the time I just feel like I get lost when they really get into something. Ahaha...I'll ask about it though, but I think Tessa might be a merciless drill instructor that's too much to handle when she gets into it...!"
...For a while at least, Seolla can linger here talking about the little stuff like that. A little bit desperate not to let it slip back into darker territory, just wanting to keep Alouette as close as possible before that fateful departure soon.