2023-12-22: Return by Solstice
- Log: 2023-12-22
- Cast: Koji Kabuto, Sayaka Yumi, LiSA
- Where: Fujinomiya City
- OOC - IC Date: 0097-12-22
- Summary: With Koji discharged from the hospital, Sayaka leaves from her press conference to celebrate the holidays with the Kabuto family. They have a surprise visitor...
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
With all the hubbub surrounding Infinity and Goragon, one might almost forget that the winter solstice celebrations are looming large.
Shiro Kabuto did not forget - which means that once his older brother was discharged from hospital, Koji came home to a house already festooned with lights and a tree. Right now, though, he's watching the news broadcast - Sayaka's holding the press conference about the aftermath of their battle.
"... I bet Old Man Yumi's holding his head in his hands right about now," he mutters aside to Shiro, watching Sayaka leave the podium on the stage. "She won't be long. Let's try and make things presentable for her, huh?"
"Hey, bro," Shiro says quietly. "You doing okay? Since you woke up, you've been..." he waves his hand. "weird."
Koji gives his younger brother a wry smile. "I remember a whole life I didn't live, where Sayaka and I had a daughter who was the best of both of us... and now she's gone, Shiro. I don't know if..." He shakes his head. "... if I'll ever not be 'weird' about it. C'mon."
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
At this point, Sayaka has come to accept it's never going to be easy trying to make a point to the entire public... but she very much made her position clear, and that's the most she can do.
Once the press conference comes to an end, she doesn't linger around for long. Instead, she drives a quick route to a certain home in Fujinomiya, hearing the news that Koji has been discharged from the hospital.
Sayaka sees the lights sparkle as she approaches the house, and it's begun to snow... it sets a certain mood. She steps in and immediately hangs up her coat, letting out a heavy sigh...
And smiles when she sees the Kabuto brothers. The first order of business, as always, is to attack Koji - with a hug! "Welcome home, Koji..." She smiles. "And hey, Shiro. You did a good job with the house... and with taking care of Koji, too. Otherwise, I think he'd probably already be back in the hospital." She jokes.
But even if she didn't hear their quiet conversation, she can tell from the look on Koji's face. "...You're still thinking about her, are you?" She asks, quietly. "So am I. She showed me a world that I never thought was possible... and I didn't even get a chance to say 'thank you'." She frowns. "For everything."
<Pose Tracker> LiSA has posed.
There's a certain phrase about 'a grin so wide your face splits.' Sitting in a train station awaiting for the one that goes closest to a certain home, Lisa is making that grin at the sight of Sayaka's public talk and brief update. Lisa's travel time will take longer than Sayaka's, though, and soon the only Kabuto-Yumi left out and about is sitting on a train, hands clasped together and squished between her knees.
Enough time for the two to settle in with each other (and Shiro, who will be unexpected but familiar face to acknowledge and promptly hug.)
Once at the home, Lisa looks at the door, then cautiously rubs her head. She shouldn't be -this- concerned about this whole situation. AFter all, it's not like any of them knew exactly what was going to happen.
Reaching the front door, Lisa presses the doorbell then knocks a couple of times. Li-sa.
Then she steps to the side, waiting, oh so patiently waiting...
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
To Koji and Shiro's credit, they have managed to get the house 'presentable' for Sayaka by the time she gets home. As she greets them, Koji returns the hug. It's a lot tighter than usual.
The subject hasn't had a chance to come up between them, but... "You remember too, huh?" He says into the hug, then lets out a sigh. "There's so much I wanted to ask her, but..."
The doorbell rings. Koji blinks and pulls apart from the hug, looking confused to Shiro. "Tetsuya, Jun and Gai were coming over tomorrow, right? We weren't expecting..."
Shiro frowns, shaking his head. "Surprise guest, I guess. You two go to the living room, I'll answer the door."
Koji leads Sayaka into the living room, switching the television off - it's a bunch of talking heads arguing about Photon Power, leaving him rolling his eyes. "I got the usual movies in, if you want to watch them?"
Before they can reach a decision, though, Shiro leans around the doorframe. "Uh. Guys? You might want to sit down." He steps aside, leading Lisa into the living room.
Koji reacts by standing up at the sight of the girl - and his legs promptly give out from the shock, forcing him back down onto the sofa. "... Lisa? I... what?"
He looks completely flabbergasted.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
It's been a while since they've got to hug like this... Sayaka pulls Koji in tight. And he asks if she has those memories of Lisa, too. "...Yeah." She confirms. "I feel like I wouldn't even know where to start." She admits, about questions.
And the doorbell rings. "What? I didn't think anyone was coming in behind me." Sayaka squints - if it isn't those three, who could it be?
But Shiro offers to handle the door, and Sayaka could really just use the opportunity to sit down for a few minutes. She'd already tuned out the TV - it's just noise to her, but she looks receptive when Koji brings up movies. "The classics? Yeah, that would be good. We... didn't get to spend the holidays together last year." She points out, but she's glad they get it this time... even if she knows they both wish someone else was with them, too.
But before she can say more than that, she hears Shiro... and sees Lisa.
"Oh my god," Sayaka's eyes widen, at that flash of light blue hair. "Lisa! Where in the Earth Sphere have you been? You had us so worried!" She exclaims, not as speechless as Koji, but pretty flabbergasted herself. "...Come here. I want to see you." She adds, more quietly, a single tear streaking down her cheek.
<Pose Tracker> LiSA has posed.
Once Shiro opens the door, he is practically assaulted by Lisa giving him a giant hug while frantically gesturing for him to keep quiet. Post-hug, however, she allows herself to be lead into the other room, and gazes very, very sheepishly at the pair in front of her. "... That's a complex answer physically, although emotionally and psychologically I could probably sum it up as best as I pulled... a Rita?"
She steps over, though, glancing at the tear. "Please don't cry." She says, earnestly. "I didn't ... mean for things to happen like that, but it's not like it's something any of us could have foreseen." A pause, a longer one, then a clearing of her throat. "... I couldn't really make my mom and dad lose me, could I?"
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
Koji finds his feet and carefully levers himself up from the sofa, walking over to Lisa and taking her hands. Squeezing, to make sure she's real.
"Pinch me," he mutters to Sayaka, before looking back to Lisa. "... you pulled a Rita? You became... part of... but how are you back?"
He sniffs when she asks them not to cry. "Are you crazy? You just... waltz back in and expect us to not be a mess about it? I thought you were just..."
gone.
He pulls the girl into a tight embrace.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
"Unbelievable," Sayaka replies, sparing a glance, as she replies to Koji. And like him, she spares her full attention for Lisa, meeting her eyes.
Pulling a Rita... the implications of that to Sayaka are bleak, comparing herself to a girl who became one with her mobile suit and could never truly come back. "That's... I'm glad you found a way. I'm glad you came back." Is all she can answer with.
Lisa asks her not to cry, because she didn't mean for it to happen like that at all, but... "At times like these, Lisa... it's okay to cry." She smiles, when Koji ribs her a little. "There's nothing to be sad about, so these are tears of happiness." She says. "But... it was pretty sudden. So please be patient with your 'parents', all right?"
In tandem with Koji, she pulls Lisa into a group embrace, as if she could never let go.
<Pose Tracker> LiSA has posed.
"Happy tears... a mess... and here I thought I had cool parents..." Lisa, is now the time for levity?
She is promptly pulled into one hug, then a group hug, and Lisa plunks her forehead against those of the other two surrounding her. "I realize it may be a little odd to remember what we all saw, in that other world... but... that's the cube I would have picked too." Lisa admits to, quietly. "So even if it's not by blood... the love I have for you two... uncle Shiro, little Gai, uncle Tetsuya and aunt Jun... the love and acceptance of the people of the world I inhabit... that's what I remembered, sitting in the Adjacent Dimension. We all agreed, right? To grasp love with our own hands?"
"So I made that choice. I didn't want to just ... fade away..." A pause. "Plus, I made a promise. To Cascade... and so many others. I couldn't let them down."
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
Sayaka joins the hug and Koji pulls her in too. "I know a bunch of people will be thrilled to see you again," he says to Lisa. "Chris got you a gift, I had to tell her..." He sounds choked up. "She's gonna be so mad at me."
He lets out another sigh and squeezes them both tight. "But you're right, those memories are... really important. Whatever the... mechanics... of the situation, as ar as I'm concerned you're our daughter and I love you."
This feels like a miracle in its own right, to see her again.
"... When did you reappear? Where? I have so many questions for you, young lady."
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
"...No such thing, I'm afraid." Sayaka winks, on the subject of cool parents. Her expression turns softer as the hug grows tighter.
"You just came to us a little differently," She adds, when Lisa brings up how it's no less important even if it isn't by blood.
"They're the memories we all chose right? Maybe... just maybe that's why you were able to come back to us. As absurd as it sounds." She considers. But as Koji says... it isn't the mechanics that are important. She squeezes Lisa's shoulder. "It took a while to get used to, but it's true. You mean the world to us both... I couldn't be prouder to say 'I love you'."
It's the promise that Lisa brings up that has Sayaka a little intrigued. A promise to come back, she's certain. "Cascade, hm? You really took a liking to her, didn't you?" She teases exactly the way a mom would tease her daughter. "But... we haven't been able to find her, either, after the battle." Sayaka frowns. "I don't doubt that if anyone can, it's you, though..."
<Pose Tracker> LiSA has posed.
"Well, if we had to wait on the two of you..." Lisa. Lisa no. Lisa.
"As far as the where and the when, I've been, uh... Ghosting around. I told you it was complex at the start, not even I really understand what happened. Eventually though I kind of just... came together? But I was hurt, so I ended up at a hospital for a couple of days. Handling all the energy at the end was um, not good for me, evidently! But I ended up pulling through just fine and have been making my way ... home, since."
A slight look at Sayaka. "... no comment."
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"Hey." Koji pokes Lisa in the forehead, gently. "Any more talk like that and you'll be grounded until you're seventy, young lady." He grins a little to take the edge off that, though.
"... I think you'd be good for Cascade," he says thoughtfully. "She must feel pretty alone right now - I know I would in her place."
He frowns. "Getting her to accept our help is gonna be tricky, though. We'll just have to keep an eye out, I guess."
She was hurt, handling the colossal amount of Photon Power from Goragon... "Do you feel any... different since waking up again?"
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Sayaka crosses her arms - Lisa scored a critical shot, there at least. She'd like to hope she doesn't have to wait much longer now, not that Koji could here what she told him while he was unconscious.
Then she nods about Cascade. "...Her parents might've been Baron Ashura of all people. But she still lost her entire family by her own choice." Sayaka says, looking to Lisa. "I don't know if we can be that family to her... but I don't think it would hurt to reach out if the chance comes." It's the most you can do in a situation like that.
And Lisa explains that while it was complex, and although she had to handle all that power, she's ended up doing fine - and now she's here. "Don't tell me you followed me home or something..." Sayaka shakes her head, lightheartedly.
But Koji asks if she feels any different. "When we first met you, Lisa, you said you were the Large Intelligent Systems Agent - Infinity's controller." Sayaka considers. "To handle all that power, you had to bear the weight of the whole world." She continues, not breaking her glance from Lisa.
"Now that Infinity is gone... I'd guess that you aren't intertwined with it in that way anymore. Meaning... the only purpose you have now is to 'live'. So... make sure you do to the fullest, got it?"
<Pose Tracker> LiSA has posed.
"... I wasn't already grounded for seventy years?" Lisa asks. "Dang, I overshot that estimate." Sayaka gets critical hit, though, and Lisa just gives her mother a very measured look. She's been living with the two of you lovable idiots for a couple of years. She knows the signs as well as Jun, Leina, Sayla, and Rain do.
"Cascade is..." A hesitation. "Just think back to the love cube. When we were all exploring the Adjacent Dimension. Think about what she said, in that hospital room. What -I- said." A soft look. "There's more to love than just romantic. As a friend, family, whatever, I said to give her hope to find out what love means, for her. I mean that."
"... Different? No. Just... like me. Obviously there's a part missing, but it was never much of a ... a strong connection I had with Goragon and Infinity in the first place. In a sense. I was never supposed to pilot it, after all. Just help guide it... and in the long run, even if it wasn't the way I was supposed to, I did. I picked dad... dad decided not to use it... I supported that."
"I'm still not all that grown up, though. No sudden sixteen years of growth in me today, I think - still born so to say a few years ago."