2024-05-09: Cat Time
- Log: 2024-05-09- Cat Time
- Cast: Rikka Takarada, Akane Shinjo
- Where: Nouvelle Tokyo - Takarada-Shinjo Apartment
- OOC - IC Date: 0099-05-09
- Summary: Akane and Rikka decompress a little with some cat time. The two of them discuss work, school, trout, and their still-new, very spoiled cat.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
This week... has been a lot. Between listening to her team as they filter through data and two 'welcome backs', one that went great and one that went... not so great, Rikka has been busy!
It's time, then, to follow a hard-learned lesson to take a break. Which means, it's time to devote her attention to another very important activity.
That is to say, it is now Cat Time and Rikka can be found seated on the couch, leaning over with a cat wand in hand as she makes the toy dangling on the other end dance for their newest friend. She's sure to keep it within the field of vision of his good eye.
There's an earnest smile on her face. Few things are better for the soul than playing with a cat. Spending time with your girlfriend is up there, too - which means that today's a good day in the Takarada-Shinjo household.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane's been a little overloaded herself; 3G Red's still a little short staffed as far as intelligence goes, though the addition of a bunch of OCU analysts has eased the burden somewhat. Getting the semester started hasn't been too bad, but she's worried about Huffman Island still... She, too, needs a little decompression time.
Akane's contribution to this activity has mostly been... watching. Her eyes have been dreamily flicking between Balam (about ten percent of the time) and Rikka (about ninety percent of the time), as she cuddles up to her on the couch.
"You have such nice hair," she murmurs softly, absently running her hand through it a little bit. "It's been a couple days since we had a chance to just... sit like this. Is everything going okay?" She scoots her butt another couple inches closer, letting her really lean into Rikka.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Rikka smiles as Akane compliments her hair, taking a moment to just enjoy the feel of her hand running through her hair.
"Mm, well... You know how sometimes you have to do a lot of work that ultimately adds up to 'wait and see'? It's been a lot of that." Rikka replies. "We've had to monitor a lot of different channels - on Huffman Island, but other places, too, to make sure nothing else is coming through, too. I'm not sure the situation can handle any more surprises. So, it's been okay, but... tense."
Akane scoots closer, leaning, really leaning into her, and Rikka leans her head against her in turn. For a moment, it feels like just the two of them. Except -
Rikka feels a tug on her hand and she looks down, as she realises that in her distraction, Balam has caught his prey. With a small laugh and a shake of the wand she makes the toy wiggle and struggle... until, eventually, it pops out and the hunt begins all over again.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"He's such a cute little guy..." Akane murmurs to herself as Balam manages to catch and hold the end of the wand. "I'm really glad we brought him home. The secret cat box is definitely making the bedroom a little cramped, but I don't really mind."
... Akane's put herself in way tighter quarters with way more things stacked up to hide other things. It's not that bad.
"And -- yeah, I totally get that," Akane says. "I see some of that stuff, but probably not as much as you do. At least NUNE's being pretty reasonable about it so far... I was pretty worried when those GN-type mobile suits showed up at first. Things could've gone really different."
Then again, she reflects, even if NUNE did want a war they'd probably want to start it on their own time and not Galactron's.
"I was thinking of making monjayaki tonight," she adds, as she gently rests a hand on Rikka's free arm. "Unless that's a little heavy for you right now? We gotta use up that trout..."
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"He is." Rikka enthuses with a smile. She leans down a bit further - just far enough to reach out and scratch him behind the ear. "...Me too. It's nice with just us... but something about having him here really makes this place feel like home."
She looks at Akane consideringly, though. A little cramped... She makes a mental note - next place they get, make sure there's a little more room. ...But hopefully, they won't have to worry about having a secret cat box...
She considers for a moment - and then, she offers the cat wand to Akane, so she can have her turn.
Rikka nods, then.
"Yeah... it's a lot of 'okay'ing and double-checking, and getting everyone in line." She says. She doesn't see the actual data as much - that's more Akane's speed. She nods, though, a slight frown crossing her face. "...Yeah. I was worried, too."
A lot could've gone wrong. NUNE... she hopes they stay reasonable a while longer. A moment later she smiles, looking just a bit sheepish.
"...I got really mad, but it's not like blowing up would've helped." She admits.
Akane rests a hand on her free arm, bringing up dinner. Rikka thinks that over for a moment.
"That sounds great, actually. I think tonight's a good night for something heavy." She decides.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane's little fort of sofubi shelves and plastic model detritus hides the cat accoutrements, but it definitely cuts off a decent chunk of the room... It'll probably work, but it's still an annoyance.
"Okay, then fish tomorrow morning. Tonight... Akane-monja!" She sounds delighted to have some direction for the night, too.
Accepting the cat wand, she gently leads Balam over to her side of the couch -- which means leaning on Rikka more for a few seconds, of course. As she sits back up, she murmurs, "C'mere... C'meeeere... pspspspsps..." before lazily swinging the wand back and forth a bit. Her own movements are just a bit faster than Rikka's on this one.
"I'm not looking forward to when we have to tell those guys to pack up their new monitoring post and leave. We might want to kick that part over to upper management..." It's Red's responsibility in theory, but Taiga both has more experience and more pull.
Her free hand eventually finds its way to Rikka's, wrapping around it. "How were the other meetings this week? I wish I could've gone." Akane ended up with some conflicts, between sorting through all the Galactron data and classwork...
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Akane-monja... Rikka can't help but grin laugh fondly at that. It's the little things that make you love a person.
Akane takes the cat wand, and now it's her turn for Rikka to admire her and her technique. She has a bit more of an active cat-playing style...
"Me either..." Rikka groans, leaning her head back and staring up at the ceiling. Asking upper management... Rikka's quiet for a moment - but eventually, reluctantly, she nods. "...Yeah, you're probably right. I think that'd go over better..."
...She hates to admit it, but with her youth and comparative inexperience, she doesn't command the kind of respect yet that could make that happen. It's important to know her limits, though, and Taiga's in his position for a reason. There's more at stake than her pride.
Akane's free hand wrapping around hers draws her out of those dreary thoughts, though, and Rikka manages a smile for her, leaning on her a bit.
"They could've gone better, but they could've gone worse, too..." Rikka admits. "Asuka looks... as good as you could expect after everything that happened. She ended up storming off... but she's alive, at least. I saw Yuta again there, too... but we didn't really get a chance to talk."
She thinks it over a bit more.
"The rest... It's been a lot of getting to know people. I think I'm pretty well acquainted with all of our new members, now, at least... no more awkwardly asking who I'm talking to." Rikka replies with a small, sheepish laugh. "How're things on your end? Schoolwork doing okay?"
Rikka's has suffered just a little with the recent surge in busy work - but with her cutting back on classes, it's much easier for her to make up for than when she was taking more than she could handle.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
After a few moments, Akane starts humming. (The tune's familiar -- it's one of the ones Rikka sometimes hums when she's going about her business around the house. Even if Akane sometimes has to ask her to let her focus, that stuff does get stuck in her head.)
... Yeah, she's moving the cat toy to that rhythm, too. Balam seems engaged, at least.
"Might be a good idea to ask to sit in, though," Akane says, noticing Rikka's wounded pride. "Seeing someone else do it isn't as good as actual experience, but it's a pretty big help, right?" She gives that hand in her hand a squeeze.
Asuka... that sounds like Asuka, at least. "I'm surprised she recovered enough to storm off, though I guess it's been a really long time..." It's good that NERV takes care of its pilots to that extent, even if the situations they end up in are dangerous. Akane doesn't regret not calling Cathedra on them, at least.
The mention of Yuta makes Akane's eyes widen, though. "Really? If he's working with NERV, uh... good for him, I think." If they didn't get much of a chance to talk, she can't really dwell on it, though. "I'm glad he's okay, too."
The topic finally winds around to her, and she nods. "I think I might go down to a course load like yours next term, but it's going okay. The psych stuff is... really challenging for me? It's not that I'm doing bad but I'd like to give it a little more time..." Swish, swish. Akane gradually leads Balam up onto the couch.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Rikka watches Akane intently as she hears her start humming. That tune... it takes her a second to place it, but when she does, she smiles. And she's swishing the cat toy to the rhythm... She looks pleased, for a moment.
And Akane... gives her some pretty good advice. Asking to sit in on it... Rikka thinks it over, and then she nods.
"I'll do that." She replies, squeezing back. Akane's right - it will be helpful, at least. "I won't get a lot of opportunities to learn from something like that... with any luck, at least. So I should take the chances I do get."
She exhales, letting some tension release.
"Thanks." She offers with a small smile, before thinking back on the other day's events.
"Yeah..." Rikka nods. "I guess it's good that she has that much energy back."
As for Yuta, she nods.
"Yeah, me too... I was worried." She replies.
Things wind around to Akane, and Rikka listens intently. She nods consideringly.
"Yeah... I find that it kind of helps things settle in a little more? With how busy we are, it's been a big help. I think you could get a lot of benefit out if it, too." Rikka agrees with a nod. "I could try to get it in faster... but we've seen what happens if I try to go too fast."
The cat wand continues swishing, and Akane leads Balam up onto the couch. Rikka makes sure there's room for him to climb up - and also keeps a careful eye out just in case she needs to help him up.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"Yeah. It's a big chance to see something like that where the stakes are lower than, like, the fate of the world or anything." ... Admittedly, 'the fate of Huffman Island' is still pretty big.
Balam succeeds on his jump; this isn't the first time, but it's taken him a little while to get good at judging the distance of those leaps. He's got about an 85% hitrate and climbing now! Akane lazily dangles it still, but moves it a little too close to the cushion -- it's pinned!
"You did it!!" Akane enthuses, reaching over and giving Balam a few scritches behind the ears. He seems appreciative, even if he's a little occupied.
"I'm holding out okay this term, but yeah, I definitely need to ease off next term. It'll be good. ... and it'll give us a little more time to spend together, too." Akane looks quite pleased with that thought.
"You definitely seem less frazzled lately," she adds, after a little more thought on that. "Maybe we should reevaluate who does what chores again, too... it's been like ten months or something since the last time we drilled down on that." Nothing immediately pops to mind that she wants to swap off of, but it's good to make it an active conversation, at least.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"Definitely." Rikka agrees. It's something she'll need to be prepared for, if she's going to remain in her current position.
Balam succeeds! Akane dangles the wand, he pins the toy. Rikka chuckles.
"Good work, Balam." Rikka encourages, beaming, as Akane enthuses. She looks back toward Akane as she considers term plans for the future.
"That's always a plus." Rikka replies with a smile. She's pleased at that thought, too. It feels like a good step for both of them.
"I feel less frazzled lately. I feel like I've got a lot more energy and it's nice to not feel like I'm rushing myself all the time... I can stop and think and decide what I want to do next without having to worry about wasting time or not." Rikka replies with a nod. It definitely shows - her hair's long since gone back to its usual nice, soft sheen, now that she has more time to go through her full routine each morning. As for chores... Rikka nods. "That's a good idea."
She 'hm's to herself consideringly.
"I know you prefer the chores where you can kind of zone out... I can take a few of the more active things off your hands now, if you want." Rikka offers.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane takes a few moments to shift her position; Balam seems content with having gotten the toy twice now, having curled up on it rather than savaging it with his mighty claws before too long.
"He's so smart and brave," she murmurs, gently petting him along the top of his head, then hooking a few fingers under a cheek to scratch a little. "The mightiest hunter in the house..."
Letting some tension out of her shoulders, Akane listens to Rikka talk. "I didn't realize you felt like you were under that much pressure..." she admits, softly. She knew Rikka was struggling but that part's a surprise. ... She has noticed the way Rikka's hair care improves when she's feeling good, though, and it's definitely something she likes looking at.
Thinking about chores, Akane says, "Yeah, that sounds good. I'd need to look at the sheet again to know for sure what'd be a good swap, but we can do that after dinner?" ... It definitely feels like she's starting to get hungry, too.
"It's a really beautiful evening," Akane says. Yet another of those old-school, traditionally-Japanese oblique 'I love you's...
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Rikka chuckles as she watches Balam curl up on the toy.
"He is." Rikka gushes. "I feel a lot safer with him around."
She offers Akane a small smile when Akane admits she didn't realise how she felt.
"Well... I was trying not to worry anyone. So I just... hid it. I figured it was something I'd get used to eventually, it was just something I needed to put up with until I did." She replies, looking sheepish for a moment. "...I'm glad that got sorted out before I made any mistakes I couldn't take back."
She nods, then.
"Sounds good. We can talk it over, then." She says. She's starting to get hungry, herself. ...And she smiles. It's something uniquely Akane - and she's able to catch it and appreciate it, now. She wouldn't have her any other way.
"And I'm glad I get to share it with you." Rikka agrees.