2024-07-02: The 'Immersion' I Want Is Uncomfortable
- Cast: Yurika Misumaru, Hikaru Amano
- Where: Orb - Aboard the Nadesico
- Date: U.C. 0099 07 02
- Summary: Yurika's pushed down by long-running manga ennui, and seeks Hikaru's counsel on more exciting, difficult stories!
<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.
Some days, it feels like the ultimate anti-Nadesico weaponry is the indomitable Red Tape of Bureaucracy.
Spending oh so much time anchored in Orb, Captain Yurika's been at the helm of more paperwork and office politics than she has the actual ship as of late. There's strings attached for Nergal's interests, for Orb's national interests, and for Terminal's agenda, and while they're supposed to be on the same page, Yurika winds up all too often dealing with the different sentences on that page.
...All the while, there's something Yurika wants herself. Some kind of way to fix the troubled way that failed excursion to Mars went. The red planet she calls home still slowly bleeds, and some days she can't help but sigh wistfully about how difficult it seems to do anything about it.
...but hey! At the minimum, the captain's quarters are effectively free room and board - she's just not allowed to bring unauthorized personnel aboard. She wanted to start the day by catching up on the latest issue of These Eyes Are Only For You, a long-running manga she'd followed ever since her school days in Neo-Japan. Hair tied up, wearing a simple black tank top and cream yellow pants, Yurika holds the volume up over her head and hopes to start the day off right finishing this up...
~~Toshizo-san...the truth is...the reason I asked you to come to the roof...~~
~~Kasumi...is everything alright? You're looking so pale.~~
~~It's something I've been wanting to tell you for a long time!~~
~~Ah...Kasumi...I know what this is about already.~~
~~Eh? Eeeeeh? You really do? ...Oh gosh...I can't believe it...~~
~~...You don't have to apologize for having to ditch the school festival! I was happy to cover the work for you. So it's totally fine!~~
~~...Toshizo...no...that's not it...I...never mind-
...Yurika's lips fell, as the ensuing pages once again dissipated months and months of buildup to a long-awaited confession. That tension was supposed to be the appeal, wasn't it? And yet-
"...I've seen this before, haven't I...? Maybe not in this one..." ...The absolute worst has happened. That flowery feeling of comfort in Yurika's heart whenever she beheld the struggling feelings of uneasy love...
In their place, there's just nothing?! Sitting bolt upright, 75% of the way through the manga, Yurika stares at the unfulfilling pages laid out before her...and she just can't bring herself to keep going. Something's missing now. Or maybe...something changed in her? ...Maybe...maybe she's too old for this now?!
With a dissatisfied pout, Yurika rings up Hikaru, who she knows is also off today, and asks, "...Hey, can I come over? You have a whole collection of stuff to read, right? ...I just got...really disappointed by what I was looking forward to, and I needed that energy today! Maybe you've got the kind of fix I need!"
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Amano has posed.
The Nadesico's deep delve into the realm of politics and agreements and deals hasn't really been much of a problem for Hikaru Amano, resident adorable pilot and budding mangaka. She's not the one signing the paperwork after all. Her role on the ship is solely to be there on the front-lines when there's a Jovian Lizard or Vajra sighting... which cuts away valuable time from her other hobbies.
It's not as if she doesn't spare a thought for Nadesico's political maneuvering, though - she imagines Yurika's got her hair-tied between the increasingly diverging interests of Nergal, Orb, and Terminal. It's just that she also believes in Yurika's, and that she'll make the right decisions for the ship, even if she loses her sanity in the process...
Today, Hikaru is off, which means she's in the little study section of her room on the Nadesico, with a document page open on her laptop, having just tapped out a solid 10k words of Tarabaman Inferna (the newest one!) doujin. She opens commissions when the Nadesico is docked for a long period of time like this - and has built up quite a portfolio leading up to next month's Comiket.
That isn't to say that she isn't totally absorbed in her own world - she's quick to pick up her cell when it starts ringing, and even faster to answer when she sees it's Yurika's personal number. "Heeeey, Yurika-chan! What's up?" She answers, listening to her Captain's woes. "Oh, was it 'These Eyes Are Only For You' again? Honestly, I'm surprised they manage to keep it running for so long without a confession..." Hikaru smiles knowingly from the other end.
"Sure, come on down! My room's the same place it always is," Hikaru takes a quick minute to fix up her hair - it always feels kind of weird not looking her best in front of Yurika, but maybe that's because she's the Captain and it's important to make a good impression on your superior. "Can't make any promises, but I'll see what I can find for you~" She adds, clicking off her commission doc and typing into a new tab.
<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.
Part of Yurika ponders whether to bring the offending transcript to Hikaru or not. Whether she needs to make it a debate on what to change, how to pace this story, how to give it that added punch.
But when Yurika hops to her feet...she leaves the issue open on her bed. ...No, she's decided - she needs that splash of novelty to shove past the ennui. She's in search of something exciting to overwhelm the stagnant pool of disappointment!
And so, just a few minutes later, Yurika's dipping into Hikaru's room - obviously smaller than the captain's quarters, but luxurious accomodations for a battleship all the same. "Hiiiii! It's been a while, huh..." Yurika taps her lower chin a few times, making a little lap around the edges of Hikaru's room - peering at books and figures curiously. "It's been back and forth on how much I have to deal with pilots, hasn't it...mou, it's like my responsibilities change every single year! Telling me that really I'm just backup to Omoikane and keeping the peace aboard the ship...then genuinely having to coordinate with pilots and really dedicate a lot of time to important decisions...now I've been mired in the corporate side of things...siiiiigh!"
Good look, Yurika, immediately complaining about work on your day off! The captain peers over Hikaru's desk, though is tactful enough to not get at an angle behind her - no screen peeking! "...I can't believe I'm saying this, but I really haven't gotten to be in heart-pounding situations enough...the kind that I can't seem to get from what I usually read. Augh...Hikaruuuuu...what's gotten into me now, I'm starting to talk more like some of the bigger meatheads we've had aboard!" Tipping forward over the side of Hikaru's desk, Yurika rests her cheeks in her hands, forcing them to squish into a pouty type of look, and her low-bound ponytail flops over one shoulder in the process.
Hikaru Amano says, "It seriously has! For the pilots, Orb usually means shore leave, but I guess you're never that lucky, huh..." Hikaru agrees, when Yurika comments on how long it's been, relaxing a bit on her chair. "Maybe we should pester Nergal into giving us another all-inclusive* beach vacation..." Hikaru sighs, before looking back to Yurika. "I mean, hopefully this time *without* having to rescue you from a doomed romance..." But then again, that's what caused such a crisis within Yurika, isn't it?%r%r"I guess coordinating pilots hasn't been as necessary with the Jovian attacks as sporadic as they are... I mean, it's basically just a clean-up session for us every time. They haven't tried anything new in a hot minute, have they?" Hikaru shrugs. "So I guess it hasn't been hard for them to make you deal with Nergal's real problems. Their loyalties~" She winks.%r%r"Oh, and ah... feel free to make yourself comfy wherever!" Hikaru adds, quickly moving a stack of papers on the beanbag chair beside her back to her desk. It's definitely not a mess, by Hikaru's standards - she just has a lot of stuff.%r%r"But you wouldn't come all this way just work talk, would you?" Hikaru smiles at Yurika, her glasses coincidentally gleaming with the glare. "Tell me more about these..." She giggles mid-sentence. "'Heart-pounding situations' you so wish to see." She re-adjusts her glasses, her eyes visible to Yurika again. "And I mean, is that really such a bad thing?" She asks, as Yurika complains about sounding like a 'meathead'. "One of my favourite parts of fiction is the strong and unexpected emotions it can bring out of people. Let's see..." Hikaru looks over to her bookshelf. "You said last time you were getting bored of the whole 'destined love' thing, right?" She considers, trying to help Yurika through her predicament. "What kind of 'encounter' would you prefer, then?" "
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Amano has posed.
"It seriously has! For the pilots, Orb usually means shore leave, but I guess you're never that lucky, huh..." Hikaru agrees, when Yurika comments on how long it's been, relaxing a bit on her chair. "Maybe we should pester Nergal into giving us another all-inclusive* beach vacation..." Hikaru sighs, before looking back to Yurika. "I mean, hopefully this time *without* having to rescue you from a doomed romance..." But then again, that's what caused such a crisis within Yurika, isn't it?
"I guess coordinating pilots hasn't been as necessary with the Jovian attacks as sporadic as they are... I mean, it's basically just a clean-up session for us every time. They haven't tried anything new in a hot minute, have they?" Hikaru shrugs. "So I guess it hasn't been hard for them to make you deal with Nergal's real problems. Their loyalties~" She winks.
"Oh, and ah... feel free to make yourself comfy wherever!" Hikaru adds, quickly moving a stack of papers on the beanbag chair beside her back to her desk. It's definitely not a mess, by Hikaru's standards - she just has a lot of stuff.
"But you wouldn't come all this way just work talk, would you?" Hikaru smiles at Yurika, her glasses coincidentally gleaming with the glare. "Tell me more about these..." She giggles mid-sentence. "'Heart-pounding situations' you so wish to see." She re-adjusts her glasses, her eyes visible to Yurika again. "And I mean, is that really such a bad thing?" She asks, as Yurika complains about sounding like a 'meathead'. "One of my favourite parts of fiction is the strong and unexpected emotions it can bring out of people. Let's see..." Hikaru looks over to her bookshelf. "You said last time you were getting bored of the whole 'destined love' thing, right?" She considers, trying to help Yurika through her predicament. "What kind of 'encounter' would you prefer, then?"
<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.
The offered bean bag chair is perfectly Yurika-sized, and if there is any destiny to happen today, it is this fated meeting. The captain topples into the big plushy seat, the cushion exhaling collected air with a *whumph*, and she crosses her legs, hands behind her head.
"Things seem like they're going a little easier lately, but also like...it's keeping a rubber ball held together by just adding another really stretched band. Any second now, someone's gonna come in with a knife, and just, khwooooh!" Yurika mimes an explosion in her hands.
"...Hwooooh." Her arms fall to her side, shortly after. "...Hikaru, this chair's way too comfy...I think it's gonna eat me alive. If I don't make it, remember me as I once was...a maiden with hearts in her eyes, and not a future spinster who only know signatures and contracts...!"
An overdramatic little sniffle, followed by wiping a nonexistent tear under her eyes...but then Hikaru's gleaming glasses make her posture tighten up a little.
"Strong...unexpected. Yeah. Yeah, that's what gets me out of this funk! For a long while, destiny felt like such a wonderful idea, but...now...?" Yurika pushes her fingers together, brows furrowing trying to come to grips with what exactly she's looking for.
...She gazes up at Hikaru. Really, really assessing the pilot a little more. Understanding someone else's ethics always felt like something you find out deep into knowing someone. Knowing what could prove troublesome to someone else was always a little distant to Yurika. Her elbow nudges against that invisible cage that kept her so sheltered - that sense of never knowing just what she didn't know, and never knowing how to challenge that lack of insight.
In her eyes, Hikaru Amano must surely be a sage full of wisdom. And so, whatever Yurika says surely can't be anything she hasn't heard before, somewhere. That much, the captain decides.
"...I...think a really selfish encounter. ...If that makes any sense. ...A story that...hm. ...Maybe a story that feels like it hates you for prying into a really difficult situation. An encounter that makes you say, 'I can't tell if I need these two to be happy or to be really far apart from each other'! ...Something that might make me a little sick. Something that might make me wanna fight the person who wrote it!!! Augh..." The backs of Yurika's hands push into her own cheeks, finding her determination to hold eye contact with Hikaru. "I don't even know if that makes any sense! Maybe you can put better words to what in the world I'm even asking!"
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Amano has posed.
"Ehehe, yeah... I was hoping we wouldn't have any trouble with NUNE, but I dunno." Hikaru shrugs. "Really does feel like that knife is coming waaay faster than we expected, I have to admit." She smiles, though, as Yurika leans into her offered beanbag chair. "But you know what? I think it makes treasuring our time off way more important!" She concludes, always one to take the optimistic view.
"That was my evil plan," Hikaru explains to Yurika, with a sinister smirk. "No one who sits in that chair lives to tell the tale." She laughs again. "But do you seriously want me to remember you as the woman who was forever single?" She tilts her head, teasingly - Yurika's overdramatizations only make it way too easy.
"When a story is about destiny, it becomes way too predictable exactly what's going to happen... right? It takes a skilled author to really mess with your expectations there." Hikaru's eyes flutter just a little when Yurika questions her love for destined encounters - before really taking the time to study her. "But there's nothing more exciting than a story that you don't know the ending to!"
Hikaru might not be a real sage full of wisdom. But she has been in these circles for a long time now. She has a good idea of what appeals - and she has seen enough that she probably has no room to judge whatever it is Yurika tells her.
"A selfish encounter, huh? Hmm, hmm..." Hikaru smiles - feeling like she's starting to understand Yurika better by that alone. "Is it that... you want to read about a jealous, possessive heroine that would do anything to make someone hers?" Hikaru asks, trying to keep eye contact with Yurika. "Or maybe you're the type of girl who'd be into one-sided love stories that never seem to work out... no matter how hard the heroine tries." Subtly, despite her usual inclinations, Hikaru assumes Yurika would rather read a story with a woman at the focus.
"I think there's lots of people who like the stuff you're describing. I mean, fiction sure is a better place to explore those kinds of messy emotions than real life, right?" Hikaru assures Yurika. "It's not always my thing, but well... I don't really think you're weird for wanting to read something a little selfish."
"Actually, I know the perfect place to find that sort of thing. I don't know if you've really paid attention to Comiket, but it's next month! People around the world share their self-published work of all kinds... it's really cool." Hikaru explains. "I've got to set up my own booth for some of it, but if you end up having the day free, maybe we can walk around and check out what other people are showing off?" She offers, brushing out her hair a little. "Cosplay dates are the other big thing at Comiket, after all~" She's only teasing, surely.
<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.
Twin shots powerful enough to make Yurika squirm backward in her seat just thinking about. "...You may have hit things a little too close to home on those two suggestions, Hikaru, ahaha..."
The first one in particular makes the captain ball up a fist to plant her chin on, elbow digging into her knee. "...Ugh. I'm still a mess thinking about someone being possessive like that about me. Not just...wanting to die with me. But. Deciding what I was! Planting her own idea of what I could've been, totally trampling over everything I try to project! And in this annoying way where I couldn't just say, 'No, you're wrong, I'm nothing like that!' ...because how am I supposed to tell someone else the way they see me is wrong?"
The corners of Yurika's lips tighten downwards. "I thought it'd be reasonable to avoid anything shaped like anything that crazy lady was like, but maybe I'm hung up on it because I don't understand her! ...It sounds like something's on your mind for a story about someone like that...something that gets in their mindset, why they'd want to be so possessive. Mn. Mnnnghgh. ...I think the thing that bothers me is this nagging sense that in a weird way, we're similar."
As far as the second suggestion goes...
"...Maybe start me off a little more with a more gutwrenching unrequited love story. Especially - no, I've gotta have one where it's hard unrequited. Where hearts get broken mercilessly and there's nothing for it than to move forward! It's...better to have that than to be led on forever!" ...So it's two things Yurika never managed to smooth over in her heart, clearly. The hand beneath her chin guides down to her heart.
...She really figured Akito and Megumi would come back, but it's been over a year...
She could use Nergal's employee info to contact them...but it feels wrong.
Long, big sigh. Hikaru's description of the magic of Comiket reboots Yurika's imagination, and her first choice of words is, "Ah, so it's kind of like what we did at HaroCon and other company stuff, but more for fun? And I can dress as whatever I want, instead of those overcomplicated bulky advertising getups? I'd be totally happy to go with you to one of those! ...Hmmmm. Maybe I'd pick someone from something you're a fan of to cosplay as too. Oh! Right, if you're selling your own work, I could do you a solid and dress up like someone from that!" ...She doesn't really understand the true nature of Hikaru's craft yet, does she?
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Amano has posed.
Hikaru's expression does not change when Yurika mentions that her two examples hit close to home. "Ehehe... that was kind of my intent! I was trying to think about the inciting events that might have caused your tastes to suddenly shift so drastically." She admits, shifting a little back into her own seat. "Even when we get all caught up in fiction, it's important to consider the real world, too..."
She does listen very closely, and very carefully, when Yurika describes the emotions surrounding each story, and thus each actual event that occurred to her. "It was really weird," Hikaru agrees with Yurika. "Didn't she treat you like... some kinda knight in shining armour? Or a prince on a white horse? That kind of 'romantic' thing." She puts 'romantic' in exaggerated air-quotes. "She treated you like a hero, instead of a heroine. So..."
Hikaru taps the side of her cheek. "I guess she must have seen something powerful in you? I mean, you are the Captain of a super advanced battleship! You work really hard!" She suggests, but she can also tell that this nagging feeling goes deeper than that for Yurika. "But also I think you might be on to something? The way that sometimes in love, people can get so caught up in the idea of someone, they forget who that person really is." She looks down, and then back up to face Yurika, when she worries she's similar to Aqua. "I guess that's what it feels like in stories where one person gets really possessive."
Yurika does seem open to Hikaru's second idea - the story of painful, unrequited love. "Sometimes that kind of story is less popular..." Hikaru warns her, first. "Maybe it's because people feel their own heart being broken all over again in the story." Hikaru fidgets with her hands as she speaks. "...But I like stories about moving forward, too!" She pauses. "I think there was one that got an anime adaptation a while back about girl who made a promise to one day marry her childhood friend when she was little... but she ended up realizing she didn't even know what marriage meant when she made the promise."
...Hikaru's been wondering about Akito and Megumi herself. But although she's been going a little harder than perhaps she should, she thinks bringing them up would just make things feel bitter.
So she turns her focus back to Comiket. "Yeah!" Hikaru enthuses, when Yurika likens it to HaroCon. "Thankfully, Nergal doesn't sponsor it, so I have full artistic freedom over what I sell~" Hikaru puts her hands on her hip with pride. "And you have full artistic freedom over what you wear!" Well, as long as you're willing to pay the cosplay fee that is. Hikaru didn't mention that.
"Oooh, yeah, that'd totally help a lot!" Hikaru smiles, when Yurika suggests dressing up as something from one of her works. Which almost definitely means Hikaru is going to want to drag Yurika into getting fitting in one of those cliche looking, yet undeniably handsome pilot suits. "...Don't worry. I won't put you up to something too ridiculous. I want you to have fun too, you know~"
<Pose Tracker> Yurika Misumaru has posed.
"You're pretty good at seeing from other points of view, huh, Hikaru?" Yurika considers, head gently tipped at the enthusiastic pilot. "Maybe that's also why I wanted to hang out here for a while. So I can get better at that! ...You may not think it, coming from a captain, but I don't think it comes all that naturally to me. I've gotta really, really try suuuuper hard to come to a conclusion why people act the way they do. Since the stories you like come from others' hearts a little more passionately, maybe I'll learn something about that!"
Yurika's face does totally, completely freeze when Hikaru talks about the foolish marriage promise. ...Did she ever admit that? ...She's got to admit that. "...Hikaru. ...I...thaaaaaat's...pretty much how I met Akito. With. A promise like that. ...And I still have no idea what marriage really means even now, aaaagh! Eventually I wanna settle down with someone, but it's difficult, isn't it? There's all those family ties to sort out! My dad just says he'll take care of all the details so I don't have to worry, and I thought that was okay for the longest while, but I kinda want it to be something I do entirely by myself! If I even do it..."
Clapping her own cheeks, Yurika does finally extract herself from the bean bag chair's clutches, and quickly looks at the covers of a few books sitting out in the open, trying to copy their postures. She's shockingly not all that discerning about who she's copying either! Flexing like the lead of a wrestling manga...holding a book like a gun in that melancholy way of a cyborg heroine...pointing a pencil like a kid detective. There's the boiling desire to try unusual choices! "If you think any of these really scream that I'd be great wearing them, I'll happily try it out! Maybe that'll help with all the "idea of someone" troubles. I can start with the appearance, and work out what to do with the ones that really stand out! We'll figure out something that way, Hikaru!"
...Possibly the most inspiring way anyone's offered to become someone's cosplay subject! But it seems like she's found the varied taste she sought after in seeking Hikaru's help...!
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Amano has posed.
"I like to think I'm pretty good at reading people," Hikaru agrees, with a wry smile. "But I'm not as good at putting it into practice, either, hehe..." She admits, too, rubbing the back of her head. "But hey, I'm glad I could help! Even if I probably sounded kind of really mean about it at a few points." She adjusts her glasses for a moment, before focusing back on Yurika.
"I wonder if you made that promise because you read a story like that once," Hikaru considers, before moving on to what marriage actually means. "I'm still figuring that one out, too. I mean, I thought for sure when I lived with my boyfriend that I was gonna marry him one day." It takes a little more courage to admit that to Yurika than to, say, Ryoko, but it comes out. "I was totally wrong about that one, though, haha..."
Hikaru shifts back up. "You should definitely put some thought into it first, but I think you should make it something special to you if it's what you decide on." She says, about marriage. "It's your life, so it's important to take charge of it, right?"
As she watches Yurika pose, Hikaru giggles softly - thinking she looks cute and cool, all at the same time with each one. "Yeah, that's a great idea! Cosplaying is kind of like putting yourself in a role... but more like, in a controlled way where you're in charge. That's part of why I find it so fun, so if I could share that joy with you..."
Hikaru starts jotting down some quick sketches based on Yurika's poses, on a piece of torn-off notepad papers. "I think we'll make a pretty powerful team~"