2024-08-18: Moving On With Our Lives
- Log: 2024-08-18 Moving On With Our Lives
- Cast: Akane Shinjo, Sheryl Nome, Rikka Takarada
- Where: A hospital in Frontier
- OOC - IC Date: August 18, UC 099
- Summary: Akane and Rikka come visit Sheryl in the hospital, and share some news and some fanworks and some new media with her to cheer her up.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
When Akane heard that Sheryl had been hurt, the obvious range of feelings hit -- worry, fear, a touch of disappointment at not being able to attend her tour. She'd been looking forward to that as a summer activity, and the cancellation did disappoint.
She's still going to see Sheryl Nome, but... the context is a touch different.
Akane's carrying a small floral arrangement -- something tasteful and small in a bulb-shaped glass vase, rather than something ostentatious. She takes a moment to breathe before knocking on the door. "It's us," Akane calls, looking to Rikka. "Are you feeling up for visitors, still?"
As she waits for a response, she worries a bit; the anxiety about saying something thoughtless while Sheryl's hospitalized has been mounting all day.
<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.
Sheryl Nome is not technically taking visitors. That's what was reported, anyway. But Sheryl Nome is also very bored while her broken limbs recover, and so if friends reach out with an interest to see her--friends, and anyone sufficiently interesting--she gives Grace the green-light to green-light them. She thus knows that Akane and Rikka are coming, and can look forward to it accordingly.
So when Akane and Rikka arrive at the Frontier hospital where she's laid up, they'll be seen to the top floor where the VIP rooms are. The private room itself is spacious, almost more like a hotel room than a hospital room, with how plush the seats and even couch are, how elegantly the walls are decorated and how big that wall-mounted HDTV is. The wall-wide windows are draped with velvet curtains, even. However, there's no mistaking the heart monitor, the e-clipboard at the foot of her bed detailing her condition, the tile floor around that bed, the medicated bandages (changed twice daily) that cover a significant portion of Sheryl's body, the IV stand and the IVs that keep her hydrated and medicated, or the elevated casts on her right arm and both her legs.
On the positive side, at least there's also the wall-to-wall get-well presents--mostly flower bouquets. They frame the room nicely, and don't obstruct the curtains or the view. Sheryl looks better than she did when she first woke up, too. Still tired, still laid up with three limbs in casts, but the dark circles under her eyes have gone away, even if that's in part thanks to how she's recovered enough energy to apply some light make-up for visits. Her hair's tied in the back to keep it out of her face. A bedside table in reach of her one good arm sports a glass of water, a small stand from which her fold quartz earring hangs, and a couple of remote controls, one for the bed, one for the TV.
She has the TV remote in her hand right now, and she's flipping through on-demand channels in search of something to watch. When Akane knocks, though, she turns it off and sets the remote aside. "Of course!" she calls, her voice more lively than it's been of late. (She might be forcing it a bit. But she really is eager to see friends, especially now that she doesn't look completely terrible.) "Come on in!"
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Rikka was, of course, very worried when she heard about Sheryl's hospitalization. She's been doing her best to keep up with her condition, but there's only so much she can do from afar - so the moment she gets a chance to go see her for herself, she takes it.
She arrives with Akane with a get-well bouquet and card of her own, meeting Akane's eyes as she calls out to Sheryl from behind the door. Rikka feels just a little trepidation as she waits - but, thankfully, they don't have to wait long.
Rikka follows Akane inside, taking a moment to look over Sheryl's room. It's the kind of accomodation she'd expect for a celebrity. It almost puts their apartment to shame, actually...
Well, Sheryl deserves the best, especially while she's recovering.
"Hey, Sheryl..." Rikka greets, offering her a smile. "How are you feeling?"
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
As Akane heads in, she looks for a place to set her floral arrangement among the other floral arrangements. After some thought, she decides that, since hers is mostly yellow, to place it by color; once she sets it down, she follows up Rikka's question with, "You look like you're on an upswing, but I kinda get it if you're forcing it..." She's glad to see that Sheryl can look like she's on an upswing, at least -- she'd been worried they were stepping into something much worse.
After spending a week in the hospital herself last year, it's a little easier to conceive of what Sheryl's going through. After a little more thought, she adds, "I like your makeup. It's a little more understated than usual, but it's really working for you."
She goes to pull up a chair; she imagines Sheryl's pretty tired of people standing around her bed. A more comfortable, low-key environment is something she found herself craving while hospitalized, so... "Is there anything we can do for you? I imagine you have pretty great staff, but I get that they can't do everything."
<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.
"Terrible!" Sheryl tells Rikka dramatically. She shrugs her one good arm. "But compared to when I first woke up? Not that bad. It's just a pain only being able to use one arm. She gives Akane a wry smile as she calls her out on maybe forcing it. "It has been tough," she admits, leaning her head back on her pillow. "I mean it, though. I'm doing better every day. It's just really boring to stay cooped up in here."
Especially since she hates hospitals and hates doctors. She's behaving herself because she absolutely does not want to have broken limbs a second longer than she absolutely must, but make no mistake: she hates this too.
Akane's compliment gets her a smile back, though. "Of course! Sheryl Nome can rock any look," she boasts, tossing her ponytail. Too much motion makes her wince, though. "...But I'm eager to be done with this particular one."
She settles back some, both physically and energy-wise, when Akane asks if there's anything they can do. "I don't suppose you could wave a magic wand and make me instantly better?" she asks wryly. "No, obviously not. Even with regenerative therapy, I'm still in for at least three weeks more before I can take these casts off. It sucks."
The physical therapy will be its own brand of hell, too. But anything is better than this, she's sure.
"For now, how about you two tell me what you've been up to? I'm bored to tears in here," she adds.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Sheryl's blunt reaction is a surprise - but also, a very Sheryl response. Rikka can't help but laugh.
"That's good. But... yeah. I imagine." She says. Akane calls Sheryl out - and perhaps it was better to address it directly, instead of dancing around it... It's certainly a good sign, at least. But, boring... It certainly would be.
She moves to place her bouquet with the others then, following Akane's example, pulls up a chair.
"That does suck." Rikka winces sympathetically, as Sheryl mentions that she still has at least three more weeks of casts. Still, Sheryl's curious what they've been up to, and that's something they can do.
"Well, Comiket was the other week... We published our first work together." Rikka says. "I was a little nervous going into it, but a lot of people really liked it. It was nice."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane, too, excels at making herself look like she's doing better than she is. Game respects game about this sort of thing -- and she's extremely unsurprised to hear that Sheryl's bored and doing terrible. At first she's a little lost on where to go from there... but Rikka's laughter is infectious.
"Yeah, I can imagine. When I had some... long-term problems handled last year," she keeps her phrasing delicate, "I was going kinda stir crazy. When they told me I needed to be in there a few extra days, I was pretty miserable, and I wasn't in there even half as long as you..."
That Sheryl's able to kick things back and forth as comfortably as she is impresses Akane. That must take some real fortitude; Akane's someone who succumbs to boredom quickly, so hearing Sheryl cop to the boredom and still be doing this okay impresses her.
"Uhhh, let's see..." Akane thinks about bringing her mom's arrival up, but decides that's kinda crappy conversation. Rikka brings up Comiket, and that's a much safer topic. "Yeah! We sold through most of our physical copies, which is pretty good for something that hasn't gotten any new stuff in a few years... oh, uh -- I actually have one of the last ones with me." She reaches into her handbag, setting their doujin at Sheryl's bedside. "People were pretty nice... it was good to get out, too." She reaches over toward Rikka, giving that hand a quick squeeze. "I'm kinda trying to figure out what to do with our last couple weeks of summer... oh! Last month we went and saw Rikka's mom for Obon."
<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.
In fairness, Sheryl's doing better this moment because she knew she'd have company and therefore something to look forward to. The rest of the time is pretty hard. ...But she's not going to go into all that. That 'Terrible!' is enough of an honest picture.
Something else she's not going to go into: Akane's 'long-term problems.' Rikka told her a bit about that at the time, but Sheryl doesn't know much about it or if Rikka's told Akane that she's at least somewhat aware of it, so she gives her a sympathetic look and a nod. "You get it, then," she says, and otherwise lets it pass.
"Oh yeah? Sounds like you had a lot of success!" Sheryl replies. She pauses a beat. "So what's Comiket?" Clearly some kind of event for creatives, if they were 'publishing' something, but beyond that? Sheryl is totally unfamiliar.
Akane helps out with that by bringing out a copy of their doujinshi. Sheryl blinks at it. She can't lean in to get a better look, but she does reach out with her good hand to pick it up. "Huh. So this is what you published? What is this, a magazine?" She'll quickly realize that's not the case as she starts to flip through it, though.
But then there's other news, involving Rikka's mother. Sheryl raises her chin and her eyebrows, and gives Akane in particular a knowing smile. She looks at her and Rikka both when she says, "Oh yeah? It must've been nice to visit family! Did you do anything special? I haven't celebrated Obon myself, unless you count those Japanese summer festivals, but I know a little about it." Her expression softens a bit. If there's a departed family member that they were praying for...
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Rikka looks toward Akane as she shares a little of what she went through last year. She can't really blame here, there.
...She hadn't realised Sheryl might be unfamiliar, though.
"Oh, Comiket is an annual event for people who develop fanworks to advertise and sell their work to other fans... Between work and school, this was my first year where I had enough free time to go," Rikka says.
Akane explains how things went and offers Sheryl a copy - and Rikka smiles, as she takes her hand and gives it a quick squeeze.
"It's, uh... a comic for an anime that's been a big influence for both of us, called Truthseeker Serena. There's a lot more to it, but it's primarily about a detective named Serena and her rival-slash-romantic interest, a combat cyborg named Cecilia. If you're looking for something to do while your laid-up... I've got all the episodes?" Rikka offers - and then continues to explain.
"Our work is sort of a post-series look into their lives, as they tackle a mystery together along with their team and Cecilia tries to adapt to a life outside of fighting." Rikka explains. "...And it also leans into the romance side a bit more."
Because of course it would.
Akane brings up their Obon trip, though, and Rikka lights up.
"Yeah, it was great. We went to the festival in Tsutsujidai and visited my grandfather." Rikka says. The way she says it makes it clear she means his gravesite. "It was nice to see mama again, too, and she was happy to see both of us."
She glances toward Akane for a moment. A thought crosses her mind, briefly, but she decides to put it to the back for now.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Hearing Rikka explain Serena brings a smile to Akane's face. As a late arrival to the series, seeing Rikka's thorough, almost childish enthusiasm for it is a joy in itself. "I couldn't go last year either... things were a little..." Well, Akane was recovering from surgery at the time. She doesn't want to belabor that point. "But yeah -- it's... a smaller project than I wanted it to be at first, but I think it's a pretty good character study. There's a couple pages of battle manga stuff, too!"
Scooting a little closer, Akane nods to Rikka as she talks about their Obon visit. "I had a really good time. Rikka kind of cashed out early, so Mama and I got to talk a little more than we've ever gotten to before. She's a really interesting lady." She catches that glance, but unfortunately misses the implied cue -- which means she goes right on.
"She had this really good strawberry-grape sangria... it's the first time I've ever actually liked something with alcohol in it, ehehe. I think there was some yuzu in there too?" Well, if there was any lingering mystery about the double hangover, there it went -- and indeed, Sheryl now knows that not only did Akane and Rikka visit Rikka's parents, Akane and Orie got blasted together.
<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.
"Fanworks... Oh, you mean like that fan video you and your friends did for Obelisk?" Sheryl says, interest piqued. (Maybe not exactly like that, though she's not wrong either.) She gets a better idea when she flips through the doujinshi and finds it's a comic rather than a magazine. Specifically, a post-canon comic for a show called Truthseeker Serena.
"I haven't heard of it! Sounds interesting, though," she says, and she means it. Mystery is not her usual genre, but she's very much into a female rival-slash-love-interest for some reason. Rikka offers to send her the episodes, and she smiles. "Sure! I could sure use a new show. I'll just put this to one side for now, then." Technically she's already gotten spoilers on the show thanks to that summary of the doujin, but she can at least avoid further spoilers.
Rikka and Akane talk about their Obon trip, and Sheryl nods them along. She hadn't known that Rikka had a grandfather, but then, if he's already passed away, of course she wouldn't. "That's sweet. I'm glad you two had a good time," she says warmly. She grins mischievously at Akane. She might have missed her cue, but she shared something else fun anyway. "And that at least one of you had a great time~!"
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Rikka nods as Akane explains that she couldn't go last year, either. A smaller project...
"Yeah. I think we made the best of it - getting it out at all is something to be proud of." Rikka says with a nod.
As for fanworks... Rikka nods to Sheryl.
"Kind of like that." Rikka confirms. The video... Rikka smiles a little, thinking back. "...It was kind of nostalgic, seeing it again."
She can't help but smile a little as Sheryl shows interest, and when she agrees to the offer, she can only hold back a little of her excitement.
"Great! I'll get them sent over to you." Rikka says. She'll arrange for that once they're done here.
Talk moves to Obon, and Akane scoots a little closer.
"Thank you." She says to Sheryl with a smile, then looks toward Akane as she relays her own experiences.
"Yeah, that kind of thing always wears me out..." Rikka admits. So many heavy emotions at once will do that to her.
"So that's what happened... I was wondering what I missed." Rikka says with a smirk. "...Still, it makes me really happy to see you two getting along. I'm glad you were able to talk."
Sheryl's comment in particular gets a small laugh out of Rikka.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"Looking forward to hearing what you think!" Akane replies, nodding. It delights her to see Rikka so happy to spread the word -- and it seems like Sheryl needed some new stimuli here, too, so that's a big winner for everyone...
At the more somber topic, Akane agrees, "... Yeah -- it was kind of a lot, but..." ... There's definitely something heavy about realizing you may well be staring at your own future grave when you weren't otherwise expecting to be.
Nodding to Rikka, she says, "Yeah. We'd talked about it a little before we swung back around to pick you up. She was pretty confident you were gonna go to sleep early, so we had some time to get to know each other a little better. We ended up talking about a bunch of stuff..."
Snapping herself back to the present moment, she nods to Sheryl. "Do you want me to send you some pictures from that trip later? I have a couple of festival shots... Ako was in town, too? ... Come to think I'm not sure if you ever met her, ehe..."
<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.
Admittedly, Sheryl doesn't find the concept of a fan-made comic all that impressive. She deals in more immersive, spectacular visual arts, and this is... what? Just a bunch of drawings? (Sheryl does not know what kind of hard work goes into "a bunch of drawings.") Still, it's something that Akane and Rikka worked on together and are proud of, so she keeps that thought to herself. Maybe her opinion will change once she actually gets to read it.
Her smile does turn a little wry when Rikka muses on her nostalgia. She'd performed Obelisk at her last concert, but considering how that ended... better to keep that thought to herself too.
Hopefully she won't have to keep her thoughts to herself about Truthseeker Serena. That would be too much, especially with Akane looking forward to her opinions. "Sounds perfect~!" she tells Rikka. "How long is it, anyway? I don't have much to do these days, but," and here she laughs dryly, "it turns out recovering from three broken limbs is sleepy business. Right now I'm lively, but most of the day I'm zonked out." She sighs dramatically. "Still, it's better than being bored. At least I can play around in my dreams."
It sounds like Obon was more than a good time. That figures, given that it's a day to say hello and goodbye to your dearly departed. Sheryl's family doesn't have graves she can visit, though, so it's all a little bittersweetly distant for her--particularly when Rikka and Akane sidetrack themselves with it for a moment.
But then there's an offer of pictures, and Sheryl smiles. "Sure. Show me now if you've got them! I'm not going anywhere." Ako, though? She tilts her head, thinking. "It doesn't ring a bell, but I've met a lot of people," she admits. "Do you have a picture of her, too?"
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"Twenty-six episodes, around twenty-two minutes each?" Rikka replies, as Sheryl asks how long it is. She nods, though. "Yeah, that's not too surprising..."
It's absolutely sleepy business. She knows more from lessons than personal, direct experience... but it would be exhausting.
Rikka nods toward Akane. It was a lot... though that serious expression turns toward more of a sheepish laugh as Akane says her mother was confident she'd be going to bed early.
"Yeah, that happens pretty much every year..." Rikka says. Talking about a bunch of stuff, while drinking together... Rikka 'hm's to herself momentarily, before offering Akane a slight smile. "Seems like it worked out well for you two, though."
Akane, then, offers pictures!
"Oh, yeah, you got some really good shots..." Rikka says. "It was good seeing Ako again, too."
...Who Sheryl doesn't seem to know, but that's fair. Rikka sits back, eager to see what she thinks of the pictures.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"Yeah, that makes sense," Akane agrees, at the mention of sleepy business. "I was pretty out of it even after I got out of the hospital, too... I'm guessing they've got you on a lot of pain meds." She isn't the expert; she has no idea when they'd have started tapering that relative to Sheryl's prognosis, and doesn't want to speculate.
"Let me see what I've got..." Akane pulls her phone out, swiping a few times. Turning it toward Sheryl, Akane says, "Here -- this is her, though her inner color job was sort of like, this grey-blue when she was in high school?" The picture Akane shows her is of a dyed-blonde girl with white-striped inner color in a green-and-purple yukata. "... still at it with the neon," Akane notes, amused.
Beyond that, she's got a few pretty standard festival shots -- both herself and Rikka in yukata from multiple angles, plus one of Orie; she's also got some fireworks shots. "Just tell me when to flip over to the next one each time," she says, nodding to Sheryl.
<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.
"Oh, so standard length," Sheryl replies. She's a musician rather than an actress, but she's familiar with movies and TV shows and how long they usually run. ...Well, how long they used to run. Movies keep getting longer, and TV shows keep getting shorter. Damned if she knows what's up with that. That's not her side of the entertainment business; she does opening and ending themes at best.
"Mmm. Yeah, more or less. I'm not sure how much I'm on now, but," she gestures at the IV stand, "it's a pretty steady feed. I think it's a lot less than it used to be, though. The world isn't as wobbly as it used to be."
Though speaking of healing being exhausting non-work, a yawn comes on fast and strong. Sheryl barely has time to cover it with one hand. "...speaking of," she says wryly. "Seems like my timer will be out soon... I'm not in any hurry to kick you two out, but fair warning."
For now, though, she leans in carefully to take a look at Akane's photos. "Nope, don't recognize her. But she's got a cute look," she comments. The next few photos get a grin up at Akane and Rikka. "You two went for some pretty cute looks yourselves this year~. Ahhh, I hope I get out of here soon enough to get to wear a yukata again! I'd hate to miss the season." Swimsuits are another thing she'd hate to miss--maybe she can do some swimming as part of her physical therapy.
For now, though, she'll tell Akane when to flip, and chat with her and Rikka about the photos until it's time for her to pass out. She'll trust her friends to excuse themselves when that time comes.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"Yeah." Rikka replies with a nod.
She looks between Akane and Sheryl for a moment as they discuss her pain medication, and Rikka nods. That sounds about right, from her knowledge. She nods again, though, as Sheryl gives her warning.
"Alright. Thanks for the warning." Rikka says, and offers her a smile. "Still, it was good to see you."
She's glad they were able to catch her at all.
She looks over the pictures. ...It's really nice seeing them again. It may have not been that long ago, but she was very fond of it.
"Thanks~. I was really happy with mine..." Rikka replies - and then nods. "Yeah, I hope so too..."
She looks the photos over as Akane shows them off to Sheryl, occasionally offering some additional context... and once Sheryl's hit her limit, quietly lets herself and Akane out.