2024-12-24: Real Is What We Make It
- Log: Real Is What We Make It
- Cast: Shari Loom, Naoko Suzuki
- Where: Photon Power Labs
- OOC - IC Date: 0099-12-24
- Summary: Fully focused on Void-sealing efforts with Shari, Naoko forgets what should have been an extraordinarily easy date to remember. But Shari remembers, and puts a plan into action...
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
It's been difficult work getting ready for the closing of the Void, but Shari knew it would go better with her best friend involved. So she invited Naoko to help! Because Naoko, after everything, is still her best friend. There have been sleepless nights, heavy shifts, and all sorts of breakthroughs... But Shari remembered that, with everything going on, there is still a Birthday to be had.
A special birthday! So Shari's been planning something for a few days, sneaking off during breaks to prepare a particular room...
And now, the time has come!! "Hey, Naoko," Shari says, as they get off work. "I want you to go somewhere with me. Don't worry, it's just here in the lab."
She has... a Plan, for the evening. But she hasn't said what it is yet!
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Naoko, of course, basically only needed half a word to agree to help. This is an important task for a number of reasons, and at this point she numbers among the few who are uniquely qualified to assist with with it. It's no less than her responsibility.
Those are the parts that she'd say out loud if anyone asked, but another significant part of the motivation is that getting to work with Shari on something long-term again is fun and exciting. It calls to mind the circumstances surrounding the celebration of their shared birthday two years ago, their first instance on working together on counter-measures against the Void's influence.
Or, it should have called that to mind, at least. At this point, Naoko has pretty much completely forgotten about the upcoming birthday. She doesn't usually keep very close track of the date to begin with, and besides... there's work to be done. That's more important. Shari probably has her own birthday plans already anyway, she doesn't need to butt in on those yet again after last year's selfish indulgence of her own personal wishes.
Such being the case, Naoko's mind is completely focused on the task at hand, and has assumed that whatever Shari has been doing on her own must have all been work-related as well. There is still absolutely no change in those assumptions when Shari suggests 'going somewhere in the lab', as Naoko dabs her face with a wet towel following today's progress.
"Hm? Somewhere, huh? Gonna show off your secret project finally? Don't think I haven't noticed you pulling a little overtime, you can't fool me!" She grins, completely fooled.
Collecting her jacket from a nearby coat hanger (it's meant for equipment actually, but she's been using it to hang her jacket on for weeks so it's a coat hanger now), she slings it over her shoulder and gestures towards the door. "Alright then, lead the way! I'm very curious you know, it's a little cruel to make me wait this long."
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
It certainly brought that time back for Shari. ...But all those reasons apply for her too. It's a responsibility, but it's a chance to work with Naoko again.
But Shari is fine if Naoko doesn't figure out what she's doing. That's not a problem. So the task at hand is done for today--and Shari is glad of that, they're almost ready on this thing. Almost.
"Yep," Shari answers of a secret project, laughing softly. "So you noticed, huh?" Smooth, Shari. Naoko has no idea!!
Shari grabs her jacket too, since if it's good enough for Naoko's jacket it's good enough for hers, and she leads on. "Sure. And awww. Don't worry, sometimes a little patience is a good thing!"
She leads back through the labs to... a break room?? Except that the break room is empty. And then Shari goes in. "Sec," she says, "Wait here."
Then--Under a minute later--the door opens. "Come in!" Shari announces, and--
Pink and purple streamers hang around the room; there's brightly colored decorations, and a big 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY' banner in the back, above a cake that looks like it is made of chocolate and more chocolate with two numbered candles on it. ('2' and '0'.)
She waits for Naoko to come in and see it--and then beams.
"Happy birthday, Naoko. You forgot, didn't you? It's OK. That's why there's two of us."
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
It's been really hard for Naoko to think about anything else but work, really. Just because there's an end to work hours doesn't mean there's an end to brain hours. She doesn't need any Whispers, nor any AI friends to still have plenty of things going on in her head at all times. Uriel and Ariel have been shushed many times already for speaking up while she was thinking - it hasn't seemed possible for well-meant attempts to get her mind off things for a while to get any sort of positive reaction from her.
Surely Shari would have noticed this, so obviously this must be about something work-related as well. It only makes sense!
"Hehe, can't get anything past me! Especially not things that I'd be doing myself, if there's something I wasn't quite sure was going to work yet. Since you're showing me, I assume the results were worth the wait!" Still absolutely no idea.
Naoko looks a little confused when they stop at a break room, but she supposes it's not impossible for Shari to have co-opted one of those for a project. "Uh, sure," she says when told to wait. The amount of time that passes is just long enough for her to start getting a little impatient, but then...
Naoko's eyes go wide, when she enters upon Shari's invitation. What on earth could this be all about, she wonders for about two seconds, until she sees the words 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY'. Her jacket drops to the floor and her hands fly to her mouth, only now realizing not only that she completely forgot about this... but also how much she actually still did want to celebrate this with her friend, once again.
"I... I did forget..." she speaks very softly once she manages to find her voice at all. She makes a motion to wipe her eyes with her sleeve, but-- no sleeve. Briefly looking behind her, she scoops up her jacket and holds it close, as if it were some sort of security blanket.
"S-sorry, I mean, happy birthday to you too, Shari... I, um, wasn't expecting all this, but... thank you, for remembering."
Her genuine surprise is clear enough by how long it took her finally take a good look at that deliciously sweet-looking cake, which finally brings a small smile to her face. "Twenty... huh. Must be some kind of mistake, that doesn't seem real."
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
Shari can be similar; she comes off as someone who's a lot better at loosening up and having fun, which she is, but at the same time she's just as intense when it comes time to sit down and work. ...But this is also important!!
"We'll see!" Shari says of results. And then...
Naoko's eyes go wide, and her posture is clear; she forgot, all right. She's surprised. But... hopefully happy...?
"Naoko?" she starts, when she sees her with tears--and then she smiles, a lopsided expression. "I figured it's my turn this time to do something, right? You're welcome. It's important to me too, after all."
Shari closes the door behind Naoko. "...The others might want to say it too," Shari says, "But I wanted some time with just you, first."
A beat and she laughs. "It's real!" she says. "We can even drink in Japan now! ...Not that I haven't been operating on Spain rules anyway..."
"But we've got more work to do soon, so the wine can wait."
She steps over to the counter, to--turn on some music! Loud, Naoko-y music.
It's fine, the walls aren't that thin.
"There's a lot that doesn't seem real these days, huh?"
"But we are."
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
"I'm... glad to hear that," is all that a suddenly subdued Naoko can manage to respond when Shari says that this is important to her too. She was hoping, that it wasn't just her who felt these birthday get-togethers for just the two of them were something special, something that you just couldn't get out of... whatever a 'normal birthday celebration' is supposed to be. Some might consider it sad, that this is the only kind of birthday celebration she knows, but... she feels that she is very lucky to have this.
"Not an obligation to take turns though," she notes, once recovered from the initial shock. She's feeling pretty foolish right now... and resolves to not make the same mistake again in the future. "Maybe next time, we can come up with something together. Won't be a surprise, but... well, you've seen what we're capable of when we plan something together, right?"
...Is that pushing her luck a little? Getting ahead of things too much? It's easy to tell from Naoko's expression that she's second-guessing herself immediately, that happens a lot. It's probably no surprise that she sputters and blushes at Shari's choice of words as well.
"Sh-Shari, I need you to promise that you won't say it like that to the others." That's just mortifying - what are people going to imagine was happening in here if they knew that 'Shari wanted some time with just her'??
Drinking would be a reasonable assumption, at least. But Naoko is quick to add, "That's fine, drinking is... maybe not such a good idea? I mean, just because we can doesn't mean--" Hang on a second. "Shariii. That was risky, Japan is really strict about that stuff, you know! I'm glad you didn't get caught, but--"
Aaaand Shari turns up the music, drowning out the rest of her protest. Oh well. It's not like she was going to stay upset for very long, certainly not with such good music playing. She's already dressed for it too, wearing her CYBER DEATH shirt and everything.
She has to step a little closer to Shari to hear her over the heavy beats, and those following words are plenty to make to make her smile again. "You have no idea-- well, you probably have a very good idea, of how the world hasn't seemed real to me at times. But, these days, at moments like this... I don't think I really care about how real things are, outside of the room I'm in, and the people I'm with."
...Okay that came out sounding more embarrassing than she meant, quick Naoko, say something else to cover it up. ...Oh no, she's drawing a blank, what now?
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
It's definitely special to Shari, too. Sure, she can celebrate other ways... But this is important.
"Oh, that's a good point," Shari says. "Surprise is fun, but..." She smiles. "I totally have. I don't even know what we could manage for something like this together!"
It's not something that bothers Shari, anymore. Though the sputtering gets her to blink and tilt her head. "Did I say something...?"
Then she laughs, because it becomes clear when Naoko says it. "I promise," she offers. "It's just... you're important to me, you know? In ways nobody else is."
Not even her boyfriend! Who... hasn't ditched on account of all the confusion yet, so there is that.
But, "Yeah, I have a feeling you'd kinda be a lightweight," Shari reflects. "Not that I'm exactly Miss Tolerance either..." A beat. "Huh, really?"
Music! Shari is not wearing CYBER DEATH but she is in black with black lipstick, so it's good enough. And when Shari sees Naoko step closer--hmm...
"Yeah," Shari agrees, and reaches out to squeeze Naoko's hand--just her hand, even though she'd rather give her a hug--and takes hers back before Naoko can melt down too bad.
"I feel the same," she says. "'Real' is what we make it!" she has to speak up a little, but--
"And today, 'real' is double chocolate birthday cake! Here..."
She gets a lighter, and starts to light the candles!
"I set it up, so we'll blow on your cue, OK?"
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
It's absolutely important. But, it remains difficult for Naoko to convince herself that it's as important to Shari as it is to her. It feels like Shari would have so many other ways, not to mention other people, to enjoy her birthday with. But this is all Naoko has. No, if she's honest... this is all Naoko wants. But she can't just say that, it'd be the world's biggest guilt-trip! She struggles with thoughts like that... despite knowing that, where it comes to Shari, she often doesn't actually have to say anything. Today is another solid reminder of that fact.
...Which doesn't mean it's suddenly going to be any easier talking about scenarios - real or imagined - that involve physical intimacy. That still shuts her down like nothing else, even if it's just her own train of thought doing all the damage there. It's a relief that Shari doesn't push her on it, this time. Even if the admission of her importance didn't make it any more possible for her to say anything in response.
That's just the way things are. A connection that she couldn't begin to explain to herself, let alone anyone else, even if they happened to know what Whispered are. That's just an element of it, not the whole of it.
...wait a second, was she just called a lightweight? "Y-you don't know that," she blurts out, in a sudden impulse to save face. "It's been like a decade since I--" Oops. She covers her own mouth briefly, before chuckling nervously. "...You didn't hear that."
Well. She was living unsupervised on her own for most of her life. Is it really so surprising that she made a few poor decisions?
All too ready to enjoy the music when it starts, perhaps the mood factors into the fact that, somehow, Naoko doesn't shrink back when Shari takes her hand. Did she fail to notice that somehow? She couldn't have-- she was looking right at it when it happened. Did she just... forget to react? Or has she completely shut down already?
A sharp intake of breath later, Naoko finally pulls back her hand, and covers it with her other hand, seconds after Shari's already released it. If she hadn't already failed to find words before, she definitely wouldn't find any now.
... 'Real is what we make it'. And... 'real is double chocolate birthday cake'. Yes! Naoko.exe has successfully restarted. Smiling brightly, she rushes over to the other side of the table, already holding up three fingers way in advance.
"You got it! Soon as you're done, on the count of three...!"
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
Shari wants a lot of things. And she has a lot of them, now. ...But still...
Shari wants to be that kind of friend.
Shari is a lot more comfortable with certain ideas and situations than Naoko is, but it's not something she's inclined to push her on. It's just... Naoko's way. She's very imaginative, for better and sometimes for funnier.
Shari is kind of jealous of this connection though--she doesn't really want to explain it to everyone else.
"Oh?" Shari wonders, and then laughs. A decade, huh? "Wow! Well, I was just assuming since you don't do it /often/..." Hm hm hm. Shari beams. "I didn't hear anything o/~" she singsongs.
Shari's a very touchy sort of person; the physical world grounds her, reminds her of more 'reality' sometimes, helps when she's trapped in her own mind. But not now. Now, she doesn't need to be.
"There. Three...!"
"Two," she joins in, "One!"
Shari blows for the candles!!
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Naoko doesn't have many wants, having needed to accept that significant change was unrealistic at a young age to keep from driving herself insane. Once she has something she values though, her need to keep what she has is very strong.
She's not about to let anything happen to Shari. For Shari's sake, and her own.
She sure does wish she could at least logically explain the connection to herself. Logic is easy to understand, follow and accept. Emotion just confuses everything. And makes her imagination run away with itself, that doesn't help. She can only assume that others would imagine the same things she does...
"Nono, it's nothing, absolutely nothing!" she is quick to insist, not caring to acknowledge the mistakes of her youth. Besides, it was just the once! ...Mainly because she got so sick, she never wanted to risk that happening again. Then again, it has been a decade... No, absolutely not. (it's so obvious how easily she could be dared into it, it's not even funny)
It's very obvious by now that physical contact makes Naoko nervous. She doesn't even know if she's afraid of anything in particular. One can only assume it ties back into the fact that... emotion confuses everything, and sparks her imagination. Truly she is her own worst enemy in this. Make no mistake - even if she failed to react this time, there will be a reckoning later, and much time spent with her head buried in her pillow. But for now...
"Three, two, one...!"
Thankfully there aren't a ton of candles like last year, Naoko has no problem helping to blow out just two. She claps her hands enthusiastically, for approximately two seconds, before pointing at a seemingly random part of the cake.
"I'm calling a slice from that side!"
Don't question her skill in pinpointing the area with the highest sugar concentration. She's an expert.