2025-04-24: Maintaining Motivation
- Log: 2025-04-24- Maintaining Motivation
- Cast: Rikka Takarada, Akane Shinjo
- Where: Nouvelle Tokyo - Takarada-Shinjo Household
- OOC - IC Date: 0100-04-24
- Summary: Akane and Rikka bat the current state of things around while working on a few projects.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Rikka has continued to work on the MR-1 in her off-time. It's nice to have a Project, it's been a while since she's been this motivated by something. Maintaining motivation has always been an issue for her - though not nearly as bad these days as her high-school days - but it's still going strong even now, a month out.
It's look pretty good so far! Though it still isn't functional yet, she's repaired and replaced the damaged and rusted parts of the inner framework so she has something to put everything into. The chassis is almost complete, too...
...in fact, she's putting the finishing touches on that right now.
Rikka is underneath the MR-1, currently in a set of welder's coveralls and mask, situated atop a mechanic's crawler as she puts some finishing touches on the underside. One can hear the sounds of work going on... and then, it stops.
"...Alright. I think that'll do for now." Rikka says. She sounds proud of herself. She starts to slide herself out - but stops.
"Where are you right now?" Rikka asks. "Do you want to pull me out so I don't slide into you?"
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane isn't nearly as technical -- nor handy -- as Rikka is; her step of this process is also downstream of replacing all of the rusted internals and externals, which means for the most part she's been getting Rikka tools, providing light, giving her a second eye on things, et cetera. ... and just appreciating watching her work. It's a side of Rikka that she doesn't get to see as much -- and she is, in fact, so cool.
"Oh -- uh, just a second." Akane slides their tool chest a little to the side so she doesn't bump into it, then reaches down. Gently placing her hands on Rikka's shins, she starts to slide her out from under the KMF. Once she's got her a bit out, her hands migrate up to her thighs, then her hips... for a few seconds, she just lingers there, hands on those hips -- but when she looks up after getting Rikka all the way out, she sees Rikka's welding mask and not her face so she can't get too spellbound.
"Th-there you go," she says, giggling awkwardly. "Really good work today, wow. You wouldn't even think this was the same thing, at this point... I think it's really cool to see you put together a big project like this. I'm really looking forward to painting..."
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Rikka might be doing the handiwork, but Akane's help has been invaluable - it's nice to have a second pair of hands around, and while she might not have the technical knowledge she does, her eye for detail has helped catch a few things she's missed.
...Also, having her there encouraging her and complimenting her work has definitely been a big contributing factor to her motivation.
Akane says 'just' a second so Rikka waits - then she feels the hands on her shins, migrating upward as Akane slides her out from underneath the Knightmare Frame.
And then, Akane's hands linger on her hips. Rikka looks up at her... but the mask gets in the way. ...Rikka might be able to tell that, too.
"Thanks." Rikka replies with a good-natured laugh. She pulls her mask up and then off, sitting up and taking a moment to undo her hair band and shake her hair out behind her... putting maybe just a bit of a flourish on it for Akane's sake.
She stands up, now, standing next to Akane and taking a moment to look it over.
"Thanks. And thank you for your help." Rikka replies, glancing over to her for a moment and offering her a smile. "I promised I'd put together a good canvas for you. I'm glad it meets your standards."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane takes a step back, letting Rikka get up; looking down at her as she undoes her hair band and shakes out her hair, now she does look a little bit lost in her partner's beauty. It doesn't last too long -- but it does happen. It's not like she doesn't get to see this every day -- but it's also not like Rikka still doesn't have her... mmmmmore than a little trained.
"Even if I wasn't painting this I think it'd still be incredible to watch," she says, taking a few steps back to really get a good look at the entirety of the machine. "I know you have to keep the mask on for your eyes, but I've always really liked the way you look when you concentrate on something..."
Stretching a little -- she's gotten a bit too far into the hunching and poking around for tools; her shoulders are sore -- she looks over to the door from the garage to the house, and by extension toward the earth floor area. "You're starting to make me feel like I need a new project, but I keep coming home and just feeling kind of... too cooked to do much but cooking."
She takes a few steps toward the door. "Work is driving me crazy... it feels like every day we have some new bit of minor dimensional..." Here she wobbles a hand. "... nah, too boring. But like, that's the thing! It's never actually anything, it's just... 'louder background noise than usual' or something, so there's never anything that feels done..."
School, at least, is fine. And she's definitely been enjoying having a chance to have a class with Rikka for once.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Rikka does seem quietly pleased as she catches Akane appreciating her. It feels nice, however common it may be... especially when Akane says she's always liked her expression when she concentrates on something.
"I shouldn't need it again for a while, so you're in luck." She replies, looking back at the MR-1. "I'm pretty proud of it. It was kind of a different experience from working on Synchrotank... some of the same principles applied, but there was a lot I had to figure out, too."
She had a lot of extra helping hands with that, of course - that was everyone's working, coming together.
She follows Akane's gaze, then, toward the earth floor area. She nods in understanding.
"Don't force it - you don't want to push yourself too hard." She suggests, and grimaces in understanding.
"Yeah, I've been seeing the reports..." She sympathises. "Not exciting enough to act on, but just enough that you have to monitor it..."
It's one of the situations where she has it easier, as Chief. She doesn't have to get involved until it becomes an actual Problem.
School is something Rikka has been enjoying, as well. It feels nice, to have a class with Akane again. She's glad their respective fields ended up linking up together nicely.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Rikka does seem quietly pleased as she catches Akane appreciating her. It feels nice, however common it may be... especially when Akane says she's always liked her expression when she concentrates on something.
"I shouldn't need it again for a while, so you're in luck." She replies, looking back at the MR-1. "I'm pretty proud of it. It was kind of a different experience from working on Synchrotank... some of the same principles applied, but there was a lot I had to figure out, too."
She had a lot of extra helping hands with that, of course - that was everyone's working, coming together.
She follows Akane's gaze, then, toward the earth floor area. She nods in understanding.
"Don't force it - you don't want to push yourself too hard." She suggests, and grimaces in understanding.
"Yeah, I've been seeing the reports..." She sympathises. "Not exciting enough to act on, but just enough that you have to monitor it..."
It's one of the situations where she has it easier, as Chief. She doesn't have to get involved until it becomes an actual Problem.
School is something Rikka has been enjoying, as well. It feels nice, to have a class with Akane again. She's glad their respective fields ended up linking up together nicely.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane turns just a little pink at that. "I am in luck," she agrees, nodding. "And yeah -- these are so much smaller, right? Like, MS always have those really big parts... something like GaoGaiGar's like that too." That one she did need to learn the technical side of before she transferred departments. Whether she's retained all of that is a bit of a different question, but she remembers enough. "Is Britannian hardware super different?"
Opening the door, Akane looks to the earth floor area. It's more or less as she left it a few days ago -- tablet off to the side, drawing-and-sculpting desk in the middle instead of pushed off to the side. For a few seconds, it looks like she's considering starting in on her own project, but...
... nah. Besides -- her hands are kind of greasy, and she can't imagine Rikka's are any better off...
"It'll clear up eventually," she says, as much for her own benefit as Rikka's. "Besides, some of it doesn't even have to reach my desk." She really ought to get better at delegating...
Putting work back out of her head for now, she heads toward the stairs. "I'm kinda hungry, but not, like, dinner this early hungry... any ideas?" Something occurs to her -- but food first, she thinks.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Rikka looks pleased at that, too, before she focuses on the MR-1 again.
"Mm-hm, exactly. It makes it easier, in a lot of ways - I wouldn't be able to do a mobile suit entirely by myself, for one." Rikka replies. ...And more importantly she wouldn't be able to fit one in the garage, but that goes left unsaid. As for if Britannian hardware is super different...
"Hmm... a little bit. You can see where they've done things their own way, but a lot of the principles are the same... It's not one-to-one, but I can make it work." Rikka explains. She follows Akane's look over to the door, taking note of the earth floor area...
...But it's true - her hands are pretty greasy too. Rikka may have had hand protection, but that only goes so far when you're working directly underneath the machine.
"Hopefully." Rikka replies with a nod, in regards to the work. "That's good, at least."
And then, there's the question of practicalities.
"Hmm, yeah... I could eat something, but I think I need to settle first before getting into an actual meal..." She considers. "What do we have?"
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Nodding, Akane says, "I guess stuff like the One Year War only did so much for that..." It's... still a little surreal for her, living through a fundamental reorganization of the international order. Especially in her position. She's... definitely starting to see some stuff, even if 3G's mandate is first and foremost scientific.
Civil defense, as it turns out, gets complicated fast.
Heading up to the second floor, and more importantly the kitchen, Akane closes her eyes. "Snacks, huh... let's see..." She starts going through things in her head. "We have some senbei... Oh! Right! We have that butter mochi I made over the weekend.... we should probably eat that soon." Britannian-Japanese fusion food... is tasty, it turns out, but not exactly nutritious.
Even at her most exhausted, Akane never quite reaches actual-zero cooking, these days.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"Yeah. Some people stick to what they know, I guess..." Rikka replies with a shrug. It's definitely an interesting view - and eye-opening, too. Well, she'd long since resolved to look at everything and take it all in, the good and the bad.
They're in the kitchen, now, and Rikka looks toward Akane as she mulls things over. She 'hm's to herself briefly as Akane mentions the senbei... but the butter mochi is definitely the clear winner from the way she lights up a little.
"Oh, yeah, that was good. Let's do that." Rikka agrees with a nod. She finds herself very grateful for Akane's enthusiasm for cooking. She joins Akane at the sink, then, getting to work cleaning off her hands.
"I did, I asked them about everything we discussed." Rikka confirms with a nod. "I've been putting everything together so we can go over it together more easily to see where we're at - we can look it over soon?"
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane's always delighted when something is enough of a hit that even leftovers are appetizing; when Rikka's expression brightens, so too does Akane's. She'll have to add this one to the regular rotation...
... though perhaps on a long rotation, for her waistline's sake...
Akane pulls the butter mochi out of the freezer (don't want it to spoil!) and pops it in the microwave; she is definitely not in the mood for more effort than that, even if it'll dry it out a tiny bit. Sometimes, 'done' is better than 'great'.
Nodding to Rikka as she turns thoughtfully toward the sitting area, she says, "That sounds great. Budget stuff is more your speed than mine... do you think we should send it to your mom, too?" She is helping, and she is something of a major stakeholder in the whole thing. She waits for the microwave to finish; it's not exactly a super long microwave session. Looking to Rikka, she opens her mouth and tries to say something...
... and loses it, instead descending into, "Ehehehe... ahaha..." almost-ditzy giggling just looking at her. "I... wanna shower together later," she manages to say, eventually.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Rikka doesn't mind the low effort. She knows you just have to take shortcuts sometimes - especially when you're exhausted from work. For now, she takes a moment to just lean against the wall as they wait for the microwave to finish. A thoughtful expression crosses Rikka's face as she suggests sending it to her mother. She considers it for a moment, looking down toward the floor.
"That's a good point." Rikka replies. "I'm sure she'll have her opinions... she might think of something we haven't, too. I'll do that."
And then she looks up again - just as Akane breaks into a fit of giggles. Rikka stares at her quizzically, wondering just what prompted this... and then, a knowing smile crosses her face with a small laugh.
"Sure. That sounds great." She agrees.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
The microwave dings. Akane pulls the butter mochi out, and takes a chunk for herself; she does warn, "Outside's kinda hot," though there's not a whole ton of urgency there, and she's still holding it with her hand, so it clearly isn't that big of a deal.
Pushing her dark hair back a little, Akane looks like she's thinking very hard about something -- maybe trying to get herself back onto the train of thought she lost looking at a sweaty Rikka and immediately letting her mind wander. She closes her eyes... takes a breath...
... oh, right. There it is.
"Speaking of the budget, uh... my mom..." She looks nervous. "... not only did she chip in, she managed to get my dad to chip in. We have the actual wedding venue, but we aren't locked in on the reception yet... we could scale up a bit."
Something about this situation seems to gnaw at her. At first it looks like she's going to sit on it, but --
"... It kinda freaks me out that she's trying for once. I don't really know how to -- get my head around it or anything." There's a guilty look on her face that can only be somewhat assuaged by butter mochi.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"Oh, thanks." Rikka says in regards to the warning. She does handle it carefully as she accepts her chunk. She elects to give it just a bit longer, and as she waits for it to cool down, her attention is drawn toward Rikka as she looks lost in thought. She watches her close her eyes and take a breath - and when she does finally manage to say what it was she only wanted to say, she listens patiently, waiting for her to get all the way through it.
"Take your time. You don't have to force yourself to think about it one way or another right away." Rikka assures. "I can't blame you for having... mixed feelings about it."
She finally takes a bite of the butter mochi. It's a little dryer, but that's to be expected - it's still good.
"Once we're finished looking everything over and have the important stuff nailed down, we can look at what we want to do with the rest." Rikka adds.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane -- now juggling the butter mochi to her other hand for a few moments, perhaps having realized the heat is a little too much to hold that long -- takes a deep breath. "Thanks," she says, doing her best to take it to heart. It's always hard to figure out what she feels about her parents.
"I just... wish..." She sighs. "... you know what, yeah. Let's not get into it right now. I sent her a thank-you text and told her I'd call when our schedules opened up. That's enough for right now." Not freaking out about this is a little bit hard-won -- but it feels good when she realizes she isn't having a full-scale freakout.
It still weighs upon her a little, but she moves to plop down in front of the TV instead of circling the drain about it. "Anything you wanna watch tonight? I figure we can shower in half an hour or so and then start dinner after that... I'm not in a huge rush." Another bite of butter mochi. "... this is really dangerous for me to be able to just, make whenever I want..."
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Rikka nods as Akane thanks her, and then as she starts and trails off... she nods again, to agree with her.
"No one can ask any more of you than that." She replies. She moves to join her in front of the TV, settling in. As for what she wants to watch... she 'hm's to herself, thinking it over.
"That's a good plan. And... something simple, maybe." She decides after a moment. "Something that doesn't require a whole lot of brain power to follow.
She laughs, just a little, then.
"It might be dangerous for both of us..." She admits.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane considers making a slightly crass joke. ... Then she thinks better of it, marking quite possibly the first time she has ever done so. Instead, she turns on the TV and the game system, grabs the controller, and tabs over to the media section.
As she scrolls through, she leans into Rikka slightly, taking a deep breath in through her nose. "... we're between Taraba seasons... not really feeling something new either..." She cants her head a little as she looks for something. "Oh! Right, the Serena shorts! God, I forgot that was starting up this week --" She starts scrolling a little more urgently.
The lean gets a little deeper. "It's kinda exciting, even if, like, we don't really have to expect anything, right?" She finishes her mochi, adding through a full mouth, "Now, or in bed? There's a couple of toy reviews I need to catch up on, too, if we just want some kinda white noise stuff for now."
A hand slowly comes up into Rikka's hair. "... I'm glad this is what my twenties are going to look like," she says, contentedly. "It's nice." Sometimes you need to just... appreciate the moment.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Akane leans into her, and Rikka follows suit, watching as Akane tabs through their options with the controller. She scans the images and banners that pop up for anything that might appeal, but nothing really catches her interest until Akane realises something.
"Oh, yeah." Rikka says, with interest. She finishes off her mochi, and then rests her head against Akane.
"Yeah. It's just nice to have something." Rikka replies with a small laugh, then 'hm's to herself as she thinks it over. "I don't think there's a lot of them out yet... I think they'd be good for something before bed, so let's watch your toy reviews?"
She feels Akane put a hand in her hair... and smiles, just slightly.
"...Yeah. I'm glad, too."