2024-06-26: Secret Talk

• Log: 2024-06-26- Secret Talk
• Cast: Akane Shinjo, Sheryl Nome
• Where: Nouvelle Tokyo - Takarada-Shinjo Apartment
• OOC - IC Date: 0099-06-26
• Summary: Sheryl Nome decides to drop by after hearing that 3G Red had a very eventful day. They talk about their future plans -- Sheryl invites Akane to a concert, and Akane lets her in on a little secret.

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<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane had an eventful day yesterday... today, conveniently, is an easy day. All she has is Metals and Jewelry and then home, so she's able to take a little time to put her head back together after yesterday's ordeal.

That said, she is presentable enough to handle people, if only just barely. Debriefing with 3G included a shower, so she's at least comfortable and clean. Right now, she's taking her sweet time with a bowl of ramen; it's comfort food, with that high-salt broth and a rich slice of pork belly.

She's made enough to have leftovers and then some, too; while she's not strictly a stress cook, she does like cooking enough for it to help her get a bit more stable.

Her sketchbook also rests on the sitting room table for now; it's got iterations on jewelry designs on the page it's open to. A necklace and a ring -- both still at the sketch stage.

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        Presently, a knock comes at the door. Being presentable means being able to answer the door, right? If Akane doesn't answer in a timely manner, there will be more knocking, increasingly insistent. But if she does, she'll see a familiar face on the other side.
        
        Well, technically. Sheryl's got her shades on, which as everyone knows is a foolproof way to keep from being casually recognized, but she also has a teal headband, a loose off-the-shoulder teal blouse, black hot pants and matching thigh socks, brown heeled boots, a golden heart necklace and matching bangles, and of course her ironic fold quartz earring. Less iconic is the red cord around her neck, but whatever's hanging from that is tucked safely away in the voluminous curves of her cleavage.
        
        Either way, Sheryl will pull her shades down, wink at Akane, and playfully stick out her tongue. "Took you long enough~!"
        
        She doesn't seem to have any bodyguards in sight, though there is a Segway next to the door.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane takes a few seconds to get to the door; Sheryl is probably in the middle of her more insistent knock when she makes it there and opens the door. She's greeted immediately with a little teasing, of course -- and takes a moment to close her eyes, breathe in, and breathe out. Pulling her lips up into a smile, she says, "Ehehe... I was a little bit in the middle of something. Come on in!"

She glances over toward the kitchen, saying, "Sorry if this place is a little small... it's kinda the best thing that was available when we were looking. I didn't realize student housing was this competitive. Do you want some ramen? It's got pork belly."

There's a brief jingle, and a mysterious creature appears...! He stares up at Sheryl with his one eye, then starts walking around her legs a little, trying to assess her.

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        Sheryl's coquettish smile broadens into a grin, and she follows Akane inside, pushing her shades the rest of the way up her head. "Don't worry about it! I wasn't expecting the Taj Mahal or anything," she says dismissively. Besides, she's the one who dropped in on Akane unannounced--though how could a visit from the Sheryl Nome (even if one is personal friends with her) be anything but a pleasant surprise?
        
        "Ramen?" she repeats thoughtfully. "You know, I'm not sure I've ever had ramen. I hear it's kind of junk food-y, and I don't get to have that kind of stuff too often. Is it spicy?"
        
        A jingle jingles, and a Smol Kreacher appears, staring up at Sheryl and stalking around her legs. "Oh!" she utters, curving backwards to get a better look as he circles her. When he's around front, she kneels down and offers a hand for him to sniff. He might look a bit rough around the edges, but she has a fond smile for the little guy all the same. A kitten featured in her music video for Diamond Crevasse for a reason.
        
        "Who's this little guy?" she wonders.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Some people can go for a little spicy, but I aim for like... 'chain restaurant' spicy instead of 'family restaurant' spicy? Lately I've been doing it with protein pasta instead of the usual noodles... it does change the flavor profile a bit, but it's lower-calorie than restaurant stuff." Akane adds, "You can try a bit of the broth and see if you like it," after a moment more thought. She leads Sheryl into the kitchen, grabbing a bowl for her -- and a spoon so she can try a little.

Balam experimentally sniffs that hand, then bonks into it once before returning to walking around Sheryl's feet. "That's Balam. ... Don't tell our landlord," Akane says, with a little smirk on her face. "-- Hey, actually, that reminds me."

She reaches into the cabinet under the sink, pulling out a small plastic container, and tops up Balam's food bowl on the floor with it before getting back to it. "Have you been doing okay lately?" she asks, as she does so.

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        "Hmm! I'll give it a shot, then!" Sheryl says. Even if it is junk-y, what's one small bowl going t hurt--especially if Akane makes it in a healthier way than normal?
        
        Before that, though, there is a kittybonk on her hand. Sheryl's blue eyes sparkle. "Your secret's safe with me," she replies, winking as she brings a single finger up to her lips. She rises up to follow Akane now that she is somewhat less be-catted and accepts the small bowl of ramen, then finds a place to sit.
        
        But then Akane asks her if she's been doing okay. Sheryl masks her pause with a sip of the broth. Not as spicy as she'd prefer, but it's nice and warm. When she sets her spoon down, she says casually, "More okay than you! Rikka told me about what happened over at Huffman Island. Not all the details, but it sounded intense."
        
        She leans on one hand, looking at Akane with genuine concern. That's the whole reason she came here in person. Well--it's a big reason, anyway. "How are you doing after all that?"

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane nods, letting Sheryl serve herself; it's fine. She can decide on a comfortable portion size. Akane doesn't have to give her the biggest possible bowl, she tells herself. She takes a few moments to pat the cat as he heads toward his newly-refilled food bowl.

A cat has never once been fed. Not even a little.

As they settle in on the couch -- the easiest sitting spot by a long shot -- Akane takes a moment to compose her thoughts on how things went down. "I'm actually pretty okay. It's kinda hard to explain why, but... this wasn't that bad."

Returning to her own ramen, she eats for a little while as she thinks of how to explain it. This means her sketchbook, with its jewelry designs, doesn't get immediately put away. "One, my memory of the whole thing is pretty hazy. Two... when I was awake for it, I didn't feel helpless or anything. I was fighting as hard as anyone else, so it doesn't freak me out in the same way. ... Entouji said most people would have just gotten steamrolled by that thing, so I'm actually kinda glad it was me and not, like, Alouette or something."

She purses her lips as she admits, "... still a little freaky, but if I focus on everything else I'm okay."

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        Since it's only a small bowl and a small serving, Sheryl doesn't take long to go through it. It's not bad, though the pork is too fatty for her tastes. She spoons up the last of the broth as she listens to Akane.
        
        "That's pretty incredible, then. But then, we both know you're a fighter." Sheryl smiles again. "Even when you think you aren't." She doesn't know who Entouji is, but that doesn't matter much to her--she just assumes that's her doctor or someone. (Sheryl doesn't quite think through why a doctor would be familiar with evil alien robots.) Akane adds that it's not perfect, but as long as she's not focusing on it...
        
        "I get how you feel," she says sympathetically, setting her bowl down. "Let's change the subject, then." And fortunately, right next to her bowl, there is a perfect subject change. She looks at the sketchbook and its jewelry sketches curiously. "What's this?"

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Nodding, Akane agrees, "Yeah, we can get away from that." There's more, but -- well, one, it's classified, and two, she doesn't really want to linger that deeply. Sheryl gives her an offramp and she is very happy to take it.

"Oh, that's my design drafts for Metals and Jewelry. You have to take at least one art class of every type for Art Therapy and this is kinda the one I was putting off," she explains. The necklace centerpiece design seems fairly finalized -- a pair of square pyramids joined at their bases and given a small bend and twist in opposite directions, with a stone inside. The ring, however, looks really more like a few dozen different takes at this point...

"I'm getting to the point where I need to just pick a design and go with it and do the rest in Studio next term," Akane admits, a little sheepishly. "The necklace is one I already finished, at least. I can show you, if you can keep it a secret..." That gets a smile. "... You gotta keep the ring secret either way." She looks at Sheryl's already empty bowl, musing, "I know that was a small bowl, but wow, you must have been kinda hungry..." Now she's glad she made extra, for sure.

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        "I was pretty peckish! But it's mostly soup," Sheryl says with a shrug. "The noodles were pretty tasty, but the pork belly was a lot for me. It was an interesting experience, though." She flashes Akane another smile. "Thanks for sharing, Akane."
        
        But more importantly: jewelry! "Ohhh, so this is homework! It looks like fun. But then, I like this kind of thing." Akane might remember that limited edition jewelry line Sheryl produced a couple years ago. She cranes her neck to get a better look at the sketchbook, though she blinks at Akane. It's just homework, right? ...Though maybe design students are in danger of having their designs stolen. It's certainly true for professionals.
        
        So she smiles. "Of course! Your secret's safe with me~. I'd love to see more!" Blinking thoughtfully, she wonders, "Is your class really that competitive?"

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Ehehe, no problem. You might like it better when I do it with egg? Usually that's my thing, but we're out... I had an omurice craving every day over the weekend." She smiles as she adds, "Rikka's more on that end of it, too. It's good to break up your usual meal schedule sometimes, though."

Reaching over, Akane gives her sketchbook a couple of nudges closer to Sheryl; she clearly doesn't mind her looking. "The last two pages before that are mostly early drafts," she adds. When Sheryl asks about her class's competitiveness, though, that gets her to smile.

"... They're gifts for Rikka. I wanna surprise her a little. I don't think I'm at a design I'm totally a hundred percent on for the ring yet... I'm thinking of just going with the bottom one there to get through the rest of the term and then doing what I really wanna do next."

She scoots in toward Sheryl, whispering discreetly, "... Making your own engagement ring is kind of romantic, right?"

Her lips curl up in a big smile.

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        "Egg does sound better. Maybe next time!" Sheryl half-turns to better face Akane, pulling her knee up to fold underneath herself along the cushion. She leans over to pick up the sketchbook when Akane nudges it her way and starts to page through, taking her time on each page to take in the drafts.
        
        "You said you actually made the necklace? Or did you just mean you finalized the design?" she wonders as she peruses. She smiles at the news that they're gifts. "Awww, that's cute! Yeah, I think finishing up the fundamentals for class and then working on something really special is smart." But that thought gets shoved to one side when Akane leans in and whispers an even better truth.
        
        Sheryl gasps, eyes sparkling as her lips broaden into a huge smile of her own. "Akane!! That's so romantic!" she whispers back, leaning in to her too. "And so exciting! How soon are you planning on proposing? Obviously you need to make the ring first, but still!"

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"The necklace is done, yeah. I have it under the couch! We swapped off who does dishes and who vacuums, so Rikka's never gonna find it under here," Akane says, with a big smirk on her face. Bending over, she gropes around under there for a few seconds before pulling out a small box. Sure enough, that she hands to Sheryl, nodding. "Take a peek," she urges.

Then she gets Sheryl right in the feelings. ... The enthusiasm feels nice. It makes her happy to have a friend -- so much so it's actually a little overwhelming, and she gets a bit misty-eyed.

Composing herself, she takes a breath. "I'm still working on it," she admits. "I know I want it to be after Coming of Age Day but before the summer's out. I was thinking our third anniversary, but that's cutting everything a little tight so I have a couple of fallback options..." Six to nine months -- that's a lot of time to build up expectations... but a lot of time to plan, too. "I want it to be a really happy day for her when I go for it."

Her eyes track back to the sketchbook. "So yeah, I think this one is going to end up a gift for this summer some time like the necklace," she finishes. "I'll finalize a real design next term. I have materials and stone color and stuff picked out, at least..."

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        "Oooh, sneaky~" Sheryl waits for Akane to fetch the box in which the necklace is hidden, then sets the sketchbook on her lap so she can take the box.
        
        Before she can retrieve the necklace within, though, Akane starts tearing up. Sheryl's smile gentles, and she leans over to elbow her a little. "Hey now, it's Rikka who's got to cry those tears of happiness. What's she going to do if you set off the waterworks first~?"
        
        But she gives her time to compose herself, even if she is hype to hear more about this engagement plan. She nods along as she listens. Six to nine months is a long time, but it sounds like she's got it all planned out. After all, she's still in the middle of that art design class. "Sounds like you've already got a lot planned. I'll try to keep my excitement in check!" She lifts her finger to her lips again and winks. "And I will absolutely keep it a secret, don't you worry. <3"
        
        Now she opens up the box to get a closer look at that necklace. She holds it up to the light to admire it. "It's a really unusual design. Very avant-garde," she says. "You made this yourself? You must be acing your class."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane blinks at Sheryl's chiding -- closes her eyes for a second, takes a breath -- and then lets go of it. Whatever moment she had there seems to be passing. "Ehehe... that's a good point," Akane says, bringing the back of her hand up to her eyes a bit and rubbing.

"Some of it is so I can get a better idea of, like... what she'd actually want. I'm asking a couple hinting questions... I read a guide to this kind of stuff and it said that you're supposed to make sure that it's not a total shock ahead of time." She really, really wants to do this right...

... not least because she saw poor Koji...

"Ehe, yeah. You can twist the links a tiny bit against each other, and if you twist them just right you can get the stone out without cutting any of them, but I deliberately made that pretty hard," Akane says. There's a blue stone in there -- it's probably lab sapphire, given this is a school project. "My professor was really impressed..."

All this talk about herself seems to have gotten her a bit embarrassed, though. "What have you been doing lately? It's been kinda crazy... I'm really glad to have the chance to catch up."

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        Sheryl considers Akane for a moment. Is this the third time since she showed up that she's needed to take a moment to calm down? Maybe what happened with Galactron is hitting her harder than she's trying to let on. Her eyelashes dip. That's something Sheryl can relate to, honestly. Well, they already changed the topic, so she'll refrain from bringing it up.
        
        "Oh, good idea. I really doubt Rikka would say 'no,' but if you're going to make this the best proposal you can, then you should do all you can to make it good for her." Sheryl leans in and winks. "If you need someone to ask a few probing questions on your behalf, you know who to call~."
        
        She leans back to inspect the necklace again. She attempts to twist the necklace links as Akane describes, but she can't quite get it to go. "It is hard," she says, ultimately putting it back in the box and handing it back to Akane. "That's probably good, though. You wouldn't want to end up losing that gem in there because it comes apart too easily."
        
        She smiles mischievously at the question of what she's doing. "Here's a secret for you--I'm looking to do another global tour pretty soon. I've got a pre-tour concert set up soon as a promotion. I'm actually going to be leaving to work on getting that all set up in a couple of days. I can't give away all the details, but it's going to be dramatic."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane pushes a little hair out of her face; she needs a cut before too much longer, but she's been putting it off... it's nice to be going a little longer, but too much longer and she risks it getting kinda stringy. (Living with Rikka has taught her a lot more about hair care.)

"Ehe... it might be too early," Akane points out. "I could see her being the wait-till-after-college type? That's kinda why I'm feeling things out instead of just, you know, going for it." Sheryl offers to ask a few probing questions on her behalf, and Akane says, "... I might take you up on that, yeah."

Akane nods as Sheryl remarks on the difficulty. "The trick is that you have to be pushing in at the start and then know pretty much exactly when to pull on it instead. I wanted to do something a little challenging, and yeah, you really wouldn't want it to come apart whenever."

When Sheryl mentions a new global tour, Akane's eyes widen. "Oooo... I'll have to come for sure. The mood around the house after a concert is always pretty great. Good luck with promotion."

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        Rikka is a good person to learn more about hair care from. The only better is Sheryl herself! ...but that's because she's a professional who trades on her looks on top of her voice, so come on.
        
        "Ohh, good point," Sheryl muses, tapping a finger on her cheek. "When you put it like that, I don't know either--though obviously you know her a lot better than I do." She grins. "Just let me know when you need me to swoop in to help~!"
        
        The prospect of wingwomaning to help get Akane and Rikka married? Very exciting. Those two deserve to have a happy future together, and Sheryl wants to be a part of making sure it happens. (You know, again.)
        
        Hearing the trick gets another wide-eyed blink. "Oh really? Let me give it another shot, then!" She reaches for the box and tries again--but it's still tough. Still, this time she keeps at it.
        
        "You and Rikka are both invited if you can make it~" Sheryl's smile turns wry. "But you might not be able to make it. It's going to be over in Lagos, Nigeria, in the West Africa Community Union. Grace and I were talking, and we figured, if I'm going to be doing another global tour--I ought to make an impression over in a place I haven't performed before! It'll be in a few more weeks; I'll be sure to let you know the details once I can share them."
        
        She chuckles self-indulgently at the well wishes. "Sheryl Nome doesn't need luck! ...But I'll take it anyway," she adds with a wink.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

The enthusiasm is a bit much for Akane -- but she doesn't hate it, either. Nodding, she says, "I'll figure out everything I need to know and if I think of something that's better for you to ask than me, I'll let you know?" She leans down slightly and giggles, when she actually thinks about it. This sort of thing is pretty fun...

"Hehe, take your time. I don't mind resetting the stone or anything," Akane says, letting Sheryl play around with it. It's fun to watch someone do this sort of thing.

When Sheryl mentions that it's in West Africa, though, Akane has to take a little time to think. "That's NUNE territory, huh... it's not like the borders are closed or anything, but that's definitely a harder sell." A pause, before she adds, "... We already kind of wanted to head out that way, though. A while back we made a promise to go see Grande Cote, and we still haven't followed up. We were talking about going this summer, so that might be a chance to knock out two things at once."

The self-indulgent laughing gets a smile from Akane. "... Yeah -- I think you'll crush it," she agrees, giving a big smile back.

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        It'll taper off more in time. But for right now, Sheryl's enthusiasm is still very much powered by 'Shiny New Thing!!' even if she understands it's going to be a slow burn. Either way, since it is going to be a long time from now, as long as talking about it cheers Akane up, that's the most important part! "I'll be waiting~!"
        
        Sheryl's smile turns a touch wry at Akane's observation. "That's right. Grace was thinking that with all the upheavals the world's been going through, it'd be better to start with the shambles of the Federation. I don't plan on playing favorites, though, so even if it turns out you can't make this concert, there'll be more as part of the tour in the OCU and the OAC!"
        
        Assuming of course those territories sign off on having her tour in them--but given the Galactic Fairy's popularity, they'd be shooting themselves in the foot by refusing. Sheryl's quite confident of that, at least. She grins at Akane as she voices her confidence in her two--and then the two halves of the necklace click apart.
        
        "Oh!" she utters, fumbling the pieces a bit. Fortunately, she doesn't drop them, and the lab sapphire remains safe. "I got it!" Sheryl thus declares in delight.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Nodding, Akane agrees, "That sounds pretty smart." ... That manager of Sheryl's, though. Akane feels like she ought to tell her -- but at the same time, if they don't have enough actionable intelligence to do anything about Grace besides things Akane saw after all this time... maybe she should keep that to herself.

She looks off to one side, she focuses on the present moment instead. "I'll look forward to it either way," Akane agrees, with a bright smile -- just before Sheryl finally gets it. She watches closely to make sure the sapphire doesn't fall, and when it doesn't, she grins. "Hehehe... yeah! You got it. Sometimes I think about replacing the stone with something nicer, but at the same time, I think people who are picky about whether a stone is lab-grown or comes out of the ground are weirdos." She pauses, admitting, "I kinda wish the color was a little richer though..."

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        "People will always find something to be elitist about," Sheryl says dismissively. (Never mind that she used to be pretty elitist herself, what with looking down on talented amateurs. But then, that just means she knows what she's talking about.) She laughs at Akane's admission. "Then maybe you should replace it! Lab-grown sapphires are pretty cheap from what I hear, so it shouldn't be hard, and it won't break the bank either."
        
        Carefully, she snaps the necklace halves back in place, then sets it back in the box and hands it back to Akane. "I think Rikka would be happy with this. But I'm hardly going to tell you not to strive for perfection, either!" She winks. "You become the best by always demanding the best from yourself!" And really, doesn't Rikka deserve the best?
        
        "That was a neat little puzzle necklace, though. I don't think I would've gotten it if you hadn't told me the trick, but that's not my forte." She picks the sketchbook back up. "For now, though, let me go over the rest of your ring designs! I'll tell you which ones are my favorites!"
        
        Whether that's helpful or not is another story, since this is a ring for Rikka--but at least no one can question Sheryl Nome's eye for aesthetics.