2022-03-21: Wandering

• Log: 2022-03-21: Wandering
• Cast: Akane Shinjo, Eight York
• Where: Tsutsujidai Streets
• OOC - IC Date: 0096-03-21
• Summary: Eight gets more than a little lost.

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<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

There's a lot of days where Akane Shinjo just sits there and watches the world go by with a cup of coffee. It's the type of life a lot of people would love, but Akane...

... well, it's the one she asked for, and the one she feels she deserves, in every sense of the word, so...

Too-warm, too-still Tsutsujidai remains its quiet self. It's been weeks since the last kaiju attack. Its statue-still guardians -- all thirteen of them -- still stand their quiet vigil. Theoretically, this is one of a handful of times a year where high school sports *really* matter... but Tsutsujidai High doesn't have a volleyball team, and its baseball team has been sidelined with injuries. Nothing moves forward. Nothing creates memories.

It's just another day in a great grey mass of them, and Akane Shinjo is sitting in a Starbows with a disgustingly sweet coffee drink waiting for this one to pass, too.

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.

There are not a lot of days where Eight York just watches the world go by. She has a lot to do, as a general rule. But occasionally even she gets some time away, and she is using it! Or, rather... she was going to use it. As it turns out, she found herself here, and...

Well, whatever she does about it, she wants to do with a cup of coffee.

She's in a pale red dress with pink accents, cute boots, and generally not her uniform. And... she...

Can't feel hardly anyone here. She looks a little uncomfortable as she walks into the coffee shop, and walks up to the counter. "Whatever the house blend is is fine," she says, and glances around.

She projects a little discomfort, too, but can't do away with her generally warm demeanor.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Things start to move -- just a bit -- as Eight asks for coffee. Everything here moves slowly, really.

Akane orients on that discomfort fairly swiftly. At first, it's by making herself small... but there's a limit to how much retreating she can do in circumstances like this, now. She wraps her lips around her straw, closing her eyes for a moment.

She leans back, toward the counter, and watches Eight. After several moments, she offers, experimentally, "I like your boots." It's kind of a nothing conversation starter, but...

Unlike everyone else here, Akane can be felt pretty thoroughly; she feels the way the world around her feels, but... louder, more concentrated.

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.

Eight doesn't notice Akane immediately despite her strong sense, or rather, she notices her but can't identify her presence at first. It's when Akane speaks to her that she's able to register her presence, and there is an instant where Eight looks curious--before she breaks into a wide smile.

"Thanks!" she says, happy about both the compliment and finally finding someone to talk to here, a person who feels more like a person! "I got them in a little shop back on my home colony." She glances to the counter, and they'll take a minute to handle her order anyway she's pretty sure.

So she walks over to Akane instead. "What's your name? I'm Eight." She can't be much older than Akane. "You're the first person here who's been friendly."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Ahahaha, people kinda keep to themselves here," Akane says, with a dismissive little wave. "There are places that are kinda livelier, especially lately, but... this is a pretty sleepy ward." Isn't that what she wanted?

A spacenoid... hm. Akane may as well poke around with her a bit. The worst that happens is that she's just someone who's bumbled in here and she has a nothing interaction with someone she'll hopefully never see again. "Is this your first time in town?" she asks, pretty casual.

What may be more noticeable to Eight is that despite Akane just making casual conversation with her, Akane's *mental* stance feels -- overcautious. Like a dog smelling an unfamiliar smell, maybe -- and unusually hard to parse beyond the vaguest sense.

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.

"I see," Eight answers, and considers the description of the place as 'sleepy'. "Hmmm, I can see that. Well, sleepy's pretty nice sometimes too. I'm just a noisy kind of person, I think." She is kidding but not lying. A little laugh punctuates it.

And she is not shy about being a spacenoid at all. Some people would be, especially on Earth, but Eight isn't one of them. "Mm-hmm," Eight answers. "I came nearby once, but..." People don't remember battles, so, "But I didn't get a chance to actually hang out in town."

Very cautious. Maybe that makes sense, living in a place like this, with this kind of mental field. Or maybe she's like one of her friends...

"I was actually going to meet someone, but I guess I got lost," she admits. "I'm not used to how... sprawling, this city is." A beat, "But you talk like you're an old hat around here"

She does notice that Akane didn't give her name. She doesn't press on it, but it's definitely a thing that happened.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Ahaha, it's just the opposite! I only moved here like a year ago." She waves it off and gives a shake of her head, saying, "I just got used to it pretty fast." If that isn't the understatement of the century.

Came before... hm. "Who were you going to meet?" she asks, genuinely curious -- though she doesn't intend to linger on it. She needs time to think of a new conversation topic, though -- which leads her to realize she's just been a little rude.

"O -- oh, uh. Right. My name's Akane Shinjo. Sorry, I'm... kkkiiiiinda out of it. Exams were a couple weeks ago, and now one of my teachers thinks I need extra lessons to avoid getting bored..." Rubbing at the back of her head, she murmurs, "Consequences of being the ace of your class even when you skip all the time, I guess..."

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.

"Oh wow!" Eight seems impressed in that case. Would she be more, or less if she knew the Truth? Hard to say.

"Oh, my boyfriend," she explains, willing to talk about him in those terms since they're off duty. "We're both off so I was going to wander around the city a little."

ude!! Well there it is.

"Oh yeah, exams," Eight answers, seeming to understand immediately how that goes. Though, "That's fair. Especially if you've got extra lessons, too. I'm not sure I could've handled that, with all the extra stuff I was doing..."

"So you must be pretty smart! I think that's great."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Smart, popular, and pretty," Akane says, with a smile. "I used to be class rep, too, but the more class I skipped the harder it got to keep up with that stuff, so eventually I kicked it onto someone else."

She thinks about that for a little while. If she could do it over again, who would she want in that position? Someone smart enough to do the work of the position and driven enough to stick with it... someone who'd check up on her if she felt bored or disengaged or unhappy at school, without pressing it...

"Oh, cool," she says, about the boyfriend. "I guess I shoulda guessed from the look!" She starts plugging facts into each other, but doesn't land at anything too... *specific* yet. "So, hmmm..." She thinks a bit about what she could talk about...

... She's actually kind of bad at small talk. "If you're looking for somewhere to wander, I guess we could walk around a bit. I just come here to get out of my room!" ... That overcaution hasn't gone away at all, despite the fact that she's now volunteering to hang out.

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.

"Nice!" Rather than off-put by Akane's lack of modesty, Eight appreciates her confidence. The other part sounds less like a happy story, but it's not really Eight's business, and she didn't exactly never skip class herself. So she lets it go, instead--

"Haha, maybe. Thanks." Since it says it's a good enough look for seeing someone! But there's a hmmm, so Eight looks at Akane with a 'hm?' look back!

Reading her isn't particularly hard; she radiates good cheer despite the difficulties, though Akane may or may not realize how much of it comes from Akane herself. Akane could be green and it would still be--well, actually, being green wouldn't be a turnoff, so...

"Oh, yeah? I'd like that!" Eight answers. And maybe she can figure out why Akane is so cautious...

Well, maybe not. But she seems nice.

She can get her coffee on the way out. "I don't like being cooped up either. It's important to get out now and then."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"It's kind of a weird thing," Akane says, before she really thinks of it, on whether or not she likes being cooped up. She realizes that's probably too much to give Eight, though, and instead sips at her drink rather than elaborating. And so, the two of them start walking.

Akane takes the lead this time. She wants to see something, though her pace isn't particularly urgent. "So what do you do?" comes a next question, instead. She doesn't want to sound like she's *interrogating* Eight, but at the same time... "You said you and your boyfriend were both off, and it sounds like you don't get that kinda thing often! So I'm kinda curious."

A sip of her drink. Around the straw, she says, "It sounds like the last time you came here you were in kind of a rush, too..."

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.

"Oh yeah?" But Akane doesn't keep going on it, and Eight sees no reason to push, so she doesn't! She just grabs her coffee and sips at it too. "Mmmmm. Much better."

It hasn't stopped being weird and off-putting to be here, but Eight is better than most at putting that kind of thing down or aside, mentally. She used to have a lot of 'static' to deal with all the time.

Eight is willing to go at Akane's pace. And it's a normal question to ask, one that she has no reason to deny. So she doesn't!

"True," she says, "I don't! And I live where I work, so I don't really get away much." A beat, "I'm with the Federation. I run a ship for Londo Bell. We actually work together," her and her boyfriend, "But off-duty we can be a little more relaxed about things."

"I sure was though! I was just here to pick up one of our pilots, though."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Londo... Bell?" Akane's eyes widen a bit. She blinks a few times. She doesn't 'feel' as surprised as she is -- but then, her feelings seem like they're kind of a confused jumble anyway...

"Wait -- you're from... *really* out of town, aren't you?" On reflex, she moves just a bit away from Eight. (In truth, she'd already figured this one out; she's getting pretty good at spotting all the tells. On the other hand, that's something that just doesn't exist here, so...)

"Are you *really* here just 'cuz you got lost? There was a girl from your world at my school a couple weeks ago... she said she was with the Federation too. She cornered me in one of the stairwells..." What Akane's *voice* says is anxiety; what her feelings say, though... is a lot more primal. Indeed, there's so much bound up in it that it's hard to tell *what* it is; anger is a good candidate, but everything kind of winds in on itself and becomes barely-intelligible anyway.

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.

Oh, right. Their history is different. Eight realizes what could be a mistake--and then realizes something else. "And you know about people from outside," she says, though not with any accusation--more that she's thinking aloud about it.

It's... really hard to place her emotions. This place is giving Eight a headache.

"And you don't just mean I'm from space," she points out, though she knows they both knowthat's true. "A girl from my world at your school? I guess they started sending people in to investigate. No, I'm actually just here because I got lost; I'm interested in this world, but it's pretty far outside my mandate, so I can't really justify spending any official time investigating it beyond asking a few questions here and there."

"Sorry about that girl," she says, with a grimace. "She shouldn't have done that."

Eight isn't lying, at least. ...She's been holding back that she knows some things about this place, but what she says is honest.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"I started figuring things out a couple months ago," Akane admits, glancing off. "It's getting pretty obvious. I know about the kaiju attacks and stuff, too. You don't need to dress it up." What has Akane's attention most of all is that Eight describes herself as 'interested in this world.'

Something about that simultaneously gets Akane more on edge and less... whatever that mess in her brain is. On balance, the intensity goes back down. "It's fine. I bet there's a whole bunch of messy stuff over there," she says, but quickly builds to greater curiosity as --

"What's interesting about it? I mean, I'm pretty sure we're just another world from yours. It's not that weird -- like, Tarabaman has that kinda stuff to justify why shows aren't all in the same continuity..." With a shrug, she admits, "... most people would probably find it weirder, though."

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.

"Oh, okay. Sorry; I didn't want to spook you if you didn't know." But she doesn't sound that bothered about it. For some reason though, Akane... is she protective of her world? That would make sense. But is it just that?

"That's true," she answers. "It's a lot more peaceful over here... except for the kaiju attacks. Which is admittedly a pretty big 'except.'"

"Hmm. Well, it's a whole other world with a different timeline! That's cool, isn't it? ...I guess it probably feels less cool when you don't get to visit the other world and people just show up in yours." Other people would find it weirder... "I like new places in general, though. That's part of why I signed up with the Federation in the first place."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

This actually short-circuits Akane's original plan -- she was *going* to lead Eight around town in the directions of the various still, statuesque kaiju, and watch her reactions, but now... that's not as necessary. So she defaults to leading her toward Sevendarake at an easy pace. They might not even end up getting there.

"Even then, most people don't think about the kaiju, or even remember... so yeah, it's pretty peaceful," Akane agrees, with a nod. "And -- hm, well... I've managed to piece together a lot of what's different from talking to out-of-towners. It's kind of a hobby!" With a slightly hapless expression, she admits, "I don't have my good notes anymore, though, 'cuz I gave them to a guy from your world. I'm trying to get him to take care of one of the things that keeps showing up -- the, uh... I think it's called a Mazin-type?"

That's a little too much information, unless this woman's going to bring her ship here, so... "I've moved around a lot, so I kinda get it," Akane admits, on 'new places.' "But... I definitely don't think I'm up for the kind of crazy stuff that sounds like it's going on in your world. Then again, I think a few kids in my class have gotten out there, so it's gonna be my business eventually, huh?"

Aaaaand she's upset again. Or angry, or in pain, or doubting... there's a lot of things it could be. Not that you'd know from her expression. *She* might not even realize she's feeling as much as she is.

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.

Eight will have to leave eventually--or at least, she'd like to. It's interesting and all, but she had plans. Guess this might be something to talk about, though.

Peaceful! Eight nods. "Oh, yeah? So there's a lot of us, then. Kinda weird that it's only happening now." Eight doesn't interrogate her own idea that much, but it is kind of strange. "I guess I'd have the same hobby in your place." She considers. "I'm not familiar," she admits. "But I hope he can do it!"

Hmmmm. Upset, angry... Doubting. There's a lot here.

"I'm worried for the people here because of the kaiju... but it's true that there's a lot of bad things that happen in our world. But all we can do is try to make it better, right? I'm sure you feel that way about your world, too."

"...Anyway if people keep mixing from each world, it probably will be your business sooner or later. But I hope that you can continue living mostly peacefully."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

That prompts... a mixed reaction. Something else slips into that emotional signature -- though it's all but drowned out under everything else. "Your world doesn't sound fixable... I kinda hope its crap stops spilling over here, to be honest!" Akane smiles pleasantly, despite the... inherently hostile nature of the subject matter. "I do want to make my world better, though."

She considers something. A ship... Londo Bell markings... hm. Her expression turns a little flatter, as does her tone. More serious, now. "That first time you came here -- to pick up one of your pilots. That wasn't... about two months ago, was it?" It's definitely her business, now.

Brow furrowing, she starts to explore that forward a little bit...

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.

What is the something...? Hmm. "A lot of people think so," Eight admits. "But I don't. Still, I don't want our world to trouble yours, either." It's definitely incongruous. There is something... weird, about Akane, and it seems all the more tue in this moment. Especially as she gets flatter.

So Eight does what she does best: charges head-first into the situation.

"Yeah, that sounds right," Eight says. "There was a kaiju. I sent shuttles to help with the evacuation effort, and my ship helped a little in the battle."

She's still smiling though.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Well -- that's certainly confirmation. "Huh, okay. That's the first actual kaiju attack I remember," she says, with a nod. "Evacuations... hm. Hrm." She chews on that for a few seconds.

"... You don't know any of the folks from... I guess we're 2-E now, actually," Akane concedes, pulling out her phone, "do you?" She starts poking around a bit for a class picture. "I noticed a lot of people started skipping more for a little while, after that..."

She pulls up a class picture -- specifically one from a celebration last year. "Oh, uh -- I was holding the camera for this one," Akane says, as she points her phone Eight's way. "So I'm not in it. But everyone else is there." She asks, "Anyone you recognize?"

... then again, she *was* former class rep. Maybe she's just territorial.

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.

"Yeah. We got a lot of people out of harm's way, though not everybody--without a prepared evacuation plan, there's only so much a few shuttles can do."

2-E 'now'. It sticks out for Eight. But she pulls out her phone, and Eight peers over at the picture when she shows it, rather than answering immediately. After all, it's not like she knows what classes they're in. But as she looks... Her expression doesn't really blip. Pleasant, but no sparks.

"I didn't get to meet the evacuees," she says with the tone of an admission. "My first officer handled all that. I was busy with that third kaiju. You know, it's funny? We don't have any records of how to get back here."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Well, that at least tells Akane she'd need to find someone else to bother -- which is fine, admittedly. "Hm, okay," she says, taking her phone back. "Yeah, I hear that a lot," she concedes, "about the evacuation plan. I dunno if it'll keep happening long enough to end up necessary, though! Like... my best guess is that that giant and the kaiju have only been at it a few months. I bet this'll just blow over soon."

She lets out a breath. Takes another sip of her coffee. "Anyway, I've been tracking that kinda stuff too. A lot of people come in through the train stations... and I guess your world's Junius 7, too, though I think there's something weird about that...?"

That's a whole-ass nuclear debris field. A little weird to be a happening hot spot dimensionally.

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.

Eight just has a 'feeling' that she doesn't want to reveal the Gridman Alliance to someone outside them. Something about the way Akane is approaching this...

Well, it's fine. "You think so?" she asks. "Well, that'd be great, wouldn't it? So do you think the kaiju here are from our world, then?"

She can ask questions, too!

Sips her coffee as well. "Hmm, yeah? It was the train station for me today," she admits freely. But then she pauses. This actually throws Eight a little, because she blinks at Akane a few times and lifts an eyebrow.

"...Yeah," she says, since there's no sense in keeping it secret. "Junius Seven was destroyed in a nuclear attack last year. If anybody's coming from there... they're not doing it from 'our' world."

She's pretty sure time and space are the same thing, or something like that she learned in science classes. But she's also very sure it's a nuclear debris field.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Usually, Akane can keep her reactions down. The mention of Junius Seven's nuclear attack, though, prompts a flinch. It's small -- and actually enough to get her into a *different* negative psychic loop, at least. The shape of reaction is... a little more toward fear, maybe? It definitely retains that jumbled, inhuman quality, though. "Well... maybe? One of the people I know got here from there was a ZAFT pilot... ZAFT is ceremonial on our world, but if they're doing debris survey..."

She shakes her head. "... okay, no, that's kinda beyond me." Or at least, an amount of thinking about it that she doesn't want to do with someone she doesn't trust.

So she loops back. "Huh. The kaiju... *could* be from your world, I guess," she reflects, despite the fact that she knows damn well where the kaiju come from. "I know the Mazin-type is from over there. ... man, this is a lot." She slumps, suddenly, glancing over to a bus stop.

Rubbing at the back of her head, she lets out a nervous laugh and admits, "Prooooobably not the kinda thinking you want to do on your day off, anyway, ehehehehe..."

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.

That's fair. It should provoke a flinch. Eight feels a little bad for getting Akane into something afraid, but this place and this weird inhuman quality is kind of wearing at her the more she's here and the more she's feeling it, so she doesn't feel that bad. This place is...

Well, she doesn't like it.

When Akane says it's beyond her, Eight nods with a sort of 'yeah that's fair' expression rather than pressing it or sharing her own thoughts on the matter. Maybe there's more than one 'world' meeting here... Which makes this place altogether more important, not less.

But the kaiju--"If they showed up around the same time as people from other worlds, then it's entirely possible they're from somewhere else, too. Though..." She gestures, "They also just seem to stand around, so... I guess they're dormant or something?"

It is a lot, though. "Ahah. Yeah, it's not exactly what I had in mind, you know?" She doesn't actually mind--her off time is exactly when she gets to think about weird things like this--but...

"Maybe you could tell me which bus goes to the train station? He's probably wondering where I ended up by now."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Oh! You can see the dormant ones too, huh -- I was wondering about that," Akane says, but she doesn't drill down on it much. Instead, she's at last given a chance to do her favorite thing: help out.

This actually clamps down the negative feelings a lot -- indeed, she seems... excited. Not just excited, but like -- *normal person* excited. "Usually I don't go to the train station unless I'm going somewhere with my classmates," Akane admits, "so this part I still have to walk myself through... but I'm probably more used to it than you are." She jogs over to the bus stop, and starts looking at the map.

"Hmm -- oh, it's... I think this green line. People usually have good luck with the line out to Sakuragaoka... I've never seen someone end up back in town right away after taking it, or anything, and I've seen them come *back* so I'm pretty sure it's not... you know, sending them into space. The next one's not for half an hour, though..."

She takes a breath, then adds, "If you wanna hit a fast food place or something, I have 20 gilla in my bag here somewhere... I don't mind spotting you for a meal or something! Normally I'd want to sit with you, but I bet you'd rather get going."

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.

It's... Kinda weird, but not unwelcome, that Akane seems to feel better at this. But then, Eight likes to help people, herself. Maybe Akane's like that too. Maybe this weird feeling about her isn't her fault! Eight doesn't retroactively feel guilt over the Junius Seven thing, but she does go along with it pretty amiably.

"That makes sense," Eight answers. "Ha, yeah. Earth cities are so... sprawling, you know?" She isn't used to it even now. But she jogs over, too. And she listens...

"Oh cool. --Ha! Yeah I have places to be before I get back to space," she answers pleasantly enough. Then... she thinks about it. Ordinarily she wouldn't want to impose... But Akane really seems to want to help...

"Yeah? I'd appreciate that. I don't really carry a lot of cash, and I'm pretty sure they'd decline my cards here..."

"Thanks. You're welcome to hang out while I wait--but I don't wanna keep you too long, either."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

... Yeah, this is definitely what's going on. Once the interaction shifts fully, Akane starts fussing with her bag. It takes a minute. "Just a second, I know I can find something in here," she says, fumbling.

Huh. *Would* they decline Eight's cards...? Or would the transaction just be on hold? Either way -- she keeps fumbling for a bit and eventually finds... about 17 loose gilla. It's all crumpled bills and loose change, not stored in any kind of wallet or even a pocket within the bag. Offering it to Eight, she says, "Here you go! I feel like there's a couple more Gs in there but... yeah, you probably don't wanna wait for me to find 'em."

She takes a seat on the bench inside the bus stop. She's... leveled off again, at least. "Good luck with all the messes over in your world. It sounds like you're gonna need it."

<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.

Eight can wait. It's worth it to give Akane something she's more comfortable with, after that interaction. Eight's still not sure what to make of her, admittedly, but it's nice to be nice and give someone a chance to do their thing. So she does!

She just assumes they wouldn't have her credit information on record. Unless there's a mysterious Other Eight here! Is that how parallel worlds work?

"Thanks!" Eight says with a smile, and laughs a little. "Yeah, if I'm gonna catch something before I go I better hurry."

Levelled off... 'It sounds like you're gonna need it.'

"I will," she says. "But it'll work out. You'll see." She smiles, and waves, before heading off.

...No, there's not a chance she's actually going to be able to eat here. But she can pretend.

What a weird place...