2022-09-26: Give and Take

• Log: 2022-09-26 Give and Take
• Cast: Sheryl Nome, Alexis Kerib
• Where: Macross Frontier Colony Fleet
• OOC - IC Date: September 26, 0096 (2022)
• Summary: Sheryl gets an unwelcome visitor.

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<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        The life of a diva is a busy one. The GUTS Deculture Festival might be done, and Sheryl might have a spot of free time, but she still needs to do exercise to keep herself trim and in shape, she still needs to study and practice her VF flying, she still needs to show up for photoshoots and TV spots and interviews and all sorts of other things. (Nosing into Brera's past might well be one of those sorts of other things... but Grace doesn't need to know about that. (Even though she likely already does.))
        
        And then, of course, there's her beauty regime. Sheryl might be blessed with natural beauty, but beauty is something that needs to be continually cultivated and polished. She has regular weekly spa treatments, but she's also got a daily and nightly regime. It's hard work, looking this amazing.
        
        For tonight, at least, she's already done. Her face mask is off; her skin is scrubbed and cleansed; her hair is washed and dried. Now she just needs to relax before she gets her beauty sleep. Grace has left to take care of some manager things, and Brera doesn't outright live with her, so she's got the place to herself for right now. She can just veg.
        
        ...Or she would, except... as she flips through a fashion magazine as she sprawls on a couch in her Frontier high-rise apartment, she's reminded of that time that Akane called her out of the blue. She'd been in her room at the time, granted, but these wall-to-wall windows go from room to room, and the view is more or less the same.
        
        As she looks up and out through them, the lights of the city twinkling off her drop crystal earring, she wonders what that annoying brat (poor girl) is up to right now.

<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.

Akane is melting down at speed. Alexis doesn't fully mind this; he would have liked to savor her pain just a bit longer, but the Universal Century is full of lost, lonely girls. (... and boys, but, Alexis is a predator with a type. Not that he would turn down a boy with the right sort of misery, but.)

Oh, to be sure, picking from the array of options he's met in his time with Akane will be a little difficult -- many of them think of him as a predator already! -- but he's sure he can make their misery plenty interesting without being quite so tangled-up with them.

Sheryl's gaze goes out to the city beyond -- and no sooner has she turned her gaze out from her room than there is another presence inside it. At the very least, though: that presence announces itself.

"I apologize for the intrusion, but much has begun to happen! I hope this isn't a bad time -- I tried to pick a moment when you had plenty of free time, and those are a bit of a rarity for you, Miss Nome!" A beat. "Where are my manners, though? You may call me Alexis Kerib."

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        There's one good thing about this encounter, and that's that Sheryl knows who Alexis is and what he looks like. After the ill-fated Tsutsujidai concert, she asked Grace about it, and she showed her a holographic image of the man (entity?) that arranged the concert in the first place. So when Alexis appears at her back and announces himself, it only goes as far as Sheryl scrambling off the couch like a startled cat with a yelp and hurling her magazine at his masked face.
        
        WHAP.
        
        ...That's the sound it'll make if she's on-target. Sheryl isn't exactly at her best right this second.
        
        However, once she's on her feet and heaving for breath and reaching for a couch pillow and anything else that might be in reach, the look of him registers, and she realizes--even before he says his name--that she knows who this is.
        
        This doesn't stop her from demanding, "How did you get in here?! This is supposed to be a secure building! I have bodyguards!!" Already she's eschewing the pillow and reaching for something heftier--in this case, the lamp that was set on the end table next to the couch, illuminating her reading material while she was still reading a minute ago. She raises it threateningly, even though her poor grip betrays it's more a bluff than anything else. That also doesn't stop her from adding, "If you don't explain yourself in the next ten seconds, I'll call my bodyguard in here, and you'll be in real trouble then!!"

<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.

The magazine hits Alexis in the face -- a gesture he meets with a gentle "Ope!" and a good-natured laugh. "Again -- I really must apologize! I move differently from the way humans move," he explains, "and sometimes it unsettles you! I really ought to be kinder about these things, but it's difficult to remember..."

Taking a moment to reorient himself a little bit, he says, "I just wanted to stop by and have a chat. Don't worry -- I have no intention of hurting you! The horrible business with the woman from Chasseur aside -- really much messier than it needed to be -- I find such actions to be... hm. Gauche, I suppose." Not reprehensible, but. Well. At least he isn't going to attack?

"Please, please, put down the lamp." He takes several steps back -- and they are steps, out of deference to Sheryl's worry. He even reveals the emptiness of his hands! "I was just wondering how things have been since your performance in Tsutsujidai! It was such a pity that Akane felt the urge to attack it..."

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        "That's not an explanation!" Sheryl snaps, climbing up on top of the couch to attempt to smash that lamp right in Alexis's faace. He's already ahead of her, though, stepping backwards out of reach and lifting his hands to reveal there's nothing in them. It doesn't precisely calm her down, but combined with his aggressive non-aggression, it does give her pause long enough to not follow through with her threat to call in her bodyguard.
        
        "If you wanted to know, you could've asked Grace. You already have her number, right? You're the one who set it up with her," she points out, rife with suspicion--but at least leaning over to set the lamp back in place. It keeps slipping out of her grip, anyway.
        
        "Anyway, don't you know it's also gauche to barge into a lady's apartment unannounced? Keep it up and people will think you're a weird pervert," Sheryl declares, folding her arms. She doesn't step down from the couch. It doesn't make her as tell as Alexis, but it still gives her some much-needed height.
        
        "And that's not what Akane said. There were some perverts of her own she had to deal with, and she was out to attack them, according to her," Sheryl adds, raising her chin. She doesn't understand what he means about the woman from Chasseur, so she chooses to glide right past that. "If you're trying to sell me a story, you'd better get it straight first, Alexis Kerib."
        
        ...Seems like she also doesn't quite understand what his purpose here is. But that's a good thing--for him.

<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.

"Hm. Is it?" Alexis asks, sounding quite surprised. (He's thinking something completely different, of course -- after all, Akane has impressed on him quite extensively that young ladies deserve the privacy of their own rooms -- even when they're not in them! But Alexis is nothing if not absolutely stellar at playing dumb.)

He breezes past it though. "Hm -- oh, you're aware? I'm actually mildly surprised -- I assumed Grace would keep her secrets! But there's nothing that can be hidden from you, I suppose. I assume Grace tells you plenty about herself and what she's doing! Even how we met?"

He doesn't need to tell her of Grace's connections to the Galaxy Fleet, and by extension BioNet; he'll just let her chase that down on her own time. "... really. Akane-kun didn't even tell me that," Alexis reflects, and for a moment he's genuinely surprised and a little unsure of how to proceed. "She must be quite close to you... or want something from you very badly."

He gets back away from that. "So -- I must admit, now that you've brought it up, that I'm very curious what you and Grace have discussed. She seems like a very dutiful manager."

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        Sheryl rolls her eyes when Alexis plays dumb. "Aren't you basically the mayor of Tsutsujidai?" (He isn't, but that's how she continues to remember him after her assumptions while that initial concert was set up. "How could you spend so much time around a teenage girl and not know that? Are you an idiot, or are you just playing one?"
        
        The mention of Grace and how much she tells Sheryl gets a little frown. Grace... hadn't told her a lot about the arrangements she'd made for the Tsutsujidai concert, but that was only at the time. They'd talked about it more later, afterwards, and Grace had apologized for getting too greedy about a new market. So if Sheryl doesn't actually know how Grace and Alexis met, well, that's not a big deal, right?
        
        "She is a dutiful manager. She tells me what I need to know. Like how you're a creep who shouldn't be trusted, and she regrets ever working with you," Sheryl says bluntly, partly because it's all true and partly because she isn't feeling charitable to someone who just shows up in her apartment, no matter how nice he tries to act. If this causes Grace trouble later, she can thank her for it, as far as Sheryl's concerned.
        
        But it's a little surprising to her that Alexis is surprised by the news about the college creeps. So she hadn't told him about it...? Granted that Sheryl made some assumptions about that; Akane danced around the subject plenty... but Sheryl's a teenage girl too. She can read between the lines plenty well. And considering she knows perfectly well what Akane wants from her, she doesn't see a need to weigh in on that.
        
        "What about you? What exactly are you to Akane, anyway?" she counters. "I know she's 'God,' and you're essentially her manager. When you and Grace arranged that concert, it was with Akane's greenlight, so it seems like she trusts you enough to do things on her behalf. But I don't ever hear anything good about you."

<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.

Sheryl assumes he's the mayor, and Alexis laughs. "Hardly! Tsutsujidai turns around Akane-kun's whim. All I do is bring her designs to life! She desires much, and I make those desires real." Good or bad, apparently.

"Well -- she had mentioned something about 'creeps and pervs,' but not anything terribly specific." Is Alexis just... oblivious? Does he not make connections? Certainly the act he's putting on here sounds like someone who just does not make inferences when data is presented. "It seems I may have taken the wrong meaning from her statement... ah, well. It can't be helped."

The topic of Grace is more interesting, anyway. "Really! She had such horrible things to say about me? I suppose that can't be helped either -- certainly I allowed things to get riskier than they had to," he reflects, though he does sound genuinely hurt. "I had hoped we could be better friends, however. As you say -- we're both managers, I suppose!"

Is that really all Alexis sees in Grace, to be that put out?

"Let me ask you a question of my own, if you hear so little good about me," Alexis reflects. "If the Earth Sphere is such a source of constant pain -- what is someone suffering that pain entitled to ask for as recompense?" He doesn't wait for an answer, instead finishing, "I simply give Akane-kun the tools she asks for to handle the pain she feels! Is that truly so bad...? Humans are quite contradictory."

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        Alexis says a lot. Sheryl doesn't think she really understands anything more about him once he's finished talking. He either is incredibly slick, or he really is that dumb, and she doesn't like that she can't tell which. Thinking back, even Grace couldn't tell... Sheryl might have rephrased what she'd told her in the harshest way possible, but back then, Grace had admitted she wasn't sure if he was trying to make her uncomfortable on purpose or not.
        
        Sheryl absolutely isn't going to clarify that for him, though. If that hurts his feelings, let him be hurt.
        
        Still, talking to him now, she gets why Grace said that. He seems affable enough. But... god, just look at him. If he's really that affable, why does he make himself look like such an obvious villain? His head is on fire, for god's sake!
        
        She frowns at his question. Internally, though, it strikes a nerve. Not about the Earth Sphere--her experiences here have been mixed but largely positive--but about Galaxy. It had been her home, but she'd hated living there as an orphan. For a time, it had been a source of constant pain. What was she entitled to ask for as recompense? Was she entitled to anything? Sure, she's the Galactic Fairy now, and Galaxy was the stage for her debut, but that was because of a mix of luck (Grace happening to come across her on the streets) and hard work (her busting her chops to live up to the potential Grace saw in her). And given the kind of thing Alexis is talking about, what Sheryl's already seen of the tools he gives her to handle her suffering...
        
        "Just because a system causes you pain doesn't entitle you to lashing out and hurting anyone in your way," Sheryl says coolly. "You're not making things better for Akane, you're making them worse."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Alexis sees that he's struck a nerve, if only for an instant. He decides he likes that -- and doesn't mind playing around with Grace's charge a little longer. She's fun, and the undercurrent of desperation he sees in her is an entertaining-enough diversion.

Akane, right now, is hunched at a desk painstakingly carving a masterpiece of a kaiju. Alexis appreciates the process, but he doesn't need to see this one because he doesn't really understand the paradigm she's operating under; he can afford to mess around for a little while longer.

"That's the answer you'd give? That speaks to a great kindness in your heart -- but is everyone obligated to be so?" he asks, the teal panels of his mask blinking off and on. "I'd say it's a little arrogant to assume that the amount you're willing to ask for works for every lonely girl in the world. She should have the same chances as anyone else to decide what power means to her!"

Glancing out toward the city, Alexis muses, "If that doesn't accord with your values, and the difference is intractable... I suppose the Universal Century has developed means of sorting that out, too!"

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        "Oh, shut up," Sheryl snaps, unfolding her arms to shift her weight and plant a hand on her hip. It sounds brusque, but there's defensiveness there, too. Being someone who suffered, alone and powerless, she doesn't like being told that she's selfish to project her experiences on other alone and powerless girls. She doesn't like being told that she and Akane are more different than they are alike.
        
        If she were asked why she doesn't like that, she wouldn't have an answer. She just has how she feels.
        
        "That's not the point! If Akane wants to get revenge on the world or whatever, she should take it out on the people who actually hurt her. Building her her own personal sandbox and enabling her to crush anyone she doesn't like is just--treating her like a spoiled child!" Sheryl thus presses. (If there's any parallels there between Akane and herself, she doesn't see them.) "How's she supposed to learn how to stand on her own two feet if you coddle her like that?!"

<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.

Alexis has a moment of genuine pause -- or at least something that seems that way. "Hm. I suppose it's immaterial if it was her personal sandbox right now, though, isn't it? It's as much a part of your world as any other colony now -- subject to its rules, as is she. And she seems to have decided who her enemies are -- the Earth Federation, and beings like Gridman."

Alexis turns that one over in his head a little more fully, though -- if only because Sheryl seems so interested in pressing it. The flames at his head lick at the air as he muses, "Does anyone truly stand on their own two feet, though?"

He loves to hear himself talk, and he has a great opportunity to. So he does! "Isn't that what everyone arrayed against her likes to talk so much about? The power of bonds -- the idea that no human needs to stand alone? How is what I'm doing for her any different from what Grace does for you? What the rest of the Nadesico does for its captain and its technical officer? She cried for help in facing a cruel world, and I was happy to provide it freely, asking nothing but that she uses that power for what she deems best!"

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        If Alexis has a moment of maybe-genuine pause, Sheryl has a moment of definitely-genuine pause. Tsutsujidai, a part of her world now? What is he talking about? But to ask him about that would be to tip him off to her ignorance, so she makes a mental note to track down Renais or Nidaime or someone and ask them about it. For the moment, she blinks rapidly, then narrows her eyes. She told Alexis to shut up; he responds by talking even more. She purses her lips as she narrows her eyes. When she and Grace had discussed him, they'd talked about people who act nice but are actually sleazy. He really does give off that vibe.
        
        Yet as much as she hates to admit it, even if only to herself, he has a point. Humans don't live alone, standing on their own two feet. Sheryl's gotten where she's gotten because she worked hard for her success, but at the same time, she had a chance for that success because of Grace's constant support. She'd never have gotten as far as she did without an equally hard-working manager. And a ship like the Nadesico sure couldn't fly or fight without a full crew. So, because Sheryl doesn't have a good comeback for that, she sighs and lets it go.
        
        "Okay. Let's take it on your word, then, that you're just misunderstood and you really do want to help Akane," she says with cool evenness. "If that's really what you want--why does she lounge around in her own garbage? And don't give me some line about how you thought that was normal for humans or whatever. I don't know what kind of alien or whatever you are, but would you wallow in the trash?"

<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.

An interesting question -- and a practical one. (Alexis gets a picture of Sheryl that is more comprehensive and perhaps a little closer to the truth from this as a point of inflection in her mind; it's definitely, firmly 'interesting.')

"Again -- she chooses this for herself!" Alexis says. "One time a friend of mine showed up to check in on her -- very old friend, we've been through so much together --" (Alexis was too young and stupid to get any of it but that's neither here nor there) "and the very next day she brought it back! If she wants such things, then surely they must have meaning to her. You're right that I've never seen another human choose to live among junk in such a way on purpose, but..."

He looks to Sheryl one last time, then affirms, "... I think I may be outstaying my welcome, from the shift in your tone. Shall I see myself out?" At least he's courteous about it.

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        Of course she's interesting. She's Sheryl Nome! ...But she can't say she's crazy about being interesting to someone like Alexis.
        
        To the very end, though, she can't suss out his true nature. Maybe he really is that oblivious. Maybe he's just faking it. She's inclined towards 'faking it,' but he's done an impressive job of keeping up the mask to the very end if so. Even so, it sounds like she scored a point in the end.
        
        "Take it from me: there's no way any girl who lies around in the garbage is happy about herself," Sheryl states. (Unintentionally telling, that 'take it from me.') "If you really do care about Akane and want the best for her, maybe you should start putting more effort into actually understanding how she feels instead of treating it like a joke you don't get."
        
        She could almost laugh when he suggests that he may have overstayed his welcome. She gives him a sweetly icy smile instead. "Oh, are you just now noticing? You were never welcome in the first place." She tosses her hair imperiously, as graceful as a snow queen. "The next time you want an interview with the Galactic Fairy, talk to my manager first."
        
        She says this with the unwavering faith that Grace would tell him, out of genuine concern for her, to buzz the hell off.

<Pose Tracker> Alexis Kerib has posed.

"Hm! I shall take your thoughts under advisement," Alexis agrees, pleasantly, before starting to head out; he doesn't seem to mind being unwelcome. "We'll see what Akane thinks of them!"

Once he leaves Sheryl's line of sight for even a moment, he is of course totally gone.

<Pose Tracker> Sheryl Nome has posed.

        "Great! Tell her I said hi," Sheryl says breezily.
        
        She watches him like a hawk as he moves to leave. However, a twinkle of light at her back, out the bay windows, makes her glance that way reflexively. She looks back a second later, but--
        
        "He's gone already?!" she murmurs. Slowly, she steps down from the couch. That exchange didn't leave her feeling good... She's definitely going to have to talk to someone about it. And maybe bring Brera along with her. If Alexis had meant her harm, Sheryl's not confident she could have held him off long enough for Brera to save her, and that genuinely leaves her shaken.