2022-11-06: Lyrework

• Log: 2022-11-06- Lyrework
• Cast: Orpheus Zevon, Akane Shinjo
• Where: Tsutsujidai - Karaoke
• OOC - IC Date: 0096-11-06
• Summary: Orpheus and Akane follow up with each other on their unsteady alliance.

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<Pose Tracker> Orpheus Zevon has posed.

Akane Shinjo has made what could only be described as bustling days for herself. What had once been a sealed off city from the rest of the world, had now become home to those who had found a certain kind of relief, perhaps one could even say "salvation", as the God of Tsutsujidai allowed for new blood to enter into the city.

To those that know of this god, know better though. They see it for what it is, an illusion. Or are those the words that heroes use to justify their own actions. The words they'll say as they prepare to knowingly steal the happiness of others.

It is because of these struggles and more that Akane Shinjo receives a message from that phone. A number that only appears as OZ in the contact information. The contents of the message were simple. A time, a place, and a location. Little more information would be provided beyond that.

However the message that was returned was just as simple: Choose another location.

And that is what led to where Akane had found herself now. Still within the confines of her own city she finds herself entering into a location she probably wouldn't have imagined she would have been frequenting. For the moment she entered the building that bustled even into the night. The moment she walked in was the sound of questionable singing over the intercoms, the bumble of other students enjoying the weekend as they mingled and prepared for a night of song, food, and friends.

At first, there might have been doubt of using such a place. After all, with the types of people she might have expected to contact her using that unique number, the idea of a meeting in this kind of place perhaps seemed unusual, maybe even incorrect. Though, as she found the room number that she had been provided there'd be no more room to doubt as she'd see who was inside.

"Come in and lock the door behind you."

The person she finds is the very same. He still wears his long blonde-hair in that braid. His emerald gaze adorned with the beauty mark under his right eye while sharp is kept from staring too heavily as she makes her arrival. Though as she enters there is the briefest scanning of her person, and the area behind her as she enters. "Just you?"

The question is asked as if there really was no guarantee, but either way, he'll leave his thoughts on any guests. Instead, as she'd situate herself, the young man before her stays rather quiet. The atmosphere in the room contrasts so much with the vibe of the karaoke hall.

Ultimately he does cut through the silence again as his voice raises over any music playing. "So. . .It seems your plan's working out thus far. From what I hear from the locals, you've turned Tsutsujidai into a place where one can settle down to make their dreams come true"

It's clear there was more to say. It was there that there would be more that surely needed to be discussed. Though at least for starting this dialogue, he had assumed slow and steady would have been the best path.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

A karaoke bar isn't the worst thing in the world; Akane'd never initiate a trip to a karaoke bar but neither does she mind the atmosphere, at least. She makes sure to snag a tomato juice on her way in; she doesn't really want any of the traditional food (or any food -- it's been more than a year since she's eaten a single damn thing, almost) but she does want a comfort item. She gets a large cup of it, rather than the traditional box -- and when she arrives at the room, she's got her lips wrapped around that straw.

"Jush me," she says around it, not even bothering to lower the cup to speak; her expression is a fairly serious one despite that, as she looks at Orpheus. She seems fairly pleased with herself as she settles into a seat in the room, fairly eager to be away from the noise in the rest of the building. The soundproofing (and added noise masking anything that escapes the soundproofing) is a nice benefit here.

"Yeah, right?" she replies, as she slides the straw away from her lips to answer Orpheus a little more fully. "These are the people who keep fighting me... but they understand me now, so they won't anymore. I can't say it's worked out totally perfectly, but it's close!" She doesn't mind laying it out for Orpheus, who already knows so much of the game.

"Some of these are a little harder than others. A lot of people are... pretty attached to the way they already understand the world." No sense of irony in her words, either. "But I'm pretty persuasive! I should have everything over and done with pretty soon."

Thinking on what that means, she goes to take another sip from her tomato juice again. "Kinna sucksh for GUTS. They had someping plamned thish year with the high thcool," she mumbles around her straw, "but I wann' go back to a big re'uction in shhhchool evensh."

A long sip, before she gives Orpheus an appraising look. "Going somewhere with this one?"

<Pose Tracker> Orpheus Zevon has posed.

There's a bit of a look that he gives with a raised brow as she speaks through her straw, "If you want me to understand what you're saying you're gonna need to choose between drink or talk." It's not as reprimanding in tone as it sounds at least. Just a notice that if she wants him to understand her there's definitely going to need some level of clarity. Like her though he's brought a drink of his own, a bottle of green tea. There's a slow slip as he listens to her explain which people she's taken in.

"I assume what keeps it from being perfect is that you still have a certain someone who. . .Refuses to see your point of view?"

There's no need to specify who that person is. If anything he's honestly more curious what 'perfect' for her really means. Simply to have all her new friends understand her, or those that didn't to just. . . Leave her alone.

There's another moment as she makes mention of the more difficult cases, to which he finds himself asking something rather blunt of his own, "I imagine you would be at this point. Otherwise, you'd probably end up with more people like me to deal with afterwards." As far as he'd known thus far there had definitely been those that Akane likely sicked Bujack upon, though how many had ended up being deemed incapable candidates for the dream, even he wasn't sure of.

Again he'd take another sip before capping his bottle, waiting as she ends up bringing up her own question before he speaks up. "No. " It's pretty to the point before beginning to take up a menu from the karaoke bar that was left on the table, skimming the items as he spoke up.

"Believe it or not, I'm simply checking in on your situation. I ended up speaking with Yuta Hibiki and his friends. Your name had come up, along with them being aware of your current. . . Recruitment."

He looks her in the eyes though, gauging her reaction to that before making an additional note, "Also if for whatever reason it comes up, we ended up meeting already while I was at your school attending those GUTS meetings. There was a need to have some semblance of an idea of who you were to keep a conversation going. . .Hopefully that won't be too troublesome for you to deal with? If it makes you feel any better, they didn't seem to have an issue sharing with me all their thoughts. . ."

There's another moment of silence before he just slowly raises his bottle as if he's jokingly attempting to raise a toast to her. "Congratulations, as far as they're concerned at the moment, they're still somewhat unsure of how to handle this kind of problem. After all, if you're making these people happy, do they truly have the right to intervene?"

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Being told she 'needs' to choose between drinking and talking makes the part of Akane that operates significantly on spite want to commit to mushmouth strawtalk for their entire meeting -- but there's some types of casual reproach that, even if they don't feel like a reprimand, are a little overwhelming, so, she stops herself.

"Oh, it's not that. I have struck out on these a couple times," she answers, feeling pretty honest about this one. "Not often, but it happens! Some people are just too used to being alone, or something. But... I haven't actually tried it with any of my real targets yet. I'm still getting a sense of how to do it. I only get one shot at this, so I can't leave anything up to chance." The expression on her face is a resolute one -- but it's the kind of resolution you expect from someone going to the electric chair. The enthusiasm wavers in favor of grim necessity.

She takes another long drink, then glances down at the menu. "Order whatever you want! I'll cover it. I'm not having anything but this," a waggle of her large cup of tomato juice, "but feel free to go nuts." Akane loves feeding people, so her mood quickly bounces back into a comfortable one.

Knowing that Orpheus is talking to everyone else about her current situation makes her a little nervous -- though the fact that he shows some discretion, at least, is to the good. "I'm kinda surprised Hibiki figured it out that fast," she muses. "Then again, he's always been pretty smart and observant... not like book smart, but he pays attention. Plus he's friends or friends-of-friends with a lot of those people..."

Glancing to the screen in the corner of the karaoke room -- currently playing nothing -- she thinks on that, eventually shutting her eyes. "It sounds like they might get it without any work on my part," comes her next observation. "That's the whole thing. A dream is nice. They don't need to fight against it. If they get that, then... they don't have any right to intervene."

<Pose Tracker> Orpheus Zevon has posed.

"That so? And here I thought I must have been special or something." All but sarcasm escapes his lips as he utters those words. "Doesn't surprise me you'd have stragglers. Though as your. . . Accomplice, I figure I should warn you that if your real targets are who I think they are. . .If they give you trouble it won't be because they're used to being alone." He stops for a moment seeing as how he's been offered a meal in kind. Again he looks at the menu in contemplation. Snack foods were only something he found himself taking in more during the times he found himself in the company of others. Otherwise, he had usually found himself in the similar position Akane was in. "Surprise me then." All a sudden he passes the menu to her, clearly making it apparent that he wants to see what she'd choose.

Once she's got the menu, whether she actually fuddles with it or not he begins speaking more on the situation, "I've only spoken with him. I don't know if he's actually capable enough to do what he says he wants to do. But he's determined to reach a certain goal. I wonder if the others you've taken into your dreams had goals like that. The kind that you wouldn't be able to give up on even if it meant giving up on the sweetest dreams. Have you ever experienced something like that?"

It's a bit of a pointed question he knows. Especially when asking a girl who literally made a world of her own to escape into, and yet, if she really wants to get her target, he imagines she'll need to be able to comprehend such a feeling.

He'd wait a moment to see what she might say to something like that, though at the end of the day won't hold his breath too long. "At the very least, if he has figured it out, he's still not sure how it's happening. Though it's not just him that is working it out. I imagine if he finds out the source of this, your pet's going to be what they go after next and then. . .Well, I think them figuring that out would be the least of your worries."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"I'll... take that under advisement," Akane says, though in truth she's kind of putting that mentally aside. She's sure it'll work. It has to work. She just needs to get good at doing the thing before she tries. (Her hit rate is fantastic.) "Anyway, let's see here..." Akane picks up the order remote and gets to tapping. "It's not really karaoke night without edamame... the fried chicken is good... skewers... ooh! The deep fry basket! Yeah!"

... all that just for Orpheus?

Orpheus speaks of Yuta's determination, and the question of the goals everyone else had -- and whether Akane had ever had something like that. "... If I said the dream I couldn't give up on was world domination, would you believe me?" she asks, looking at Orpheus with a grave expression. A beat passes. Two.

"Ahahaha! Just kidding~"

Well, she seems to think she's an absolute laugh riot. "I think everyone's got a point at which they give up on their determination. At that point it's just termination." Despite herself, she's a little less comfortable with that conclusion than she likes; to defuse her frustration, she... starts playing with words? "Termination... aberration... aggregation... indignation..." She trails off after that one. It's not that she can't come up with more, but -- well, there's a revealing character to her choices.

As for her pet: "... My kaiju can't be attacked in this world. So, like, sure, but, good luck with that." If they decided they wanted to attack her, well... Akane's fairly sure she knows how that goes, and it's just fine with her.

Looping back to the topic of dreams you can't give up, Akane taps her chin, looking down at the menu one last time. ... she gets another tomato juice, for good measure. "What about you? What's your dream? What do you think you can't give up on? I don't really have any interest in trying this on you, so it's okay for you to tell me."

<Pose Tracker> Orpheus Zevon has posed.

He finds himself opening one eye as it's raised questionably as she puts in that order. It actually is quite a bit of food, "If you're gonna order all of that, I'll definitely be having you help me finish it. So just make sure there's things in there you can manage too. Though I hope you're not ordering like this usually."

Pertaining to her joke though, it was definitely quite dry humor if there ever was one. Though his response even as she tells him that is a joke might have been a bit of a surprise.

"Just a joke, huh? That's a shame. Compared to most of the others I've heard say things like that, I think you'd probably be the one I'd be most comfortable with. Just as a joke though. . ." He cuts that thought short. In truth, he's still heard the stories of what she's done to her own people. . .

"I don't think you're wrong that there's a point where people might give up on their determinations. It's just for some. . .Well, there's a reason that some people say there are things worth dying for. Though, is that the point you'd be willing to let your targets reach to get what you want? I'd actually be curious to hear that. . .Since. . .It seems like they're not willing to let you reach that point. . ."

There's a little smile that starts showing on his face all of a sudden, "Now that I think of it, do you know what that boy-- No, what their goal is?" Even now he can recall the look on that kid's face as he made mention of it. It's not so much a large smile but. . .A small smirk, as if the notion was entertaining.

And that smirk does fade away though as she asks his dream. It's enough that the worries about Bujack aren't even taken into consideration, there's not even an ask of what that is even supposed to mean.

"It's fine. I didn't think you did, not that it would matter. As for my dream. . ." All of a sudden there's a slow inhale, and a rather sharp yet solemn look that lingers on his face just like the day she had met him. "I'll try to say this in a way that you can understand where I am coming from. . .I want you to close your eyes for a moment. I want you to think of your dream. . .Maybe it was creating this world. Maybe it was defeating Gridman, maybe it's something more. . .But imagine that you've finally reached it. After the worries, the doubt, the pain, the sweat and tears, you finally reached that dream. You won. For the first time in your life you feel. . .Whole. At peace. My dream. . .Was to live my life with the only person that mattered.Whether we were rich, poor, whether we lived in peace, or the whole world was against us. My dream was simply living in a world where that person could have had happiness for a little while longer. . . I didn't give up on that dream though. It was taken from me." His fingers tighten into fists on his lap. Another forced inhale before ultimately, the expression on his face calms. He turns back towards Akane, the expression on his face almost apologetic about her having to see that.

"Tell me, if I told you that my dream now is to bare my fangs at the one who stole my happiness. . .Where do you think the point where I'd give up would be. . .?"

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane waves it off, saying, "Don't worry about it. It doesn't matter if some of this stuff doesn't get eaten." She really doesn't want to eat -- at least not in front of Orpheus. "I'm definitely not ordering like this usually, though!"

Orpheus's next line of inquiry prompts a spark of something in Akane. She's trying very hard to stuff it down, but the answer starts before she finishes stuffing it down -- and then, well, Akane has to follow through, doesn't she? "They think I need saving. It's honestly kind of embarrassing? Like, I have plenty of power. This whole arrangement works for me. It'll work even better once everything's back where it belongs."

Orpheus describes his own dream -- something small. A world for two. It...

... hurts to hear. It's a reminder of the world she left behind -- the loneliness of a world where 'tomorrow' is not a guarantee. "... yeah. I saw, when I was poking around a little bit," Akane admits, glancing off. Bit by bit, Orpheus picks at her defenses, and finds... maybe not the Akane under the mask, but certainly he starts to chip the paint, crack the porcelain, see at least another layer.

"If I were you?" Akane asks. It's a clarifying question -- and one that's actually easy for her to answer. "... if someone took what's left of my dream from me..."

... it's harder to say -- but why not say it? She's on top of the world, isn't she? She has friends. People who understand her. A growing defense force that doesn't even require her to use her kaiju. "... I wouldn't. If I were in your shoes, I'd give Britannia the kaiju treatment. I wouldn't stop until it wasn't even a country anymore! And then I'd make sure everyone forgot it ever was."

... it's demonstrative, though perhaps not in the way Orpheus might have hoped. The clenching fists, the forced breath in --

"... you have eyes like a monster. Not quite a kaiju, I think! But I don't think you're a hero, and I don't think you're a villain." She takes a sip of her tomato juice. "Def'nit'ly notta vvvictim, eiaiather." A breath out. "That's probably why you seem like you think this whole thing isn't gonna work. I don't think it'd work on a monster. Wanting things, no matter how bad it hurts them, no matter how bad it hurts anyone else..."

... she trails off. It's a little too revealing.

<Pose Tracker> Orpheus Zevon has posed.

There's a blank look upon Orpheus' face. Up to the point she had spoken about being aware of his past, but giving her answer to his question. . .Something about it leaves him purely expressionless for a moment. Maybe it's the way that her tone shifts. Maybe it's in how she ends up having to take in air before to properly demonstrate the feeling. How her fists almost mirrored his own as she clenched them so tight. Ultimately, there was only one response he could give.

"Ehehe. . .Hehehe. . .Ahahaha--AHAHAHAhahahaaha!!!"

All at once his expression had gone from blank, to a slight smirk, to a small chuckle, to almost a maniacal laughter. His laughter was so guttural, she could feel that it was coming all the way from his gut. A pure and sincere laughter. In all honesty, while she might not have called him a villain in this moment, the way he was laughing would have probably given even Alexis a run for his money. One had to wonder if the cushioning in the walls could ever hope to muffle it from the other rooms. Yet, as the laughing subsides and his eyes slowly open, wincing so heavily from his intense chuckle. . .There's a glimmer in his eyes, almost as if tears are ready to fall. Could monsters tear up?

All a sudden, there's a much more honest smile on his face as he looks at her, there's a small breath he takes before he speaks, and the tension in his own grip eases. "I can't remember laughing that hard in my life. . ." Another round of silence comes as he's forced to take his drink in his hands. Another small sip before exhaling as he lets the tea clear his throat before speaking again. "At one point, I used to think like that. At first, I was all but ready to burn Britannia to the ground. To let every one of those creatures in human skin feel the kind of suffering that I did. But eventually I came to realize that's not what I wanted. If I was a hero, maybe I would have wanted to make sure that no one had to suffer the way Euliya did anymore and make sure that the organizations that caused this were dealt with. If I was a villain, I would have scorched the earth and removed Britannia from history if I could. . .But honestly. . .All I want is to find the person that took her from me, and watch as I see the life drain from his eyes."

He leans back into the seat as he looks up towards the ceiling, "That's the kind of 'dream' that I have now. It's a simple goal, but for it. . .If it means that I need to put on the mask of the villain that razes every field in Britannia, or the one of a hero. ..Of a knight that'll save the world from Britannia's atrocities. "

Perhaps in this moment, he too was a bit too telling of his own motivations. Though unlike her, it seems he's come to have no issue unveiling himself to her. No mask present, his weaknesses left bear for her to see. And with that he hears as someone knocks on the door. The order for their food clearly arrived. "I'll grab it."

There's little chit-chat that is had with the server that brings the order to the room, a simple 'Is this your order?' 'Yes, thank you.' And a shutting of the door as the food is brought back. There was nothing special about that moment, but in that moment. . .A moment of reprieve, a moment to digest all that's been said thus far is gifted to the both of them. Now, all there was to eat was edamame, fried chicken, and skewers.

"Anyway, it seems you've been able to get a bit more of this old story out of me. At this point I can't go back to what once was. And it's because of that. . .I don't think it's going to work. Not because you're incapable of having them fall into your dream. . .But because. . .It's like you said "

In a moment like this, surely Akane would despise the words of someone doubting her plan. To call it out not because of her targets. . . But because of her. Though, as he'd say these next words, even as he'd call her something that others would question him for doing so. . .One can only hope that they were the words of a monster with enough bite to pierce through the mask and into the person beneath. A contrast of crude words but dignified and proud tone interlock. He leans in towards the girl not invading her space out right, but forcing her to see the look in his gaze as he speaks

"Something like this won't work on a monster. . .A monster can't be satiated with such a compromise. . .And as far as I can tell, more than a villain, or a God. . . Akane Shinjo. . .You're also a monster."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

There's a bit of nervousness in Akane's expression at first -- and then the longer the laughing lasts, the more she feels comfortable laughing too. She never gets all the way into it, the way Orpheus does -- she never quite commits to laughing with someone else, unless she's absolutely certain she's the one in control of the joke and not the one being laughed at. But...

... well, surely there's something funny about what she said.

She listens to his full answer -- all he wants is revenge for the slight. Not total destruction -- simply targeted death and the potential for half-hearted renewal that destruction brings. ... Akane's actually more endeared to him by this, and not less; for all that she talks a big game...

... there's a pile of garbage in her room that makes plain her real answer.

She takes the chance to digest the words -- and picks up a skewer. She doesn't eat it; she seems content to use it as a prop, to gesture occasionally with it. She leans back in her seat, looking at Orpheus as he makes plain the kind of creature he thinks 'Akane Shinjo' is.

It's hard to disagree. Ouka has served as an illustration of that -- she, above many others, proves that the simple act of Akane Shinjo's desire is enough to upend lives and tear bodies apart. Yet she still can't stop herself...

"... Now that you see that," Akane says, turning the skewer point-forward toward Orpheus as he leans in, hoping to get the gaze away from her eyes without just asking, "... I can't let you leave this room." A beat.

"... ehehe, got you again. I don't mind that! Every episode needs a kaiju, right?"

It gnaws at her nevertheless. Maybe she needs a Tarabaman rewatch this week. Something familiar. "... So are we gonna take a crack at singing or not? I wanna hear what that voice can do, and we're already here." Besides -- it might be nice to get a little practice singing in.

... would an Akane Shinjo that could sing be 'enough,' for her...?

<Pose Tracker> Orpheus Zevon has posed.

If in the moment he could have reassured her that this laughter he found was something he found himself doing wholeheartedly because her words had resonated with him such. He would have hoped that she could laugh as sincerely in this moment as he had. Though if that wasn't the case then perhaps one day he could only hope that one day this person whether it was with him, or others find people to laugh with as joyously as she could.

For as he had endeared himself to Akane with his focused wrath, it was through her own shared understanding of his own inner rage that somehow he had felt she too had become more endeared to him. As if just simply being able to identify who he was within the darkness had alleviated a burden from his shoulders.

It was odd. Sure he's found comfort in those close to them. People like Kaworu and Alouette were people that he knew that were molded in the same darkness that he was. Yet. . .Kaworu, regardless of what he may have said about himself, what he would end up becoming for the world. . .Was someone who deep down was a kind soul. For Alouette, even within the darkness it had seemed that she too was slowly allowing herself to become friends with those around her. To become more than what she once was. She was becoming someone with her own life in the light.

This girl had been another story. A similar enough story. Enough at least to have learned to dawn the mask. Someone who had wanted to change the person they were or the world they lived in. For some reason that in and of itself had resonated with him. It's because of that, even if it's only half-hearted he can take a skewer in kind and parry her own. A smug little smile on his face on the same."Sorry, but you're going to need better swordplay if you're gonna try to get a jab on me like that."

Once the skewer was properly repelled though he sees her speak of karaoke and well. . .

"Seriously, you're the second person in this city that's tried to get me to do things so randomly. . . Fine though. If that's what you really want to hear, I'll oblige you this once. Though I'll be having you sing first. . . Also, as far as I'm concerned, this is also one of those things we take to us to the grave. . ."

As he says that he reaches out for the skewer in Akane's hand and instead replaces it with a microphone. He'll start shuffling through the songs till she finds one she wants to play to get her started at least. "Also, speaking of Kaiju of the week. I've been thinking about it for a moment. . ."

With an ever so casual look he returns his gaze back to hers, "What would you say, if I decided that I wanted to size up Gridman and his friends?"

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Maybe that's just what this city is like!" Akane enthuses, when Orpheus mentions that people here keep trying to get him to do seemingly 'random' stuff. "It's just got that kinda mood going... but seriously, you've got a nice voice. I don't know if it matches your eyes, but..." Bringing a hand up to her mouth, she giggles, and says, "I guess what I'm saying is, sure, let's go for it."

She flips through the karaoke book, trading skewer for microphone and starting to look for a track that'll suit her voice. ... she's going to need to pitch some of these way up. Eventually settling on Tarabaman Eclatant's OP -- a rare chance for her to not only sing but sing in French -- she takes a moment to look at Orpheus as she queues up the first track.

"Don't worry -- I don't mind keeping this secret if you do. I'm not much of a performer either!" she says, her tone picking up a bit. He quickly takes it to somewhere a little more dire -- and somewhere that requires her explicit permission one way or another. ... or, at the very least, he seems to be asking for it.

"You wouldn't be the first one! That Betterman did it too," she says, with a shrug. "You want to do it, be my guest. ... don't kill him, though. Gridman is mine."

... the territoriality had to go somewhere, it seems.

<Pose Tracker> Orpheus Zevon has posed.

"Is that so? At this point, maybe I won't be surprised when I find more surprises from people in this place." A part of him almost wants to tease that just like Hibiki she gives off that same vibe. Though, a joke about being created in her image feels like it'd be a poor choice. Especially when after all this time it feels like the atmosphere does feel like somehow it fits this place. Almost as if the serious tones of what these monsters were was just simply. . .Two high schoolers hanging out. Something that seemed. . .Truly. . . Nice. Maybe even innocent.

Albeit, he's not gonna let the vibe get that relaxed. Though there is a part of him that's curious on just how genuine those giggles are supposed to be. "Complementing my voice and eyes, huh?" There's a coy look he gives her a moment that does eventually melt back into that blunt tone, albeit with a hint of sarcasm in his voice as well "Hmph, I didn't think you'd resort to flattery and flirting as a back-up plan to join your side. Though I guess such methods have worked in the past." It's probably one of the silliest remarks he's told her. One that he will likely tell her she need not ever mention to anyone ever again. Yet, when she tells him they should just go for it, he simply gives a nod of acknowledgement.

As she looks through the track book, Orpheus has to take his time to skim through what she chooses as well. He's not as familiar with the lyrics so when she finally chooses something he takes a moment to read over the music.

"Tarabaman. I guess I should have figured on that. All the more reason we'll be keeping this secret. . ." Again, just a tad blunt.

Surprisingly, he's somewhat versed in music. . .And even more surprisingly, he does know a bit of French himself. Something that Akane will likely pick up as they begin to sing when it is his turn. Or if they ended up doing a duet of some sort.

Though as conversation returns back to the discussion of Gridman and those that have wanted to test him out beforehand he nods once again. "Like I said, I only wanna size them up. I don't dislike Yuta Hibiki. Though, I want to see for myself if he can back up his words or not. That's all."

He knew better than to snatch up someone else's prey. For him though, this was less a hunt, and something more a rite of passage? Either way, he doesn't make much more on the matter. In the meanwhile, he continues just looking through the lyrics again before giving one final nod to Akane. "Guess I'm ready when you are."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Ha! You're not my type," Akane replies, deciding to meet the bluntness with bluntness of her own -- Orpheus is a little bit disarming in that way. He rarely seems like he's outright rejecting her, even when he's blunt -- there's definitely a sense he puts out that he'll respect her mask exactly as much as she does and not an inch more, which makes it easier. "I don't mean your eyes are better. I just mean they don't suit."

He elaborates on his plan, and Akane meets it with a shrug. "If it's just about a gut check for Hibiki, I don't mind. He could use one or two of those... though I get the feeling you'll be surprised. He doesn't think like a monster at all... he's something else entirely." Her thoughts drift back to France. ... That still chews at her.

... She needs to change tracks to clear her head. Literally, in this case.