2023-04-02: Hands and Hearts

• Cast: Alouette Pommier, May Morseland
• Where: Tsutsujidai - Division Ship Wadatsumi
• Date: U.C. 0097 04 02
• Summary: May, as she seems wont to do, reacquaints with someone else from school in the process of moving forward. They both share more of themselves while she thinks about what that means.

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<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

Despite being a grounded ship for all intents and purposes of stapling Tsutsujidai into reality with the Galeoria Pliers, the Division Fortress Wadatsumi is quite the bustling place these days.

The Chaos Bringer effect that restored GaoFighGar is most easily studied here. Furthermore, the broader NERV infrastructure has taken interest due to the emergence of the Tenth, non-hostile Angel Duma, which has decided to lay dormant in Tsutsujidai... and finally, Char Aznable is making his move, aiming to bring Earth down in the name of Cosmic Law.

All this to say, Alouette is hard at work on operations at the Wadatsumi, knowing the sirens could blare for an attack at any moment. Still, operations isn't always scanning for threats. It also means tending to the less dangerous, but nonetheless important parts of the Gutsy Global Guard's mandate.

So when she finds that an ordinary graduate from Tsutsujidai's been referred to 3G by a fellow operator, Alouette's pleased to assist -- ever since the Walled Garden incident, 3G's been helping relocate displaced individuals and work through the messy citizenship situations of Tsutsujidai's residents.

Alouette greets the girl with a French-style curtsy - in her full uniform no less. "Bonjour. I'm Alouette Pommier, operator for GGG Blue. Is there anything I can help you with?" But when she scans her more closely, she realizes her face is familiar. "Oh! You're May Morseland, yes? I think we met back when we both attended Tsutsujidai High... I suppose we didn't talk a lot, though. Comment ca va?"

<Pose Tracker> May Morseland has posed.

May Morseland was having an...eventful past few months, to say the least. Ever since the incident that had lifted the veil of normalcy from the hazy unchanging days of Tsutsujidai, it seemed the floodgates had been opened for life to happen continuously.

Not just the shared struggles of near all the city's residents, but also having to grapple with multiple fundamental paradigm shifts in how she understands the world, and her life within it. Ones she took in stride, to be sure; she was used to moving forward.

Even so, the actual task of moving forward from the situation she had found herself in was more enormous than she had first realized, now that the institution of education she had been tied to was something she was moving beyond. Luckily, as she had always believed, reaching out to others had been sure to give a lifeline.

Within the grounded ship, the young woman's eyes had been sparkling and sweeping her surroundings, thoughts racing (among others, musical inspiration; G major?...She snorts to herself at the quaint aptness, but also considers A major, for more potential low end on her instrument for resounding harmony...no wait, both! Key change!). It had been hard not to be at least tangentially aware of all the extraordinary factions and goings-on, but actually being close to something from the weird, wide world waiting beyong the artificial city's walls renewed something within her.

Her internal musings are...not interrupted per se, given how naturally such things flow through her, but run more backseat as she greets her awaited acquaintance, giving a cute lil wave and broad grin.

"Nice to meetcha! Again? Kinda." She chirps, the enthusiasm plain in her voice and bearing, about to explain before she notices the recognition cross Alouette's face and voice. "Yeah that's me! And kinda?" She wiggles her hand a bit. "And now we can fix that!" She giggles.

"And uh," She thinks for a minute. Her french wasn't exactly uh...much of anything, but being the outgoing potential globe-trotter she was, she could vaguely put together some phrases. And especially now it was easy to parse via context at least the gist of what was said to her. "I'm...doing pretty well all things considered!" She wouldn't even know where to begin just yet.

"But yeah, Akane mentioned you guys might be able to help with, um," She vaguely shrugs and gestures to her clearly non-Japanese self. "Being a Tsutsu student...from 'somewhere else'." She further spells it out with the emphasis.

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

"It's a pleasure to meet you again." Alouette smiles, as May greets her. She notices how fascinated May is by her surroundings, even just in the lobby area of the ship. "Welcome to the Mobile Execution Fortress Wadatsumi... although it's not so mobile anymore." She adds, wryly.

"Oh --" she starts, recognizing French isn't exactly May's first language. "I can speak l'anglais too if it's necessary." She's something of a polyglot herself, having perfect conversational French and Japanese -- and acceptable to good in many diplomatic languages across the world, so she's willing to accommodate. "Still.. if you ask Akane, I'm a pretty good way to learn le francais. She grins.

She pokes at her memory to remember where exactly she met May - she looks a good couple years older. "You were in the music club back in Tsutsujidai, right? Well, so was I.. even if it was only for a short time." All things considered, her time in the club was fond. "I definitely wasn't as good or talented as you or anything like that.. but learning something so new to me really is fascinating." She smiles, eyes going distant for a moment.

Alouette looks consideringly at May when she mentions being from Tsutsujidai.. as a transfer student. "I see... for most people, we're able to find them a place in G-Island. And you could stay here, of course. But... I'm guessing you haven't been able to get any contact back home, right?" She looks at May empathetically. She's not sure how much the girl knows about the 'truth' of Tsutsujidai, but if she spoke to Akane... she has the feeling she was honest about it.

Alouette clasps her hands together. "So, are you planning on attending a university? ...Aha, it feels funny to ask that. I'm not graduating until next year."

<Pose Tracker> May Morseland has posed.

"And to see you, always!" May effortlessly is a huge dork, continuing to hum to herself a little as she continues to glance around a bit. "Don't worry, I'm not too discerning when it comes to big cool ships, I'll make do." She giggles.

She nods appreciatively at Alouette's consideration, then smiles a little at her small pride. "Clearly! Besides, I do wanna brush up on some other languages at least a lil bit, since I'd been planning to travel at some point."

As Alouette remembers, May also searches her thoughts a bit then nods to herself. "Yeah, that's right! I remember now," Even if she has only recently discovered about herself exactly why she'd be attentive to mutual space with someone like Alouette, and that was a topic that was probably not going to be relevant right now. "And yeah that's the spirit!" She gives Alouette an affirmative gesture. "Besides, I'd hope not. I'd. Been doing that kinda stuff for ages before. Arriving here," There are very minor hesitations in the way she says that. "And besides, if you were already too good at all this, wouldn't be much point right? You're in school to, exactly, learn stuff. Usually that means you gotta start somewhere, y'know?"

She taps on the side of her chin a bit as Alouette lays it out, then nods slowly as she asks the important question. "You got it." She pulls her phone out of her pocket to wave a bit for emphasis. "Folks vanished off my contacts...probably close after the big incident, noticed sometime after New Year," Which was...a fairly decent chunk of time to realize/ponder on something like that. "Mentioned it to Rikka a couple months back so she filled me in on the whole. Being created part," She chuckles remarkably lightly. "And then met Akane who, as you probably guessed, recc'd you guys for a reason." She shrugs. "Which if you're wondering, yeah I got...the broad strokes of her whole deal too."

After casually dropping that, she glances away a bit in thought, still fingertapping. "I'm...still wondering to be honest! Straight A+'s so I definitely could," There is essentially no sigh of bragging in the way she says that. "Just not sure if I wanna...I liked studying here but I definitely prefer to be out doing stuff..." She shrugs again. "Very tentative maybe on that, I guess?"

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

Alouette laughs too, at May's little joke. "It's still no less impressive, of course." The Wadatsumi by all means, is a massive base, and even if it can no longer carry out mobile missions, GaoFighGar and Guardienne Aviaire are currently stationed here.

"Conversation is one of the best ways you can practice a language." Alouette nods. "And planning on traveling, hmm? Do you have anywhere in mind? France is pretty nice these days -- a little touristy in the bigger cities, but lovely when you know where to look." She suggests. "Nouvelle Tokyo and G-Island are nice too -- it's where I'm attending school now, since it's so close to our Earth base of operations."

"Yeah... you're right." She nods, at May's comments about music. "That's actually why I started learning in the first place." She's not sure how deeply to delve into this with someone she doesn't actually know too well yet. "At the time, I wanted something I could start from scratch on. At its core, music is a lot like programming. But there's also several nuances to it that are different. Learning how to put my heart into music the same way I can put it into code... that's worthwhile in its own right." She smiles, hoping she doesn't sound too cryptic.

"Once I left Tsutsujidai High and the music club, I actually stopped practicing for a while. But then Rikka introduced me to a little mutual friend named Sheryl Nome. ...Needless to say, that was sufficient spark to get back into it." She smiles playfully. Sheryl Nome is huge worldwide.. but as far as she can tell, she's a big deal here in Tsutsujidai as well.

"So..." she starts, eager to hear more about her conversation partner. "What made you love music? Did you have.. some kind of spark that drew you into it? It's always interesting to hear people's stories about that."

May confirms what Alouette feared... that she never had a family at all. "I'm sorry to hear it.. it's a little rough being thrown out the deep end like that all of the sudden." But she did hear from Akane, and Rikka too.. and seems not to hold a grudge about it. "Still. It's not a deep end you'll have to navigate alone.. that's why Akane showed you here, right?"

Alouette slowly nods when May says she's not sure about university. "That makes sense.. it's not the only path, after all. Come to think, I'll probably have to be deciding soon, too. I only really go for the social aspect, though... my circumstances prevented me from really getting to know anyone my age."

<Pose Tracker> May Morseland has posed.

"Hmm," She ponders traveling. There were many potential options that came to mind, AEU and France specifically indeed especially after her passing joke with Akane a while back. "I'm not super picky I guess, so that rec is super helpful and noted!" She smiles, then looks a bit thoughtful (she's always slightly smiling even when making expressions like this). "Though I guess the big one would actually be...New Zealand." She snorts to herself. "'Back' 'home'. Would definitely be nice to pay a visit."

She's definitely excited and engaged by shared interest in the topic of music, nodding enthusiastically as Alouette explains herself. "Yeah, that's awesome! And you're totally right! There's a few older studies about how like, there's overlap between musicianship and being good at stuff like maths. Not sure on the correlation vs causation on that, but it does make total sense to me at least. They're both...reaching at expressing a kind of understanding, I guess. In very different ways obviously, but. Yeah! Obviously, you got me now if you wanna learn more too!"

She's about to nod understandingly about the lack of practice, but then a bombshell is dropped on her and the way her eyebrows raise is the explosion. "Woah, you're friends with Sheryl Nome?" And wait, Rikka was as well? What else had she been held out on? "Yeah, that'd probably do it! And, you can probably tell, I'm a bit of a fan," Once more, she wasn't going to get deep into why, but at least one poster in a room had been looked at entirely differently recently. "So. Tell her a fellow musician loves her work and says hi!"

The next question somehow excites her even more, clapping her hands together a bit, eyes asparkle. "Oh! I guess it kinda...ran in the family a bit." The wry chuckle about that doesn't diminish her joy. "It was...the big thing Dad introduced me to when he was allowed to visit. So that helped but I made it my own because...its something so...beautiful and universal and shared across people everywhere. It's like...magic, almost," She giggles, scratching her neck. "You weave together ideas and craft and suddenly...its like you can make a miracle in someone's heart from sharing the ones in your own." And her own miraculous heart was radiating warmth and belief, the subject clearly dear and resolutely fundamental to her. "Plus, its kinda just fun to do with your hands and body, I guess!" She giggles.

May smiles back with an expression soft but resolved. "It's okay. Just gives me more reasons to keep moving forward and discover life for myself! And yeah...I'm super lucky to have everyone around me to share a future with."

Back on the topic of university, May nods sympathetically, clearly feeling there's an implied history behind Alouette's words. "Yeah, school was definitely good for that at least. And I suppose uni would be even better since its like, school but for adults and all." She gives her a friendly wink. "And hey, on the bright side, current circumstances mean you could get to know me, not to mention Akane and Rikka and everyone else already, so at least you have that already!"

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

"You're from New Zealand, huh?" Alouette nods. "I don't think I've ever been, but as far as I can tell, it's a very beautiful place." She kind of wonders for a moment, how May's memories of New Zealand will align with the actual place.

But the talk about music keeps her focus away from pondering that. "Expressing a kind of understanding.. mhm, I think you're right. It's a little hard to explain, but I've always felt attuned to computers and code. It's pretty similar to understanding how different sounds come together to create a beautiful harmony." She explains. "...One day, I want to be able to put all of my heart into a song, too." Alouette smiles, heartfelt. "I'll certainly keep that in mind. Honestly, you're good enough to go professional or become a teacher."

"Ahaha.. kind of." Alouette realizes she dropped a bombshell.. but dropping bombshells is pretty fun. "I don't know if you remember, but we held a concert to reach out to Akane. Sheryl wrote the song, and Rikka performed it. And I was responsible for the lighting." No matter how vicious the battle that occurred simultaneously was, the concert remains a fond memory. "Pretty impressive that those two inspired Sheryl enough to write a song, don't you think?" She grins. "We're both quite busy ladies, but if the stars ever align, I'll be sure to let her know for you~"

Alouette listens attentively as May talks about how her family inspired her love for music.. and she refined it. "Yeah.. I think you're right. There's a special kind of power that comes from the universality of music.. and it lets you bare your heart unlike anything else." She holds a hand close to her own heart. "Speaking of the power of song - GGG has a music-based robot. His name is Mic Sounders the Thirteenth, and I bet you two would get along swimmingly. I think Namiko befriended him too, actually..."

The idea of using your hands and body also gets an enthusiastic look from Alouette. "I think I can understand that actually -- I'm a fencer. And there's definitely a certain level of finesse and synchronization required there."

Alouette's own expression as May resolves to look forward is subdued, yet still warm. "That's not a bad way of looking at it.. you're a very courageous young woman. Hold on to that courage, and I think -- I know it will see you far."

"I used to be a very lonely person..." She admits, about her past circumstances. "So much has changed though, for the better. And you're right... Akane and Rikka are two people I can thank for that." She takes a deep breath and smiles again. "Being your friend could be good, too. Do you have VERTEX?"

<Pose Tracker> May Morseland has posed.

"In theory, yeah." She cracks a sly smile. "From what I can tell, that part is definitely true, so I'll enjoy getting to make it more in practice." There were a few more complex feelings, but as ever May preferred to focus on the positives.

"Yeah its awesome when something just, I dunno, feels right, for you, right?" She nods, in earnest awe of her new friend's obviously also deep well of passion. "I'd be glad to help you with that! Especially if you're gonna say I'm that good, guess I have to prove it, don't I?" She smirks confidently. "Maybe I'll also do my best to nod along and seem vaguely smart when you talk about computer stuff." She giggles.

Alouette's explanation of the concert jogs some things loose. "Oh damn, yeah, I remember!" The one that was...'rained out'. It was still a little weird for her brain to re-litigate that. "For Akane huh...yeah that does make sense. She very much deserved to hear something like that, especially from Rikka. And yeah it totally tracks for them, I think!" She grins back (and maybe blushes very slightly a little) "Thanks a bunch!"

May shakes her long brown hair back a bit as Alouette resonates with her about music. "Yeah, and I do my best to have a lot to bare!" Anything else about what she said is interrupted by the revelation of a 'music-powered robot' which was just an objectively incredible concept to the young starry-eye musician. "Ahaha, for real? That's super rad! I'll definitely have to follow up with y'all about that sometime!"

The comparison to fencing draws a curious express and another chin-tapping nod from her. "Yeah that makes sense! Just sorta guiding the movements and letting them flow through you...no wonder I also did okay at sports stuff." She snorts. Given what abilities Newtypes apparently had, that would be very interesting to think about now. "I'd love to see that too sometime!"

May's smile at the praise is a little shyer. "Aw jeez, you're not even the first person to say that kinda thing, at this rate I'm gonna have to start believing it! I just...have a lot to look forward to, to go towards compared to where I was." She says, looking right at Alouette as she says that.

"I'm glad we can all be there for you now at least, Alouette. You're plenty worth it."

And after that dollop of sugar, May stretches a lil bit. "Oh yeah, of course! I'm sonic.sun.shower, feel free to hit me up later!"

She effusively smiles once again and seems to realize something, blinking.

"...Oh, we should probably get back to the more business reasons I'm here too. Don't wanna keep you overlong!"

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

<poem> "Thank you very much - and I'll just look forward to seeing that." Alouette replies, as May says she'll have to prove herself. "Ahaha.. you don't have to do that, though. You're plenty smart."

"She really did," Alouette nods about Akane needing to hear such a thing from Rikka. "I'm really glad they get to have that kind of happiness now.. I feel like tearing up prom is only the beginning." She laughs. And also catches May's slight blush. What teenage lesbian doesn't have a crush on Sheryl Nome these days?

"He's just the sweetest guy, too." Alouette adds, about Mic. "To him, anyone can be a friend. He's a little high-energy... but I think you can handle that just fine." She teases - about May's own high energy.

"I think the most fascinating part is that you can't just pay attention to your own movements - you have to understand your opponent just as well. It's almost.. intimate? In a way that no other sport feels." It's her turn to lightly blush and look down. She's thinking about Sho. "...Anyways, I run a club for it at Jindai High. Even if you're not a student anymore, we welcome spectators."

"You're right.. and I think it's true for both of us that there's nowhere to go but up." Alouette almost can't help but wonder how May manages to be such an endless ray of positivity. She whips out her phone and starts typing. "Noted! Mine's just Alouette.Pommier. Default profile. I'll think of something creative eventually..."

"Aha, honestly.. I think the break was more than necessary." Alouette is only losing her mind a little bit. "We can get to it, though. It's mostly paperwork so sit tight..."