2024-06-19: Sensitive Intelligence

• Log: 2024-06-19: Sensitive Intelligence
• Cast: Akane Shinjo, Alouette Pommier
• Where: Nouvelle Tokyo - Bay Tower
• OOC - IC Date: 0099-06-19
• Summary: Akane snags Alouette at work to catch up. While they spend the first half of the conversation catching up about their lives, Akane has a certain matter to bring to her attention as well -- something that must be kept from 3G Red's Chief at all costs.

---

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Wednesday is usually a class day for Akane, but the classes she'd usually have are cancelled this week due to her professor being sick -- so instead, she's at Bay Tower. This works our great for everyone involved, because Akane needs some BioNet-related information from another 3G branch to do her job and this makes it easy to squeeze in a little time in a secure location.

She's already got that out of the way, though, which means she has plenty of time to catch up with some people she hasn't had the chance to in quite a while. It's her first non-professional conversation with Hinoki in a while, for instance -- but it's Alouette who she's very confident she needs to talk to sooner than later.

Akane, in her 3G uniform with her hair in a small, kind-of-doofy-looking ponytail, knocks on the door to Alouette's office. "Hey, are you in there?" she calls. "It's me, Akane. I wanna catch up, but there's something important we need to talk about, too. At some point we're gonna have to go to one of the intel rooms."

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

Alouette's classes fall on a Tuesday-Thursday pattern, which mostly means Wednesday tends to takes the brunt of her homework-finishing time. This week's really wasn't that much of a time-sink, though, so she's at her office, mostly to chip away at some of the Mobile Corps paperwork that ends up leaving the Operator's desk.

Having an office in the first place is a new one for her, but practically, her time is stretched a lot more thin between locations, so it doesn't exactly 'feel' like a well-worn room. It does have a pretty sweet desktop setup, though.

"Oh! Yes, I'm in today." Alouette answers, promptly, minimizing her window and spinning her chair to face the door. (She's so glad it spins). "Of course you can come in." She adds, and that would be the case even if Akane was just checking in and catching up. "I'm kind of glad you stopped by. I want to catch up, too... and well, I'm not off for a few hours, haha..."

Her smile turns to a slight frown when Akane says there's 'something important'. "The intel rooms? Wait a minute..." She knew 3G Red and 3G Blue's intelligence departments had some business today, and that's why Akane is at this wing of the building. But... "On a scale from 'Catherine Vuitton really wants to steal cheese again' to 'Galactron is about to raze Huffman Island', how bad?" She asks, gravely - after all, she's prone to catastrophizing when it comes to work. too.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane steps in, and gives Alouette a nod. "It's really good to see you... captain," she says -- though that's all the formality she gives her. They were friends before they were coworkers, after all. "I've pretty much wrapped up for the day other than this conversation."

She takes a moment to adjust the way her hood's sitting on the back of her neck a bit, as they start talking. "I think it's pretty serious, but not international incident serious?" Akane volunteers. "It might change things a lot for 3G Red especially, but I think a lot of 3G Blue can help in a pretty big way." Despite whatever heavy topic she has in her pocket, she seems fairly together. Maybe it's to the credit of more than two years of therapy.

"Walk with me? We can catch up a little on the way there," Akane says, with a smile. "How are your classes going? I'm kinda envious of that two days a week thing you have going... I might shift everything to Tuesday-Thursday next term too. They approved my application to substitute Computational Neuroscience instead of Adolescence because of what my long-term professional goals are, and that's a big one-day Wednesday course... it'd be nice to have the four-day weekend."

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

Alouette lets out a decidedly not-formal laugh when Akane calls her by 'Captain', and then she just shakes her head and smiles at Akane. "Ah, sorry. It's just... still kind of weird to hear it from a friend?" She's on the same page as Akane here. "I'm really happy to see you too, though. It's a lot harder when we aren't in the same branch sharing a lot of our shifts anymore..." It just means she treasures the time she does get with Akane even more, though.

Pretty serious, but not international level serious... Alouette slides her chair out, in preparation for their imminent walk down the hallways. "A major shakeup in GGG Red's structure might be inevitable this early in the organization's life, but it sounds like you're handling it pretty well." Alouette offers. "3G Blue's been through a lot too, so I'll make sure you have whatever support they can give."

"Sure, I'd be glad to," Alouette nods, standing up from her chair - and stretching a little. It's been a pretty sedentary day by her standards. "They're going pretty well! I really wanted to brush up on my history, so I'm taking some courses on both wartime and peacetime history..." While she has a lot of technical knowledge, expanding her contextual knowledge has been especially helpful in her new role.

"I have to admit, it's nice, though. It's not quite a four-day weekend because I TA for their Intro to Programming course on Fridays, too, but I'll take three days." She smiles. "Actually, that reminds me, I've been kind of taking your advice from last time too... about visiting campus even when I don't have business there." She stops for a moment to adjust her sleeve, and then keeps walking.

Computational neuroscience, though... that sounds really interesting." Alouette nods. "How have you been liking the art therapy program so far?" She asks, as a follow-up. "You'd be going into... your third year next year, right?" She blinks. "That's wild."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Hehehe... that's exactly why I did it," Akane teases Alouette about her reaction to being called 'Captain' by someone who was a friend first. She seems fairly easygoing, overall, as they start to head down the hall. Akane takes a moment to check her pockets; finding her phone, she moves it to her bag. It's easier if she just deposits the whole thing with the person monitoring the room; may as well prepare now.

"Yeah... I really need to bother you on VERTEX a little more." It's not that she doesn't bother Alouette on VERTEX... but she probably doesn't do so as much as she'd like to, and there's a lot they can only talk about on more secure platforms given their shared job. "I think it'll work out. It might mean a little reorganizing eventually, but Japan's handling of this kinda thing is different from other OCU countries'..." What is she talking about?

"History's always kinda fun. I remember in middle school history class they brought us to Aoyama Cemetery, and then to that one they finished after the One Year War -- the one that used to be a rugby stadium?" It seems like one of the fonder memories of her younger days, if the smile on her face is any indication. "I think that was the first time I realized I liked graveyards."

When Alouette brings up visiting campus -- that, too, gets Akane to smile. "It's a hassle, but I think it's kinda been worth it. Find anything fun to do?" As to the other end of college talk... "I like it. The first couple courses of art stuff were a little boring?" She wobbles a hand, saying, "I feel a little more challenged in Metals and Jewelry, at least. Ceramics and Painting were both kinda nothing..."

As they round a corner and start going through a few rounds of scanners (and Akane deposits her bag with the person operating those scanners), Akane keeps talking. At this point this stuff is routine. "Time is really kind of whipping by... did you do Coming of Age Day at 18, or are you waiting for 20?" No points for guessing which way secretly-weirdly-traditional Akane is approaching it.

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

"You know what... that's fair, Ms. Head of Intelligence." Alouette teases back, mostly just pleased to see Akane in such a good mood. Though the heavy topic she brought up earlier does worry Alouette a touch, she'd rather give Akane the space to bring it up on her own terms once they get to the secure briefing room.

"Honestly, we do need to bother each other more," Alouette agrees, fidgeting her own phone in her hand. "I know work's important and it's bound to come up more often than not but... not like our lives don't have more going for them than that." It's of course, something Alouette's had to navigate herself - what do girls in their late teens actually care about? But she's made more than enough progress.

"You sound pretty confident." Alouette raises, when Akane says she thinks it'll work out but require some reorganization. "But I trust your judgement on this kind of thing, too. You must have already talked to the Chief - that is, Rikka about this too, right?" HAS SHE?

"I like it. The intro course I took is all about the One Year War, which isn't surprising. But there was a bit about the series of Huffman conflict, too. It provided a lot of context for the current situation, but..." Alouette listens thoughtfully about Akane's anecdote about her middle school history class trip. "I think that part of it's important, too. Remembering that history is about people." She was vaguely aware by now that Akane has morbid interests like that... but she kind of gets it.

"Honestly, nothing that made me think 'I need to commit to this long-term', but I checked out some of the clubs they had. Robotics was cool - I mean, the Haro kind, of course." She explains, as to her own extracurricular adventures. "You were right about the food, by the way. It saved me a lot on lunch and it was pretty decent, haha..."

"Ahh, that makes sense. It can get pretty easy to tune out when it's stuff you already know how to do." Alouette nods, understanding why ceramics and painting wouldn't be exciting for her. "What about the psychology side of things? I think I remember the last time we talked about it, you were excited, but also kind of worried." She asks.

Alouette gives a polite nod to the person operating the scanners before depositing her own belongings, but other than that, it's fairly routine for her, too. She pays more attention to Akane. "Coming of Age day, huh... I know I've been living here for a while now, but we never really had anything like that in France." She admits. "It's pretty fast-and-loose in the AEU, honestly... I mean, I effectively moved out when I was 15." Of course her case isn't normal by any means, but she's had a lot of independence since getting her memories back.

"So I wasn't sure yet when I turned 18, but I think if I'm living here, I want to participate in the culture as much as is appropriate. Sho is kind of the traditional type... so maybe I should ask her about it." She concludes, and then looks back to Akane. "I do hear some people go all out for it, though. I know you already started on the family register thing, but is that what you and Rikka are planning for next year?" She's slooowly connecting the dots.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Yeah... sometimes I've been really busy though. Like, I know Red is sort of the third-tier branch and we're on life support from the Japanese government until we graduate from college, but still..." Akane lets out a small sigh. "I need to figure out how to schedule myself a little better."

When Alouette asks if Akane's talked to Rikka about this, Akane says, "That's actually why we're heading into the intel rooms. I did talk to someone with Cathedra about it..." It's a good thing that the process of getting in there puts Akane ahead of Alouette, because the look on her face is so smug even as she keeps her tone pretty grave, and it's best if Alouette can't see that.

(What could be so important that they need to discuss it in a SCIF yet need to be kept from Rikka, and have Alouette and Cathedra be the first people read in? ... Maybe it's about something that happened on the Garuda...)

"Robotics club is cool. I hear they do competitive stuff? Might be worth getting into next year," Akane pitches. "It's one thing to arrive late, but... well, I mean, you don't really need the resume builder but I bet you'd be pretty popular."

She lets the topic of Coming of Age Day mostly skate, though she does say, "Yeah, I think you should talk it out! It'd be good for you and Sho to do together, maybe." When Alouette mentions the family register in response to that, though -- that's when she starts to feel like she's getting caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "I already have my own family register established at this point, but I'm not sure how much it matters. ... I'm mostly just dreading seeing my mom again, if she bothers to show up."

At last, they enter the secure conference room. Akane's been a regular in these at this point -- she processes a lot of sensitive information, though less now that she's with 3G Red. Things have to bubble up to her at this point, or at least 'need some tone-setting guidance.' She turns to Alouette with a grave expression. "This concerns the Chief personally, which is why I had to drag you in here," she says.

Akane slowly raises her hands. "... I think next year, I'm going to ask her to marry me."

Snip snip.

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

"Ahh, that's true. Your work is very important, but you're still proving yourselves on the international stage. I don't really envy that at all..." She does offer a smile to Akane, even as she sighs. "So hang in there, okay?"

She hasn't talked about this matter with Rikka, though? That is definitely a surprise, and while Akane can't see it from ahead, her expression is absolutely puzzled. "Cathedra? Hold on just a minute... I thought you said this situation wasn't approaching international incident territory...!"

At that point, going through the process of elimination of what information Akane wouldn't immediately tell Rikka, as her boss, the Garuda does come up. Would Akane really be as cheerful as she is right now if that's where the conversation were headed, though?

"Robotics competitions, yeah. I think our team is actually pretty high in the world rankings? Their whole setup was honestly pretty impressive." Alouette nods. "It's not a bad idea... I think I'll keep it in mind. It might be a good way to make some friends outside our usual sphere, too."

As for the Coming of Age, she mostly lets it skate too, until Akane encourages to talk about it with Sho. "Mmm, I think I'll bring it up next time we see each other. I've been looking for ways to move things along now that work's made things harder for us after all~" That might give Akane an idea where Alouette's own relationship is at right now, but they're about to reach the secure conference room.

"It's... more than understandable to worry about that. I hope it goes well, though." She offers quietly when Akane brings up the possibility of her mom showing up to her Coming of Age ceremony. But now... they're here.

A personal concern of Rikka's... did something happen that compromised her ability to lead? Is the okay? Maybe this really is related to the Garuda... "All right, I'm ready to hear it. I'd like to have as much detail as possible, but take as much time as you need." She answers, very professionally considering where they are, but there's a hint of nerves to the way she says it, too.

And then Akane says it. Alouette doesn't even fully process it at first, but once she does, she just gives Akane the most incredulous, the most 'are you serious' look ever. "You brought us all the way here just so you could..." She places her head flat on the conference room's table. "You are SO..." And then she just bursts out into sheer giggle-laughter.

"Oh my god, and the Cathedra officer you 'briefed' about this 'issue' was Leina, wasn't it? Who else would you put up to this?" Alouette recovers her posture, finally able to look Akane in the eye again. "Well." She breathes out. "Congratulations. This is a huge step, but you already know I'm going to do whatever I can to make this as special as possible for you two."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane's always had a complex relationship with masking her emotions. She can do it until she can't, and then she really, really can't. Maybe this is yet another case of that.

Nope.

The instant Alouette starts laughing, Akane makes the ugliest imaginable 'kkhhhh -- snrrrk -- ppfhfhhh --' and then starts full-on cackling as she sits down. Shared laughter is infectious -- and multiplies.

"Aaah..." She takes a breath. "Yep. You caught me on that one, hehehe... Leina was the first one I told. She, uh, dropped 4,000,000 yen on me." Bringing her fingers up to scratch lightly at the back of her neck, she admits, "It's -- kinda a lot. I'm sure not expecting that from anyone else." Deep breath in... long breath out. It becomes more real, a little, as they talk about it.

"Like -- things haven't always been perfect or anything. We have a few habits that drive each other nuts living together... but we kinda got to try that out a bit on the trip to Jupiter first, and after a couple years of it... I think the stuff between us is pretty manageable. I'm... really happy when I think about the way things turned out, that we could be together." Now that she's not trying to do a bit, she has a warm, almost dreamy look on her face. "I want that to keep going."

Pulling the hair tie out of her hair and shaking it out a bit, she says, "In Metals and Jewelry we started working on stone settings, and I started thinking, and, just..." Nodding gently, she says, "Since then I haven't been able to get it -- and her -- out of my head. ... that's not really new, I guess."

That does remind her, though. "... I need you to help me. Maybe Mikoto too, it'd be good to have someone from Green onboard... I can make a design, but I really want something special." Oh boy. Here comes the fantasizing. "I think it's going to only work in silver as far as looks go, but I want the wear resistance too, so we're going to probably end up using -- I saw this really specific platinum-gold alloy when I was going over the Algernon Watchman specs once... and I kind of want a purple diamond, which is something we could do way cheaper in the lab than going to a jeweler. Probably a better cut, too..."

At market what Akane is asking for would be easily more than half of what Leina dropped on her. Doing everything with 3G's tools and designing the ring as part of her Metals and Jewelry final could probably cut that by about 80%, but even then... it really sounds like she wants to spoil Rikka a bit on this one.

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

Shared laughter is very infectious, and Alouette feels like she can go a full several minutes - while also wondering what the security personnel must think of all this.

Akane admits Leina as her accomplice in this crime, but what surprises Alouette is the sheer amount of money being thrown around. But not that surprised. Because at the end of the day - it's Leina Ashta. "It is kind of a lot to work with! Like, a third of my yearly salary 'a lot'." Alouette replies, resting her hands back down. "Really, I have no idea what I would even do with that much, so I'm guessing the sky is the limit for you right now, isn't it?"

Alouette also just lets Akane kind of dreamily explain her reasons why she wants to marry Rikka. It's cute. "Well, hey... I'm really glad you two are as happy together as it looks. I think... you've been together long enough that if you're really serious about it, and clearly you are, you should go for it." She knows that the two had a lot of baggage to clear to even get to this point, but seeing that dreamy smile on Akane's face...

Akane says she needs her help, though, and since she was just talking about jewelry, Alouette has a vague idea of what it could be. "Aha... I guess I did bring a pad for briefing notes. Okay, I'm listening." Alouette smiles, as Akane lists off her request. Having an already-made design from Akane certainly makes it less challenging, but... "It's definitely not going to be easy... but there's no way GGG's labs aren't up to the task. Besides, we already have a pretty solid budget to work with, don't we?" She tucks away the notepad. "Of course I'm going to help you out. And I'm pretty good at keeping a secret, so I can make sure this project never reaches Chief Takarada's desk~" She just wonders if Akane is up to the challenge of keeping it under wraps for a full year.

"I think roping in Mikoto is a pretty good idea, too? I mean... she's a total romantic, so I think she'll be excited for you and capable of keeping a secret, too." Alouette suggests. "Either way... good luck."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"I kinda freaked out when she sent that on the spot. I had to figure out what day Rikka would be busiest so I could sneak off and start a wedding savings account," Akane admits, with a laugh. "It'd be really awkward if we had joint finances going already... ahahaha." When she has to be, she can be practical.

It's not long before they get back onto practicals, though. "I emailed Tamagusuku-sensei and asked if I could do it as my big project for the rest of the term, and he agreed." The nice part is that the metalwork and stone setting doesn't have to be exactly perfect if Akane is going to make a simpler version, then scan it as a model, then have 3G fabricate it. They can just tweak the model before final prep. (It's easier for Akane to work with her hands.)

Alouette seems enthusiastic about the plan, overall. "Yeah. We already have the materials around and they already come in regularly, so it's not suspicious or anything," Akane agrees. "We really just have to keep it a secret for six or seven months..." ... She's kept secrets from Rikka for longer and for worse reasons.

"Thanks," she finishes, once Alouette confirms that Mikoto would make a good partner in crime and wishes her good luck. "I've been hinting just a little. I read that you want the moment to be a surprise but not the whole thing, so I've been kinda... feeling things out."

Still with that warm, content smile, Akane nods, her hair bouncing just a bit. "Thanks," she says. "... We should probably get out of here though. We don't wanna keep this thing tied up. Wanna go to the cafeteria?" It's a touch early for dinner, but not horrible.