2022-12-31: Sparklers

• Cast: Yuta Hibiki, Renais Cardiff
• Where: Tsutsujidai
• Date: U.C. 0096 12 31
• Summary: Despite everything, New Year's Eve comes to Tsutsujidai. Two friends have a quiet celebration.

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<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

New Year's Eve is upon Tsutsujidai, and Renais Cardiff's schedule is a bit busier than previous years. (It helps to have friends.) She can't exactly be everywhere at once, of course, so she's decided to pay a solo visit to Gridman, along with however many of the Neon Genesis Junior High School students might be present.

To that end, she rings the doorbell with a grocery bag in hand, clinking with the sound of glass bottles. She's dressed casually and comfortably, wearing a violet hoodie over a pink shirt, with short jean-shorts and hiking boots. Her hood's up to shield her from the rain.

<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.

"Just a moment."

A voice is raised loudly enough to be heard beyond the door, but it's there's not much emotion to it. After a few moments, and some fumbling, the door is opened. Gridman looks a little flustered. It's hard to open a door from a wheelchair!

"Renais, I'm pleased you could make it. Please, come in." Once she's done so, Gridman just sort of... pushes his wheelchair into the door hard enough that the door closes. Good enough.

Within the front room of the house, an enormous man is asleep on a couch. A mask covers most of his face, and he snores lightly, one arm carelessly tossed over his stomach. Battle Tracto Max, is for all appearances, dead to the world. Gridman wheels in next to the table and moves his shoulders in the tiniest little hint of a shrug.

"A few hours ago, Max fell asleep. He sleeps like the dead, and he's been working so hard lately." Gridman intones, quietly. "I thought I would let him rest. We don't need to worry about being quiet, he'll sleep until someone touches him."

An itty-bitty sigh. "But I truly am grateful you've come. I remember being told the New Year is a momentous occasion, but neither set of my memories has any idea what is done for it. Perhaps you can guide me?"

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

"I'm really not the one you oughta ask," Renais chuckles quietly. "Spent a long time not really..." She pauses. "... not really being a person."

"So social stuff's not exactly my strong suit. Really, I just... wanted to spend some time with you. New person to new person," she explains, reaching into the bag and pulling out a ramune bottle to offer to Gridman. It sounds like several more are clinking around in the bag, still. "Found these in the fridge at my old apartment, from when, uh..."

From Bujack.

She looks over at Max with a grin. "Wish I could get Sayla to nap like that," she remarks, half to herself. "You been making sure he doesn't work too hard?"

<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.

Gridman takes this admission seriously. "I would appreciate hearing of your experiences in attempting to become a person. Not that I believe that is my place. This body belongs to Yuta Hibiki. But, for the time I am here, I want to live with pride. I want to be a part of this world."

Indeed, it seems like Gridman's been taking those words to heart. His hair is brushed until it shines, and he's wearing some of the clothes he'd picked out for himself. Nice jeans, a colorful shirt... The only thing missing from his old aesthetic is the scarf Calibur knit.

"Ramune." Gridman reaches out, accepting it. "Thank you. I haven't had any since before I woke up. How has your apartment fared?" A moment passes as Gridman opens the bottle and takes a drink. "Oh, if you don't mind, please save your marble. Calibur collects them."

On the table are Gridman and Max's own offerings. Neither of them were sure what to do, but they vaguely remembered New Year's involving fireworks. Max managed to scavange up a handful of sparklers, and a lighter. They sit placed on a nice tray. "I hope this will be an acceptable activity. I admit, there's a part of me eager to try these 'sparklers' out."

As for Max... "I have been trying. But I often find him standing guard as I sleep. He's been insisting on preparing meals, even though we have plenty of ration bars. Max, more than the others, feels guilty over what happened. I don't know how to reassure him."

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

"Good question," Renais answers about the apartment, pulling out a bottle for herself and pushing the included plunger in to break the seal, the marble clattering quietly into its cavity. "I turned it over for refugee housing after we finished cleaning it up. I've been living on Yamatsumi," she gestures out in the vague direction of the 3G ship with the bottle before taking a thoughtful sip. "And I heard about Calibur. Was hoping he'd be here, but I guess he's still with Sayla." She grins a little, sitting down.

"And I can't really blame him... we were all... pretty shaken by what happened. Can't imagine what it was like for them. You tried making him promise to take a break?" Not that that works on Sayla, but she can at least try.

"The sparklers will be great," she confirms, her smile fading as her thoughts turn to... well, personhood.

"It's a little different for me. I... had it trained out of me. Beaten, really... BioNet abducted me when I was 14. Turned me into a cyborg." Her gaze is distant for a moment. "... part of why the shit with Akane's so personal to me."

"They robbed it from me, and I've had to build it back, brick by brick. You... you're a bit of a blank slate, aren't you? I guess... being more 'human' would involve your experiences as Hibiki, drawing on those feelings and thoughts. But... humanity and personhood aren't the same thing." She's seen so many AIs who were just as much 'people' as any human, or even Zentradi, she's met...

<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.

"Tasting things" is a new sensation, and a familiar one. The carbonation bubbles up, making those yellow eye widen. Gridman holds the soda back, looking at it carefully, then taking another drink. It always does this, right? It's normal... The little bubbles, the quiet noise they make as they burst, it's familiar. And yet, it's the first time he's ever experienced it.

Returning to the present, Gridman nods to Renais. "Yes, Calibur and Sayla have been spending a good deal of time together. As have Ennil and Vit, oddly enough. Perhaps it's only natural for bonds to grow stronger in such dire times. I'm certain you'll run into him, should you seek out the Shuffle Alliance center of operations."

Gridman's gaze slides over to Max's sleeping form. "I haven't. I feel odd asking for any more than he's already given. Max has a habit of taking every burden within reach onto his own shoulders." His voice goes quiet. "I apologize for worrying you. I was so sure she would listen, seeing so many assembled to protect her city..."

Looking down at the sparklers, then back up to Renais, Gridman goes still as she begins to speak. When she mentions the beating and abduction, he places his hands on his wheels, slowly rolling over to her side. As she had done for him, Gridman reaches out, placing a hand on her shoulder. His eyes are steady as he listens, shallow yellow pools of unknowable expression.

"I'm sorry. I don't wish to distress you on a holiday. Please, only say as much as you are comfortable with."

The boy he believed to be Yuta Hibiki would've been driven to tears just by Renais' words. Gridman blinks, testing himself, waiting to feel the sensation of gathering tears. It doesn't come, despite the ache in his heart. What does that mean?

"I see. For you, it was a reclaiming of ground, so to speak. But for me, it is creating that ground to begin with. I must admit, your road seems the far more difficult one, Renais." Gridman lowers his head, closing his eyes. "Even when I believed I was Yuta Hibiki, I was not a 'human', but a Repli-Compoid. Something I was proud of. If I could remember my time as a Hyper Agent, I would have some kind of advantage. But I remember neither."

"I do know it's traditional to make a resolution to improve yourself in the New Year. I thought -- perhaps I could make two. To improve as a hyper agent, and a Repli-Compoid. As long as I'm here, I wish to be the best I can be." Gridman opens his eyes, meeting Renais' gaze again. There's a certain intensity there -- he's serious about this! "I just don't know where to start."

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

Renais stifles a laugh at the reaction to the soda, and shakes her head. "You... really, don't apologize. We couldn't have seen it coming. And Max... Sayla has the same problem. That's why I spend so much time with her. Without Leina, somebody has to be around to keep her from working herself to death. You and the others are probably the only ones who can get Max to settle down... and from the look of it, he's going to need it."

She nods, gently, as he reassures her that she doesn't have to say more than she wants to. "Thank you. I can... maybe talk about that more another time, but... we'll leave that there for now."

"There's a lot of trauma, I think. Wounds I never really let close... maybe it's more difficult, yeah. But that doesn't make yours any lesser." She closes her eyes briefly, and opens them again. "Whatever a Repli-Compoid is... it's definitely a person. Rikka, everyone I've talked to during aid ops... everyone's awake. They're all... people."

She looks out the window. "We just need to make sure it doesn't all fall apart around them."

Looking back to Gridman as he makes his resolution, she nods. "That's a good resolution... hmm, where to start..." She pauses again, thinking. "Okay. What do you *want* do do right now? Not, like... big things, like saving the city. Just... right now, in this moment, what do you want to do?"

<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.

"Leina." Gridman echoes the name in that metallic voice. "I remember her. She must be worried sick for her guardian. I'm thankful to know you're there for Sayla -- and Leina will be too." He looks to Max, fondness in his eyes. "For all they do for us, offering care seems a small ask."

A nod in return. "Very well. Thank you for trusting me with this much. I'm... certain in our personhood. Both the Repli-Compoids, and your own." It takes a moment for Gridman to work up to it, but then he goes on: "And my own. As much as I have right to it."

"What I want..?" Gridman blinks. Once, then twice. This is still such a strange question -- neither of his past selves worked particularly on /want/. Yellow eyes look around the room as if searching for help, and alight on the sparklers. With one last squeeze to Renais' shoulder, he rolls over to them, picking one up.

"...I would like to see the sparklers, I think." Gridman's voice is wary. He picks another one up to offer Renais. Is this okay? Is this enough of a 'want'?

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

"You have every right to it," asserts Renais. "Even if--*when* you have to leave this body... you're a person."

There's total certainty in her voice.

Her face lights up a bit as Gridman decides, and she nods. "Perfect."

And then she gets an idea.

"Leave the lighter there. I can handle this." She rolls back her sleeve, baring the long black glove over her right forearm. There's a cutout for her G-Stone. She carefully pulls the glove off, setting it on her lap; underneath is a cybernetic arm in gold metal, palpably warming the air around it.

She takes the sparkler from Gridman. "Here. Hold yours out," she instructs, and when he does, Renais holds hers up as well, holding the tips close, and putting the finger and thumb of her left hand over both. "Don't touch my hand."

Her hand briefly heats up quite a bit... and after a few seconds, a hint of dull red can be seen on the sparklers just below her fingers. She lets go, and the sparklers erupt in a shower of festive sparks!

<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.

"Thank you." Gridman says, lowering his head slightly. Before he can reach for the lighter, Renais starts to take off her glove. Oh. Curiosity actually has the "young man" tilting his head ever so slightly.

"I will be careful." Reassuring his friend, Gridman cautiously extends his sparkler.

Yellow eyes shine in the reflected light of the sparks, like starlight bursting from Renais' fingers. Gridman, without seeming to notice -- smiles. It's a natural thing, full of wonder and joy at discovering something new.

"Oh!" He takes the sparkler into his own hand. Even when the little bits of firelight land on his lap, they don't burn. Max's house should be safe from destruction, at the least. "This is... amazing! Renais! You're so incredible!"

Gridman waves the sparkler this way and that. After a moment, he realizes he can use the dim of the room to create shapes, and promptly makes a dozen circles in a row. The smile on his face never fades. There may not be celebrations throughout Tsutsujidai as the New Year arrives, but if this private party is any indication... They're in for a great year.