2023-02-08: Making Space

• Log: 2023-02-08 Making Space
• Cast: Akane Shinjo, Knight
• Where: Continental Europe - France
• OOC - IC Date: 0097-02-08
• Summary: After her date in France, Akane stays around for a little while and has a nice meeting with a Giant of Light (the failed creation she made). They discuss what they'd like their relationship to be, puns, and where they're headed next.

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<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

After a recent date, Akane... has elected to stay in France for a little while. She's finishing up the year at Tsutsujidai High by video conference, so it's no huge obstacle to her schooling; it's also a chance to work on her own French.

... not all of that has been great, granted. She forgot the word for 'cherry' in the middle of ordering coffee and promptly had to hole up in a bathroom stall for half an hour about it... but that doesn't undo getting out to a cafe in a foreign country and getting most of the way through her order, either.

It's the late afternoon, and a very chilly Akane is on a bench overlooking a 15-meter wide, 25-meter deep artificial canal of the type you see in nearly every European country in this stage of the Universal Century. She has coffee -- two cups with just sugar. She sips at hers; the other waits for its recipient.

There's no protein boxes this time. Akane has elected not to try to bribe whoever she's waiting for with food.

<Pose Tracker> Knight has posed.

        Knight looks different, in this day and age.

        Well, first off, there's the name -- he's not defining himself in opposition to Gridman, any more. And form follows function; he stands taller, now. More put-together.

        He's gained a suit, and lost the eyepatch. He's wearing a sword. (Just the one.) His hair is swept over one side of his face.

        His other eye is blue.

        He told Akane he was coming.

        And he is coming, though he's a little late. He has to catch the train, you see. The train, and then a bus, and the connection was late. Walking the rest of the way, too, is a deliberate decision.

        Five minutes past, he walks up. His hands are not buried in his pockets.

        "Traffic," he explains, in a word, before Akane can ask.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

The lateness starts to gnaw at Akane at about the four minute mark. Though she's able to avoid telling herself she's been stood up, she has to actually make the conscious effort to think that; it's her first reflex. Fortunately, Anti arrives, and explains, simply, 'Traffic.'

Akane breathes a sigh of relief and says, "Of course," before looking over and --

Seeing Anti -- no, Knight -- standing tall is... heartening, for Akane, in a lot of ways. They haven't exactly exchanged a lot of words, even over the phone, since Tsutsujidai and Akane's heart began the slow process of healing. Akane didn't want to crowd him... and a little thought during one late, sleepless night on Orbit Base made her wonder if the phone was even the best way to get ahold of him.

(She'd made poor use of it in Tsutsujidai several times, after all.)

"Do you want some coffee?" she asks, holding up her own cup and then gesturing to the drink caddy with the other, still waiting for him. "It probably shouldn't have gotten cold super fast or anything..."

After a moment, she adds: "... what should I call you? 'Anti-kun' doesn't really feel right, anymore." ... conversations it might have been easier to have over the phone, but, well.

At least they're having them.

<Pose Tracker> Knight has posed.

        Phones are connected to human lives, did you know? Knight has one. He's a terse VERTEX speaker, but that's nothing out of the ordinary, considering:

        "All right," the way he sits down and accepts that coffee, with a nod, reaching out to take the other cup. Sip. Sip...

        He reaches into the caddy, fetches another packet of sugar, and shakes it in.

        Not quite the same as her, huh?

        Sip. He looks satisfied, with that.

        "... Knight." Knight says, one leg bending beneath the bench. His knee sways, just slightly. "That's what I decided."

        He looks to the cup of coffee, and then across, to Akane. "... Akane Shinjo. Is that right?" He prompts her to talk about her own identity, even if the answer is the same.

        Even the same answer can look different in another context, after all.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane watches Knight take another packet of sugar and can't quite stop herself from smiling. Something about the idea that he's more than what she made of him eases so many of the fears in her heart.

"Oh, cool! I guess it'll be easier for you to change that stuff than a lot of people... 'Knight,' huh." Akane pauses, thoughtfully, and -- after affirming, "I like it a lot... it definitely suits you," pulls out a pencil and a piece of paper from her bag and starts scribbling something.

'Anti,' in katakana. 'Anti,' in English. 'Nait,' in English. 'Naito,' in katakana. 'Knight,' back to English.

Taking a slow breath in through her nose, she lets out a warm giggle. "So you like that kinda stuff too," she reflects -- and for a little while, she just looks out to the canal, appreciating the moment.

She does have a question to answer, though, and answer she does. "Yeah. Akane Shinjo," she agrees. She looks to him, and it's just a little more obvious, the way one of her own eyes has started to shift back to the brown they are in the real world, while the other remains the familiar sunset color of her namesake.

"I guess... I know you said you wanted to be there," Akane starts, "but..." Her words cut off here, as she finds she doesn't have them the way she'd like. Her mouth opens and shuts a couple of times uselessly, like a beached fish's. "... Let me try again," she eventually says.

"... I know before," she starts, "I said I was lying. When I called you my little brother. But I'd like it more if it wasn't a lie. I know I did a lot of horrible stuff to you, and..." She breathes, slowly. "... not all of it was just Alexis nudging me along, either."

... maybe it was him who had the right idea, in communicating these sorts of things. Sliding a foot to one side, she pulls herself closer to him. "I want to be here," she says, now a good foot closer to Knight than she was a moment ago.

<Pose Tracker> Knight has posed.

        "I want it to," Knight affirms, with different flavour to 'yes'. It's something of a risk, sharing aspirations with her; to say he wants to be a Knight is more vulnerable, still, than asserting he is. There is more of his hand in his work, unlike the way he always operated as all business.

        Well, he lives with Leina. She does tend to talk about his feelings, and not just his actions. The value of that... he's always learning!

        He looks down, as Akane scribbles. Anti... nait... naito... Knight, and Knight chuffs through his throat, with a brief upturn of his lips. "Heh."

        It may very well be the first time she's EVER seen him smile.

        (He does -- in fact -- like this stuff, too.)

        He watches her, silently, intently, as she works her way through her statement. He does not interrupt, though he turns his body towards her, just so, and shifts his grip on his cup of coffee so it isn't crossing over his core. All his attention on her, he sees that her eyes are different colours, too.

        He does not prompt her or hurry her along; he allows her the space to complete her thought. He doesn't have to see her to see her, the way she halts and starts again, the trailing of her mora. Her emotions are plain to him with no psychic communion. Perhaps that's why he feels this connection with her, too.

        It hurts, a little, remembering what she said. But she'd like it not to be, even given what she did, and Knight doesn't move away when Akane moves closer.

        He nods, just the once.

        "It hurt," he acknowledges his feelings. It's as terse as anything he says, but the miracle is in the speaking. "Since I knew we were connected. Alexis Kerib told me it was a lie, too." And there is something there, perhaps, in the way Alexis was dripping poison in both their ears. "But I don't think it's a lie."

        Or, more aspirationally:

        "I want to be family."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Even a small smile is enough to get Akane to tear up a bit; there's a way in which genuine warmth is still so overwhelming for her, after so long spent in oppressive heat instead.

She takes a stabilizing drink of coffee -- and ends up downing the rest of it a moment later, as Knight works through his own feelings on the matter. It's painful, to hear him admit that it hurt -- but at the same time, how could it not? She set out to hurt him, often, in her helplessness. Could she really be so surprised to have succeeded at what she set out to do?

When he settles on his answer, Akane sets down her empty cup -- takes a moment to steady herself -- and then scoots in a little closer still, putting an arm around him. "I want that, too," she says, and she cannot quite keep herself from tearing up any longer.

For a long time, she remains quiet, simply letting the relief and warmth wash down her face -- so many things need to be said, but so few of them require words.

Eventually, though, she hits a thought that does require her to use her words. Sniffling and rubbing at her face with her sleeve, she approaches it slowly. "Leina suggested... I come stay with her and Sayla for a while," she says, remaining just as she is -- just where she is. "I know that's been good for you, and I don't want to feel like I'm forcing you out if you don't feel great about sharing a house with me." In the context of the last thing she said, it sounds ridiculous to her, and she knows it does.

But, again: the miracle is in the speaking.

"You don't have to be okay with it, and you don't need to force it. There's a lot of places I could go!" (And she sounds happy to say that, too. Not everything has improved -- but it's a far cry from the girl who thought graduation was simultaneously an impossible dream and a paralyzing need.) "But that's where I'd like to, if you're okay with it."

<Pose Tracker> Knight has posed.

        Knight rarely smiles, but that doesn't mean he never smiles, any more.

        He leans against Akane, when she puts her arm around him. He sips his own coffee, held in both hands. His legs shift to bump into the side of hers, which is its own expression of contact.

        His eyes are a bit damp, but it's probably because of the steam.

        Sip. Siiip. The coffee's gone, eventually. It's better hot than cold. His body weight shifts, as he leverages his core to reach the drink caddy with his hand, and slot the empty cup back in for later disposal. Once that's done, his weight settles back.

        He's comfortable. Moving around doesn't mean he's going away.

        He tilts his head, as he considers the question. He makes a thoughtful noise, and does not speak, for a little while. Perhaps Akane can tell he is thinking.

        "There are beds," he concludes, at length, "but it's fine to sleep in other places, too. I can show you."

        Another moment passes.

        "So, it's all right," Knight clarifies, so Akane doesn't have to guess.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane makes room for Knight to move, as he needs it; she worries, with those movements, if she's upset him -- but she needs to give him time to express himself. And space, too. (Isn't that what this conversation was about in the first place?)

'It's fine to sleep in other places, too,' he starts, and Akane's thoughts seize on the ambiguity; in that quiet moment, she catastrophizes a bit. It's so obvious this was inappropriate -- and besides, 'family' is usually something that ends up 'apart,' right? Did she teach him that lesson, too --

'So, it's all right.'

She swallows a lump in her throat, smiles, and says, "Perfect. It's... going to take me a little while to get situated, and I still haven't asked Sayla yet -- but, I think... she'll be okay with it."

Putting her arms around Knight in a genuine hug, she says, "Thanks. I'd be really happy for you to show me around when I move in."

With the functional stuff out of the way... she feels much less tense. "I really like the new you," she says, once she -- eventually -- straightens back out of the hug. "... As your big sister, I can't lose to you -- so I guess I'm going to have to change, too!"

It's with a smile that nearly shuts her eyes that she adds, "Jeez, I don't wanna end up that tall, though. Wouldn't work for me."

<Pose Tracker> Knight has posed.

        Knight's having to learn how to adapt his communication to other people, too. He knows that varied approaches work, thanks to Julia's efforts, but knowing what he doesn't know is just one step in adaption.

        But he does realise he has to clarify, even if it takes him a second.

        Akane hugs Knight for real -- and Knight hugs her back, patting her on the back, once. He says: "There are two cats." He's covering the important things, here.

        He straightens, as well, and nods. "Keep fighting," he encourages her, stern. (But he's not particularly tense about it, either.) "Find the height for you." He really likes those short, to-the-point statements, doesn't he?

        But Akane being able to discover these things for herself is important to Knight, too.