2022-09-27: Cousins ~FRIENDS~

• Cast: Guy Shishioh, Renais Cardiff
• Where: Orbit Cafe, Orbit Base
• Date: U.C. 0096 09 27
• Summary: Renais and Guy catch up, share coffee, and laugh together for the first time.

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<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

Renais sits in the Orbit Cafe, looking out the window as the lights of the orbital ring drift slowly by. A French press sits on the table, full of steeping coffee, steam gently rising from the spout.

The cyborg's thoughts are... perhaps a bit more placid than normal. She's due for a GS-Generator checkup in a few hours, but for now... she can relax, a bit.

The difference being that, for once, she feels like... maybe she actually can. Her thoughts aren't on BioNet, nor on Akane, nor the impending threat of Triple Zero... they're on people like Leina, Sayla, and Guy. The people she's begun to trust. And while she doesn't feel quite forward enough to extend an invitation... she's hoping to meet her cousin before she has to head back to Earth.

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

It's good timing.

Guy's been out of his wheelchair for a week or two now, and even the cane he used for a few days is gone by now. The long black Chief's vest-coat sweeps around his feet as he strides up, already holding a tray with one of the set lunches. "Fancy seeing you here," he says, not that it'd be any surprise to him; the bonds between G-Stones would have told him she was here even if security hadn't. "I'm glad to see you."

He motions at a seat. "May I?" Letting her have the choice.

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

Renais straightens up, glancing toward the doorway briefly before Guy enters; the G-Stones' bond seems to be doing something for her as well, for once. She glances at the coffee pot a moment, then at the clock.

"Good to see you, too," she replies quietly, with a small nod as she smoothly pushes the plunger of the press down. "Glad to see you on your feet... I've got drinks brewing here, if you'd like something." She glances back out the window a moment. "Things have been fairly quiet for you, I hope."

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

Guy accepts the invite, slipping into the seat. "Please! Always great to watch someone who knows their stuff put it to work," he says, with that hero's grin of his, big and friendly. He pops his chopsticks. "Good to be on my feet," he adds. "Letting it heal until the docs were all pleased took way longer than I thought it would, but I'm on my feet and ready for action now. I guess it's good I didn't have to force myself. Means things are going well, right?" He chuckles, good natured. "No need for me to hare off and just hope the adjustments hold. Not that that's how it works for me, anymore."

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

"Well, you came just in time for the main event." There's a brief silence, during which Renais stares at the pot. "It was the bit just now where I pressed down the plunger." There's another silence, and

Renais cracks. It's a sight Guy's never seen, with his cousin genuinely mirthful, *laughing*. It takes her a few moments to get her composure back, and she clears her throat. A bit of the grin still lingers. "I was just waiting for the rest of the grounds to settle out. It's, uh. Not a very exciting process." She puts some light pressure on the lid as she pours a cup for Guy, then herself.

"--oh, cream or sugar?" she asks, having just now realized he might want some.

"You really did throw yourself in front of *every* train back then, didn't you?" she asks while she's turned away toward the nearby condiment bench, procuring a couple of sugar packets and the thermos of cream. She pours a little splash into her mug, then sets the thermos and sugar for Guy. "... not that I have any room to judge," she says, quieter.

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

Guy waits patiently while Renais builds up... ....nothing.

He laughs, too. Guy's a more open man, conversational chuckles and such are a common thing for him. But it's been a while since he's broken out in a smile like that, laughing loud to the ceiling without a care. "Renais!" he laughs. "Man, you got me, there!"

When he recenters it's with a big smile, doing nothing to hide it. "Ah, Dad taught me all about that. Patience, anyway. A process only works if it's performed at the proper time." He wags his finger. "So sometimes there's nothing to do but wait."

Speaking of jokes: "Not every train," Guy says, and then gets an insufferable grin as he adds, "I was driving one of them. Still...it's amazing how many times I just had to go back out. Even now it's a little hard to get used to not being the only one. - Oh, yeah, please." Guy's not the sort to go for needlessly bitter.

Maybe later, they can go into why his impression of that has to do with how much instant sucks.

He watches Renais return, a hair more seriously than she left. Guy sets to work on sweetening his drink, and arches an eyebrow. "Yeah?" he prompts her, wanting to hear her thoughts.
BBSYS: Post 265, 'Hypnic Jerks (2)' has been published to Cutscenes & Logs by Akane Shinjo.

<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.

"Well... I've nearly gotten myself killed multiple times recently, and over *much* less noble things than 'protecting humanity from the threat of Zonderization,'" comes Renais' reply, watching the cream swirl in her coffee. "Not that you aren't a noble cause, but... I could have put my cooling jacket on. And dying to save billions..." She trails off.

"Uncle Leo was a good man, wasn't he." It's not envy that bubbles up, now, but regret. "I wish I could have known him better."

There's a long silence, and she takes a sip of coffee. "Liger just taught me to wait."

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

"That's what it's like to be a brave, I think," Guy says. "It's sure not rational or by the numbers. It's about...respecting the odds, but not fearing them. And it's a little bit about letting your passions roar. So...well, even if it wasn't the strictly rational play, thank you, Renais."

As for their fathers: "Yeah. Dad was...really, truly amazing. He was always working on something or other. Of course for a few years there that was all GGG stuff, deciphering Galeon's black box, all that. But even before that he was constantly fiddling with gadgets, little personal robots." He chuckles, tilting his cup, just watching the dark liquid for a moment. "His outrageously dangerous rocket skates. Hah." ...

"I think Mom's death really tore him up," Guy murmurs. "Most of the time he couldn't say her name or he'd..."

He shakes his head, chasing off the grim turn and turning his eyes up to Renais. "...yeah. I can believe it, honestly." He's tried to avoid talking too much about Liger - Renais' feelings toward him are clearly bitter and Guy's experience of him was...different. It's felt hard to bridge.

But maybe it's a bridge he should build. "Did I ever tell you, what Liger got up to when his team was finally ready to help us out? It was so...him."

<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.

Renais looks off to one side as the parallels hit her. When her mother died...

She'd never really wondered how Liger had felt afterward. He'd probably treated it with the same lack of regard he'd treated her with... but she'd never really asked.

She takes a sip from her coffee, lifting an eyebrow. "Mm? You mean when he brought Mic Sounders?" she asks, thinking back. "That was before the Primevals came, right? I was still..." She trails off. No need to finish that sentence. "...anyway. What was he doing?"

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

...maybe a bad topic. But, in for a penny...

"So one, he couldn't keep Mic contained to save his life, since he escaped something like three times to go hang out with the local kids." He grins at that. "Fortunately, one of them was Mamoru. It's why they're such good friends. But more than that..."

His expression is hopelessly amused, mostly. "He'd apparently programmed Mic to download all our intelligence files? And he 'borrowed' the single Zonder Metal we'd managed to capture intact. All that so he could have all the possible data and be sure he finished Disk X."

He looks up to Renais, grinning. "Naturally, Volfogg and Dad were five steps ahead of him and saw everything. Dad treated it like they'd found Uncle Liger's hand in the cookie jar. He could've just asked, but he had to be sure he got it perfect." He pulls his coffee to his lips. "After that, he pretty much played straight with us."

<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.

Renais can't help but crack a grin at the thought of Mic hanging out like one of the kids. It's ridiculous, but completely in-character. "Mic's such a dork..."

She's quiet as Guy regales her with the tale of Liger Shishioh's Unnecessary Espionage. Somehow, she looks both incredulous and completely unsurprised, rubbing at her forehead. "God. That ridiculous motherfucker..."

"You know what those discs are made of, right?" she asks, not waiting for a reply. "They're made out of the husks that Somnium leaves behind. And I did some digging after the war... that motherfucker went out and got those. *Himself*. The man was in his fucking 60s, at least, and *he* was chasing after Lamia, right at the start of the Kankel Algernon outbreak!"

She sighs, looking a mix of admiring and bitter. "When he decides to commit to something, he fucking DOES it. I'll give him that much." She takes a drink of her coffee, looking into it for a moment. "Just wish he'd have committed to me."

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

That gets Guy's attention, with an arched eyebrow and a laugh over his drink. "Really!? I knew the manufacturing process was a pain, I had no idea it was that limited. Amazing...but of course he went out on his own! That's something he and Dad shared, at least. 'Somebody else might get it wrong, so it's got to be me!' ...guess Dad was a bit better about it, though."

Though that thinking is, ultimately, what killed him. But Guy's at peace with that; he knows, far more literally than most, that his parents are happy and together now.

"...yeah," Guy says. "He's...amazing in a lot of ways. After Dad died, Uncle Liger stepped right into his shoes. But..."

...He scratches his cheek, a little uncomfortable, but not wanting to shy away from the topic, either. This is obviously bothering her, an old, stubborn splinter in her heart. "...but he always committed to his work, first," he says. "I can't deny that."

He tries to think through what he can say here - her mother's a bitter pill...her upbringing is an even worse topic...does he move things along, or let her say what she needs to? ...in the end, he settles for: "We'll get him back. Then I'll hold him down for you." And a small grin.

<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.

Renais nods. "That's probably why he snuck around the way he did. He wanted to make sure there wasn't anything being withheld, because they were in such limited supply that he couldn't afford any failures." She may have a lot of resentment toward Liger, but she knows how he thinks. "Still... if Leo and Volfogg weren't so forgiving--not to mention Chief Taiga--he might've been charged with espionage." She shakes her head. "I think he just loves playing with fire, honestly."

Guy's offer brings another smile to her face, though. Genuine, and warm, if a bit sad. "Thank you, Guy." The smile fades back, a little, as she continues. "I know you saw a different man than I did, and you couldn't have known what happened between us, back then. I... *probably* won't hold you to that... at least not the literal version. But hearing you say it means a lot."

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

"That I believe," Guy laughs, about playing with fire. "Dad and I had lots of reasons to be working with GGG, obviously, but Uncle Liger...I mean, I don't think he was undedicated to saving humanity. But you got the sense he was most excited to be pushing boundaries." Chuckle. "Just, sometimes legal ones."

And he favors her with his best smile. There's...it's not insincere, that handsome, friendly smile he's so ready to share. But there's something a bit more genuine to this, a bit less practiced and composed. "Yeah. It takes a little work to think about, sometimes, honestly. But...I don't want to brush off your hurt, either. And for what it's worth, I wish we'd met a lot sooner." A long, slow breath of the coffee's aroma, as he's been told is a thing you do, and he seeks her eyes. "But we got there in the end, at least. I'll have your back, Renais. I promise."