2022-10-30: A Brave Offer ~ALLIES~

• Log: 2022-10-30- A Brave Offer ~ALLIES~
• Cast: Akane Shinjo, Mikoto Utsugi
• Where: Tsutsujidai - Akane's Room
• OOC - IC Date: 0096-10-30
• Summary: Mikoto Utsugi reaches out to someone offering the universe a kinder end than the one Triple Zero promises. They come to a mutual understanding -- with the kind of pain that only someone who understands where you're at can offer.

---

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

This place is -- numb. If you'd been here from the start, you'd notice the ways it's waking up; to a new visitor, though -- the fog, the kaiju... the way people simply go through the motions just a little too slowly, the way people forget... everything. Just because it's a space that's waking up doesn't undo its numbness.

Akane Shinjo sits at the heart of the heart of the heart in an endless loop of self-reinforcement -- no, more than that.

Akane Shinjo's heart has begun to drag other people into that numbness. That 'thing only I can do,' that star-shaking miracle of the human heart, dies here. Akane's understanding of care is fundamentally destructive, and her flashes of caring, as a result, have become narrow-targeted, intimate destruction indeed.

But then, she learned that from a master.

---

Akane's head rests on her desk. She's overwhelmed and frustrated -- the demands of keeping a growing number of people under her thumb directly and personally solely out of fear they'll support a Vessel of Light are enormous, and piece by piece they're crushing her.

But of course, she's carved off the parts of her own heart that might tell her to stop, too.

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Utsugi has posed.

        A young woman walks stands on a corner of a street. Her pink and white dress should stand out, especially with a red vest over it. Above that, her unique antenna like hairstyle should draw more.

        But even as the city wakes up, it's sleepy. She reaches out through the Limpid Channel- it's so easy to use now. To find people, to have her words reach them. There are familiar presences here, and her heart is... eased. And then she focuses.

<<Swan... I found them. Please ask Tomoro to open a door.>>

        And then she steps into ripples of reality, then vanishes.

        ----

        It is impossible for a room such as this, stagnant and filled with garbage, to not be disturbed by the breathing of a human. The crinkling and crunching of two footsteps on plastic as the walls of reality are forced to accomodate a door.

        The woman looks at the girl at her desk, and her heart hurts for her. Forced to endure this, even here. "Shinjo-san?" The woman asks, giving a polite bow. "May I talk to you?" There's an earnest, sad smile on her face.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Putting on the face has become reflexive and instantaneous. Akane Shinjo becomes aware the mask is necessary and the mask becomes her. To have the world she wanted to have, she needs to be this person -- so she goes back to being the slightly-smug, definitely-in-control Akane Shinjo.

... a 3G Green emblem. With GaoFighGar defeated, Final Fusion, and Program Drive all on the shelf... Akane starts drawing some conclusions. It's not difficult for her to put pieces together. (Indeed, it makes it easier to occupy the mask; stimulation helps.)

"3G Green, huh. Is this about Renais?" she asks, lips curling up in a smile. "I get the feeling that set you guys back pretty bad, 'cuz we didn't hear from you for a while. Guess you guys wanna be cautious about this." She lazily picks up a needle tool for sculpting clay, absently twirling it between her fingers. "Kinda wish you'd have knocked, but I guess that's on me for making myself too easy to find."

Her expression flattens just slightly.

"Sure. Let's talk."

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Utsugi has posed.

        The woman is surprised at how quickly Akane reacts- but she's always been prone to saying the wrong thing around people younger than her. First with Alouette, but...

        "Ah, so you did this for Renais." The smiles gets... not brighter, but more at ease. "Thank you. She deserves some happiness after everything she's been through." She looks to one side. "I'm glad someone would give her that, when we couldn't."

        The brown haired woman takes a few slow steps forward, careful of her balance- stopping herself from stepping on a snowglobe just in time, and stepping over it. She's probably about six paces away from Akane now. "I'm sorry, but you have the wrong idea."r
        It's here, at this distance she pulls herself into an on duty stance.

        "My name is Mikoto Utsugi, of the Gutsy Galaxy Guard. We'd like to help you."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Yeah, she kinda does," Akane agrees. "Alouette, too. You guys keep finding BioNet's garbage and peeling it off the floor. Well... 'kept,' I guess." She knows about the rest of 3G Green's fate -- and she knows it's reversible.

... was reversible. Without GaoFighGar and GaoGaiGo, what are they gonna do about it? It's even clear that Alexis can't do all the lifting.

When Mikoto approaches and formally introduces herself -- and then offers help...

It's not actually a surprise to her, in that sense. Renais. J. The people who Guy has been forced to fight against seem to want to help her, time and again. Akane can recognize a pattern.

There was a time -- fairly recently, even -- when she'd have refused 'help' from those enforcing cosmic law. The ultimate goal there is simply too cruel for her.

"After how that worked out for Renais, I kinda figured you'd spot a pattern, here. But I'll bite." Leaning back in her chair, she asks: "What's 'help,' here, and what's the catch."

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Utsugi has posed.

        *That* gets a moment of surprise from Mikoto. "Alouette-chan is here?" Guilt saps her. "...I see. That happiness she had didn't last." There's tears in Mikoto's eyes, that she wiped away with her sleeves. "Then... I'd like to thank you for you giving her a place as well. That's... how it should be."

        Mikoto takes another step forward, small and ordinary, as she thinks about the answer to the question posed. "...I think what you're doing right now is right. Making the world closer to how it should be. People should have a chance at a quiet, still life like this, while they can. That's why we're offering." That's why Mikoto's offering. Taiga's thoughts might differ.

        "We'd like to have several of the Super Bravest Robot Corps come to Tsutsujidai, to defend it, and assist you and your Kaiju." She pauses. "In return, we'd ask that you keep doing as you have been, and allow us to take advantage of the opportunity presented by what you've done for Renais, Alouette, and the others."

        Mikoto knows it's a deal good to be true. "And when Guy comes... Please don't kill him unless no other option is available." This term is selfish, and purely hers. Mikoto's hands are clasped tightly. "How does that sound?"

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

... it really is familiar. 'Heroes' behave a certain way -- this offer isn't so far from the one Renais made when they met. It's not the same offer -- Renais actively offered herself up for her use, while Mikoto proposes more of an alliance.

... Akane doesn't have the heart to deny it. She knows better, admittedly. This offer of help is tainted -- and risky, besides. But 3G Blue is sniffing around for their missing friend -- not angry but hopeful. And who better to defend Tsutsujidai against NERV than even more experienced civil defense forces?

"Oh! That's a lot easier to swallow than what I kinda expected," Akane admits. "And honestly, it's a better deal for me than you guys? Which... well, I guess I'm not gonna beat a dead horse here, but this is a huge upgrade from working with BioNet. Those guys are super inconsistent. With you I know exactly what I'm getting."

She chews on it for a few moments. "... Deal, but only if you won't kill the Gridman Alliance. That's my problem to solve." She doesn't even offer Mikoto the same 'unless no other option is available,' here; this is simply her red line.

Akane does have a follow-up question, then -- and one that she delivers in that thoughtless, direct way only a teenager can. "Is Guy your boyfriend?"

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Utsugi has posed.

        Perhaps because of the comparitive lack of guile on display here, Mikoto doesn't hide her dismay at the mention of Akane working with BioNet. They're small fry compared to Cosmic Law- but there's nothing dictating she has to tolerate them.

        "I understand. Even if we're in the position to, we won't kill them. You have my word." And by God, Mikoto means it. "Deal."

        <<She said yes. Please get them into position.>>

        "HyoRyu and EnRyu are arriving now, and will keep a low profile. AnRyu and KoRyu will be on standby. Will they be enough?" It's nearly half the SBRC right now. But she trusts Chief Taiga's allocation.

        And then Akane throws an emotional dagger, and Mikoto's hand goes to her heart. Her face falters, but she still smiles beneath the sadness. "...Yes. Even now, I know he is. He won't ever give up on me." Mikoto's eyes are once again filled with tears.

        "I just hope that I can convince him to live his life, before the end. He deserves that now. We can be together again after it's all over."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Haha, I don't like 'em either!" Akane says, at Mikoto's obvious distress at the idea of a former BioNet ally. "But, you know how it is. I mean, it must have sucked for you being under the same umbrella as the Titans and Britannia and stuff," Akane points out, with a dismissive little wave of her hand -- she thinks Mikoto will get it if she emphasizes that.

"Well, I guess I really have no reason to turn you down, then. That sounds great. I don't know a lot about what you're capable of, but if they're about on par with Renais..." She thinks on that. "Yeah that's plenty," she affirms.

Mikoto turns to the topic Akane dictates --

This time, it's Akane's turn to look like she just stepped on glass. "... You really are a hero all the way down, huh. I can tell the cosmic law thing isn't your actual deal," she says, gesturing vaguely with the tool she picked up earlier. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna poke at that part very hard. Kinda pointless to dump that on someone with a hole in her heart."

She leans forward. "But you're probably gonna lose if you think that way. People like him don't give up. Trust me, I've tried to make it stick. J takes hints better than she did."

... Oops. Akane skates past it, though. "So! That's where we're at. ... it's kinda funny, though... Alouette wanted so bad to stop fighting you. It was tearing her up inside. It made it really easy to get her to give up. And now you're both on my side!"

Leaning in a little closer, she makes a follow-up offer: "... do you wanna stay here? If this place is really so unobjectionable to cosmic law at this point... maybe that'll be just as much easier on you as on her. Neither of you wanted to be having this fight, and this is the last safe place from it in the whole universe!"

There's something... dark, in that smile -- not quite sadistic, but there's something in Akane that wants to get back at Mikoto for raising a spectre in her heart. (Of course, if she took the offer seriously and accepted it, that'd make her genuinely happy... but the pain in the alternative outcome isn't undesirable.) "You, Renais, and Alouette, complaining about the coffee at Starbows. Like nothing's wrong with what the universe handed you at all. Doesn't that sound nice?"

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Utsugi has posed.

        Mikoto gives a slow nod, but she's still uneasy- if not for the reasons Akane thinks. She could correct her but... it's not important. "AnRyu and KoRyu were Renais partners. I think they'd be eager to defend her new home."

%As Akane leans into Mikoto's space, Mikoto doesn't back away. Not on this. "...Even Guy can't stop this," she says, but the sheer sorrow in her voice makes it sound like some part of her wishes she could. "The 'miracles' we made... were a mistake. And he would fight it to the end, if he could fight right now." Fortunately, someone fixed that.

        "Alouette..." Mikoto bites her lip, thinking of the little girl who lost her memories, abilities and personality because of her. But she got to be happy, with her mother. And it was kinder for her to be here now. Article 5, Paragraph 125.

        Akane gets her blood when the dagger's barely cut. "...I can't. My duty is on the J-Ark." She wants to be with them, so badly. So very badly. It hurts her so much to pass it up. But duty trumps all. "As long as they stay here, it's enough."

        Mikoto steps back now. "I should go back now, Shinjo-san, unless there's something else?" She looks at the God of Tsutsujidai. "If you need to contact us, HyoRyu or EnRyu will be able to transmit to us- and we'll be there when you call."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

... ah. Mikoto's purpose trumps everything else, for her. Akane glances off. "Fine," she says, with a little roll of her eyes. "I mean, whatever. Offer's still open. Maybe I'll call you for coffee with Alouette or Renais there and then just not tell you that part until you get there!" She brings a hand up to her mouth with a little giggle, back fully to the mask.

"Thanks for this, though. I guess I'll see you around. Your buddies, too, actually." It'd be the kind thing to do to try to tip off 3G Blue, or NERV, or -- something. To make it easy for them to move against this. To have this many of their friends-turned-enemies in one spot is such an opportunity.

... in the end, though, Tsutsujidai has to be her highest priority. She has defenders -- no sense in squandering them. Why move something to an end?

She turns back around. "I'm counting on you~"

<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Utsugi has posed.

        Mikoto just looks away as Akane taunts her. It's a little much to confront right now. They have what they need. Instead she kneels down to pick up that snow globe she stepped over, and move it to one side.

        "Oh, yes. You can rely on us, Shinjo-san."

        The ES Door opens again, and Mikoto steps through it- and out of Tsutsujidai completely. There's work to be done.