2023-01-22: Weak Point

• Log: 2023-01-22- Weak Point
• Cast: Akane Shinjo, Renais Cardiff
• Where: GGG Orbit Base
• OOC - IC Date: 0097-01-22
• Summary: Akane Shinjo gets her third visitor of the day, around lunchtime. Akane and Renais talk about what might come next for them.

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<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Sayla finally left about ten minutes ago, and once again, Akane Shinjo -- in a mostly-buttoned school uniform shirt with no tie, a skirt, and traction socks -- is settled in. She fully expects more visitors, and for once, she doesn't really mind; after so long deep in the pit of her feelings and feeling so alone, the stimulation is at least mostly welcome.

A sensation that's... distinctly unfamiliar has started to set in now, though -- one that's kind of a pain to deal with when you're in a position like Akane's, where you know where absolutely nothing is and need something.

She presses the call button, and -- sounding a little more exasperated than she'd like -- concedes, "... So I didn't need to eat for two years, but now I really need to eat something." Especially if she has to take all this crap again, she thinks, looking at the blister pack full of her meds. "Uh, whatever's fine, but if it helps I really like tomato stuff so maybe some Western-style pasta...?"

It feels weird to make requests and expect them to be fulfilled solely on kindness, but, it's like that sometimes.

She goes back to messing with the tablet she's been graciously allowed to borrow.

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

"Is spaghetti with meatballs okay?" inquires the voice on the other end, and after confirming it is, they tell her it'll be right down.

And then, a few minutes later, the door chimes and slides open; a woman in a 3G mini-dress and halfjacket steps through, bearing a cafeteria tray with a plate heaped high with pasta and tomato sauce, and a glass of tomato juice.

A woman with long, pink hair, blue-green eyes, and a pair of small pince-nez glasses.

And no cooling coat.

Renais' right hand is clad in a black glove, as is the 'absolute territory' between her thighhigh boots and skirt. There's the hint of a smile on her lips as she sets the tray down beside Akane, and she looks the girl over curiously. "So... this is Akane Shinjo. Nice to meet you." Her tone is fairly warm, delivery more along the lines of a clever 'welcome back'.

She offers her gloved hand to Akane.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"That's fine," Akane confirms, before she gets to waiting. And then --

"Renais?" Akane asks, a little startled to see her in a normal uniform and not a cooling coat. She blinks a little, and then reaches up, pushing her own lilac hair back a tiny bit. "I thought you needed..." She looks her up and down, genuinely startled at the idea that Renais can be up and walking and not need extra cooling.

"I..." She takes a breath, then lets it go. "... Thanks. I guess we're -- no, I guess I'm back to owing you one..." Laughing at herself, she rubs at the back of her head. "Ahahaha... I don't know why you bothered, but... yeah."

She shakes the offered hand, though it's with a little bit of trepidation. (She's not even thinking about the potential for heat; she's just... a little nervous about touch, still.)

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

Renais gives Akane's hand a small squeeze, and a shake, before releasing. It's warm--and obviously metal beneath--but it's not uncomfortable in the least. She shakes her head. "Photon Power Labs has made things... much easier, for me. I don't know how it works, but... I've got a bodysuit that mostly handles it for now."

She hooks a chair from behind her with her foot, pulling it in and taking a seat. "You don't owe me anything. I told you I wasn't going to give up on you, didn't I?" The cyborg grins, a hint of smugness on her lips. "I'm just keeping my promise..." She inclines her head forward a touch, adding, "A promise I made to a friend."

The emphasis is clear--that's why she bothered, too.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

The warmth does make Akane flinch a tiny bit -- she's a wimp, through and through, when it really comes down to it -- but she doesn't seem like she's going to pull away, either. A shake it is, then, and then she lets go. "Huh... that must have taken a lot of work. I guess some people really do like going to that kinda trouble."

As Renais settles in, Akane starts eating. As tempting as it is to start with the noodles, she decides to try meat first; the sensation of having something in her mouth -- something with substance -- has gotten a little distant from her, and it's...

"... wow, this is really good, actually," she says. The texture is a little disquieting -- she's so unused to it still! -- but it feels so nice to be nourished, now.

She chews on something metaphorically, too. Something does occur to her to bring up, but... Renais first, she thinks. "It's okay for you to be mad at me, if you're just holding that stuff back," Akane notes, looking up to her. "You were right. What I did really wasn't okay. I'm... still kind of getting my head around why I did it in the first place."

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

"The food on Orbit Base is excellent," Renais agrees. After a pause, she adds, "Usually, anyway."

People don't talk about the food synthesizer malfunction incident.

She lets out a long sigh... and shakes her head, again. "It was absolutely a violation of our boundaries. Of our *selves*. But." She looks off to one side. "I can't deny that it helped me, too. Forcing me to be 'normal'... also showed me that it was possible to be. That I'm not as awful, as different, as I thought."

She looks at Akane again. "I should be angry. And I think I am, but... I'm not going to blame you. You'd spent so long stewing in his poison..."

She shakes her head, dismissing that train of thought. "I'm just... I'm glad to see you safe."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Renais seems to take the best in it, but Akane... struggles a bit. "I guess that was part of it. But... I was pretty mad you called me helpless in France, too. I still don't really know whether it was more about wanting you guys to be less miserable or wanting to take my crappy feelings out on you." It's... a little more honest than she likes being, and it's enough to get her to stop eating, bringing the hand holding the fork down and sliding her thumb off of it onto her other hand for a bit.

... she gets back to it. "If you got that out of it, though, then..." ... it feels like too much to hope for, that she can have what Renais seems to be having. But it's nice to know it's possible.

Maybe she needs to work on... getting used to communicating her needs. "Oh, uh -- I... do you have any lip gloss? It doesn't have to be now, I just want some. I had to wipe mine off --" Once she realizes that this invites a question, she decides to just say it.

"I, uh, think Rikka and I are dating now," she says, and she can't stop giggling once it's out. "I wasn't expecting this to end with kissing in a medical room but..." More giggling. "... it's great, actually."

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

"I was angry, too," Renais says about the remark back in France. She's about to tell Akane to imagine how she felt--but immediately decides against it as she remembers her own transgression, just before then.

"... and perhaps it was a bit of both?" she offers instead. "I don't believe it was purely out of spite. If it was... I think you could have done far worse."

She lets Akane's statement about what she got out of it go unfinished. She has a feeling she knows what the girl wants, but... this isn't quite the way to affirm it, she thinks.

Lip gloss... Renais blinks once, and as the explanation comes, her entire face brightens, with a soft gasp. That giggle, too... it's a little infectious. "Magnifique!" she exclaims, clapping her hands together once. "Did... did she tell you about the song?"

--Oh right. Lip gloss. "Ah, I... think, hold on." She slips a hand into one of her jacket's pockets, and pulls out a stick, offering it. "It's, ah, been used a bit, but... I don't... *think* that will be an issue?" She seems unsure. Girls don't mind that, right?

"I can pick some up from the commissary for you, too," she offers.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"I could hear it in there, for the most part. It... made it easier not to just sink into the idea that being a kaiju was all I was." This is an understatement -- Akane gripped onto that music like a lifeline. But that's a little too vulnerable. "She's really incredible. Like... I see her and I just want to go where she's going, no matter how far it is."

Akane considers the lip gloss for a moment; eventually, she does in fact take it. "My usual shade is a bit pinker, but this is fine," she agrees. It's a little intimate, but... Renais is offering, so she can take it.

Taking a moment to reapply, Akane admits, "I sound better than I am, probably. I'm still worried about..." Taking a deep breath in and sighing it out, she finishes, "... Alexis. I don't think he's going to take this real great." Swallowing, she decides to ask the direct question. "What was it like when you got away from BioNet?"

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

Renais nods. "It was... hard to concentrate on the music, but I could tell it was incredible. Heartfelt. That first song, too, I don't think I've ever heard it before..."

Not that she has all of Sheryl Nome's most recent albums and singles or anything.

"She's got that effect, though... you've got something special, there." She smiles. "She's got a hell of a spirit. Doing what she did out there... she's got a Brave's heart."

"Alexis... if he comes for you, we'll know it. The moment he comes on board. You are in one of the safest places you could possibly be," she reassures Akane.

The other half of that is. Challenging.

"... When they completed my 'training', they brought me in front of several... I'm not sure if they were leaders, but... I rebelled, then and there. Shot as many as I could."

Her expression darkens, bangs shading her eyes as she looks down. "Not enough." She's silent a few moments. "They took me down and pulled out the battery I was running on. Left me to die... I would have, if Chasseur hadn't found me." She rolls up the sleeve of her dress, showing her G-Stone, bared through a cutout. "I got this, and went on the warpath. You know that part."

She looks up at Akane again, smiling a little; a melancholy smile. "You've got it better than me. You're in the hands of friends, of people who'll protect you. Myself included..."

She pauses, briefly. "Actually... Guy... when we were starting work on the Galeoria Pliers... Alexis paid us a visit. And I think Guy wounded him with his Will Knife somehow."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"... I want to hear her sing again," Akane admits, giggling a little about that too -- as long as she focuses on that, she's okay. But that's not a very stable footing... and she'd like to have a better one. Nothing for it but to build one, but...

... it's still great to think about her, and she's allowed. "I called her a hero once and I definitely was right." ... and not just because the alternative, 'good girl,' is decidedly incomplete.

She does listen, though -- to Renais. "Wow. You say that, but I think you're way stronger than I was," Akane says, at the idea of having rebelled rather than simply walked the path in front of her." It does tell her that her gut is right, though -- she's open to reprisal, now. She's well-protected, but even so...

The idea of Guy wounding Alexis, though -- that startles Akane. "What? Why did he even show up? I'm not gonna disagree with that, but... I wonder if there's something else up. What even happened?"

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

"... different kind of strength, maybe. But I don't think I'm stronger than you." Renais looks at Akane. "The trials you went through weren't the same as the ones I went through. The fact that you're sitting here now proves you're strong, too."

As for Alexis... "I think he wanted to taunt us. Discourage us, maybe, but definitely taunt us."

'Kawaii koneko-chan.~' Those words echo in her ears, in two voices.

"Maybe confirm what we were up to..." She sighs. "He dislocated my shoulder when I went for him. THAT was fun," she says sarcastically. "But... Guy pulled out the knife, and when he slashed at Alexis, it... his cape didn't heal immediately, like it normally does. It took a second. And when he left, he seemed-- You know how he normally sort of... glides, like he's not quite real? When he left, he was *moving*. Like it took *effort*."

She thinks to herself. "The Will Knife is... responsive, like the G-Stone. It gets sharper, more able to cut, with Guy's will. ...so..." She grows quiet, as the pieces start to click together in her head.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"... Huh. Huh. That -- actually does kinda sound like good news." It's... heartening, to Akane, to hear it; she has to think about it, though. As far as she knows, Alexis is invincible -- but maybe she just thinks of him that way because she was helpless for so long...?

She chews on it for a bit -- along with some more pasta. "... This is really good tomato sauce," Akane says. (Her primary criterion for good is salty, so base food, it turns out, agrees with her emphatically.)

"Taunt and discourage you... yeah, I guess that does sound like him..." Her brow furrows a little, before she thinks, "Make sure he isn't doing something that isn't obvious, though. Like -- Alexis... cut off your memories, when you got purified. Because I was scared of you telling 3G that I was Tsutsujidai's..." God? Creator? Those don't feel quite right anymore.

She says nothing, in the end.

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

Renais grins. It's good to see Akane... enjoying things. Even during the time they spent together under Bujack's influence, her interactions with things felt... hollow. Disconnected, somehow.

"... mmn. He likes to keep appearances, though. It's hard to say whether he'd be willing to put on such a weak front... at worst, we dealt a blow to his pride, I think." She sighs. "Which isn't as much of a victory as I'd like. I'll bring it up with Guy, though."

"And... I had a feeling that was why." She nods a little. "I reconstructed it all, sooner or later. I think. Alexis..." Renais chuckles. "He made Guy *accept his help*, specifically. Called him up, made an offer... and the result was a spear through me."

"God, I hate him. I want to--"

Crush his mask beneath my boot.

Tear his cloak to shreds.

Beat him until that flame goes out, and the glow behind the mask fades.

"... we won't let him hurt anyone else."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Before anything else, Akane listens to Renais in full. She owes her that much. "Yeah, exactly," Akane says, at the mention of making Guy accept Alexis's help. "That's how he does it, kind of? Like... I asked him for help, but he kinda led the conversation around that way, and only ever really made it obvious he'd help when I was already pretty bad off."

Akane brings a hand down to her own knee, rubbing at it. She wonders what she can even say about it. "He likes to get you on the hook for stuff when you're not thinking straight. I know a lot about you and Alouette. Way more than either of you ever told me. He read out your files while I was upset with myself and wasn't thinking super clearly."

Akane looks down the bed, and asks, "... Is there anything you want to know about me? I feel worse about it with Alouette than with you, since you already told me a lot, but..."

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

"Did he tell you anything else, beyond the BioNet files?" asks Renais, scratching idly at the side of her nose. "... don't answer that. But he knows... things he shouldn't. Can't know."

And yet.

"I know a lot about you, too, actually. A few months ago, we... tracked down a lot about you. Uh... found your apartment, actually," she explains. "We thought we might be able to find something that'd help. Help stop him, help save you..."

She's quiet a long moment. "... I cried. Seeing your room, even knowing how miserable things must have been for you in school... it... reminded me of what I had. What I could have been."

"It's all safe, as far as I know. That box of sofubi and NFC cards, too."

If she knows anything about the medication bottles left behind in the apartment, she's not saying so.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Not answering," Akane says, but she does seem a little anxious about it. "... you've already told me the worst stuff he told me." It sounds like whatever Renais is worrying about isn't known to Akane, at least.

Renais mentions the trip to her apartment, and Akane nods. "Sayla mentioned that, too. And..." Renais cried? For her? "... yeah," she concedes. "I had a rough time. That was my fifth middle school. I got bounced around a lot... I still don't really get why." She lets out a sigh. "Did you, uh... actually never mind." She chews on that. "That was the first one where it was just me on my own... uh, wait, no, actually, I'm gonna ask."

She takes a breath, and says, "Please tell me you didn't check my browser history."

The sofubi part gets her lips to curl up in a smile, as she reaches under her bedsheets.

Akane reveals the box! ... Still unopened. She also reveals a plush cat with four eyes, which had also been in her room. "Sayla brought some of my stuff up. It's kinda nice that it all waited for me."

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

"No, we didn't check your browser history," Renais says with a chuckle. "I don't think your computer was touched, actually. Certainly not while we were there." She looks at first surprised, but then grins, as Akane reveals the box and plush. Laughing, she leans in to look closer at the cat.

"Aw... it's cute. That was good of her." After a moment, and a bit of hesitation, she reaches over to stroke its head a couple of times.

Sitting up again, she sighs... and thinks for a long, long moment.

Maybe it's time.

"... I... mm. Have you ever seen M-Color Q?"