2023-02-28: Whenever, Forever

• Log: 2023-02-28: Whenever, Forever
• Cast: Akane Shinjo, Rikka Takarada
• Where: AEU Spain - Villa Mass
• OOC - IC Date: 0097-02-28
• Summary: During another visit to the villa, Rikka gives Akane a gift to mark her departure from Tsutsujidai for the foreseeable future. ... They're never alone.

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<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

It's been a few days since move-in day, and none of them have been... especially great. By the same token, that none of them have been especially great underlines just how important it was for Akane to live somewhere other than that cavernous, lonely house or that small, lonely apartment. Akane's honestly tracking quite well for the circumstances; she needed a little extra sleep, but she's had people to rely on every step of the way -- and not just the people who tried so hard for her in Tsutsujidai.

... Getting her head around the villa's enormous size is a little much, though. She's still not sure she's actually poked her head into even half of the rooms! Honestly, fully getting her bearings in here is going to be a project...

... which means any entertaining she's doing is going to be in her room, even if it's just, say... getting another two or three episodes into Serena.

Akane's not full-on sobbing, but she is sniffling a little and leaning into Rikka. "That was so amazing," she murmurs. "I really don't see how it has four episodes to escalate from here, but... wow, I really wasn't expecting it to hit that hard..."

She squeezes Rikka's hand and scoots closer to her on the bed, saying, "Even if the next four episodes were to suck, at this point it'd be an easy top five." What comes next is a little bit of a teasing, "Hammer is probably going to get you so bad." Akane's voracious, but... "That's probably enough of that for today." They can leave themselves something for the future -- and maybe explore the villa a bit more, too, later. It'll probably be easier to navigate with a friend. But for now... Akane kind of just wants a break -- and whatever Rikka might want.

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

It feels... really good, knowing that Akane has other people around to help support her. Rikka's glad to do what she can, of course - but she can't be the only one supporting her. That was one thing they both agreed on.

For now, though, she's happy just spending time with her - which, right now, means sitting on the bed and getting further into Truthseeker Serena with her. Rikka can't help but be pleased as Akane leans into her, squeezing her hand and scooting closer. ...Rikka's tearing up a little, too, of course.

"I had a feeling you'd like that. Sometimes I'll just go back and rewatch it... It's never failed to hit me." Rikka admits with a laugh. The next episodes... she has Opinions on them, but she'll save them until Akane has watched them for herself. Akane gets another laugh from her teasing.

"...I'm looking forward to it, then." She says eagerly. "From what you've said, I bet it'll be a hit."

...And, she's excited, too, to experience something Akane enjoys. But, Akane decides that's enough of that for today, so Rikka nods.

She leans forward just a little, grabbing her backpack from where it rests on the bed. She shuts her laptop and starts to slide it in... but pauses, as she spots something inside.

There's a moment of hesitation... and then, she nods to herself before looking back toward Akane.

"So, hey... I've got something for you." Rikka says.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane puts an arm around Rikka as she expresses some excitement; it actually makes her a little nervous to lean too hard into it, as if it might create an expectation. ... they'll get there, though -- and maybe it'll be great and maybe it won't after all!

But they'll get there together.

It's definitely gotten her the rest of the way out of her worries; everyone else has gotten her back to 'okay,' and Rikka's been able to take her from okay to great. ... that's probably how things should be.

Akane wipes at her eyes, taking a breath and pushing back her brown-black hair a little. "... I really need to get this styled," she mumbles to herself. "Maybe I can squeeze it in tomorrow morning before I have to go up to Orbit Base, though that's kinda last minute..." It's just the brief musing of someone who's realized she has to squeeze in another appointment, though, not anything too serious.

Something draws her back out of that, though. Her eyes widen as Rikka seems to hesitate about something while shifting her things around; it's a small, subtle thing, a momentary curiousness. When Rikka looks back to her and says she has something for her, Akane enthuses, "What's up?" Then there's a last, brief sniffle, as she realizes she hasn't... quite cleared everything out, physically.

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Akane puts an arm around her, and things feel Right for Rikka for just a moment. If she doesn't want to lean into things about Hammer more right now, that's fine with her, too. So for now, she satisfies herself with watching her, as she pushes her hair back.

"...I'm excited to see what you do with it." Rikka notes with a sly smile.

She looks back into her backpack, and then, when Akane asks her what's up... she draws from her backpack a pink bag from Nova. She's had it for a while, it's just a little crumpled and worn from the inevitable wear of existing, but she's clearly taken good care of it - and its contents, especially.

"Open it." Rikka urges, offering the bag to her.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane accepts the bag, looking down at it for a moment. This is a little on the upper end, and Akane knows that; Nova's not too pricey, but on a teenager budget it'd be the top and even on a Whatever Secret Thing Sayla Does budget it's a bit of an outlay. Those eyes widen a little bit more.

"This...?" she starts, pulling the bag into her lap; she's slow with it, gradually moving tissue paper and unearthing the box inside. There's the faint click of cardboard against cardboard as she slides the box open, in turn, and...

"... A pass holder?" she asks, staring at it for a moment. She gently runs a finger along the gold of the clasp, brow furrowing a little. She knows she's spent a bunch of time fumbling with her things in front of Rikka, and all of the stuff in her bag just sits loose and undifferentiated, every card and coin and book impossible to distinguish without actually pulling it out or at least feeling it very intently.

"... Are you telling me I can't take care of myself?" she asks; it's not snappish, just self-recriminatory. It's out before she can stop it, and she instantly feels guilty for voicing such a negative inference and probably ruining the moment.

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

The bag leaves her hands, and Rikka folds her hands in her lap and watches Akane take it. She sees the way her eyes widen. It doesn't surprise her. Even a headband was too much pressure to give as a gift... it's no surprise that it'd take Rikka this long to be able to give something like this.

She sits there quietly, watching as Akane opens the bag and draws out the box within, opening it to reveal the pass holder within.

At Akane's reaction, though... despite her worries, Rikka simply offers her a soft smile.

"Not even close." She assures with a shake of her head. "It's so that wherever you go... I'll be there with you."

She hesitates a little before continuing.

"...Promise me something? However tomorrow goes, whatever you do from here... make an impression." Rikka asks.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

That steady, reassuring smile could melt Akane's heart any time. She swallows hard, gripping the pass holder in its box, tearing up all over again as she's told that that's not what Rikka meant at all; she lets the tension she was carrying back out of herself, lets herself accept that there isn't some hidden meaning to this that's not nearly so kind as what Rikka's said.

They're going to be apart a lot more -- or at least, the distance between them will be greater, when they aren't together. A lot of possibilities are closing out -- and unless she starts holing up in her room again and Rikka indulges that, every visit is going to take some real effort.

"Y-yeah," she stammers, ultimately. Together with Rikka, no matter how far... that sounds nice.

The second part, though... "... okay. I will," and at first, that's all Akane says. It actually raises some worries; Akane hasn't been able to really study for tomorrow in days. She could totally fail tomorrow. She could totally fail to make the cut...

... but Rikka's just put it together for her: even if she does... she just has to keep moving. As long as she makes an impression...

She tries to find something else to say -- but all she can do is tear up and lean into Rikka, giving her a soft, "... I will," again. One hand continues to hold the box; the other drifts to Rikka's hand, giving a squeeze.

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Rikka can feel the tension flow out of Akane. She doesn't blame her for having felt that way, but she's glad she could help ease her out of it, too. She smiles, when Akane finally gives her an answer.

She'd say before that she wanted to be together with her... Rikka knows they won't always be able to be physically together, but that remains her earnest wish.

When she responds to her promise with an 'I will', Rikka watches her for a moment - expectantly, perhaps. But, when Akane works her way to a second 'I will'... that seems to satisfy her. Akane leans into her and Rikka leans into her in turn. Akane's hand finds hers and Rikka gently threads her fingers between hers - and with her own free hand, reaches an arm around her shoulders in a hug.

"I know you'll be amazing." Rikka murmurs quietly.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"I will," Akane agrees, a third time. But this time, it comes with something a little firmer, something she should have managed faster but is happy to manage now nevertheless: "I promise."

The encouragement seems to get Akane to pull back up, slowly -- she sniffles again, then takes a deeper breath, leaning into the hug. "I-if I'm amazing," she stammers, and the waterworks are already starting back up, "it's because -- everyone else was so amazing to me --"

She turns to face Rikka a little more fully, practically planting her face into her shoulder. She stays like that for a while, letting herself need someone else.

After a minute, she breathes in, raising her face. "... jeez, this room is so big, I don't know how Sayla ever managed," she mumbles, gradually trying to defuse the tension. "If I were alone in it all the time, it'd be pretty unbearable..." With a ragged giggle, she teases, "but with two people it's pretty much perfect..." And even if she'll be in it alone a lot of nights --

-- she's never really alone in it anymore, is she? Rikka just made sure of that.

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

"Then a promise is a promise." Rikka says with a nod and a smile. That firm promise... it feels like something she can trust and rely on. She's sure that she can count on her. Her smiles softens as Akane continues, and starts tearing up again... and is content to hold her and let her stay buried in her shoulder for as long as she needs.

A minute passes and Akane looks up. Rikka can't help but laugh a little at her comment.

"Yeah, that must've been maddening..." Rikka agrees. ...Incredibly lonely. Like Akane says, that'd be unbearable. But then, Akane teases her and for a moment Rikka's train of thought comes screeching to a halt. She recovers quickly, though, and grins. "...Yeah, two people's pretty great, isn't it?"

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Pushing her hair out of her eyes a little as she pulls back up, Akane catches that derailed train -- and turns a bright pink. "... I wasn't -- I wasn't even thinking of it like that!!" she stammers. ... Then again, it's on her a bit, isn't it, for the number of times that she has been thinking of it like that.

... and, well, maybe now she is thinking of it like that a little bit.

She glances away for a moment, thoughtful as she looks at the nightstand; she settles for turning the lamp down a tiny bit before she returns her attention to Rikka. "Ehehe... I'm so into you," she murmurs, the dramatic weight of the moment giving way to the joy of the here and now. She leans in for a kiss; this one is brief, much briefer than the ones that have come before -- an affirmation that the impermanent is fine, too.

Once they part again, Akane remarks, "... I think I like the kind of things a person gets a lot more than the kind a god gets," laughing a little bit at herself.

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Rikka giggles as Akane turns bright pink and starts to stammer. It's cute to see Akane blush like that, and she seems quite proud of herself after. And then, Akane turns lamp down, just a little bit.

"I know~. Me too..." Rikka smiles as Akane turns her full attention onto her, her eyes shutting for just a moment as she leans in for a kiss, losing herself in it even for that precious, brief moment. She opens her eyes again, and this time her full attention is on her.

"...I'm glad." Rikka replies, with a small laugh of her own.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

For a few moments, Akane sits there, content. ... then the mischief engine starts to spin up, bit by bit, as she looks up at the ceiling, then back toward Rikka, giving her her full attention in turn.

She scoots up the bed a bit, starting to move to get up. "I know the pool's heated... apparently there's been a lot of times it was necessary year-round for physical therapy and stuff. I dunno if you have a swimsuit with you this time, but maybe we should poke our heads in?" A pause, before she murmurs, "... actually, we've done that before... maybe we don't wanna get into too much of a rhythm. We could poke around the rest of the house, maybe..."

Stretching a little, she requests, "Give me a minute to freshen up first? I just noticed how much my hair got messed up while we were watching..." ... actually, that's a thought. "Though, I don't knoooooooow... it's such a pain to have to brush all this hair now," she mock-whines, even as her lips turn up in a smirk. "It'd be soooooooo much nicer if someone else brushed it and combed it and told me how pretty it was."

... the gradual transition from smirk to big, bratty grin on her face -- the constant threat of a giggle encroaching -- suggests she'd be just as happy to be told to come off it as to be pampered, though.

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Rikka is satisfied with just sitting there for a while, too, but when Akane starts to scoot up Rikka carefully disentangles herself from her to make it easier.

"That is a good idea... but you're right, we should probably shake things up a bit." Rikka agrees with a nod. "...You're right, though, I didn't bring it... Next time for sure, though."

She's momentarily distracted by watching Akane stretch as she requests a minute to freshen up, but she nods.

"Sure, take all the time you need-" She starts... and then, Akane gets that Look and begins to whine. Rikka smirks.

"Mm, well, that is a problem, isn't it...? And it looks like I'm the only one here. I guess I'll have to take that upon myself..." Rikka replies.

...Truthfully, either option was very tempting, but ultimately the desire to fawn over Akane and play with her hair won out.