2022-05-24: Liaison
- Log: 2022-05-24- Liaison
- Cast: Akane Shinjo, Grace O'Connor
- Where:
- OOC - IC Date:
- Summary: <Summarize!>
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
The young lady has been *terribly* hard to reach the last several days. Strange, that. It's as if things in her life are increasingly confronting and uncomfortable!
She's starting to get back to it, though, in fits and spurts. And today, it's...
"Your board position's a little precarious... Really, though, this whole place is a little weird. They really pay this much money to play shogi?"
"It's usually more, but we haven't had a lot of foot traffic today. I didn't know you played shogi."
"I don't! I just thought I'd sneak along after school and see what you were up to. Does Ako know about this stuff?"
"She doesn't. Only my sister knows..."
"Well..." A smile. "I'll keep your secret if you keep mine. I'll even help you come up with more excuses for your dad. You can keep the gilla, too."
"... Okay. But Akane?"
"Huh?"
"Look at the board again."
Marusan gives Akane a thin smile. It's at this point that Akane realizes she'd been in brinkmate last turn and not defending herself, which means...
Akane strides out of the shogi parlor, 100 gilla lighter for her trouble -- not that she minds. "Now what do I want to do with the rest of my day," she murmurs aloud, looking around a bit. This is a slightly more... 'adult' part of town than she's used to going to -- nothing dire, granted, but still... she's a touch lost.
She pulls out her phone -- cracked screen and muddy corners and all -- and taps at it. She has to be able to find *something* to do out here...
<Pose Tracker> Grace O'Connor has posed.
Confronting and uncomfortable... well those things sure don't SEEM to describe the rarely unpleasant, often smiling Grace O'Connor. She is after all often only a dim blip next to the incandescent brilliance of her effervescent protege. The black sky against which Sheryl's star burns brightest.
... but it is within those black silent spaces that danger lurks. Both as chunks of orbital rock hurtling at civilization ending speeds, as well as in the form of a full conversion cybernetic woman more than a little incensed at the recent unfolding of events.
"Miss Shinjo?"
Grace's voice is familiar, even in the relative silence of Tsutsujidai's downtown. After all unlike other people she doesn't need to strain her voice to be heard over the din of a concert. She only needs to increase the output of her artificial voicebox. "How wonderful that we've finally had a chance to run into one another again. Part of the purpose of Sheryl's concert was so that we could meet..." She sighs, "I'm sorry things turned out the way they did. If you'd give me another chance, I'd love an opportunity to have a second chance at our first meeting."
As usual, the Galactic Fairy's secretary is dressed in her dark green business attire. Hair curled in a loose twist held in place by a crimson hair stick, and glasses adorning her nose. You'd be forgiven of course for not knowing that this version of Grace is in fact a facsimile of her primary body that resides outside of Tsutsujidai. The two are almost identical, after all... being manufactured upon the same parameters. This Grace has actually been involved in a strategic war of her own - hunting down the elusive God of Tsutsujidai - while vacant of the Ghost in the Machine. Even now there is something off about her presentation. Her expressions are a little too static, and her eyes a bit too transfixed. Lacking the natural, constantly microshifting movements of a human... when she's not talking or emoting, she looks uncomfortably like a human sized doll.
The doll's hand reaches out in offer to Akane's. Her violet eyes staring at the girl, her synthetic skin pulling violet painted lips into a polite smile. "Shall we go get a snack together? My treat."
Meanwhile, Grace in her main body has been notified that the target has been located. She is currently in the processing of excusing herself from her immediate duties to find a place from which she can transfer her conscious self into her other, vacant shell.
She Will Be There Shortly.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
The slightly unsettling mien of Grace O'Connor -- or at least, of something distinctly like her -- actually doesn't bother Akane that much. Really, if anything, that kind of uncanny-valley presentation puts Akane a bit at ease. You know what you're getting with a plastic smile, after all.
It's that that makes her stretch out a bit, hold her phone a little lower, and agree pleasantly: "Huh? Sure thing! Let's go... hmmm..."
She pulls up Maps, and tabs through it a bit. "Hmmm... hmmmm... oh, I've wanted to try this place lately!"
She holds up her phone, revealing a chain restaurant near Kamesan Park. It's a two-floor establishment that used to be a small office, which means it has a *lovely* view of the park proper. "We'll have to take the train -- that's okay, right?"
Grace ought to have plenty of time to rearrange her sense of self, thus.
<Pose Tracker> Grace O'Connor has posed.
There is a bit of a pause between Akane's presenting of an option, and Grace's reply. In fact if someone wanted to post something amusing to social media it would be a video of Grace standing there with a spinning 'loading' circle over her face. After all there are limits what the cybernetics autonomous mode is allowed to decide on its own.
... Grace isn't entirely comfortable with the notion of there being another 'her' with anything closely resembling free will.
When the loading is finished though, the secretary doll's smile widens a bit more, "Of course."
She will then accompany Akane, her hands folded in front of her as she walks. Her eyes are careful never to let the shorter girl out of their sight. Even foregoing blinking to do so, as it turns out. After all much like her glasses blinking is actually an unnecesary free action that Grace O'Connor engages in to try and reinforce the illusion (even to herself) that she is still comfortably defined as a human being. Her automated body needs no such reminders. It is focused entirely on performing its task to the best of its ability. Even when the two sit on the train she decides to sit across from Akane instead of next to her. All the better to keep the Elusive God in the center of her field of vision.
It also makes observing this Grace easier for Akane. While the train is moving it pulls out a tablet and makes as if to review and reply to several e-mails. The motions, while randomized, are still automated. Much like a 'screen saver' but for a human shaped body. There is a point though where the motions start to slow down, and the stop. For the first time Grace's eyes close, her automated breath simulation cycles stop, and for a few scant seconds one examining they body would come to the conclusion she died.
When Grace's eyes open again though, She Is Here.
With a much more natural seeming smile, Grace puts away the tablet and looks up to regard Akane. Now everything is less plastic and more human: All those expected micro-movements of the eyes and face that are present in other people. As the train nears Kamesan Park, Grace begins, "It's nice everything was cleaned up here so quickly." She pauses, before continuing on, "Taking down the concert stage at other venues can be a rather involved process after all. We have to make sure that nothing proprietary of Sheryl's is left behind, and that all customizations we have made to the venue itself are returned to their original condition. Here it required quite a bit less effort."
"For that much at least, I'm grateful.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
It's strange -- for all the truths of Tsutsujidai and of Alexis Kerib, Akane Shinjo... is just a normal human girl, for the most part, at least behaviorally. There's something odd about her, observed this closely electronically, though -- albeit subtle. It'd be difficult to even find a specific *way* in which it's wrong -- simply that there's some tiny sunlight between her readings and the readings of a normal human.
It also goes *away* when Grace observes Akane fully with her own eyes; whatever the 'doll' might have experienced is lost. Maybe it just needs a diagnostic at some point? Then again, if whatever weirdness there was disappears when Grace is inside it...
... who knows? Maybe it's just data loss from having a body double in another slice of reality entirely.
"Wait, you're friends with Alexis and he didn't tell you about that part?" Akane asks, as the train comes to a stop. It's a good thing most people don't pay too much attention to this kind of thing here -- because she's about to say some *real weird stuff.* "The kaiju clean up the wreckage from kaiju attacks and fights and stuff. By the time everyone wakes up the next morning, it's all gone!"
She considers elaborating more on that point, but she thinks that's probably enough from her on that particular topic. Besides -- she's kind of curious about this shift in Grace. "You perked up quickly, though! Let me guess. Hmmm... hmmmmm..."
She thinks for a few more seconds... and then concludes she's stumped. "... I've got nothin', actually! It does kinda vibe like the difference in seeing Alexis face to face versus on a screen, though..."
<Pose Tracker> Grace O'Connor has posed.
Unfortunately, junk data does occur regularly. Cosmic radiation such as the kind experienced in deep space does play havoc on various sensors and recording devices. As such Grace's body has a fairly robust system to automatically remove and edit out such distractions...
... that said, sustained and unexplained phenomena will be flagged for later review. Whether to determine the necessity in a diagnostic patch, or to identify something genuine and yet unknown.
The train comes to a stop, and in response to Akane's question regarding what Alexis did (or did not) explain to her the secretary merely tilts her head while blinking to signal confusion. Whether at Akane's surprise that Alexis wasn't forthcoming, or that there's something special with Tsutsujidai at all. Either way she's pleased to let Tsutsujidai's Deity provide her explanation for how this world works.
It's useful to compare notes, especially when you're not sharing your own.
Now that the train is stopped though, Grace moves to get to her feet while waiting for the doors to slide open and let them move on to their destination.
'... I've got nothin', actually! It does kinda vibe like the difference in seeing Alexis face to face versus on a screen, though...'
Interesting. For her part though Grace just smiles and raises her hand to laugh a bit politely, "Ah, I see you noticed that. I guess it's to be expected for someone like you to be so observant. Well. I'm a busy person so I rarely have time to rest, and it's hard for me to give my full attention to everything at once. So sometimes I go into... mmm... I think most people would call it 'going on automatic pilot'?"
Yes, perhaps most people would - though the 'automatic pilot' most people experience in their montonous existences is wholly different than the 'automatic pilot' that was just engaged in by Grace.
As the two walk from the train station to the restaurant, Grace turns slightly to regard one of the kaiju on the horizon. Careful to only just turn enough to not let Akane out of her sight, of course. Her lips purse slightly in though, "Hmmm... they really are fascinating aren't they, these kaiju? I'll admit I had not encountered that many." ... and the abilities of the kaiju-shaped Vajra seemed largely engaged in ripping her own life into shreads... "But now I'm beginning to see that they are far more varied and useful than simple destroyers."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
There's definitely a little more to that than just 'going into autopilot' the way a normal person would, Akane notices. She's an observant kid when she wants to be, and she *loves* a good mystery. She doesn't press, though; she's... pressed a lot, lately.
The topic turns to kaiju as they get off the train, and Akane enthuses a little bit. "Yep! The ones on the horizon are for putting things back together. I make whole different kaiju for the other stuff. Those ones..." She pauses, considering. It's fine to let one of Alexis's friends in on a lot, she realizes; they usually tend to be observant to begin with, and *unfortunately* they often come equipped with a little information on her already.
"I made them when I was just starting out. They're not actually my designs," she notes, with faint irritation that's hard to keep from entering her voice. "Alexis walked me through them. He said these were someone else's design, though what I'm doing with them is more interesting."
The concert, though... she realizes she probably owes Grace an explanation for that, as she puts 'Grace' and 'Kaiju' next to each other in her head. She doesn't... *quite* work her way up to volunteering one just yet, though. As she heads into the restaurant, she notes, "All I want is tomato juice. If they're out, hmmm... strawberry milkshake?" Evidently, she expects Grace -- the adult -- to handle the ordering... or maybe there's something more to it.
I don't understand that.
<Pose Tracker> Grace O'Connor has posed.
Grace has been in the espionage game for a decade now. Beyond the utility in hiding her true role within the Galaxy Fleet's military from public knowledge the most useful thing she has learned is how to trade in marginally useful tidbits of information, especially ones which lead to other (sometimes incorrect) assumptions. For example: Mention that you are becoming aware of kaiju being more than simple destroyers. Perhaps don't mention the scan of the strange little girl who had also attended the concert.
And in this case it leads to data dump regarding Akane and her role in kaiju production. So she is... the designer? And it sounds like the manufacturer in some way. After all she had taken what was another designer's work and was walked through by Alexis in constructing her own.
Much like the girl she is traveling with, Grace enjoys a good mystery. She was still and is still to her mind a researcher first, after all. In this case if Alexis knows kaiju designs, and knows enough to walk through someone in constructing their first kaiju... then does he construct his own kaiju? If not, why not? That would imply there's a missing piece to Alexis that is present in Akane. Is it because Akane is a god? But all indications are of her being a normal girl. Fairy-9 and Little-Queen are needed to further her plans since she cannot meaningfully reproduce fold waves that communicate with the Vajra with the use of V-Type bacteria and a living host. That is their role. What is Akane's role...
'All I want is tomato juice. If they're out, hmmm... strawberry milkshake?'
Grace's attempts to puzzle out the solution to the Tsutsujidai enigma is interrupted by Akane giving the adult in the room her order. For her part, Sheryl's manager smiles politely, "Of course. Feel free to pick the table or booth. I'll be over once I'm done ordering and paying."
For her part, Grace orders a coffee - black, no sugar. A very bitter, very adult drink. When she comes to the table though she is carrying three separate items - her black coffee, a can of tomato juice with a straw, and a strawberry milkshake with another straw. Grace smiles a bit apologetically, "Feel free to only take one or the other. It's just a manager's instinct to grab both. Sheryl is, after all, a bit changeable in her desires. Best to be prepared just in case."
She places the drinks down before taking a seat herself...
"Speaking of kaiju and Sheryl though... I was a bit unnerved when one almost grabbed her. And then there was the situation where Miss Lee, my guest, was nearly dropped from a lethal height by a second."
Her eyes are harder as she speaks of this, even if her voice yields no change in emotion. The lights of the room reflects off the glasses to provide them with more opaqueness: "We're lucky it didn't end in tragedy. I'm sure none of us would want to hurt my client, much less someone some sweet Nergal intern like Ranka Lee."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane settles into a booth, contentedly kicking her legs a bit. Between her height -- not even five feet! -- and her general demeanor, you could almost mistake her for younger, even, than a high-school second year. An unobserved Akane is a childish thing indeed.
So Grace is the type to err on the side of caution, Akane thinks, as she arrives with both drinks. She takes the tomato juice first, smiling. "Thanks!" she says, taking a long sip. She moves her lower lip out a bit, the straw instantly bending in half at the pressure; after the first sip, she starts scooting the straw around in her mouth a bit with her tongue, continuing to bend it and worry at it with her teeth.
The milkshake... she'll get to it, she thinks. She *is* a little inclined to work faster on the tomato juice than she usually does, too, with that ahead of her. "Oh, uh, the first one is kinda on me," Akane admits. "I wasn't aiming for her or anything! I just wanted the crowd scattered so I could pick off the ones I wanted, and it... took the most obvious path there, which was hitting the stage." Rubbing at the back of her head, she concedes, "I was kinda like, 'haha, come on, soft wrong target!' But yeah, I'm glad it turned out that way. One of my friends really likes Sheryl... I think she's good, too. As for the second one..."
Akane's gaze turns down for a moment, and she looks into her drinks with a newfound seriousness. "That's... a different kind of kaiju. *That* one thinks for himself. I kinda get the feeling he was actually trying to protect her! He's just kind of... an idiot --"
Akane cuts herself off. "No, that's not it, actually. He just needs more experience... and probably a better teacher or two." She worries at her straw again, but lets out a breath and seems to level off.
<Pose Tracker> Grace O'Connor has posed.
'I wasn't aiming for her or anything!'
Cold comfort alongside hot coffee indeed. While Grace listens she sips her beverage to help disguise any displeased twitching of the sides of her mouth. The coffee is fresh and, indeed, uncomfortably hot to a human tongue. While there is a pain sensation to signal that Grace is simply capable of overriding said sensations at a whim. The artificial tissues of her mouth are far more than durable enough to withstand this trial.
And it's a trial worth enduring. She controls a brief flash of anger at the notion that Akane risked Sheryl's life, even unintentionally, to disperse the crowd is processed and is rewarded with far more interesting data.
"Ah, so some think for themselves... and some are more like... hm... attack dogs, I suppose? Loyal but perhaps lacking the capacity to process nuance." A soft 'clink' as Grace lowers the coffee cup to its saucer. "This does explain my recent encounter with another strange creature outside of Tsutsujidai. I performed a scan on her to be sure, and while it was not wholly dissimilar than the information I had received from scanning your... mm... Anti I think his name was? It was still unusual. And her behavior more akin to that of a human child. Totally outside of my expectations."
Grace now waits for Akane's response, signaling her desire for one by lifting the coffee cup to take another polite sip.
It is bitter. And burns. And wholly unpleasant. These things are all familiar in the life of Grace O'Connor.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
'You talk about him like he's a pet. Not a person.'
'Attack dogs.'
"That's mostly just Anti... I guess some other kaiju I *didn't* create are like that, too, though, yeah." Akane has noticed that long, polite sip, and is perfectly fine with giving Grace a nice, long answer in response. "Oh -- you met the one that looks like a middle schooler, though? I'm kind of trying to figure out what her deal is myself. I know someone from your world takes care of her..."
No sense in being specific. After all, what are the odds that Grace O'Connor and Sayla Mass have even met?
Taking only a quick sip, Akane says, "Anyway -- she's not one of mine. Most of mine are like the one from the concert. I made Anti as... mmm... kind of an experiment, I guess? ... It's mostly a failed one. I got overambitious."
She glances off to the side, out the window and toward the park. "... I know Alexis asked you to put this whole thing together so I could meet you," Akane says, looping back. "But... concerts and stuff like that just bring out creeps. I don't mind grabbing lunch with you or anything like that, now that we know each other, but it feels like... things woke up here a little bit, in a bad way." She smiles a little wistfully, adding, "I wish I'd gotten a clean sweep. Then everyone would've just forgotten about it and it could've been a normal concert, as far as everyone else is concerned!"
<Pose Tracker> Grace O'Connor has posed.
What are the odds, indeed...?
This Grace, at least, has not met Sayla. Physically anyway. Imagine how Sayla would have responded to meeting this Grace O'Connor in this circumstance. Meeting a wholly automated version of an apparently human woman, vacant of any emotional activity, when suddenly its primary user 'downloaded' into the body along with the sudden apparition of her unique vague emotional activity.
Meanwhile... 'not one of mine' is interesting. So even in the space of Tsutsujidai there are denizens outside of the God's control? Such a fascinating limitation for a god then. It also adds some questions about the natures of the 'human' denizens - they are different than humans outside this space, or so the scans seem to suggest, so are they too made by Akane or were they fashioned another way?
Mysteries stack upon mysteries.
'I wish I'd gotten a clean sweep. Then everyone would've just forgotten about it and it could've been a normal concert, as far as everyone else is concerned!'
"As long as Sheryl didn't get swept up as well, you mean." Grace's voice has a quite subtle edge of steel under the silken tones. She's still smiling, though perhaps her eyes are smiling a bit less than before when she lowers the cup back to its saucer. "And I wouldn't worry about further concerts from Sheryl or myself at this venue, at least in the near term. Beyond than the fact that our current tour is nearing its end there's the fact that she does have other, more mundane matters - such as schooling. She is, aside from being The Galacic Fairy, Goddess in the Hearts of All Known Space, still a teenage girl."
Grace tilts her head to one side, one of her dangling earrings catching the faint light through the window, "What about you? I understand your responsibilities here are probably immense, but do you have to worry about such mundane things as learning English or studying the Quadratic Equation?"
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"... Yeah. Honestly, someone from outside dying is kinda... out of scope," Akane admits, with a tense little laugh. "It's one thing for me to kick things I don't like out of my world... it's kinda another for us to be killing people. Having people from outside fighting my kaiju actually stresses me out pretty bad." Akane rubs at the back of her head, here. Does she not know about the body count of Alexis's professional associates, or does she just not like thinking about it...?
The other question Grace presents makes for a much easier topic, which means Akane instantly takes to it like a fish to water. "I mean, yeah, I still go to school. I'm the ace of my class, as long as you're not counting attendance!" It's a bit of a joke at her own expense -- she laughs at it, but she doesn't sound happy that she's laughing at it.
"Seriously, though... I do go, and I'm learning a lot. Even without being there for lectures, I'm doing so well that Todo-sensei has to give me extra lessons. I'm getting better in French, too... English is easy." Oh God, she thinks. I sound like some kind of arrogant, stuck-up nerd.
(If the shoe fits...)
"I heard there's some new school club thing that my school is part of that goes outside... that's kind of a nightmare," Akane adds, on the topic of school, now *extremely* strained.
<Pose Tracker> Grace O'Connor has posed.
'someone from outside dying is kinda... out of scope'
'Having people from outside fighting my kaiju actually stresses me out pretty bad.'
'I heard there's some new school club thing that my school is part of that goes outside... that's kind of a nightmare.'
You don't have to be a Newtype, or even an perceptive and diligent talent manager, to perceive something of a recurring theme. Whether it's a case of mere corrolation or if there's a causality to be derived is another question though. Part of her wishes that she had not allowed the sleeping Vajra to awaken. While it was a good test of the development of Sheryl's abilities as Fairy-9... it does rob Grace of access to a tool with which she could use to test another hypothesis.
... well, no sense crying over spilled bug guts.
Grace takes a moment to draw another sip from her coffee as she listens to Akane. She stops to giggle politely at Akane's joke. Careful to not subject her to awkward silence, but also to make sure she's not overly enjoying Akane's own self-deprecating humor. She resumes her sip and doesn't stop again until she hears the strain in Akane's voice.
Her eyesbrows left slightly, and she lowers the cup to the saucer. Such interesting data in this trip. As it turns out, coming to the source of the beast was far more interesting than coming to Alexis for another round of polite dissembling.
... is this just a little girl? A girl with something he needs, but a girl none-the-less. And one he only barely has in hand.
She'd laugh from the absurdity of it all if it didn't make her simmer with rage and contempt inside.
So having outsiders come into your space unannounced, and break your things without permission, if stressful even for gods hmm?" The talent manager says not un-gently. "I suppose we should have taken the time to talk to one another then first before I allowed Alexis to invite Sheryl and myself. Perhaps we could have avoided a bit of distraction had we gone that route. Still. No harm done, in the end. Though if our interference prevented you from making your... ah... 'clean sweep', then I do feel like I ought to apologize."
Grace looks down at her coffee cup, nearly empty now, and then raises it up to finish the last dregs. When she lowers the cup to the saucer, now vacant of its bitter fluid. And... oddly, in spite of Grace's purple lips having a painted appearance, totally lacking even a hint of lipstick marking.
Why for would a cyborg require paint for one's skin when they could simply alter its hue on a whim?
"What I'm taking from this is that I should be more respectful to you in your space from now on. Announce my presence, and my intentions. I'd be happy to do that - out of respect for both you, and the professional relationship I have with Mr. Kerib. And perhaps when the time is right we can discuss another concert down the road. After all, there's no reason to let one minor incident spoil an otherwise promising relationship, right?"
Grace's violet colored eyes watch Akane's reaction carefully as she speaks. How will she accept a profer of understanding such as this?
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
What void, indeed, would hinge their plans on hands-off exploitation of the music of a teenage girl's heart?
Akane nods to Grace, agreeing, "Yeah, it's -- not great." She... can try to be a little better, she thinks -- Sayla would be happy to see her give this a shot. "Sorry for making you worry! I thought Alexis did a better job briefing you on this stuff than he actually did, ahaha..."
It feels weird, apologizing, after so long. But it's certainly not... bad. It does make her feel like a very stupid god -- but it does diminish the little voice in the back of her head that keeps telling her she's upset one of Alexis's friends and now he's going to have to deal with a problem.
So... yeah, okay. That's fine, she tells herself -- just a way in which she can make things easier on Alexis. He works so hard for her; she can say 'sorry' one time.
"... Hmmmm. Another concert here *might* be nice," Akane says, trying her very best to be polite, "but I think it'd actually be better on me if you got me some season passes. Not for me, but for... a few friends. I don't need many -- not even enough you can't count on your hands! But a few might be..."
... she could make her happy, and give her incentive to leave, all at once. A fond memory, if she ends up trapped here; something to live for, if she leaves.
Perfect.
"... nice," she eventually finishes. "Anyway -- that sounds great to me! We don't even need to get Alexis involved, after this... this is *my* world, after all."
How small a world, that can't sustain even the trappings of a single ward of Nouvelle Tokyo.
<Pose Tracker> Grace O'Connor has posed.
While watching Akane response to her profer, Grace briefly reflects: How easy is it to manipulate the heart of a child? Especially a child who has known pain, trauma, and loss and wishes to be saved from one or more. Her mind casts back on the image of a small, blonde headed girl dressed in naught but dirty rags, her face parched and hungry, clutching so tight at her for warmth and safety.
... imagine a baby antelope cuddling up to the lioness that had murdered its parents.
No longer having a drink left to sip Grace just watches Akane with a polite smile on her face. Different than the one that she had when they met of course - possessing as it is now the constant micro-movements of a human's expressions. She waits for the girl to finish, nodding at important points to signal her continued interest and the fact she is listening at what is being discussed or her agreeing to certain asks.
Season tickets? Trivial. Not for her, but a few friends? Odd... but perhaps it is because they would be in the outside world? In some worlds a god is weakened when they are brought outside of their realms of power - whether due to losing access to prayer, or something similar. Fantasy... of course. But sometimes reality is stranger than fiction?
... more research needed.
"I think we can arrange for that. Well... this has been productive, hasn't it? Unfortunately I am a rather busy woman so I will have to take my leave." Grace speaks while rising from her seat in a smooth, leisurely motion...
... and then suddenly she moves to lean over Akane, right hand moving to grip the seat rest behind her. She stares down at Akane, her eyes cold and her face once again completely still. She is not breathing. Were one to get close enough they would not hear a heartbeat, simulated or otherwise, but instead the faint whir and click of a hydrodyamic pump's gears turning and valves opening and closing. She moves to reach down with her left hand to cup Akane's chin, attempting to pull her face up to look Grace in the eyes.
The hand too feels odd. The warmth is ... residual, like her body is starting to cool. The fingers stiff and unyielding. For someone who has been in proximity of a fresh corpse they might notice the uncomfortable simularity. Grace leans down, her face moving close to Akane's before sliding past to whisper softly into her ear:
"Just keep in mind though, should something happen to those in my care, I will suddenly find myself with an ample amount of free time on my hands. Time with which I may choose to balance the accounts of those who have acted against me, whether intentionally or as a result of... something outside of scope." Grace leans closer, to the point that her lips can almost be felt. It's clear when she speaks again... no air is passing from her lips:
"And I know what it means to suffer."
"Please enjoy your milkshake before it melts." A soft whisper of air comes with these words, as do all other signs of life in Grace's body, as she stands up again and starts to make as if to leave. Assuming nothing stops her, at least.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
That touch throws all of the *previous* good interactions out the window, a bit -- but Akane manages to control herself. She can't show Grace that this gesture -- clearly designed to scare her -- is actually doing its job; she has to remain in control here. (And after all, why wouldn't she be? She's this world's God... right?)
Besides -- she'd already made it clear that they were going to communicate better in the future. "As long as you stick to the rest of what we said, that won't be a problem," Akane offers back, all smiles. "I'm going to cut you the same deal, though. If I find out the people I give those passes to don't get treated right, or end up in danger because your concerts attract that, well!"
She lets the tension out of her body -- consciously, carefully, in Grace's hand. "I can skip a lot of class and get away with it. I can make free time, too." ... is this just -- how Alexis's friends relate to each other? With territoriality and threats? Kaworu wasn't that way, but...
... well, either way. "Have a nice day!" she says, pleasantly, draining the rest of her tomato juice and swapping over to the milkshake. SHe doesn't do anything more to stop Grace.
<Pose Tracker> Grace O'Connor has posed.
"Of course." Grace stops to reply with a polite smile, but then sighs and adjusts her glasses with one hand, "That said... I don't claim to be any sort of god myself. And while I do my best, there are certainly things outside the meager talents of a secretary and manager. You can't honestly expect me to stop something like... oh... a freak asteroid, or Earthquake, or anything like that right? More than likely whatever happens outside will be a fair deal safer than a concert where a monster might appear from nowhere to attack the stage, right?"
"Though... if you're that worried about safety, maybe you should keep them from going out at all?"
Grace ahs... and digs out a small device. She figured that, perhaps, whatever Akane is using might not be made to reach outside of Tsutsujidai. Whether or not that's true she offers a communicator - one of the ones popular on the Macross fleets, that can be customized to fit one's personal style into a variety of stuffed animal forms. "Here. Just in case you wish to get in touch with me. It has my contact information programmed in. If you feel like you have any concerns or complaints with regards to how your companions are being treated... feel free to send me a message."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Grace nudges Akane in a direction.
She's nudged.
"That was the plan from the start," she mutters into her straw, before -- being given a better phone than Alexis has offered her up to this point? "... *Huh*. I didn't even think that was possible! Normally I have to get Alexis to help if I want to make a call to outside," Akane offers, evidently eased slightly by Grace taking a request in kind well. She'd been worried; now she actually sees her a little bit as a similar type of person.
"Thanks for this," she says, with a *big* smile. "Anyway... I won't keep you. Like you said, you're busy, right?" Now that she's a little less...
... terrified...
...she even adds, "Thanks for the drinks, too!" She goes back to kicking her feet a little bit, contentedly, under the seat.