2025-02-06: Pull At The Threads
- Log: Pull At The Threads
- Cast: Naoko Suzuki, Shari Loom
- Where: Fujinomiya City
- OOC - IC Date: 0100-02-06
- Summary: Whispered Karaoke Night sees an unusual development... and serious concerns, as two friends start to realize that Something Has Changed.
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
It is time once again for Karaoke Night! Naoko would never have guessed that Shari would be interested in making this a regular periodic get-together, but she's not about to complain. Singing alone is alright if you just need a moment to bellow out your frustrations, but as it turns out, singing together is a lot of fun! Which is also not something Naoko would have guessed, having been so used to doing everything by herself for most of her life. She's still learning to consider a lot of things that rarely came up in the past.
The location of these ventures is always the same, as long as Naoko gets to pick. She sees no added value in switching it up from her usual place, she prefers the simple homey atmosphere there, where she knows all the quiet hours and her favorite tracks on the machine. It's obvious by now that there's a pattern in her picks: either it's Loudly Screaming About Emotions or Songs of Hope, Optimism and Heroism, including many songs from various animes that are all about that.
Shari thus likely knows what she's in for when Naoko said she'd be selecting something new, smiling cheerfully in anticipation as she fiddles with the machine. "Got another great one in mind here. I'll start us off, feel free to fall in anytime once you get a feeling for it!" And so...
BGM: Phantasy Star Universe - Save This World https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ9GjltpObQ
It's immediately obvious which type of song they're in for this time, right from the opening lines.
Who said we are lost again in this lonely world?
I say we can start again, we're on the same ship
It's called Starship Earth!
Gotta give Naoko props, she can sing lines like that without even blinking. It's not embarrassing when it's part of a song! Bopping her head to the musical interlude, she's ready to fall in when it's time for the main thing to start.
It is not too late
It's our home, so don't say that it's fate
We must not give up to build our future on our dreams
We will never lie down and die
But we'll find a way to survive
We all have somebody we love
We know that's why we're here
...It's not embarrassing when it's part of a song! That's all it is. Don't read anything into those lyrics. Is what Naoko would probably be insisting with a beet-red face if she wasn't swept up by the song's energy.
We battle for freedom
It is a battle against the dark
I have my dreams
You know I'm not afraid of bleeding
It is the time!
We battle for tomorrow
It is a battle against time
And we can do miracles
So take my hand
We need to save this world
Preeeetty obvious by now how aggressively a Naoko song this is. And surely Shari has heard enough of it by now to join in, right?
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
Karaoke night! Shari will never admit other than to Naoko that she likes it, even when it's the openly feelings-y songs like Naoko seems to like. Naoko does get props for her ability to sing from her heart... and Shari, for her part, goes along with those songs! A lot of Shari's lean onto the loudly screaming beat too, but also more sweeping melodic kinds of songs with lots of heavy instrumentality, and occasionally poppy numbers about different kinds of feelings.
But today... It's Naoko time!
"OK!" Shari answers, and listens. She waits. She gets a feel for the song...
And looks with surprise, as they talk about a starship. Their home...
We all have somebody we love
We know that's why we're here
Shari starts to sing along there, and it doesn't embarrass her, anyway. She can openly say she has people to love now, even if her gothy nature suggests she should downplay it.
It's very a Naoko song, and so as not to throw her off, Shari doesn't literally take her hand...
But she smiles anyway.
Time for the next verse!!
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Shari has likely noticed by now that Naoko always smiles, the moment she joins in. If she was already smiling, then the smile visibly brightens. The experience is elevated so much, just by doing it together. This is true both when singing about saving the world, as actually saving the world. She wouldn't say not to read anything into those lyrics, of course she wants to keep saving the world from whatever might appear to threaten it next, alongside those she cares about! But for the time being...
It was a hard time
So many tears, and so much for nothing
To give up is not a choice
It's a fight we have to win
I cannot live without faith
Even if I'm faced with death
We all have somebody we love
We know that's why we're here
She turns to Shari then... but surely that's just because the chorus is coming up, and she wants to sing that part face to face. To her credit, though, she doesn't look away once, not even when those lines come up again. She won't falter in the middle of a song - she takes her singing very seriously! Is one way you could interpret it. Probably the most sensible way, considering that Naoko is, well, Naoko. She wouldn't actually be using a song to reach out or anything, that would be an unreasonable assumption. That is, until the final part of the chorus, at the very end of the song...
We battle for tomorrow
It is a battle against time
And we can do miracles
So take my hand...
And with those words, almost as if she'd read Shari's mind, Naoko actually... does extend her hand, as if in invitation?! Surely this has to be a symbolic gesture. It's notoriously touch-shy Naoko! But the way her eyes are locked with Shari's... She couldn't actually be asking to...?
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
Shari has noticed that. It's... nice. Shari smiles around then, too. Karaoke isn't quite as sacred to her, but it's still really nice, to do something together. And she's not entirely sure how she feels about it. Just... positive. She totally reads things in, though. As a rule. It's what she does. She's a reader!
And with the Empress gone forever, she's been even more free with her feelings. It's not quite euphoria, anymore, but...
It was a hard time, and they won that fight.
Shari turns back to Naoko too, and sings with her as loudly and strongly as she can. Not even those lyrics seem to make Naoko look away... but Shari feels them--
And Shari almost breaks when Naoko extends her hand. She blinks once--and then redoubles her voice, reaching out to take Naoko's hand.
If it was symbolic, it isn't anymore!!
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Aha, that was it, certainly, a ploy to cause Shari to break off the song, causing Naoko to win some kind of spur-of-the-moment game she'd decided on! That's definitely something Naoko would do, it's absolutely that.
There might be a short moment where one could think so, right until the moment that Shari moves to take Naoko's hand... and she doesn't pull back. Their hands actually do join together as the song finishes out, Naoko's expression serious, unreadable. The music stops, and...
Naoko blinks, as if waking up from a trance, looking down at the joined hands... and instantly turns a deep shade of red.
"Wh-wh-wh-wh--"
So it is the real Naoko, after all. You can tell by the way she fails to form even a single coherent word under these conditions. Before quickly letting go, retreating to the couch, and burying her face under a pillow, making noises of distress before finally managing to string a sentence together.
"That wasn't-- I just thought-- It's not what--"
Never mind, she still can't actually do that, give it a little more time.
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
A ploy!! ...Shari is happy when Naoko doesn't pull back, anyway. The expression on Naoko's face may be unreadable, but Shari's is happy. And her hand is warm.
But Shari, with a little sigh, notices the moment that Naoko 'wakes up', and lets her let go, turning towards her and waiting for a few moments' quiet as she buries her face. It wasn't...
Hmm.
"It's OK," Shari answers, and moves to sit down on the other couch, the one where she'll be at an angle to Naoko instead of right beside her. "It's not bad. ...We did do all this together, right?"
"The world's better, because we didn't give up. And we did that by working with each other."
"Not alone."
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Yes, that's right. Everything that Shari says is absolutely right. But that doesn't have anything to do with holding hands?! What was she thinking?! Well she wasn't, clearly, but where on earth was her mind at? How could that just... happen? It's just a bizarre development in her eyes, she can't wrap her her around what just happened.
"...I'm sorry," is the first thing she finally manages to say, her voice still coming out muffled from below the pillow. "It... it shouldn't be a big deal, but I-I..." She couldn't explain why she reacts like this if she wanted to. It's just been a part of who she is for so long. A sigh escapes her, and she admits, "I don't... like being that way. But I don't know what I can do about it."
>"You could just--"<
"SHUT UP!!"
The pillow that used to be covering Naoko's head suddenly goes flying towards the black butterfly 'sitting' on a nearby chair, striking it dead on. One could almost forget sometimes that Uriel and Ariel are there, given that they tend to remain silent in company unless Naoko really needs their support. Which Naoko normally welcomes. The way she almost hysterically silenced Uriel just now, that's not at all like their usual interactions.
"Just... shut up," Naoko repeats as she sits up, a lot more quietly. Looking guilty over the outburst, but standing by the sentiment. Uriel only peeks out from behind the pillow, remaining silent as this clearly isn't the time for a wisecrack.
Letting herself fall back against the couch, Naoko concludes, "...I'm a mess, aren't I? No problem with risking my life all the time, but look what happens to me when it's about something like h-holding hands." She couldn't even say it without tripping over her words. Incomprehensible in hindsight that she managed to just... do that, just now.
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
She apologizes, and Shari frowns in concern. "...Naoko," she starts, but she doesn't interrupt her explanation. She doesn't like it...
Shari blinks in surprise at just how fierce a reaction Naoko seems to have to the black butterfly this time. She doesn't forget them, but she does forget sometimes that they have physical manifestations she can throw things at.
"Naoko," she starts.
Then Shari shakes her head. "No," she says. "...You learn stuff like that growing up, you know? Touching people, when it's appropriate, when it's a big deal, when it's not a big deal... But you didn't get to. You were mostly alone."
"Maybe there's some special reason you don't go in with being touched, or maybe there isn't. But it's OK, you know? But the one thing that definitely won't help you is beating yourself up about it."
"...It can be a big deal," she says. "That's OK. Some kinds are. So it's not weird. ...It's just a matter of degree."
"And I don't mind. You are how you are."
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
"I-I panicked," Naoko responds to Shari saying her name, wanting to explain herself without actually knowing how to, and ending up just saying the obvious. That's all any of that was, pure panic. She may not be able to articulate exactly what sort of panic it is.
Then she falls quiet, and actually listens to Shari's assessment. Agreeing "I never learned...", in a tone that suggests that she realizes that, and may regret it now. But still changing that now feels hopeless. She thought she'd accepted that. But, in the end... she finds herself shaking her head.
"It's not OK. Even if you say you don't mind, I feel like I'm hurting you when I react like that. Or at least disappointing you." It's more like her usual self, the way she looks away and immediately clarifies, "N-not that that's the only reason why it's important, it's just, I can't help but feel that it's weird and I should get better about it, people aren't usually like that. I just can't..."
She trails off, failing to finish that thought. Instead, her mind returns to the circumstances from before. Her actions back then... it feels like that happened in a dream, just being in the middle of song doesn't feel like enough to explain what made her do that. She is silent a moment, her trail of thought leading her further along, until finally, she turns her head back to Shari.
"Do you feel as if things might be somehow... different, lately?"
Good thing she phrased that in a way that isn't entirely open to interpretation. At this point it's hard to know what to think, when unlike a minute ago, she doesn't seem to freak out after mulling over what she just said and what assumptions could be made about it.
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
Yes, she panicked all right. Shari can see that. But...
"...Hrm," she says. "I mean, if it were just me," she says, "I'd say it was OK. I'm not... mad, or upset, or anything like that. You are how you are. You're not hurting me. But..." A pause. "But if you want to get better about it, I support you. Not just because it's weird, but because you want to, for yourself. ...It would be nice to be able to give my best friend a hug, sure."
A pause. But circumstances before... Hrm.
"...Huh?" Shari starts, and then opens her mouth and closes it. "Well yeah. Tons of things are different. I don't have the nasty voice in my head, and..."
"...And it's not just that," she reflects. "Yeah. There's something..."
"I can't put my finger on it," she says.
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Just that tells Naoko all she needs to hear. A strange, unidentifiable feeling as if something's different, even though your factual knowledge insists that everything is normal. She's felt that way a few times lately. She has no idea if that has anything to do with her earlier actions, but she does know one thing.
"...like Goragon," she posits, before realizing, "I never told you about Goragon, did I? What I saw in there, how it felt?"
She sits up straight, folding her hands in her lap. "The other Possibilities, that I saw. A loving household. A career as an Idol." She smiles with vague amusement, given where they are. Shari can probably picture that one. "There was actually one that reminded me of the you from that alternate timeline we saw, like I was some kind of all-powerful Magical Girl." Also probably not that hard to picture.
The smile fades when she mentions the most painful one. "...A reality where I killed everyone for the power to change the world." Not dwelling on that one, she quickly concludes with, "I even saw a reality where Yuliana was my best friend. All of those felt real at the time, but I could usually tell something was wrong. Sometimes strongly, and sometimes, like in that last one... I wasn't really aware I was somewhere else until it was over. During the vision I had, I only had this vague feeling of 'something about this isn't right'."
She falls silent for a time, a slight panic creeping up from the pit of her stomach as she gives Shari a pleading look. "...I... I did get out, didn't I? Where we are now... it's real, isn't it?"
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
"Goragon?" Shari heard about it, of course--but not the details. Not from Naoko. She blinks, and then listens. The other Possibilities... Shari wasn't there, of course; she wouldn't have seen those. She is still dubious about what's going on, so she doesn't return the smile, but she can picture a couple of these other ones. An all-powerful Magical Girl...
"Wow. That's... some serious Possibilities," she says. The one unsettles her a little, but not because she thinks her Naoko will do it. It's just... a little unsettling. But something...
"Yes," Shari answers quickly and decisively. "This is real. This is reality. ...I'm sure of it. I checked, over and over, to make sure after the Empress--after we defeated her. I had to be sure that this reality was real, that there wasn't some other timeline happening, that I could count on what I was seeing..."
"So I'm sure of it," she says. "Whatever's going on, it's not that this isn't real."
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
It's hard to overstate the relief Naoko feels, when she hears Shari say that. And yet, with her knowledge of the nature of Possibility being what it is, she can't immediately calm down. She just kind of chuckles, awkwardly, without amusement.
"Haha... yeah. Yeah, of course it's real. It has to be. Why would it go so far as to show me a world where we beat Dr. Hell, and he told me just what I needed to know to build the Nova Driver, which allowed me to help stop the Empress and make everything right again. And then have you confirm it all for me so I'd be completely convinced. That's not-- that couldn't happen. No way. No way."
Suddenly, Naoko makes a abrupt dash for the minifridge to grab a can of soda, opening and downing most of it as if her life depended on it. She lets out a deep sigh following this, before insisting, "I'm ok. I'm ok." Sometimes things happen that require you to apply an emergency shot of sugar. Nothing dispels anxiety better, for Naoko anyway.
Indeed, she's a lot calmer by the time she returns to her seat and sits back down. "...I believe you, Shari. I absolutely, 100 percent believe you. It's just-- it's hard to explain what it felt like, in there. I... shudder to think about what it might mean, if I'm having that feeling again." She literally does shudder, wrapping her arms about herself, her can of soda slightly crumpling as she clutches it more tightly.
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
And yet...
"..."
Shari would have to admit; it's definitely a convincing brainworm of a problem. But it seems that Naoko is dashing away, and Shari just... waits. She waits on it, and doesn't bring it up again. Since it is crazy, but at the same time...
If sugar fixes it, sugar fixes it. Shari stands up and goes for the minifridge, too, taking out an iced coffee and looking back to Naoko as she returns to her own seat again. She believes her, but...
"Hmmm."
"Well," Shari says, "Let's look at the facts. Reality took a major hit when we took out the Empress--we fixed it, but it definitely... made things kinda malleable, for a bit there. The Empress is gone; the Void's not empty, but that part is done with. The veil is strong again. Elisa and Yuliana aren't doing anything."
"...So it's something else, right?" she says. "And if we're aware of it... Then it's not a perfect effect."
"So we can figure it out. We can look at what's changed, and investigate why. Pull at the threads."
"This smart people stuff, it's what we do, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Yes. Let's absolutely look at the facts. As much as she goes on about Miracles, having logical explanations to extrapolate from is another thing that does wonders to calm Naoko down. She nods along with the summary, agreeing, "Right. You'd absolutely have noticed if we missed anything." Shari's ability to detect these things isn't in question. So if it doesn't have anything directly to do with the Void, then...
"Hmm... an 'effect', yes. The timing is suspect, so... some kind a ripple effect from what happened in the fight, you think? Either that, or... someone using the whole Empress situation as one big distraction." Not something that can be proven off-hand of course, but theorizing a bit is better than fretting over it.
Though she can't help but go a bit of track, scratching her head as she considers, "This is so screwed up... I feel as if I've had this feeling ever since I was like, 'I was positive Elisa and Yuliana were going to turn on us the moment the Empress is gone'. Which if you remember, Elisa didn't even deny it was on the table, there's definitely a reality where that happened." In conclusion... she shrugs. "I dunno. Hard to tell if I'm onto anything."
But they can figure it out! "Yeah! We do that, the smart people stuff. People don't know 'bout how good we brain." She grins, throwing back what remains of her soda before adding, "One day they'll be writing stories about how the world's greatest geniuses liked to hang out in cheap back alley karaoke digs."
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
Miracles are nice! But you don't make miracles happen just by wishing! ...Right?
"Yes," Shari agrees about how she'd notice. "So..."
The timing... Shari is thoughtful, her dark lips pursing together as her gray eyes stare forward. "Maybe both," she says. "Somebody who did something while reality was weak, or while it was recovering. Or just happened to use the right timing."
Hmm...
"Yeah," Shari says. "It easily could've. And I was ready for that, I had a backdoor into her robot and everything. But..." Hm. Back then... "Well, reality was already weak then--the Empress had already tried to break through. And we know that mass death like happened at the Junius 7 drop weakens the 'barrier' too."
A smile, then. "Haha, yeah. They don't! And it's better they don't. ...But I like the sound of that." Shari swirls her iced coffee, "Though I don't think this place is that cheap..."
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Naoko used to believe miracles could happen just by wishing. Ultimately, her life only improved once she'd started working on making miracles happen. But it's complicated, and a bad idea besides to get her started on the exact definition of Miracles.
Finally then, there's an actual full-blown laugh again, once she hears about Shari's backdoor plan. "Oh hell yeah, so sneaky! Better for everyone that it wasn't necessary, but I'm a little sad I didn't get to see that." Might not be the most appropriate to start laughing when discussing serious and tragic events, but, that happens sometimes.
It's a little sad sometimes that people can't know The Secret, but ultimately, it's not really the big Secret Geniuses thing that matters most to Naoko. The little Secret Karaoke Hangouts thing is much more important. Though she blinks at Shari's assessment.
"Really? Oh. Guess I'm not the best judge of that sort of thing. Ha ha, rich kid perception." Not with the virtually endless bankroll she used to have access to, perhaps, but still. "Don't get me wrong, I like the place a lot, wouldn't keep coming back if I didn't. Though speaking of which, we should brain later - right now we aught to get back to the singing, don't you think?"
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
"Oh yeah, like," Shari laughs, "I knew Elisa better than most people. I wasn't going to count on her doing something out of the kindness of her heart." A pause. "...I'm glad I didn't need it. That she and Yuliana went on their own. But... I'm not stupid, either." A smile. "It would've been real cool."
It does happen. And... well, Shari's inclined to agree. She's not really out for glory.
But she laughs, "It's fine. I'm kinda rich too. I have... a house! A title, all that stuff. But," she says, "I'm not as big an expert on karaoke places I guess..."
A beat, "Right, brain later. How about I pick one this time?"