2022-05-10: Good News and Bad Moods
- Log: 2022-05-10: Good News and Bad Moods
- Cast: Sayla Mass, Rikka Takarada, Akane Shinjo
- Where: Junk Shop Aya, Tsutsujidai
- OOC - IC Date: 9 May, 0096
- Summary: Sayla drops by the Junk Shop to let Rikka and Akane know the good news about their attempt to save Renais. Akane takes it worse than you might expect.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Junk Shop Aya is it as busy as it ever is, which is to say 'not very'. Indeed, there's only one customer in, sitting at the counter, talking with the owner- Orie Takarada- over a coffee. The conversation has mostly been light and breezy, as Sayla keeps to Approved Tsutsujidai Topics(TM). "...honestly, a cafe seems an odd secondary choice among the second hand appliances."
She takes a sip- the coffee tastes different here to the rest of Tsutsujidai. Not as overly bitter, deeper flavours, more like what she'd expect. Something that tasted about right to her adult tastebuds. Still, what what upkeep and rent must be on a store like this, something has to be working.
She takes an easy lean on the counter, checking her phone. They should be here soon. A safe enough place to discuss, given the Gridman Alliance work out of here all the time. It'll be good to deliver good news for once.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
'Light and breezy' is a good way to describe the junk shop's owner, as well. Orie leans back casually against the rear counter, a half-finished mug of her own in one hand.
"It's always been like a second hobby of mine. And I had some extra counter space so I figured... why not?" Orie replies with a shrug. "Some days I think people come by more for the coffee, anyway."
It's fine, though - sitting down with a coffee is a great way to get people to relax... and, take another look around at the goods on sale. A canny smile crosses her face, but she doesn't voice the thought.
It's not long after this that the door opens, heralded by the ringing of the bell.
"Hi mama, Miss Sayla." Rikka greets, stepping through. She glances, briefly, between the two of them. She can't help but be a little curious about what they've been talking about... and, if she's going to have to come up with an excuse to get her mom out of the store.
At Rikka's entrance Orie stands up from where she was leaning, offering her daughter a smile.
"Rikka, welcome home." Orie greets... and then pauses for a moment, reaching into her apron to draw out her phone. She doesn't comment on it just yet.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane has been to Aya exactly one time. It didn't quite *immediately* precede ghosting Rikka, but... it didn't *not* precede that, either. Too many specters. Too many ways it could have gone wrong. Too much that just made her feel... weird, and off.
Love means intruding, Yuta had said, in so many words. If only he knew.
But she's been invited, so... it's fine, she tells herself. It's not like it's one-on-one, anyway. She's actually *early* for it, but you wouldn't know it from inside; the truth is that she spends nearly ten minutes standing and staring at the building from the bus stop, unobtrusively, just... waiting. Building up the nerve? Or does she feel like she isn't quite allowed here...?
... ridiculous, at any rate. It's not like she's a vampire -- and even if she was, she's been invited in.
Still...
She steps in, slowly. The atmosphere here always gets to her. Once something gets thrown away, it's because no one needs it anymore... why a monument to all this crap someone already decided was useless? Rikka's mom is kind of a weirdo. Still... This is where their guest and his friends hang out. She takes a look around, her gaze resting on an empty spot along the wall for a moment. ... they must have sold something big.
"Okay, I'm here," she says, with a smile that doesn't quite sit right on her face. She takes a moment to look between all three people. "Mrs. Takarada! I haven't seen you in a while, ahahaha... not since I offloaded some of that junk." Some of the bags in her room are *theoretically* meant to be headed here eventually... but she hasn't gotten the nerve up. She rubs at the back of her head a bit. She's nervous, but it's a healthy kind of nervous, now... at least, for the most part.
She finally manages to get herself oriented with a small wave to Rikka, and a nod to Sayla. She seems to lower her guard a bit, though she doesn't sit down yet. Her first urge is to ask what this is about, but... is this the sort of conversation they should have in front of Rikka's mom?
Surely they don't just want Akane around to drink coffee and talk.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
"...And the fact that they have to walk through everything to get to the coffee is just a coincidence, I'm sure." What? It takes one to know one, sometimes. Sayla has a smirk of her own as she takes another sip. When Rikka enters, she returns a wave. "Good afternoon, Rikka." Akane gets one as well, that turns into that hand over the heart greeting she showed her months ago. "Good afternoon to you too, Akane." "
This may be trickier than she thought. Orie clearly has to know about the Mobile Suits, right? They're in her backyard. Or does her memory ignore them each day? She can't push things too much. But Sayla has spent a lot of time communicating things without saying so much, while openly saying the truth. "I wanted to give you both an update on our mutual friend, Miss Cardiff. Good news, I'm glad to say."
That should put everyone out of the rough state of suspense, while not giving away anything else. She takes another sip. "But it felt like the sort of news I should give in person." Now that everyone's here, Sayla lowers her walls a bit to better read the room. There's things she needs to know too.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"It's definitely convenient." Orie replies with a knowing chuckle as she finishes off her mug.
And now, Rikka and Akane are here!
There's a look on Akane's face that causes Orie to study her for a moment, but she offers her a smile regardless.
"It has been a while. It's good to see you again. How have you been?" Orie asks.
Rikka's attention, meanwhile, is on Sayla. She has a feeling she knows why she's here, but the question is, what's the situation? When she says that it's good news about Renais, though, Rikka releases a breath she didn't know she was holding.
Good news is good, right...?
"That's good... I was wondering how she was doing." Rikka says. Orie considers this... and before Rikka can say anything further, Orie stows her phone back into her apron and steps around the counter.
"Sorry to interrupt, Rikka, but I have to go run an errand for your brother... Mind holding down the fort?" Orie asks. At this, Rikka nods.
"Sure, mama." Rikka agrees. WIth that Orie makes her way to the door, though she pauses to look back at Sayla and Akane.
"Hope you enjoyed the coffee, Miss Mass. Come back anytime!" She says. "And Akane, feel free to stay as long as you like. Take care!"
With that, Orie disappears out the door and, after a moment to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything... Rikka breathes a sigh. The timing is certainly convenient. She finally feels like she can relax a little now that they won't have to dance around everything.
With that, she looks back to Sayla and Akane.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
It takes a few moments for Akane to register what she's being offered; she returns that hand-over-the-heart, breathing a small sigh of relief that she hopes isn't too obvious. (It totally is, though.)
Akane is... there's still a bit of that distress that always lives in her mind, but... she's doing okay. (She has a kaiju prepped and ready for the next time she wants to attack Gridman, even... but she hasn't felt anywhere near miserable or angry enough to pull the trigger, lately.)
Orie mentions she's going to run an errand for Rikka's brother, and Akane gives her a small nod. "Okay! See you later!" It's definitely a win to get Orie out of the picture, here; while Akane thinks Rikka's mom is okay enough, there are some things that are just... hard to talk about around her.
Akane scoots subtly closer toward Rikka once she's gone; it's a long, awkward pause as she makes sure Orie isn't coming back. "Good news, but the kind of news you're gonna give in person, huh..." That's complicated. Akane would expect Sayla to be this gentle with the delivery on *bad* news, but good? Maybe something's up after all...
... *please* don't let Alexis have been overconfident here, she thinks. "Good job to both of you on getting her out of here," she says. She can't quite bring herself to 'thanks,' but... well, again, Akane asked and Akane got and what Akane got was mostly what she wanted. It's good to say.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
"It's been a pleasure. I'll make sure to swing by next time I'll be in town." She gives Orie a wave, before turning to face the other two, leaning an elbow on the bar. She raises an eyebrow at Rikka. "I didn't realize you had a brother." It reminds her how little she has on the Tsutsujidai residents. She should fix that sometime.
Sayla's not overthinking Orie's departure right now. Instead she's focusing on the topic at hand. "Well, to be fair, it's a touch difficult to send a message from outside Tsutsujidai." Sayla smirks. "But despite that all, Renais woke up recently, and is expected to make a full recovery. The wound in her chest is healing, and her cybernetics are doing the rest. And according to Guy, she seems to be back to who she was."
Sayla takes another sip of that coffee. "It was closer than I liked, but it means we now know what to do to rescue the rest of them. I know we got..." She pauses, thinking of the word. "Lucky, with this Alexis Kerib's convenient intervention." Sayla is hiding her distaste for the being well, but not as well as she'd like. "Guy and 3G Blue can handle the rest from here."
She takes a long breath. "That said, Akane, thank you for your help. We couldn't have got her back without you taking that risk. I still hope you don't have to again, but I can't deny it worked."
Sayla sighs. "That said, I wish you could have been there when she woke up. You deserved to see the smile on her face when she woke up."
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"Oh... yeah. He goes to cram school pretty much all week, so he isn't home all that often." Rikka explains, as Sayla comments that she didn't know he had a brother. "It's kept him out of trouble with everything that's been going on lately, at least, so... there's that."
With her mother out of the shop, they can talk freely now, at least. Rikka looks toward Akane as she offers a 'good job'.
"Thanks... I'm just glad things turned out okay." Rikka replies. She hasn't gotten a chance to know Renais herself yet, but the situation seemed important to Akane... Sayla recounts, then, her situation. Rikka breathes a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness..." She murmurs, and listens as Sayla discusses what comes next. Alexis Kerib... She remembers the way he showed up on their monitors suddenly, and how he...
"...I was a little scared of what happened, but... I guess it was the only way to make it work." Rikka admits. Even knowing that she'll ultimately recover isn't enough to get that image out of her head.
Sayla offers thanks. Rikka doesn't have much to add there, but she does offer Akane a relieved smile.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Renais -- is fine. That's something Akane already sort of knew from Kaworu, but hearing that confirmed from Sayla is definitely nice. She's back to who she was, which means... "Great! Then she can get back to making sure that that... assertion, doesn't tear your world apart, right?" She sounds happy.
... Why, then, does she feel so conflicted? Does she miss having another 'kaiju,' another subject who would do what she was told, kill who she was told? Does she still feel entitled to Renais somehow? ... no, it's better if she goes back to her own world. Stops coming here. That feeling intensifies, and twists, as Sayla mentions Alexis; hovering on the border between human and monster, there's two things overlaid. One is that snarling, messy lump that seems to live in Akane's subconscious no matter what; the other... is pure, garden-variety shame that it came to that.
Honestly... "Ahahaha... great, you're welcome," she says, first. Rikka's relieved smile gives her an idea. "If you're comfortable going over there, maybe you should pay her a visit, Rikka! I bet she'd really appreciate someone showing up to say hi." The idea that Rikka was scared doesn't bother her as much as it should -- and honestly, *that* bothers her a bit.
The whole situation is a little much -- and it's for that reason that Akane eventually affirms, "Ahaha, great. Great. It sounds like it all worked out. Sorry, I, uh -- I have a *lot* of homework..." She shrugs her usual hoodie all the way up onto her shoulders, and asks, "Is there anything else?" It comes out a little sharp, a little abrupt.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Sayla is very calmly, reading the room. That roaring thing is still there, and there's no doubt as to who has it now. Now it's just her and Rikka in the room, there's no radiance from Tsutsujidai around her. But there's human emotion around it, and she can read that. "Yeah. Unfortunately, I don't think they're done with Tsutsujidai yet. There's some things I need to confirm with Renais first. With any luck, my hunch is wrong." Gridman Sigma and Takeshi Todo... Guy gave her the run down, but she needs to deal with them. Would she need to tell them... or has Gridman moved on, and they can stay out of it?
"...Akane's right. I think she would. She could use more people in her life than just Guy and Porc-Auto. We can definitely arrange the opportunity. She should be on her feet soon if she isn't already." Sayla's cautious but... She nods to Rikka's concern. "...Agreed. That said, juust because he helped us then doesn't mean he won't get in our way in the future. I can't say I trust him, and I certainly wouldn't rely on him. We simply don't know enough about him.
Sayla nods. "I won't hold you up, then. Just two things. The first is that, once she's recovered, I think Renais would like to talk with you again. You were one of the people who saved her after all." She pauses, to let that sink in. "The second is that I'd like to apologize for not being upfront with you earlier about who I was. You deserved to know when I started talking with Guy, no matter how much I was trying to avoid making waves. I'm sorry."
Sayla might have felt a little bad about that one for a while- and it might in turn get Akane to open up a little more. Or it might be an entirely misguided play made out of guilt and kindness. Who can say.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
They're possibly not done with Tsutsujidai yet... Rikka frowns, but nods. Even if it's just a hunch, if it's Sayla's then she feels like the wisest thing to do would be to trust it.
"...I guess we shouldn't relax just yet, then." Rikka replies. She'll have to let Yuta and Sho know, too...
Akane puts forth a suggestion, then - maybe she should pay Renais a visit. Sayla agrees, too. After thinking about this, Rikka nods.
"You're right. I should. It'd be nice to get to know her properly." She agrees. "Where's she staying right now?"
She wonders if Renais would even remember her. But there's only really one way to figure that out... Sayla offers a warning, then about Alexis Kerib. Rikka nods.
"...Yeah. I agree." She says.
At this point, it seems like Akane needs to leave to go deal with homework. ...With how she's acting, sharp and abrupt like that, Rikka feels a little tempted to ask if she'd like her to walk her home out of concern... but, she lives right next door, so it'd be Weird if she were to ask that, right? She shakes the idea out of her head.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"I think it's probably fine," Akane answers Sayla's comments on Alexis. Her tone is still a little sharp -- maybe a touch moreso, even. "We had a crappy plan that didn't add up. I think when someone tries to help you because you didn't know what you were doing, you should just accept it." She sounds almost angry, now -- though the anger is cool, rather than hot. When Rikka agrees with Sayla that they ought to remain cautious, Akane just shoots Rikka a Look.
... too much, Akane thinks. Now they're going to wonder why you're so defensive of this rando alien. Quick, offer some bullshit explanation! "... Ahaha, Mr. Todo has me doing extra lessons still, even now that I'm a second year. I must need more rest than I thought I did!"
She's still committed to leaving, at this point, first offering Sayla, "I'd probably want to avoid upsetting someone else's world, too." Toward the door, and -- "Anyway -- bye Rikka! Bye Mom --"
Record scratch.
"I mean -- say hi to your mom when she gets back. Bye Sayla. Ahahaha..." She's not *quite* out of earshot when she mumbles an, "oh jeez," under her breath, opening Aya's door, but she's close.
... And then she's gone. She should have asked to meet somewhere else, she thinks. That whole place just puts her off-kilter.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Sayla nods. "...Sadly yes. If they are still the people they were, they're unlikely to for revenge. But if there's something here they need, they won't give up. It's what they do."
That anger is Akane's voice, not just her thoughts. But the loud angry roar is there, and getting worse. Damnit. Why? What's the connection here? Maybe it wasn't coincidence. Sayla's Paranoia starts to run rampant-
Only for Akane to offhandedly drop something that makes her feel a chill down her spine. Maybe it's coincidence, but... Tsutsujidai doesn't seem to be a world of coincidences. There's *something* here. Given Renais, is it something to do with her? With Kerib? ...The 'abusive relationship' Renais mentioned?
Gh. Sayla is weighing up whether to push when two words cut through and she puts all she has into acting like she didn't notice. She's good at that too, and Akane will be gone by then. She needs some space right now. Space to breathe, to rest. And that slip... The feelings with that slip... Sayla definitely gives space. "Take care. I hope you get some rest." She takes a sip from that coffee, to occupy her lips until Akane is gone.
Sayla waits maybe a minute before speaking up again. "...Rikka, who's this 'Mr. Todo?'"
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Akane jumps toward Alexis Kerib's defense, and shoots her a Look. ...Rikka can't help but look away at that, inwardly kicking herself. Did she misstep...?
"...M-Maybe you're right." Rikka admits hesitantly. Akane laughs it off, and Rikka manages an awkward laugh of her own. "Really, still? That sucks..."
She doesn't comment on Akane's misspeak, instead nodding.
"Don't worry, I will. Take care, Akane!" She says. She watches Akane go... and then, once she's gone, moves to take a seat with a sigh. She looks up, though, when Sayla breaks the silence and asks her question.
"Oh, Mr. Todo? He's our school's new math teacher, he signed on... near the end of the last school year, I think?" Rikka explains.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
There's a lot to think on there, but she scratches her chin. That slip of the tongue makes her wonder how much she's missing on the life of Akane Shinjo. Lots, probably. She knew that girl was struggling- lonely, angry, and whatever that knot in her heart is.
She returns mentally to the question at hand. "...So, not long after Tsutsujidai opened up?" She bites her lip. Maybe she doesn't need to talk to Renais after all. "Do you know his first name? Age? What he looks like?" She's battering Rikka with questions, intensely, before realising she's doing it.
She sighs. "...Sorry. But there's a lot I need answers to now. I'm not sure yet, but I need all the information I can get." She starts tapping her fingers on the bar. She can't leave it alone, as much as she should.
"...There's something else I want to know, if you can share it. Do you know what Akane's home life is like?" She's not going to influence the question further, she has a little bit of data. She has to see how that matches with Rikka's perception.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"Probably." Rikka replies with a nod, and then frowns and considers Sayla's questions. It takes some thinking. "Sorry, I only see him during school, so I can't recall too much about him. He's... on the younger side, maybe? He's not an old guy."
Rikka is, however, a teenager, so her definition of 'old guy' might be different.
Sayla apologizes, and Rikka shakes her head.
"No, it's okay. Do you think there's a problem?" Rikka asks. She can't think of why else she would suddenly take an interest in their math teacher.
Sayla asks her something else, then, and Rikka frowns a little.
"...No, not really. She doesn't really talk about it." She admits. "I haven't seen the inside of her home yet, either."
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
"Hm." On paper, Takeshi Todo should be older than her by about 10 years. But if he went with GGG... "...When you say old, do you mean my age?" This is definitely not a trap. She sighs. "Never mind, it's fine. I may just have to pay a visit to your school and see for myself."
Still, she shouldn't keep Akane totally in the dark. "This is probably a conversation I should have with all of the Gridman Alliance, Gridman included. The short of it is, before I joined the Shuffle Alliance, Gridman worked with a group like yours and the previous Crest Holders. There was someone involved in the incident named Takeshi Todo. Around twenty years later, he reappeared working with another Hyper Agent. Guy said something that makes me think he might be involved." She didn't have the full details, just reports written by people who are either out of the game or dead. It was bad enough making contact when Neo-Khan Digifer had arrived.
And awkward given her small connections with the Inoue family back then.
"Maybe it's coincidence, but Renais or Guy could ID him and make sure." She sighs, placing her finished coffee back on the saucer, as she contemplates Akane's home situation. "I see. She told me she had a Guardian, so I guess that means her parents aren't around." Sayla rubs her temples. She should be focusing on Triple Zero, not Akane. The sooner this isn't Tsutsujidai's problem, the better. Then they can maybe deal with the Kaiju before it closes off again. It seems unreasonable to make trouble and then not try to get things as mended as you can before that.
Not that Tsutsujidai needs help on that part.
She continues to tap on the counter. She definitely should be focusing that much on a slip of a tongue. After all, she knows she can't help every sad, lonely child in the Earth Sphere. Try as she might.
"There's so much we don't know. About Alexis*Kerib, about Tsutsujidai, about why GGG came here... I think it's time we started fixing that."
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"Uhhh..." Rikka says. Oh no. That dreaded question. She doesn't see any way out of this situation...! Fortunately, Sayla changes the subject of her own volition, and Rikka breathes a sigh of relief. "Yeah... I can show you around school sometime if you think you'd need a student there with you? But if it's you, they might just let you in on your own..."
Sayla explains, then, the situation. As the explanation continues Rikka frowns, giving a slow nod of understanding as all the pieces fall into place.
"...Yeah. I can see why you'd be concerned. It might just be a coincidence, but..." She starts, trailing off. But, if that's the case, she can see why the name 'Todo' would concern her... and why she would need to speak with Gridman and the others about him.
The conversation cycles back to Akane's home situation... Rikka nods.
"...Yeah. I haven't see them, at least, if they are..." She agrees.
All in all... there really is a lot they don't know. Rikka nods.
"I agree. If there's anything I can do to help out, let me know. I... I want to know what's going on, too."
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Sayla nods. "...It'd be less suspicious if you're with me. But if I'm right, you'd be on their radar too." Sayla continues to run the risks in her head. "We can work out a plan soon. It'd be easiest if there were some kind of school event, though..." She sighs.
Rikka can't illuminate her at all, either. The tapping stops. "Thank you. That said, I think you, Yuta and Sho are going to be our greatest assets here. You know the town, and aren't going to draw the attention the rest of us would." She looks down at her hand on the counter. "...You're also more invested than the rest of us. We're visitors, and Tsutsujidai is your home. We should be the ones helping you." She stands up.
"One last thing.... if Alexis Kerib appears again, be careful. The Mazins are serious firepower, you could see. And Renais' internals are not standard to a human. He tore through her unit, then through her, and avoided anything vital." She grimaces. "But he enjoyed it. He enjoyed hurting her. Even if he could have done that more cleanly, I doubt he would. He's dangerous, and sadistic. Do NOT underestimate him, whatever he is."
Sayla starts towards the door. She doesn't like to sit still when she could be taking action. "Take care, Rikka. If you need me, or any of us, don't hesitate to let us know, okay?"
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
...That's true, they might realise something's up if they spot her with them. It seems like whatever they do, it carries some risk. A school event, though...
"I'll keep you informed... if something comes up, I'll let you know." Rikka replies.
Sayla points out that she, Yuta, and Sho know the town best, and don't draw attention. Rikka does smile, at that.
"You've already done a lot for us. Let's agree to keep helping each other out, then." She replies.
Sayla warns her about Alexis Kerib, then. When Sayla grimaces Rikka grimaces too, surpressing a shudder.
"...Yeah. Don't worry, I won't." She agrees. Whoever he was, he already knew what was going on and seemed to have full control of the situation... It was a little terrifying.
With that Sayla starts to leave and Rikka stands up, too.
"Yeah... don't worry, I'll let you know right away." She agrees. "...You take care too, okay? Stay safe."