2022-05-13: Misdirected
- Log: 2022-05-13: Misdirected
- Cast: Akane Shinjo, Riika Sheder, Alexis Kerib
- Where: Tsutsujidai/Reality
- OOC - IC Date: 0096-05-13
- Summary: Fearing the possibility of being caught in a lie, Alexis unknowingly exposes himself to being caught in a lie. Akane Shinjo and Riika Sheder have their second conversation, though they only even begin to figure that out partway through.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
It's a day off. It wasn't really *supposed* to be a day off, but Akane has decided that school is too much today and she doesn't want to do it, so she's not going to do it. Instead, she's going to... lie there, for the most part.
Alexis... is actually stumped by this specific configuration of the situation, honestly; he considers what to do for several seconds. He actually feels the need to take a risk, at this point; while he knows Akane fairly well by this point, he's not sure he can get her out of this not-quite-a-slump with simple, straightforward solutions. She already feels plenty guilty about her interactions with Anti... which is, admittedly, a thread he can pull, but probably not immediately.
So instead, he offers something else. "Hoooh, Akane-kun. I have a small request of you -- nothing serious."
That's... rare. Usually it's Alexis working on Akane's behalf. ... but right now, after everything with Renais, and everything with Anti, and how badly the last few days have gone... Akane sits up from the garbage, blinking a few times. "Must be pretty serious. What is it?"
"There's a young lady I've been working with to address some of your -- 'outside concerns.' All I need from you is a bit of... online roleplaying?"
Riika receives a text message on her personal device. More to the point: four of them.
'Apparently you're one of Alexis's friends?'
'He said you're with ZAFT...'
'... I don't want to know the details, but are things getting better out there?'
'I don't get out much, and reading that kinda stuff is... too much for me.'
... this requires less pretending than Akane would care to admit.
<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
Riika has not had a great few days.
After the battle in Africa, she'd done some heavy thinking. Kaiju weren't meant for that kind of war, she'd decided. She'd need to do something else - something only she and the kaiju could do. And if she couldn't bring the war to an end, at least she could make sure there would never be another Junius Seven.
She hadn't *forgotten* about the note she'd given Alexis, but it hadn't been on her mind either. It had been a month since that concert, after all. Riika wasn't really expecting a response any more.
And then she'd gotten one.
It takes Riika only a couple minutes to decide what to say. It's not quite enough time that Akane might feel ignored, given it's a new conversation, but a response does pop up after that:
'Hello!'
'Yes, I am with ZAFT. He told me you were someone he took care of, but that's all.'
A momentary pause before the next.
'I'd like to think things are still getting better, but we're still at war. We're all doing our best.'
Unsure of how much else she should say, Riika leaves the details off for now - some things are sensitive, and other things would just be too much to dump all in the first contact. So instead, she asks a slightly question that seems slightly like a non sequitur:
'How are you doing?'
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane's eyes widen a little. She leans forward to her tablet; she wasn't expecting that from a ZAFT soldier, even one Alexis was apparently getting close to. (Why is he doing that, she wonders, briefly. ... Well -- he said he was taking care of outside business on her behalf. It's... a little difficult to see how that adds up, but then, it would've been difficult to see how everything she did with Renais added up, too.)
'I'm okay. Like I said, I don't get out much.'
'... long story.'
'I'm kinda rooting for you guys, honestly. The Federation is full of jerks. If the OCU knew what was good for it it'd switch teams, and this'd probably be over inside a week. This is mostly Britannia and the REA's war.'
... Wow, this is... kind of a new sensation. Akane blinks a few times, wondering...
... maybe she can get a better sense of who Alexis is through this.
'How did you two meet? Was it online for you too?'
<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
'It's fine that you don't,' Riika types, maybe misunderstanding. Is the person sick, maybe? If Alexis is taking care of her... maybe it isn't that she *doesn't* get out so much as she *can't*. Best not to press. She doesn't want to say something horrible by mistake.
Well, the other person is at least talking. Riika is glad that she didn't scare her off. Alexis did say she was a little shy. And right now, Riika could do with talking to someone who isn't in the military.
There's another pause, though.
'The Federation is made of people. I don't want to hurt them really, I just want us to be safe. The government is bad, but people are people everywhere and I don't think they all want to fight us, either.'
...
'Actually, he just kind of showed up in my car,' Riika types. 'Without any warning. If I'd been doing anything but parking I probably would have crashed or something. I don't actually know how he found me in the first place.'
It sounds kind of suspicious when she types it that way, she feels. Well, maybe it *was* suspicious. How often does a seijin show up in the back seat?
'What about you?'
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
For several seconds, Akane hovers over sending, 'Most people are jerks too.' She thinks better of it, though, after a moment; this person seems... nice.
Interacting online is a little easier for Akane; she doesn't have to immediately have every single answer. Delete, delete, delete, and:
'That's kinda classic him, ahaha. Did you know he can't drive?'
'We started talking online a year and a few months ago. A little bit before Valentine's Day.'
'My parents split up and neither of them work in Japan, so I was on my own. Alexis offered to take care of me.'
... How complete should this lie be? And, for that matter -- how much of a lie?
... may as well. It's easier to construct a lie out of components you know. Akane flops into the garbage, off her seat, and taps at her tablet.
'My father works with Scotland Yard... my parents split up when I was little. I think my mom is doing salvage work in the OAC. I haven't seen her since she left though.'
'That's fine, though. Alexis does a way better job.'
Curiosity strikes her after a few moments. What sort of person does Alexis hang out with? She knows he hangs out with Kaworu, and Grace... that's not much of a line of best fit, though.
'What sort of stuff do you like? Have you seen Tarabaman Kai?'
... don't be ridiculous, she tells herself the instant after she hits send. Just because someone is from the PLANTs doesn't mean they're going to have seen your favorite 25-year-old show just because it was shot there.
<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
Did you know he can't drive?
'I know a lot of people who can't drive,' Riika sends back, because the whole reason she ended up the scout is because she *can* drive a jeep and wasn't especially stressed about about the sheer size of the horizon. 'But I guess it's more important on Earth.'
Her parents split up... she must be a little younger than me, Riika decides, if she was living on her own with no parents in Japan. But not that much. Probably. So sixteen, seventeen?
'I'm sorry to hear that about your parents.'
Riika isn't just saying that to be polite - oh, some of it is politeness but it is always something a little sad to hear. Not that she spends a lot of time with hers these days, but the reason isn't because they split up. 'I'm glad you have someone, at least.' But how weird is it that the person is Alexis, of all people?
It's the last question that gets a possibly surprising response. 'I've seen it. But it isn't my favourite Tarabaman. I liked Zora a lot.'
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
'I guess it's more common in space. I can't either. I used to take the subway a lot.'
Talking about Tarabaman is easy. It's not... comfort food, exactly, and in some ways it's a little intimate; Akane's attachment to the series is pretty high. It gets her mind off a lot of what's going on, though, so she decides to take the lifeline for now.
'I like Zora too! Amatsu Mika is SUCH A GOOD SUIT. You can really see the Nalgus influence.'
Akane mashes out about 70% of her Nalgus and Super Nalgus emojis. She has a lot of them. ... a lot, a lot.
'The ending didn't really land for me though. I was totally expecting Zora to finally kill him. Mika isn't my favorite Dark Taraba... I like the ones from X4 more.'
... that might be enough. She doesn't want to overwhelm Riika, here. She decides to pivot back toward the war, after some thought; it feels weird not to talk about it. Besides -- it might answer a few of her personal questions... and she values that more than she does worries about retraumatizing a stranger.
'Have you heard anything about the wreckage at Junius Seven? I hear people and ships disappear out of there if you go there at the wrong time. Spooky stuff... is ZAFT doing anything about it?'
<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
Riika didn't live anywhere you COULD drive, for a long time, or had any need to. She learned in the military. It feels kind of awkward to bring up.
When Akane floods her with Nalgus and Super Nalgus emojis, Riika has to really dig to find a good response. Somewhere in the avalanche are a couple animated Amatsu Mika images, along with one of Zora himself. Also, deep inside: 'I actually haven't seen X4.' It's been a long time since Riika thought about Zora, even. She watched it when she was a kid... well, a teenager. Maybe it stuck with her a bit more than she'd thought.
But she wasn't expecting the question. Is Junius Seven a ghost story now - well, two kinds of ghost stories? Are they telling tales about it even in Japan? And to have someone - an Earthnoid no less - bring up Junius Seven... it hurts, a little bit.
'How did you hear about that?'
'Junius Seven was horrible. Nobody really goes to the wreckage... it's under watch, though, just in case.' Which is all Riika can say, given she's loyal to ZAFT - she's not going to give away military secrets. And given all the reports on Tsutsujidai - well, of course it is under watch from the other Junius colonies. People do disappear there, but she can't (or won't) really talk about it.
But then: 'If there is one thing I'm trying to do, it's make sure there's nothing like a Junius Seven ever again.' Never. Riika almost types a follow-up - something like that's why she's talking to Alexis - but she falls quiet instead, taking her hands away from her keys momentarily.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
'X4 is so good. It's totally different from all the others in tone... I really like stuff with a good investigation team or a defense team. I figured out some stuff because I watched it, too.'
She decides not to elaborate. Instead, she stays on-pivot.
'I... kind of gave up thinking anyone can stop something like that.'
'Good luck.'
The gears of her brain turn a bit. Is the 'outside thing' Alexis is trying to take care of... *the war with the PLANTs*? It would make a certain amount of sense. That's... really ambitious, even for Alexis, though. The question, though, is... why? Is it just because she cares about it?
That feels like a lot to take in. She's sure he has his reasons for getting involved with this particular outside stuff.
'I was talking online with someone who flew out there... they said somehow they went from Junius Seven to Nouvelle and back again and missed everything in the middle.'
'Really spooky.'
<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
'I didn't think I could stop something like that either, at first.'
'But I have to try. It's important.'
Riika leaves that, again. She can't say much more without giving more away than she's comfortable with; ZAFT habits die hard, she's not a civilian even if she will be working on her own for that. (And what does *that* say about her?)
'Maybe Alexis will tell you more once I've tried.'
Akane - well, not that Riika knows her name - has gotten pretty specific. That's a lot like what happened to her, except it wasn't *quite* Nouvelle that she'd ended up in... close, but not quite. But she's pretty well-informed for someone who, by her own description, doesn't get out much.
'Was that a pilot? I can't imagine anyone else going to Junius Seven... there's no flights there. I wonder if it's someone I know?'
'But... I've heard strange things about it, too. If they're true, I'd like to see if they can be fixed.'
Riika brought up that exact point to Akane before, in fact. She just isn't aware that's who she's talking to, this time.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
'Yeah, it was a pilot. Actually, I heard something kinda similar from someone else, too. Don't tell anyone, okay? Maybe I'm paranoid, but I hear bad stuff happens to people who talk to ZAFT pilots, even if they don't say anything that matters.'
Akane pauses. Wait, come to think -- she'd been kinda checked out at the start, here, but that contact number is starting to look familiar...
Akane moves from her tablet to her phone. Looks down.
Wait, what?
Well, it gets halfway to explaining how Alexis got in contact with Riika, at least. Still -- to think that he'd have followed up with that *specific* ZAFT pilot, and need Akane's help...?
"What the...?" is all Akane says out loud. Mercifully, she's having a text conversation. "Okay... probably can't press this *too* fast, but..."
'I hope those things get fixed, too. It's kinda scary to imagine just ending up in the wrong place, right?'
<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
Riika hasn't put the numbers together yet. She has all the information, but it has not yet (quite) occured to her to check. She doesn't exactly have to deal with Tsutsujidai very much... and Alexis specifically told her that the person was from *this* world, not the other, which is throwing her off the trail. If he hadn't said that, she might have checked by now.
'I won't tell anyone about you, but it might help if you tell me who it was,' Riika types. 'If only so I can see if they filed a report!'
Is the Federation that paranoid that they'd 'deal with' anyone who talks to a ZAFT pilot? She feels justified in keeping it as secret as possible on Earth - she told nobody, except in Tsutsujidai... Riika shifts on her own bunk while Akane types, sliding off to retrieve a bottle of water from underneath it, which means her response is a little slower in coming. But it does come.
'It definitely is. It would frighten me.' It did. 'Things like that don't just happen, do they? At least, not normally.'
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"Hrmr." Akane finally retrieves the morning's iced coffee from a micro-fridge under her desk, chewing on the straw. "What am I even gonna say here..." She kind of wants to ask Alexis what the deal is, here. ... come to think, she usually hasn't gotten through-the-wall service on phones... she recalls a big barrage of queued texts waiting for Anti, when he'd left.
Alexis must be providing pass-through service, she reasons.
'Uuuh... let me get back to you on that, maybe. I don't remember her name, we only talked once or twice... I might have to look it up.'
... Akane is beginning to think this is more serious than Alexis let on, and that she ought to get something extra out of this. Then again... he's already doing a lot to clean things up for her. Maybe this is the least she can do, even if she does feel a little cornered.
'Anyway... I'm not feeling great today. It's been a rough week... I'm gonna go lie down. Good luck with the Federation. You seem nice.'
Despite being a Federation citizen, *she* seems to have more of an issue with them than Riika herself. Or at least, she's worse at concealing her feelings.
<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
'Her' name. Maybe it's Lily. Or maybe...
...
Riika reaches for her phone and pages back. Back. She has to check notes from *months* ago, a number that she added but that never contacted or was contacted by, that has fallen neatly to the bottom of her contacts (well, okay, not ALL the way to the bottom, but far enough away that it is kind of buried)...
"REALLY?" Riika blurts out, in her bunk. If she didn't rate a (admittedly tiny) room to herself that might have gotten a look. But what are the odds? And Alexis said it was someone from *her* side of the world, not - not over there. How is this phone number even working? Are there two Akanes, one of which is in Nouvelle as she knows it and one of which isn't? Do they have the same number? Is everything about the world really confusing??
Akane's last message gets a [Someone is typing...] in response for a surprisingly long period of time as Riika types a couple things, deletes most of it, and tries again. Eventually, the message comes through:
'I hope you feel better soon. If you ever want to talk again, you can text, no strings attached.'
'It's Riika.'
'With the chouonpu.'
'And thanks.'
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
... what on Earth is Akane even going to do with this? Is she going to pretend like she doesn't know Riika already? This is too weird.
"Alexis, you *really* need to give me more information before you ask me to do this kind of stuff," Akane mutters, out loud. "I nearly gave away a bunch of stuff! Ugh!!"
Maybe this whole thing was doomed from the start. It was nice to have a year or so off, but... things are really getting stressful now!
'Riika, huh. That's a nice name.'
'Sure thing.'
True to her word, Akane slumps into the garbage in earnest. "... Make sure she doesn't start trying to pry me out of here," is all she has to say to Alexis.
<Pose Tracker> Riika Sheder has posed.
Riika closes the chat window a few moments after Akane does.
It doesn't occur to her to rush out there to pry Akane out. She's a little confused as to exactly what Akane's position *is*, but... maybe they can talk again and she'll figure it out. Sometime. Not today.
For now, she sets her own tablet aside, swinging herself back up to a sitting position. Talking with Akane... it helped, a little, even if it left her more confused than when she started. But she has things to do, and she'd better get to doing them.