2022-06-23: Misinformation
- Log: 2022-06-23: Misinformation
- Cast: Akane Shinjo, Alouette Pommier
- Where: Tsutsujidai - Central Business District
- OOC - IC Date: 0096-06-23
- Summary: Alouette and Akane meet up to discuss the events that have transpired during Alouette's leave. Akane highlights the shape of the unknown hand pulling the strings... but Alouette doesn't buy everything about Akane's explanation.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Sleepy Tsutsujidai is always just a train ride away. ... well, maybe a few train rides away; even with intent to go there things can get a little janky. But it's not far, especially for someone who's already in Nouvelle Tokyo.
Even easier is getting in contact Akane; thus far, after all, she's been nothing but helpful to 3G, as far as anyone knows. Her schedule is *very* regular, and once one gets to the Tsutsujidai side of the dimensional border, she... *usually* doesn't leave people on read.
(Well, there was the time she left someone on read for weeks while she was skipping school, then never acknowledged she did that. But this is not about that.)
So of course, why would today be any different? Setting up a meeting proves easy enough. Akane suggests a restaurant in Tsutsujidai's business district with nice outdoor seating, and says she'll get anything -- her treat.
... it's also on the same intersection as the spot that Renais got stabbed by Alexis Kerib. But maybe that's a coincidence.
Either way, it's where she's waiting, with a notebook out and a cup full of tomato juice that she lazily sips at, chewing on the straw.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
After a quite long train ride, Alouette finally arrives at the restaurant where Akane awaits.
Of course, it wasn't the distance itself that was long, but Alouette had much to think about during the ride. After all, she did last remember this place as a battlefield.
And it did not slip by her that this area was precisely where the visceral sight of that mysterious... unnatural force? who called himself "Alexis Kerib" stabbed Renais in the battle.
Alouette tries not to think too hard about that though. Despite her nerves, and slight unease, Alouette is genuinely excited to meet Akane. Although they may not share the same genre of interest, they're around the same age, and Alouette can appreciate that certain "weird" charm that Akane has. In addition to being a great ally and asset to 3G maybe Akane could be a... friend.
After walking a couple blocks, Alouette spots the restaurant they agreed upon, and a girl with distinctly pink hair sitting alone. Alouette waves and greets her with a polite "Bonjour!".
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Okay. French it is, Akane thinks, doing her best to shift into it from Japanese; it's her third language (behind Japanese and Britannian English, of course) so she has to actually think a little bit. "Bonjour," she says, allowing Alouette to settle in. "Order anything you want," she says, pleasantly, as she flips through her notebook a bit.
"So," she says, with a nod. "I figured this was about something going on... so I decided we should start with a map." It illustrates connections between Alexis Kerib, Riika, the kaiju Riika made, another girl who knows Alexis... *Tsutsujidai's* kaiju... and the 'psychic rupture' between Tsutsujidai and the apparent world away.
"It's... been a while," she murmurs, a little distantly. "Did you try Tarabaman?" She sounds like she's trying to be enthusiastic, but it doesn't quite reach. The pitch and cadence are there, but the genuine enthusiasm just... isn't.
After a little thought, Akane asks, "... is there anything happening that I'm missing here?" She doesn't seem to know about the recent attempt on Administrator Kaworu's life, or the subsequent kaiju attack on NERV's holdings in Tokyo-3, if the page is any indication. ... she's also in the dark about the Death Knight, and its mysterious, screaming pilot who claims to be the 'Guardian of Tsutsujidai.'
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Alouette sits down and decides to plan on ordering a nice cup of herbal tea. As a side note, Akane's French obviously isn't fluent but, it's surprisingly decent? Either those tokosatsu shows really do work, or Akane is a faster and more efficient learner than she lets on.
She then tries to process the dissonance between the bombshell that is the map and her casual question about Tarabaman. She decides to respond to the question first, all while analyzing the map in the back of her mind. "Hahahaaa, not yet... I thought maybe it would be more fun to watch it together with you sometime." Whoops, that sounded a little more flirty than she intended.
Back to the map... to be honest, she expected that Akane might know more than a little about this Alexis Kerib individual, it seems that this location of choice was no coincidence after all. And a psychic rupture... it sounds unreal, but it checks out considering just how *strangely* Tsutsujidai functions. As a whole the information is quite a lot to take in, but Alouette cannot bring herself to feel particularly shocked. Instead, she mentally files the information away and memorizes Akane's map.
For some reason, she doesn't want to let go of Akane either. Not just because of the valuable information she is offering but also... she can tell she's hurting. She obviously got wrapped up in a lot, and Alouette can't say she doesn't relate.
She then responds to Akane's next question. "I was on leave to France for a short while, however when I returned, NERV was in quite a disarray... there was a major kaiju attack for one." She then glances up at Akane from the map, but tries to avoid a confrontational tone. "You know a lot about kaiju, don't you?"
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Watch -- with her? ... How to even begin? There's so much Tarabaman -- it's a fifty year long metaseries, after all -- and she has so much she'd need to, and. ... It's kind of too intimate, almost.
Not that Akane particularly has eyes for Alouette, beyond the occasional... appreciative gaze, mind. Those thoughts lie... elsewhere. "O-oh," is all Akane manages, at first. "... yeah, it might be nice." ... might, because if she's telling the truth: she knows it won't come to pass. She's on the verge of making a lot of enemies -- including the one in front of her.
"You can actually have the notebook, if you want," Akane says, as she notices Alouette doing her best to commit the map to memory. "And -- yeah, I do. When you're one of the only people who can see them and remember them, you learn pretty fast... even if I wasn't into Tarabaman, I'd probably be good at keeping on top of it."
Another kaiju attack. Another circle on the map. Akane takes a breath, and draws another circle near the middle of everything. 'Unknown hand,' she labels it, in a lovely lilac. "You feel it, right? Like there's someone who's really pulling the strings here."
A line -- to Tsutsujidai's kaiju.
A line -- to the 'psychic rupture.'
A line -- around, to Riika Sheder. A line -- around, to Nouvelle Tokyo. A line -- out to Junius Seven. (How did she manage those...?)
"Why do you ask?" she asks, all smiles. "These things always go a certain way. Tarabaman's not a documentary or anything... but we're already dealing with kaiju and hero giants, so I can fill in the blanks like that, a bit." Despite the upward curl of her lips, if you were to just look at her eyes, all you'd see is a flat -- almost expectant -- expression.
"The kaiju side of things is my specialty."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Alouette decides to ignore Akane's awkward response to the Tarabaman thing. If she had to guess, her attempts to be a normal person and make friends came off a bit too strong. She has to work on that.
She gently takes the notebook, nodding at Akane's answer to her question. She doesn't quite understand why Akane would do that... it's evidence implicating her.
...And if she already hadn't implicated herself enough, she is now telling her that there is someone pulling the strings, labelling said person in lilac no less. At this point, it would be incredibly easy to expose Akane.
But that's only if she's telling the truth. Alouette doesn't get why Akane would incriminate herself, and her story really does not add up. For one, Alexis Kerib is just a footnote in this map of hers, as if he is just another string in her game. But Alouette knows firsthand what type of power Alexis has; she saw what he did to Renais. And for two, how did Akane not know about NERV's kaiju attack? Was she really involved in it? And again, Alouette thinks about the type of person Akane is; the Akane who jumped into the fight to save Renais.
"I asked because... I know you are a part of this And I know you're insinuating that you're behind it. But allow me to make my stance clear: what reason do I have to believe that?" She pauses for a moment. "Not that I think you are totally innocent in regards to to the kaiju attacks, but... I don't get supervillain vibes from your personality *or* your actions: especially when you helped us save Renais."
"What I do want to know is, why? We're not super close, so I'm wondering what interest you have in telling me this?"
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
That *is* a question, isn't it? Even if Akane is supposedly the unknown hand pulling every string... she doesn't connect herself to Tuesday's attack. (No doubt she has no idea about last week's, either.)
"Hmmm... well. You think *I'm* the unknown hand here? That's pretty bold!" Akane says, despite knowing full well she was expecting that conclusion. Alouette's smart -- probably smarter than she is. (She certainly sounds smarter than she is, in French. Akane's French is indeed getting better -- she's spent an okay amount of time learning it, since Renais's purification! -- but she's still merely conversant.)
"All right, though! I can work with that." Akane's hollow smile doesn't move an inch. "Maybe it's because I don't know you that well? I mean, there was," gesture to the intersection, "what happened over there! But that's about it."
She leans forward, picking up her tomato juice. Slipping the straw between her lips -- not drinking, yet. "If I told my *actual* friends, they might take it the wrong way. But *you*... if it's really me here," planting her finger on Unknown Hand, again, "you might actually do something about it."
Gridman won't. Hibiki said as much -- he'll fight her, but not meet her with his fists. Renais? Renais believes in her too much, for whatever reason. Rikka... ... Rikka's a nice girl. Akane can't do that to her.
Yet.
Alouette, though... Alouette only knows Akane casually.
"Heroes," here Akane swaps to Japanese -- Yuusha, Braves; a clear allusion to 3G, then back to French -- "always beat the bad guy, right? ... Or maybe I'm just bored and need something better to do. The main villain in Tarabaman S said it was like playing a game, right? If that's me, and I'm just bored... maybe helping Renais makes sense that way, too?"
Finally, she takes a sip. She leans back, glancing off into the middle distance as she chews on her straw. "Up 'puh you what you wanna do wiffit," she concludes, not removing her lips from the straw. "You're fhree-G's opera'or. You'll come up wiff fomething."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Alouette takes a moment to take in Akane's words once again. Heroes... bad guy... playing a game. Obviously Akane isn't taking this all too seriously. After all she's really just a kid... "It's true that I don't know you very well but that's what this meeting was for, wasn't it? And risking your life to save Renais just because you're bored is an interesting story. I did want to believe you cared though, and I'm not so sure entering a warzone would be in the equation if you didn't."
The "brave" connection was not lost on her either... does she *want* to have to fight GaoGaiGar? But everything tells Alouette this isn't a problem you can just stomp on with a giant super robot and call it a day, and being at the forefront of that isn't really Alouette's style either.
As such, she would prefer to keep the information for the time being, so it doesn't spark a massive war or something like that... Akane is trying really hard to make herself an enemy, but Alouette would prefer to spare hostilities, especially if one as dangerous Alexis Kerib were to be involved.
Alouette settles on planning a meeting with the new generation 3G boys, Ikumi and Mamoru. She probably trusts them more than anyone else, and she knows they're the empathetic types.
Alouette takes her last sip of tea and concludes with "I will come up with something, promise," a slight smile on her face.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane doesn't know what's going on behind those eyes... but so be it; she's got a few secrets, too. "Hm, hm. Was it?" She glances off to one side. "You're... wow, really all in on this, huh. Good luck if you come up with something, but I'm pretty sure you'll get around to the same answer I have, sooner or later."
Akane stands up, stretches out, and gathers up her tomato juice. "See you later... hero~." She leaves 50 gilla on the table; she can't have spent more than five, so Alouette really is free to get anything she likes.
She starts walking away, routing around a particularly dense group of taller patrons at another table -- and then she's gone.