2022-07-04 - Tropical Burgers ~TURTLE~
- Cast: Guy Shishioh, Nidaime
- Where: Nouvelle Tokyo
- Date: U.C. 0096 07 04
- Summary: Guy decides to finally have a chat with his newest young friend.
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Guy Shishioh has had...let's call it a trying couple of days.
Despite concerns, he has not gone directly to Boss Ramen to karaoke with the boys about loves lost, but there's a certain weight on his shoulders as he emerges from the Hatsuno family's burger place with a few of their trademark Tropical Burgers in tow. The gang at Bay Tower loves them. Guy does, too, though his appetite today is...not its peak. An Evoluder can force their body to heal many things, but--
He shakes his head and looks up at the sky, at the great spear of Bay Tower rising from the center of G-Island City. "Gotta...focus," he says.
<Pose Tracker> Nidaime has posed.
Nidaime has probably been spotted by Guy periodically from a distance though she always ran off after being spotted by him before eventually peering at him from a distance again some time later. Then she vanished for a while. And now she has returned. She has two earbuds in her ears and is wearing a dirty green hoodie. Her orange-red eyes stare at Guy. She has not worn shoes since what happened to Kaworu happened.
Guy looks up at the sky and speaks to the heavens about focus.
"Are you having trouble?"
The voice comes from Nidaime who has, in the interim, stepped close up to Guy's personal space...
...and is looking at the burgers. "......"
"...Is Kaworu okay?"
Still looking at those burgers.
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
He's Guy Shishioh and Extremely Attentive. Normally.
The truth is he doesn't make the jump between 'a small adorable child is following me' and 'i should pay attention to this entity' until Nidaime walks up and prompts him.
He looks down at her, and blinks a few times. Ah, right, he saw her helping Kaworu that day....and also...
Koji asked him, 'Do you know Sayla's niece, Nidaime? Short girl, dark skin, black hair, wears a hoodie.'
"...a bit," Guy admits, and seems to accept her presence without question. He finds a roadside bench to sit on, setting his bag on it with room for Nidaime.
"Kaworu should be fine," he says. "I haven't heard a whole ton myself, but...I'd know by now if it were looking bad."
He reaches into a bag, pulls one of the burger out (there's a whole pile in there, it's for the office), and holds it out for her. "You doing alright?"
<Pose Tracker> Nidaime has posed.
Don't take food from strangers, Nidaime!
Well she takes the food from the stranger. She was around during the Renais rescue and he helped! So she knows he's a relatively trustworthy chap. Plus Kaworu whispered something to him. And Nidaime didn't hear it! But he said she should help him, more or less, with things. She's not sure what things, though she might have something of an idea.
She munches into the burger. One bite. Then two. She swallows.
"He said," Nidaime says, licking her fingers before wiping them against her shorts. "That I should help you."
SHe looks up at Guy, swinging back and forth on her heels.
She has another bite of burger. With her mouth half full: "Thank you." SHe remembered!
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
"He did," Guy agrees. Guy takes a burger himself, though he sort of just looks at it like he's having too many emotions to want food. And Guy has a guess why, too. Koji filled him in on that part. But, just to establish bona fides: "Koji told me, you're Sayla's niece, right?" He chuckles. "I was...away, for a long time, so I haven't caught up with Sayla too much. And you helped us protect Renais. I guess we haven't had time to talk."
He treats her, maybe not perfectly like an equal, but certainly not like a child. Guy knows perfectly well that kids are worth your respect. "My name's Guy Shishioh." He grins, friendly and warm. "And, you're welcome. It's good, isn't it? Everyone at 3G loves the Hatsuno Tropical Burger."
<Pose Tracker> Nidaime has posed.
Nidaime opens her mouth to take another bite but--
You're Sayla's niece, right?
Nidaime doesn't bite in. She keeps her mouth open for a moment too long before pulling her mouth back. "Auntie Sayla..." Her eyes sparkle. "Is really cool." She bobs her head. "I'm Anosillus the Second," Anosillus the First has been helping the Shuffles and associated pals for a WHILE. "But most people call me 'The Second' or 'Nidaime'." Which...is just The Second in japanese.
She stops wobbling. "We can talk now. It's nice to meet you, Guy Shishioh."
She has another bite. She chews it. She swallows.
"....This is much better than the vending machine food." She agrees. "Did you use special technology...?"
She lifts the bun and takes a sniff.
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Anosillus the Second, huh. Koji just called her Nidaime, so yeah, The Second, that tracks. But he said some other things. His right hand makes a keening noise as he uses his Evoluder powers to connect to the 3G network from afar, the image of a G-Circuit appearing on his hand. And the result is...
...the first one is a turtle?? ...a BIG turtle?! That one manages to register as unusual even for Guy Shishioh, but he plays it off. Guy knows his way around kaiju - comes with the territory - but individuals are more than he keeps in his head at once. "Nice to meet you, Nidaime," he says, with a warm smile. "I didn't use anything. The family of someone I trust made it themselves right up the street." He nudges his chin up the road, toward the Hatsuno diner.
"Your Auntie Sayla and I go back a long way," he says. "She helped me fight the Zonder invasion about ten years ago. I owe her a lot." He grins, friendly. "And now we're working on this situation with Tsutsujidai, too. Sounds like Kaworu trusted we could figure things out together."
<Pose Tracker> Nidaime has posed.
If you look at the hoodie and the bag she has strapped across her back, it's easy to see how she could be.... metaphorically... turtle-like. Those braids are kinda... like Anosillus's horns? That's about as far as they go.
"They're really good." Nidaime says. "Please extend my compliments to the chefs." She has another bite. She's gonna be finished with that burger real fast even with taking breaks for conversation. Sometimes she even makes the anime girl eating noise. That's how good it is.
"Four...Four? Four years." Nidaime says of how long she's known Sayla. She thinks that's about right. She swallows again.
"I owe her a lot too." Nidaime says. "I love her very much. It always hurts when I have to leave her."
She lowers the burger and adds, "I know a lot about Tsutsujidai. I'm happy to answer whatever questions you've got. I told Gridman everything but if you have any questions, maybe it'd be better to start there?"
She smiles. "You seem nice too. I'm glad Sayla has a friend like you."
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Kaiju are... ...not often that metaphorical, but from what Koji told him, maybe that'd track. Still, she seems like a good kid. He's reminded of Mamoru, a little shy, a little nervous, but with a bright, shining heart. "She's been taking good care of you, it seems like," he says, fondly, thinking of the warmth he knows the Amami family showered Mamoru with. "I can tell you care about each other. Ah, four years? That's why. I was far away that whole time, until just a few months ago."
He doesn't think he'd hide the Trinary Solar System situation from this girl so much as explaining it is. not high on his to-do list, right now. He tries to resist the thought of Mikoto staring into his eyes.
"What Kaworu told me," he says, quietly, leaning over, "is...how to get in touch with Gridman." Slightly imprecise. He can't entirely trust the open air, after all. "I haven't been able just yet, but I plan to soon."
<Pose Tracker> Nidaime has posed.
Nidaime looks down at her feet bashfully at the talk about Auntie Sayla, not commenting on it immediately.
But then she tilts her head. "He told you who Gridman is? He doesn't remember. You should be gentle with him. I don't know why he doesn't remember." She takes another bite of the burger. It's almost done...
Nidaime probably doesn't know much about the Trinity System. But she does know about someone. "Takeshi works with you right? I haven't seen him in a while..."
She finishes off the burger, wiping her hands against her shorts again. She sort of hasn't seen Takeshi, rather, but--
"I'm glad Renais is ok. She seemed so sad and in a lot of pain. I don't know why humans do these things to each other."
She elects to explain more just in case about Tsutsujidai. "Tsutsujidai is my home. Though the city is newer because someone's Cognition brought it into being."
"Theoretically Tsutsujidai's presence isn't a problem but she kills the Repli-Compoids that get on her nerves. And besides that, people being able to move in and out of the Cognitive Layer isn't good for the ecology of this world. One way or the other that path should be sealed up so that it doesn't weaken the barrier any further. Otherwise there will be more incidents. The more extreme the situation gets, the more extreme manifestations and eventually there might not be a barrier at all."
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
"Ah, you know about Takeshi? Yeah, he was away with me, and Renais, and the rest of our friends at the same time. He's..."
Guy scratches the back of his neck uncomfortably. "He has the same problem that was making Renais act that way," he finally says. How do you even explain Triple Zero? He's never done it in less than ten minutes, so far. "Something was messing with her thoughts, and with his too. That's one of the things I have to tell Gridman. But, we'll get him back, just like we got Renais back."
Wow, yep, this kid knows the system alright. "Is that how it is," Guy murmurs. "We could detect it when there was a disturbance a while ago. At 3G, we specialize in distortions in space. We have a lot of tools that can do this and that to the space, we think, but as long as it's controlled, inhabited, and in turmoil, the best we can do is patch solutions." He scratches his head. "So for now, we just have to focus on helping the people inside, I guess."
And then he leans back and sighs a heavy, heavy sigh. "The devil...that'll be Alexis, huh? We've dealt with him, before. And that girl, Akane, she seems to be more involved than she wanted me to think."
<Pose Tracker> Nidaime has posed.
"Mmhmm." Nidaime says. "He's an old friend of my dad's."
If by old friend you mean someone who helped Khan Digifier to mind control him then yes, Takeshi is an old pal of Anosillus. But Nidaime doesn't mention it. That's before her time. And he's a good guy now so better to--
--or maybe he isn't a good guy right now ironically he's the one suffering from evil mind control! What a twist! But Nidaime brings her hand to her mouth. She has gotten an explanation of Triple Zero. Something like that. "So right now he thinks it's better if people are dead, right?"
This is someone that Kaworu trusts so she has no reason to hide the truth from him.
"Kaworu told me that Alexis Kerib has a lot more complicated past than I knew. But if I'm around he won't stick around, so I can't stop him. Papa and I... Aren't very fast."
Well one is a giant turtle and one is a turtle daughter so this makes sense.
"I wonder if he can be a good guy again." She admits. "But Kaworu..." She trails off, it's too rough for her to talk about it so she just moves on ahead. Guy seems to understand what she's talking about. He talked to Koji too so maybe he shared some of what she told him.
here's a further complication. "Akane isn't just more involved. She's the center of Tsutsujidai." Nidaime explains. "She created the city and its inhabitants." A pause. "Not me or Gridman but...most of the people there."
She crumples up the paper that the burger was in. She knows enough to not try to eat the wrapping. "If we simply closed the portals, she'd like that, but... I don't really see a difference between doing that and killing her. And it'll be better for her if she faced reality."
She shrugs both shoulders haplessly, "But I don't know what the right thing to do is. Because all the ideas I can think of just hurt a lot of people or hurt her. She may have created the Repli-Compoids but they're real. You've met some of them, haven't you? They helped you save Renais, so..."
She tries patting Guy on the back a few times with her sticky greasy fingers to reassure him. He seems like a good guy.
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Guy nods, seriously. "Roughly," he agrees. "We're pretty sure Gridman Sigma, his partner, helped infiltrate 3G systems during an attack a few months back. So it's probably both of them."
Shake of the head. "For now all we can do is..." 'we won't get pardons, you know' flashes across is thoughts "try to find a way to get them back."
Then, story time. Guy finds himself engaged enough to bite into his own burger, listening closely. Putting pieces together. He knew about Alexis, of course - in principle if not in details. Alexis helped them save Renais, but he was also a needless weiner about the whole thing in a way Guy knew immediately to be an enemy. He hasn't seen the creature from Tsutsujidai sense, but it's like Lamia - an instinct of hostility runs through him at just the thought of Alexis Kerib.
Akane's more complicated. Akane seemed like a good, helpful, if a little private girl, but...he's not blind. She's clearly suspicious in a few different ways.
He swallows, half a burger gone. Heroes eat a lot. "Created it...?" he asks. "...it had seemed like it had to be created...instantiated, by something with human thoughts. The specific way Tsutsujidai is shaped wouldn't come about at random, or emerge from a pattern. 'No conflict since the One Year War' is too...specific." Sigh. He finds himself looking off into the distance. "Akane, huh. Is that the kind of thing she thinks about..."
Guy does not shy away from pats, because he's an amazing big brother type even now. "I agree. Nothing is solved if we just bolt the Gate closed. I wouldn't be able to do that without...a lot of support I don't have, right now, anyway. Repli-Compoids, you said? That's the people inside? Yeah, they were very real. I've been inside a few times. So..."
He puffs up, and grins. "So I guess we find a way to help."
<Pose Tracker> Nidaime has posed.
Nidaime quirks her head again when Guy says Gridman Sigma attacked 3G. She seems ... confused? Like what Guy said doesn't entirely make sense. She struggles with it for a moment before saying, "But he's been in Tsutsujidai. I talked to him about boys at the school. He teaches there."
She hadn't really thought about the illogic of this before until now. Sometimes you just let strange things be strange. That's the kind of person she is. You just sort of roll with it.
"Yes. I don't know if it was consciously so at first but she is aware that it is her world now. You can probably learn a lot about Akane from looking at the current shape of Tsutsujidai even if her control of that reality is not omnipotent. They might be Compoids replicating humanity but they're still real people. And when she sends kaiju after them..." She hesitates before adding, "Well, they do feel pain. Loss. Like anyone else."
"Mmhmm, papa is a kaiju but mama is a Compoid. But the people in Tsutsujidai are Repli-Compoids. They are 'replicas' of humanity. But they are still as real as humans."
"Maybe if you talk to Uncle Siggy in Tsutsujidai, you might find a way that can help Takeshi. And if you can help Takeshi, maybe he can help you."
She is relieved that Guy isn't just going to try to seal the portal shut and sacrifice Akane (essentially) in the process. That would be almost like murder.
But she does smile, "You really are a good guy huh? Eheheh... Good guy." She has a wonderful giggle.
"I've...been slow to say this stuff because I worry about...pushing Akane into a corner. Or hurting her friends. It's complicated so... I'm sorry I didn't say anything. But if Kaworu and Auntie Sayla trust you I trust you."
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
THAT ONE gets Guy's attention REAL quick. The rest of it was simply using context to weld together things he'd already thought on at least some level. But...Sigma attacked them. There's no doubt about it. Nothing else could have torn apart the Program Ring Generator's systems that fast. Nothing else could have snuck past him through GaoFighGar's own network.
"He's...there?" Guy asks, blankly. "That's....that shouldn't be possible. He's definitely been..." He looks down, thinking fact. "Yes. Looks like I have two people to find in Tsutsujidai. Something's definitely going on."
She says Papa is a Kaiju - that'll be The First, and mama is a Compoid, which is a word he has to infer but appears to refer to a human-like lifeform. That's. ...you know, the logistics of that are probably not his place to worry about. "I see," he says. "Yeah. That does make sense, actually. Repli-Compoids. They seem...quiet? But..." ...maybe Akane doesn't know. Or didn't know. She always stood out so much from the people around her. Was she arranging those conversations? Something he has to discuss with Yang and Prickle, he decides. "...still, it's people. I'll do my best for them."
She calls him a good guy, and he grins wide and laughs. "Three G charter, Article 5 , Paragraph 12. A GGG member must, no matter how dangerous the situation, always keep humanity's future at heart." He thumps his chest. "Well, I guess that was two charters ago. Pretty sure it's still in there somewhere, though. I won't ever give up on people, no matter where they're from."
"And then, she admits she's been scared, and Guy looks down, gently placing a hand on Nidaime's shoulder. "It sounds like it's been tough. But I think you've done well. I'm glad Akane had someone like you worried about her." He smiles, big like a hero. "It is complicated. But one thing I know best is that a brave heart can turn around any odds. Let's work hard, and save everyone!"
SCENESYS: Celebro has posted scene #115, 'Blood Pattern Q', at 07:00 EST on 07/18.
<Pose Tracker> Nidaime has posed.
It shouldn't be possible but--
--well, it isn't as if Gridman himself hasn't become more than one person. But those Gridmen are still more or less working together. Perhaps Triple Zero caused something strange to happen? It's hard for her to decipher considering how strange Triple Zero is.
"You have a lot of hair too." Nidaime says. "Sometimes when I'm eating my hair gets in my mouth, but you have even more hair than I do. Have you ever gotten it stuck in a door..."
Yeah okay she is still a kid despite saying all this stuff.
Are the Repli-Compoids quiet? Sadly, Nidaime hasn't spent much time with them. Two or three conversations each amongst hte Gridman Alliance and otherwise...
....Well even in this city built on top of her home, she is an outsider.
A hand has been placed on her shoulder. It HAS been tough. And it 's become apparent to her that the only chance for anything resembling a happy ending is to ask for help. But she's also done most of what she can. She can't face down Alexis herself if Alexis refuses to show himself. What is she going to do? Invade AKane's house. That sounds like a real bad idea! But hopefully telling enough good people about what's going on will result in a miracle. She doesn't have an answer...
"Humans are really good at figuring out unconventional solutions," Nidaime admits. "So I'll be brave and not worry so much."
Guy says he's glad she' worrying about Akane. But the one person who probably doesn't want her worrying about Akane most is likely Akane. Maybe there's something selfish in that--but well, she can't apologize for not wanting someone to collapse in on herself.
"If I'm brave it'll help? So I'll be brave then." Like it's some kind of toggle. Maybe she doesn't quite have the best understanding. Or maybe...
"I'll ... introduce is the wrong word, I suppose, but I'll be happy to take you to Siggy. It'll have to be after school hours though. I can't be at the school while she's there."
BBSYS: Post 68, 'Experimental Result' has been published to Cutscenes & Logs.
<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.
Hair catches him by surprise, and he laughs. "Ya know, it was real bad at the start. I used to keep it short, but...some things happened, and I ended up with this. It took some getting used to!"
He just engages the question at value. Why not? It's...nice, actually. Takes his mind a bit off of--
'What is an Evoluder? Do you know?'
--things.
Humans are good at finding unconventional solutions. He chuckles. "We are good at that, alright. I think we'll figure this out. There's a lot of smart people who want to help."
As for Sigma: "After hours is fine," Guy says, unwrapping more of his own burger. "After all, the other person I have to speak to is a student."