2022-11-18: Hare and Lark ~MISERY~
- Cast: Alouette Pommier, Mikoto Utsugi
- Where: Tsutsujidai - Alouette Pommier's apartment
- Date: U.C. 0096 11 18
- Summary: A reunion between two young women who have utterly changed since their last meeting.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
It has been, comparatively, a quiet week for Alouette, with no exams to study for and no difficult conversations to truly rack her brain. It's as Akane said, things really are beginning to quiet down. And Alouette finally gets that chance to live out each beautiful, yet blisteringly-hot day.
As for today, not a lot on the agenda either. Music practice finished early, and Alouette opted not to linger around the school much longer afterwards.
As such, she's "home" in that tiny apartment of hers, a physics textbook sprawled open on the couch with her. Still, it's hard to pay attention to a book like this - Alouette knows far beyond this level.
As if right on cue to "rescue her from boredom", she gets a sense of... something in her proximity. "Akane...?" she calls, a hint of fatigue in her voice.
It's been a while since Akane tried the teleportation trick... and with the presence of the Ruin Apostles in the city, a very different possibility creeps into her mind.
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Utsugi has posed.
Mikoto had told herself that Alouette was happy here, and she deserved that happiness. That she wouldn't do anything to damage it.
And yet..
And yet she wanted to see her so badly. She felt so much guilt over what had happened to her, and now she had had to flee here. Had something happened with her mother? What had happened to come into Akane's circle, to need to escape that terrible world.
The ES Door opens inside the apartment, and there's small, delicate steps as someone comes into view of the living area. There's no denying who it is. The headband Leo made to manage her unique hairstyle, the Gutsy Galaxy Uniform she wears.
Still, a hand goes to her mouth. "Alouette... Is that really you?" She knew it had been years but... is that really the genius little girl who risked so much- lost so much- to save her from BioNet. Despite the will of Triple Zero overwhelming hers, she can't help but be happy- then saddened a moment later. It's so much to deal with, all at once.
Mikoto doesn't close the distance yet. She wants to but... She has every reason to be scared.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
As Alouette hears the slow, gentle steps, she places the book she wasn't really reading down, and turns her head around. The person she is faced with - it's definitely not Akane.
"Miss Mikoto," Alouette's voice shakes and her face swells up - she feels so many complicated emotions about this, but the dominant one is happiness. "Yes, it's me.. I remember everything now." Like Guy, Mikoto was one of her most treasured memories that returned to her. The two of them were the first people to show her what love is, and that's why Alouette risked everything to save Mikoto all those years.
"Ironically, it was an encounter with BioNet that helped me remember," she explains. "But the first thing I wanted to do was find you and Guy. It was the entire reason I joined the Gutsy Global Guard." Yet, in a strange twist, it was only after she left that she got to see Mikoto.
"When I learned about the Oath over Omega, I was afraid we would have to fight. And so, Akane offered me a peaceful place to stay." Yet as peaceful as Tsutsujidai is, Triple Zero is in this very room with her.. Alouette knows that full-well, but she isn't scared anymore. No matter what happens, Akane will protect her. That's just a constant.
Instead, she segues into a slightly different topic. "Besides that, I have something of a BioNet-shaped target on my back. I couldn't put my mother in danger, and I know Akane will protect me." That, at least, indirectly eases Mikoto's worry about Alouette's mother. But the way Alouette is talking... it's still a far-cry from the strong-willed independent girl Mikoto knew back then, perhaps as if a piece was carefully cut from her.
But ultimately, it's still recognizably Alouette, as her bright blue eyes look to Mikoto. "...Despite everything, thank you for coming to see me. I missed you so very much.."
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Utsugi has posed.
Mikoto's eyes widen as Alouette confirms that it's her, and Mikoto smiles- brightly but tinged with sadness. "I see... I almost didn't recognize you." She tenses again. "They came for you?" She feels... angry. Angry that she couldn't keep Alouette's happiness safe, as much as it broke her heart to watch that happiness from a distance.
She squeezes her hands together when Alouette mentions her fears of having to fight, only to ease them as she talks about Akane keeping her safe. "...I don't want to fight you either, so I'm glad you found her." She pauses for a moment, wondering what she can say. "We've decided to support Miss Shinjo, Alouette. If she can protect you, protect this wonderful town... She deserves our aid. Maybe one day the rest will understand."
This isn't the Alouette she knew, the one who berated her for suggesting going for ice cream. She's lost the Spirit of a Brave... and that's the best thing that could have happened. As much as it hurts her, being a Brave only brings pain... Only goes against Cosmic Law. Alouette deserves to live happy.
`Despite everything...`
Mikoto starts to tear up, and she makes several more steps towards Alouette, initially slow and careful but faster, closing the distance to throw her arms around the (not much) younger woman. She can't help herself. This guilt has carried her. They won't be enemies here. She doesn't deserve this hug, but Alouette does. "I'm so glad I could see you again..."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Alouette softly smiles - she may have the same cute hairstyle from back then, but she has grown even taller than Mikoto - she's changed in so many ways from back then. "It was the same with Guy. And then he said 'you've grown so big'. Honestly! That's what you tell a child, right?" Recounting that, her smile turns into a laugh, until she realized what a can of worms she opened by mentioning Guy. He must be the last person Mikoto wants to fight, but the stubborn nature of a Brave means it's sadly inevitable, it seems...
"You could say that, but I don't think they recognized me either until their experiments brought back my memories instead," she notes on the topic of BioNet coming for her. They're not quite the same BioNet as she remembers, but they're just as dangerous. She thinks about the pilot of High Tension, a casualty of BioNet in the battle at France. She thinks of Liam, a fellow BioNet victim who made Tsutsujidai his home, just like her. The outside world is a very cruel place indeed.
Her head perks up when Mikoto brings up their alliance with Akane. Akane kept this a secret, but Alouette connected the dots as a possibility the moment she saw the photo of Mic. She's... not sure how to feel about the secret-keeping, because she thought they had absolute trust and understanding of each other. She is relieved regardless that it means Mikoto is not her enemy. "Oh? I'm glad. And... I wish we could all live peacefully together too." Besides, isn't this a kinder way of reaching a compromise with the universe's providence?
As Mikoto reaches for a hug, Alouette hesitates for a moment. She remembers the report on Triple Zero: infection upon contact for an extended period of time. She doesn't sense any malice from Mikoto - a short hug won't do any harm, so she reaches in for the embrace. But only for a fleeting moment. Still, it's a moment she was thankful to have. And the tears flow just as freely as when Guy embraced her again for the first time.
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Utsugi has posed.
Instead of responding hurt, Mikoto gives a little giggle of her own- she doesn't want Alouette to hurt over this one. "...That sounds like him." She can't hide the sadness on her face, but she wants to hear this. "But you have grown up so much... into a fine young woman." A fine young woman whose life will have to be cut short. A brutal necessity.
That's somehow even crueler. "Alouette..." Makoto's hand squeezes into a fist. Putting an end to this universe ensures these cruelties stop, but do they have to wait? Their secrecy is all but gone now. The people of this world deserve to die happily, don't they?
That's what makes Mikoto's heart stop. "...I would love that more than anything. But I can't. Not now." Alouette won't exist afterwards, the same way Guy and Mikoto would. She's just a human. A source of miracles. It wrenches at her heart knowing this, knowing that poor Alouette has to suffer so.
But even that momentary hug is enough to set Mikoto's own tears flowing. She won't rob Alouette of this happy life she has this early. It would be too cruel. She releases Alouette when she wants to be, she's not going to force her to fight now that she has laid down her heart. "But... I'll try and visit. Hold on to this life as long as you can, Alouette. You've had too much hardship, please take the peace and happiness you've earned."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
A fine young woman... that's more like it, Alouette thinks. Mikoto was the person she looked up to most, when she first got into the operator seat herself. Even if she couldn't become someone like Mikoto, she hopes that she can still make her proud.
Alouette can sense Mikoto's anger when she recounts her latest experiences with BioNet. As complicated as her feelings on Oath Over Omega are, Alouette couldn't blame the Ruin Apostles if they decided to enact their judgement on people like BioNet first.
When Mikoto rejects that offer of hers though - really less of an offer, more of a wish, Alouette's face almost looks like that of a sad puppy's for a second. It would undoubtedly be a miracle if things could work out like that. "I understand," she replies, calm as she can. "I'll be okay living here. So, please don't worry about me."
"I would love that," she answers, about visiting. "Wouldn't it be nice to go out for ice cream sometime?" She can understand that this peaceful harmony between herself and Ruin Apostle Mikoto won't last forever - but it's a kindness she can't turn down for now.
She slowly wipes away tears, a gleam of resolution in those blue eyes for the first time in the conversation. "I will, Miss Mikoto. It's a life that you helped to give me, so I'll treasure it with everything I am."
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Utsugi has posed.
If only it wasn't this way. If only she didn't have to fight either. Akane had offered it but... but there was no way Guy would accept it. There was no way she could abandon her duty to the next universe. To her comrades. To Cosmic Law. There simply was no lasting happiness for the three of them. She had to steal these moments before the end. Though maybe it was easier to stay on the J-Ark, but that box had been opened the first time she visited Guy. And it was better for only one of them to suffer witnessing the world they had to destroy.
Those sad eyes hurt nonetheless... but giving Alouette that impossible wish would be too cruel. It would be giving her a deceitful miracle. And the last thing she can offer is miracles. She can't help but look away.
"Yes, of course!" Mikoto agrees too eagerly- there may not be time, with the work Amuro has done, but... "I would love to." She pauses, on a bittersweet memory as she wipes her tears. "I'd love the chance to enjoy it together this time."
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Alouette takes one last longing look at Mikoto before she inevitably must return to her own duties. Miracles are strange, complicated things, but this felt much like one in its own way.
"Stay safe out there, Miss Mikoto. I'm counting on that visit!" She waves, playfully. A meeting like this one shouldn't end on a sad note.
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Utsugi has posed.
The playful wave from Alouette elicits a smile and wave back. "...Of course! It's a promise!" Maybe she can't keep that promise. But she wants to. She turns to walk into the newly opened ES Door, and away again.
Once they have the Goldion Crusher, Tomoro can handle the rest. She wouldn't be strictly necessary. And if she asked Chief Taiga, he might even permit her to be with Alouette at the end.
Surely, if the were going to give the universe a kind end, there's nothing kinder than meeting it with a friend over ice cream.