2023-03-20: Robotic Dramatic
- Log: 2023-03-20- Robotic Dramatic
- Cast: Akane Shinjo, Rikka Takarada
- Where: Tsutsujidai - Junk Shop Aya
- OOC - IC Date: 0097-03-20
- Summary: Akane and Rikka take it easy after Hass's rescue, and talk about some of the other parts of their lives.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
The last twelve or so hours have been a little dicey, but mercifully not as dicey as everyone might have feared. Inoue Hospital handled Akane's issue in very short order -- a minor (but still concerning) pressure injury handled with needle aspiration and some supplemental oxygen. She doesn't even have to stay for a full day!
... Which brings her to the only place she has to stay in Tsutsujidai -- or at least the only place that doesn't feel like it encourages a backslide: Aya. She's having to take it very easy indeed -- but there's a lot she wants to do while she's here. ... she's probably staying here a few extra days. (It might be smarter to stay on the Wadatsumi or return to Orbit Base, but no! ... She's getting her head around the idea that this isn't a giant imposition.
Right now, she's finishing up lunch at the counter; she's not quite Knight levels of ravenous, but... it's close. Yesterday took a lot out of her. At one point she'd asked Orie what Rikka got up to the next day or two after prom; she'd tried to play it off as playful, but... something about the question seems to have been gnawing at her a little disproportionately.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Rikka had been worried, of course. She stuck by Akane for as long as the hospital staff would left her - and, was greatly relieved when she was released not even a day later. And when she needs a place to stay... of course Rikka is glad to have her over, and Orie is more than pleased to help get her set up. Both Takaradas seem happy to have the extra company.
It's lunch time now, though, and Rikka too is taking lunch at the counter. When asked, Orie gladly explains that Rikka had stayed home - and of course throws in some light teasing, having had to bring her back to reality more than once. If she caught onto the feelings underlying the question, Orie doesn't let on - but Rikka certainly had. So, when Orie takes a moment to step away and leave them to each other, Rikka looks Akane's way.
She hesitates for a second, wondering if she'd just imagined it... but, decides to ask anyway.
"Hey, Akane... Is something bothering you?" Rikka asks.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane looks up from her food at Rikka. "... Yeah," she admits. She might've gotten evasive before, but right now she frankly doesn't have the energy to hide it -- and Sayla keeping secrets is still fresh in her mind. "Alexis said some stuff about Sayla keeping 'extinction-level' secrets from Leina, and we all saw how that went."
She lets out a breath with a small 'fuh' noise, then says, "I'm kinda thinking Alexis wasn't lying to me about someone with you guys, 3G, or at home having 'already betrayed me.' I know better than to assume that means anything but that they need help, but..." Akane's hands clench into fists on the counter. "I feel paranoid and weird! I can't do this but who else is gonna even notice this kinda stuff?!"
It seems she can't quite calm herself back down; she's shaking. "Rrgh, and I feel like I keep ruining everything for you -- like jeez, we should just be happy for Hass but all I can do is bring up new stupid problems that might just be Alexis lying to me in the first place!"
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Akane admits that there is something bothering her... and when she explains what it is, Rikka can't help but blame her.
"...Yeah." Rikka murmurs, as Akane points out the mention of 'extinction-level secrets'. That part was definitely true. She looks surprised, though, when Akane mentions that Alexis had told her that someone in one of her circles had already betrayed her.
"Akane..." Rikka murmurs. She can see her shaking. The sight hurts her heart a little. "How long has this been eating away at you?"
She stares down at her plate for a moment.
"...I don't know if that's true or not. But it doesn't matter if you're 'ruining' anything for me. If something's making you upset, I want to know. I can't be there for you if I don't know something's wrong." Rikka says, looking back up at Akane. "...I... don't think it's weird to worry about this, either. Given everything..."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane's still shaking -- and it's hard for her to stop. "... About a month," she answers, and once that's out she actually does start to ease up, bit by bit. "It's -- for a while I could tell myself Alexis was just lying to me, but then the stuff with Sayla and Leina happened and then I started thinking, just, 'oh no, he's, he's probably right.' And then I started following it down all these crazy holes like -- what if someone did something to you or Utsumi? What if Alexis is threatening someone and they can't tell us?"
She takes a few long, deep breaths, a hand coming to hold Rikka's. "Even if I put all the ones where it's... whoever it is's fault, out of my head, it's still bad." The hand is more steadying still. "So... hhhff. Okay. It's... a lot off my mind to know it's not you, ahaha... but still..."
She realizes she's left something out. "... I'm guessing, from what I know about what Alexis is up to, that it has something to do with the Banshee. I needed... to rule out the idea you left the city right after I did." Letting out another breath that pushes some dark hair aside, she says, "... well, now you know! I guess all we can do is keep an eye out for everyone else, right now."
It really does feel a lot less miserable, now that she's got a friend in it. "... can we do something nice today?" she asks, tentative. "I kinda wanna go out back and get a peek at that mobile suit of yours, or something... or maybe get a peek at you in a pilot suit~?" It's obvious she's forcing herself back to 'up,' but the alternative is probably circling the drain pointlessly, so...
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Akane's been worrying about this for a month... That's a long time to have something hanging over one's head. And then with what happened with Sayla... When Akane reaches for her hand, Rikka grasps it gently.
"It's... a lot." Rikka agrees with a nod. So, Akane had been worried that it might be her, too... It must have been awful for her to have to suspect her. That explains why she asked Orie where she was - which Akane confirms a moment later.
"The Banshee... That's that... weird mobile suit, right?" Rikka asks. She's been following whatever news reaches her, but there's still some things she's in the dark about. "...I don't know what he's doing with something like that, but I don't like it."
She nods, and then offers Akane a small smile.
"Yeah. We'll do what we can." Rikka says, giving her hand another gentle squeeze. It seems like Akane's starting to relax, at least just a little - and when she asks if they can do something nice, Rikka smiles.
"I have kind of been wanting to show off for you..." She admits. Akane might be forcing herself, but if Rikka can do anything to help pull her back up, she will. Rikka takes a moment to finish off her plate, then stands up.
"Wait here. Let me go put it on! We can go out to see Synchrotank afterward." Rikka says. She stands up, hurrying past the curtain near the counter. A short while later... Rikka emerges once more, striking a pose.
"What do you think?" She says, smiling slyly.
She's wearing a white and yellow pilot suit - easily recognizable as the same color scheme worn by Tsutsujidai High School's athletic teams. ...Of course, they don't have any piloting sports at their school, so it's clearly a custom job. While still fully functional as a pilot suit, given the fact that it was made for a school event, it's been just a little tweaked to favor cuteness and style over practicality.
...She wears it pretty well.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"Yeah," Akane confirms. "Alexis dropped a kaiju somewhere at the same time it attacked the Photon Power Labs... it seems like he's turned it into kinda a side project, since whatever's up with the pilot, it involves a bunch of bad feelings." ... that's a little chilling in its own right -- thinking about how despite having squirmed away, Alexis probably still thinks of her as his 'main project.'
... still, they're on a trajectory to think about something better. Akane takes a second to take her plate around to the other side of the counter while Rikka's busy changing; she doesn't want to be a crappy guest, even if her relationship to plates and other clutter-cleanup in her own life is... mediocre at best. When she comes back out, though --
Well, she's glad she's not still holding it. She blinks once, twice --
-- and then jogs over to Rikka, giving her a hug. "You look amazing... so heroic," she offers, and it really does seem like the rebound is starting. "I'm gonna have to probably think about getting one of my own if what happened yesterday is gonna be a regular thing... though, uh, hopefully not everything about it is gonna be a regular thing."
She quickly transitions from a hug to handholding, saying, "It's kinda giving me some cosplay ideas, too... I wouldn't have thought you could pull off this kinda stuff but it actually kinda suits you." A beat passes and she adds, "It's still pretty half-formed though! Nothing super specific... yet."
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"He did?" Rikka asks, surprised. If he's dropping kaiju, then he definitely has some stake in it... She shudders a little when Akane explains some of the situation with the Banshee's pilot. "That's awful..."
...And, absolutely something he'd do. It's the sort of thing he'd take advantage of in a heartbeat.
Rikka emerges from the curtain to find Akane jogging over to her for a hug. She's surprised at first, but it fades quickly and, with a smile, she returns that hug in turn.
"Thanks..." Rikka replies a bit sheepishly. Usually she'd deny being 'heroic', but... when she's saying it like that, maybe she could get used to it...
"Mama made mine, but I'm sure 3G could get something fitted for you. They'd probably be able to figure something out... I'm sure they're used to having to adapt." She says, and then nods with a slight grimace. "...Yeah, I hope not."
Akane lets go, instead taking her hand. Rikka looks on in interest as she brings up cosplay ideas.
"Now you've got me curious." Rikka says, with a raised eyebrow. She smiles though. "...Yeah, I thought I wouldn't either? But, after wearing it for a while... I think I actually kind of like it."
Still holding her hand, Rikka leads Akane out back to the Aya's junkyard. Rikka has made... a bit more of an effort than usual to conceal Synchrotank. It could still be better, but until she can find a different place to stow it away that suits the necessary criteria, it'll have to do.
Uncovering it is a bit of a process, but when she gets down to the final layer...
"Here it is!" Rikka announces proudly, throwing it aside. And indeed, there it is. Synchrotank sits before them, presently in tank mode. It still bears the scars from yesterday's battle, having not yet had the chance to address them. Rikka has had more important things on her mind - and it isn't the first time that Synchrotank has had to endure wear like this.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane... finds herself a little lightheaded, once she pulls away; that jog was probably a bit too much for her in her present state. It's not bad, but she probably ought to avoid overexerting herself given the circumstances.
"I'll tell you once we get around to Eclatant... which is still probably after Hammer. Hey, actually, we could probably finish up Serena and start Hammer this week... Some of that stuff is actually gonna be new to me, so who knows where it'll go." The unknown doesn't seem to hold a lot of appeal for Akane, but it's an unknown she gets to approach with someone instead of alone.
Leaning on Rikka as they head into the junkyard, Akane looks to Rikka, seeing that genuine pride and letting herself feel warm about it. She's come so far from the person she met in the nurse's office that day -- so, so far...
Oh right. She's supposed to be looking at Synchrotank. So she does. "Getting the funnels on there without wrecking the transformation mechanism must have been a serious hassle..." Even just looking at it in tank mode has her thinking about ways to improve her schematic for the cooking Haro...
She walks around it slowly, really taking it in. "Jeez, I really shouldn't have bagged on this thing when I hurt Gridman," Akane admits, though she manages not to dwell. "It's been through a lot, huh. It might not be 'powerful' or whatever, but it's tough."
Now she's getting misty-eyed, as she says, "I keep wondering where you even found the parts... they were here, I guess, but how? This stuff all looks way newer than I'd expect for how this city started out, even beat up like this." ... Maybe she shouldn't worry too much about a miracle, though.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Rikka keeps a steady eye on Akane, ready to catch her if she needs it. ...Thankfully, it looks like that won't quite be necessary here.
"Oh, that's a great idea. We're so close now, I'm really interested to see what you think... and it'd be nice to start something new, too." Rikka replies eagerly.
And so, Rikka leads Akane out to the junkyard. She catches her staring when she finally unveils Synchrotank, and smiles back at her.
"Yeah, that took everyone putting our heads together to figure out..." Rikka admits, when Akane points out the funnel rack. "We kind of had to make some concessions, but we ended up at something that worked out."
She watches Akane walking around it. ...It finds kind of nice to be able to actually... show it to her like this. Synchrotank has become something special to her, so being able to share it with the person who's most special to her...
"It's alright." Rikka replies with a shake of her head, as Akane comments about what she said when she hurt Gridman. If she isn't dwelling on it, she won't, either. "Yeah. I wanted something where... he wouldn't have to worry about me. It's more of a support vehicle, so it doesn't need to be powerful for me to do my job."
And then Akane asks where she found the parts, and that makes her actually have to think for a moment.
"That's... a good point. ...I'd never really thought about that." She admits. For as long as she aware as, the junkyard had always been like this. To her, it was normal and expected. "Mama's the one in charge of all this, I'd always thought this was junk she'd gathered up."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
"I can really tell," Akane says, on the idea of not being worried about. "I can really see how much effort you put into making it rugged... and obviously I've seen the water cannons and stuff go firsthand. You guys made something really incredible."
It feels so strange -- to have fought against it for so long. But... it's in this moment that she gets to appreciate it. It's here that she gets to see everything up close and really appreciate it.
She forms back up with Rikka again, as something about that thought starts to nag at her. "... we definitely gotta find you a better way to hide this thing, though. I don't mind painting up a tarp to look more like other junk if it comes down to that, but there's probably better options..."
It's mostly just a stray thought, though. "If you want help in there, the cockpits do seem pretty roomy..." She starts grinning like an idiot as she adds, "... though maybe I should get acquainted with them in a comfier way first?" Playfully, she adds, "Leina mentioned that a change of scenery can make that kinda thing extra fun..."
... it's pretty clear what 'that kinda thing' is, from her gradually widening smile. Yeah, she's definitely bouncing back.
Something about mama having gathered all that up nags at her again -- but she continues to keep it under her hat. It's not like it matters that much, if she really thinks about it.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"Thanks... It's really good to hear that." Rikka replies with a smile. "A lot of care and effort's gone into it."
Akane returns to her, and Rikka looks up at it as Akane considers something.
"...Yeah." Rikka admits, in a way that suggest she's been thinking about it too. "I've been looking into other places, but it's hard to find somewhere that's close enough for me and Gridman to meet up right away in case of emergencies and then load up. Anything you could help with would be great until we can figure out something more permanent."
She pauses, though, looking toward Akane as she starts considering something. She catches that grin - and then, catches her meaning, and starts to grin right along with her, reaching for her hand.
"Well, we have to accomodate a lot of people, so things just kind of worked out from here. Two people can fit at a console just fine, but we might have to get pretty cozy..." She considers with a knowing smile. "I'd be glad to help you... familiarize~ yourself with it."
Rikka takes the lead, opening up the cockpit and leading her inside. ...Just from looking at the interior it's pretty obvious that 'needing to get cozy' was just an excuse, but it's one she's sure neither of them going to complain about.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane looks around the cockpit, now that she's been invited in. It feels like a big step in a way even joining 3G didn't; there's an intimacy to it, yes, but for an instant she feels the acute responsibility of being part of saving herself. It's a messy feeling -- a joy, but also a somewhat paralyzing responsibility.
It passes -- or at least contextualizes itself -- once she's all the way into the cockpit. She lets Rikka sit down first -- and then agrees, "Gosh, climbing up or down into one of the other compartments seems like kinda a hassle after how last night went... guess I'll have to help myself to the best seat in here~"
Yeah, she's plopping herself right into Rikka's lap. "I recognize... some of this layout, but not all of it," Akane admits. "I think you're gonna have to be the one dealing with a lot of the actual levers and stuff... that's way over my head. GaoFighGar works a whole different way, haha... if anything this is more like an operator console."
Breathing in and closing her eyes, she says, "... thanks for this. It helps a lot to see it up close and from the inside." She puts her arms around Rikka, cuddling up. The mischief is in her face again -- but she's still plotting the optimal 'joke,' it seems like.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
Rikka doesn't rush her - she takes it slow, letting her look at everything at her own pace. She takes her seat... and soon enough, she finds Akane right in her lap.
"It is a lot of work." Rikka admits, and then winks. "...Fortunately, I'm always willing to accomodate a cute girl."
An arm slides around Akane's waist. Ostensibly it's to help keep her stable... But really she just wants to hold her.
That still leaves her with one hand free which reaches for the console. Soon enough, Synchrotank stirs to life, humming gently as consoles flicker on around them. Two inputs later(slightly complex to pull off with one hand, but she manages it), one of the consoles helpfully reports that certain actions have been temporarily locked, so they don't have to worry about bumping into anything dangerous. ...Not that that would be an issue, right?
"They're probably pretty close." Rikka replies with a nod, as Akane points out that it looks like an operator console. "Synchrotank has a lot of systems from managing and broadcasting data to other units. Take away the weapons and movement systems, and they'd probably look about the same - except for anything you need to manage 3G's unique units, anyway."
...And then, Akane thanks her. Rikka smiles up at her, squeezing gently when she puts her arms around her and cuddles up.
"You're welcome. I'm... really happy to be able to show this part of myself to you." Rikka replies.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
The wink catches Akane off guard. ... oh, no, she's becoming more dangerous by the minute... it's really obvious the extent to which she's her mother's daughter, now. Fortunately, Rikka's there to capitalize on that being off-guard with a hand around her waist, too...
"Even if it's you and those guys that support Gridman and Utsumi all piling in here, this is a ton of stuff!" Akane says, her gaze sweeping over the console as it hums to life. "But it is about the same when it comes to the monitoring stuff."
"Can we just stay in here for a little while?" she asks, with a bit of a pout she may not even realize she's doing. "I wanna take a little time to just... appreciate this." She still hasn't found the good joke... but maybe she doesn't need to find it. Maybe this can just be another chance to share her world with someone special.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"It took a lot of getting used to. It took a lot of time to figure out which buttons were which, and what each monitor was... monitoring. I pressed the wrong button sometimes." Rikka admits, and then hesitates a little. "...I still do, actually..."
She nods as Akane comments that the monitoring stuff is about the same. And then, she asks if they can stay in here a little while. That pout doesn't go unmissed, and for a moment she's struck by just how cute it looks on her.
"Sure, I don't mind." Rikka replies with a gentle smile. "We can stay here as long as you like."
There are worse ways to spend an afternoon than sitting here with her like this - appreciating her, and appreciating the now.