2023-07-14: My Name Is...
- Log: My Name Is...
- Cast: Naoko Suzuki, Eight York, Enba Rezza, Rena Lancaster, Anita Rosetta
- Where: Meeting Room, Ra Mari II
- OOC - IC Date: 0097-07-14
- Summary: An investigation into Nova Stellar's hometown yields surprising results, prompting a number of revelations regarding the Ra Mari II's resident Miracle Worker.
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
It's been almost half a year since the girl calling herself Nova Stellar arrived on the original Ra Mari. A lot has happened since then, but though she's always claimed to be only a guest, she has settled in to the point where she's also admitted that the Ra Mari II feels like home to her now. And while she's been told numerous times that she isn't obligated to do so, she's regularly helped out as a pilot and a mechanic, proving remarkably capable in both areas.
Yet while bits and pieces of her background have come up in conversation, one question is still far from being answered. Just who is 'Nova Stellar', really? Perhaps today, there may be a few more answers in that regard.
Some time ago, by her own request, an investigation party was sent to her hometown of Akaigawa in the Japanese province of Hokkaido. The aim: to find clues regarding the fate of her parents, who had her flee their home with the Sukeban, only able to tell her that 'people were coming' that were after the Arm Slave before the call was cut short. Fearing a trap of some sort, she didn't dare return home herself, and decided to entrust this matter to Eight instead.
Which brings us to today. One of the Ra Mari II's meeting rooms has been reserved to discuss the report brought back by the investigation team. Other than Eight and Enba, involved from the start, Rena and Anita have also been included, having kind of naturally gravitated to the role of looking out for her, on the battlefield and off. It's important for those closest to Nova to be made aware... and she may need some direct support, given that the results of the investigation were... unexpected, to say the least.
This is the first time that Nova learns of exactly what was discovered, having been handed a datapad with all the relevant findings, conclusions, and a few photos taken on-site. She was a little agitated to begin with, but the more she reads, the worse it gets. And for good reason. She was certain that some sort of trail leading to her parents would be found, and things would be set in motion from there. A path which would probably have led to her needing to leave the Ra Mari II and return to Akaigawa, which she had mixed feelings about. But that just seemed like the way things would have to go.
Instead, what she reads about is... baffling. She's probably not the only one who feels that way. Because the survey of Akaigawa, interviews with a few residents, the photographs... they all lead to the same conclusion. Nova's story was false.
There are many with the family name Suzuki, even in such a small town like Akaigawa. But the house on the hill overlooking the village that Nova mentioned... was not there at all. The most likely location for it to have been had nothing on it but an empty lot. According to the residents, the plans to build a house there fell through a long time ago. No one had ever lived where Nova claimed she did.
Moreover, although Nova has yet to tell anybody her actual real name... she claimed to live in that house, thus her last name could be inferred. Yet no matter who was asked, no one had heard of a Suzuki family with a daughter matching Nova's description.
The teenage girl hasn't uttered a word the entire time she's been perusing the compiled reports on the datapad she was given. But she seems to be growing paler by the second. If there was any question, her genuine shock - inwardly and outwardly - confirms that this wasn't some kind of premeditated ruse. She's completely bewildered and scared by what she's reading.
This isn't right. None of this is right. There's all this evidence to the contrary, but... this can't be the truth. If she accepted it, it would mean... it would mean accepting that her entire life had been a lie. How could that even be possible?
For the last few moments, she's just been sitting there as if in a daze, staring at what feels like the most condemning photograph of all. That of the empty lot atop the hill. The place where her house should have been.
In the end, she slowly lowers the pad and raises her eyes, to look at the others present. As her gaze passes from face to face, her feelings are condensed down into a single, timidly-spoken sentence.
"What... does this mean...?"
Her eyes are begging for someone, anyone, to tell her that there's been some kind of mistake. This can't be what it looks like. It just can't be.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
While Enba Rezza oversaw the actual operation, it was Eight York's call to share the data with two of Nova's friends; she figured the girl would need the support. The findings were disturbing indeed...
"As you can see in my report," Rezza mentions, "I checked nearby towns as well as addresses in the same nation with similar demographics, in case there was simply an error in recollection. These findings were consistent even with the widened net."
Eight looks sympathetic--but also troubled. "So you can see," Eight continues, taking over for Rezza, "That we have more questions than answers. What does it mean?"
"Well..."
Eight says, "We don't know, unfortunately. Anything we could answer would be speculation. All we know for sure is that the town you mentioned does not have the house or family you mentioned."
Enba continues, "So far as I can tell, no one was dishonest about this; we triple-checked. These are the facts as we found them."
Eight says, "...Whether it means an error in memory or something stranger, we don't know. I'm sorry, Nova."
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Rena had no arguments when word of an investigation into Nova's background came -- in large part because Nova provided the okay for it. If she hadn't, she would have hesitated. She knows from bitter experience about having one's secrets revealed.
The results aren't what she expected, though. And she didn't know what to expect. Her expression is kind, but... regretful, too. She can't imagine what this could be.
Rena looks at the lowered datapad. At the hill, but with no house on it.
She looks to Enba, then frowns at their news. "That's... concerning," she says, with a moment's hesitation, before she looks at Nova. "It's... it's something that must have some explanation."
Rena frowns, biting her lip.
"I'm sorry, Nova," she says. "I wish I had an answer for you."
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Anita listens patiently to the report Enba had gathered. She didn't know quite what she expected to hear. She only knows what what she did ultimately hear... is certainly not that. Anita's brow is furrowed, a thoughtful frown crossing her face as she tries to think through it.
It's... rough. She knows that much. It's one thing to lose family - it's another entirely for it to seem as if they'd just... never existed. No information. No family register. Just an empty lot where a house should be.
Anita leans back and exhales. It's rare to see her affected so strongly, but if anything's going to throw her off her game, it's something like this.
"Ah... geez. Nova... sorry. I wish I knew what to tell you..." Anita says, massaging the back of her neck. She looks Nova's way with concern. "...D'you need anything? Time, space... a drink. A hug, maybe."
That's all she can offer right now, because she certainly can't offer answers.
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
No answers. Apologies, but no answers. None of them know what this means. None of them can give Nova the reassurance she needs. This is... upsetting, to put it extremely mildly. Everything she hears only makes it moreso.
'It must have some explanation'? If so, why can't anybody explain it? 'These are the facts'? What do they mean, facts? She knows this is wrong! Why won't anybody tell her it's wrong? 'Do you need anything'? Yes! She needs people to believe her! Why is everyone acting like she should just accept this?
But what makes her the most upset is what Eight suggests. "There's nothing wrong with my memory!" she insists, desperately. "I know just about everyone in Akaigawa, you even... here!" She scrolls up to a previous photo, of a school building. "That's Sonritsu, my junior high school! You... you talked to Chiba-sensei, and... ...why...?"
That interview was like all the others. The name 'Suzuki' consistently got a reaction along the lines of 'That's a common name, isn't it', and clarifying with the house's location or Nova's features did not appear to inspire any recognition. But that's impossible! She knows... she knows...!
When she looks back up, she no longer sees the meeting room, and the faces of people she's gotten to know over the past few months. What she sees is a classroom, filled with small children, regarding her with curious eyes after the teacher asked her to introduce herself. That... really happened, it did. She remembers exactly how she felt. Scared of rejection, with the knowledge that she wasn't like other children. All she wanted was to fit in. It took effort for her to state things in a way a normal child might. Her soft-spoken, uncertain words were assumed to be shyness, back then.
In the here and now, the words she spoke then are spoken again, with firm conviction this time. As if to convince others, perhaps even herself, of their truth and validity.
"My name is... my name is Naoko Suzuki! My parents are Mao and Itachi Suzuki! I live--"
She glances down to the datapad, scrolling back to the photo of the empty lot. Her voice breaks.
"I-I live in the big house... on top of the hill...!"
The pad falls from her hands, and she slumps in her chair, burying her face in her hands. "I'm not lying! I'm not! Tell them! Tell them I'm not lying, Uriel, Ariel!"
For a moment, the only sounds are strained noises from Naoko, on the verge of breaking down in sobs. But then... a voice. A soft, subdued voice that sounds like that of a little girl, much younger than Naoko. A voice that Eight has heard before, but Rena has not... and Enba and Anita cannot hear at all.
>"...She isn't lying."<
Another voice begins to interject. A voice that sounds similar in age to the other one, but more boyish. Like the first, it too cannot be heard by everyone.
>"Ariel, you..."<
>"She needs us, Uriel. She asked for help. So, I'm going to help."<
>"...Do what you want."<
Those who can hear are not hearing with their ears. It's more like picking up a burst transmission, with your brain. The origin point seems to be Naoko herself, and for a fleeting moment, one might wonder if this is a case of multiple distinct minds occupying the same body. Until the girl's white butterfly-shaped hairclip detaches from the braid on her left side, on its own accord. Unlike hearing its words, seeing it move like that isn't a matter of psychic sensitivity - everyone can see that happening.
Fluttering down like an actual butterfly might, it lands on the table, in front of Naoko, who looks down at it in silence, still looking extremely miserable. Though it doesn't have any ability to emote, the little movement made by the metal butterfly after its landing could perhaps be interpreted as a bow, preceding the official introduction.
>"Nice to meet you. My name is Ariel. The surly one who won't join me is Uriel."<
She must be talking about the black butterfly, remaining stuck to Naoko's right braid. >"Give me a break. You wanted to handle this, so handle it!"<
>"...In any case. I assure you that Nova-- that Naoko is telling the truth. We were there with her. I don't know what's going on either, but... please believe her. Oh, and, um... please relay this to the others if need be, Captain York, I don't know if everyone can hear me..."<
Naoko keeps looking down at the table, unresponsive, apparently leaving it to this odd psychic construct - Ariel - to speak in her place.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
No answer; they can provide support, but that's about it. But Nova... is sure of it. She knows. And she recognizes the most of it. "You're sure," Eight questions, but it doesn't sound like a question--it sounds like an observation. She wonders about that. They didn't recognize her, and she has every reason to trust Enba's data...
But she knows them.
Eight pauses, as the voice comes. "Ariel, and Uriel, then." She pauses, and says for Anita and Enba's benefit, "There are two 'friends' that Nova has; these butterflies... they can speak to our minds. I'm not sure you'd hear them..."
"But they say that she's," Naoko, "is telling the truth, and that they can corroborate her statements."
Enba frowns thoughtfully. "Then..." They nod. "If it were just the one, it would be reasonable to think that your memories had been tampered with. But I don't know how they'd begin to tamper with the memories of... entities, such as these."
"So we must, then," Enba continues, "Consider the possibility that events have been staged to conceal this story, and that memory has been altered in the residents of the town."
Eight thinks about that. "It does seem far-fetched," she admits, "But... I believe that you're not lying, Nova."
"What do you two think?" Eight asks.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Rena glances sideways at Anita -- spotting the way it hits home for her. She hesitates a second, before she reaches out next to her -- still under the table -- and puts a hand over hers for a moment. Her eyes are back on Nova, though, in short order.
"Nova, I--I don't know what's happening. No one thinks you're lying, but someth--" Rena tries to sound calm, but she cuts off when the empty space that Nova spoke to...
When that voice answers. Rena's eyes widen.
Two voices answer. She glances about the room -- and realizes that not everyone here is hearing this. But everyone does see the butterfly. Rena sucks a breath in, looking from Naoko to the butterfly.
"This is... something else," Rena says. She looks at Naoko, but then back to Ariel. "I don't think you're lying, Nova--Naoko?" Rena asks. "But... Ariel, can you offer us some more explanation? Maybe we can figure out what happened. Why the town forgot and... why it changed."
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Anita feels a hand settle over hers for a moment. She looks Rena's way and offers her a small smile before she looks back toward Nova. ...It hurts to see her like this. Insisting desperately that she's telling the truth. She can't imagine how distressing this must be. What can she do but watch, though...?
And then, as she insists on who she is, where she lives, and asks someone for help... one of the butterfly hairclips detaches, fluttering down to the table.
Anita, of course, can't hear the voice. But Eight seems to have anticipated that, as she relays the message for herself and Enba.
"...Yeah, I can't hear anything." Anita confirms. She looks between Eight and Rena, who it seems can hear them as well. "But if you're sayin' they're there, then I trust you."
She offers Nova a smile.
"Don't worry. I don't think you're lying, either. We'll figure this out together, yeah?" She offers.
...Enba raises a point, though. There has to be some tampering going on... and if not in Naoko, then the residents.
"...Yeah. And then there's the matter of 'why'... It's a lotta trouble to go through, right?" She says with a shrug.
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Nova - or is it Naoko now? - looks like all the energy has left her. Despite her words, despite knowing for sure that everything really happened the way she remembers... she too has reached the point where she's forced to think about it. Eight and Enba's theories vaguely register, and she can't help but think how crazy it sounds. If a thousand people say you're wrong, it doesn't make sense to assume you're the one who's right. What they concluded was only logical, she can't blame them for it. But even trying to think of that being the right conclusion... she can't bear it. She already has enough trouble figuring out who she is without needing to doubt it on that fundamental a level. All she could do was... ask for help.
After the initial effort, though, Ariel appears to be floundering a bit. >"Um, I, I don't really know what's going on... We don't really 'see' things in the way humans do, and we can't 'talk' in the same way, but... through her, we know what was happening. She was there, and her parents were there, and um, I don't know..."<
>"Ugh, useless.<" The black butterfly detaches from Naoko's hair at this point, landing next to Ariel on the table.
>"I'll take over, I've known her longer than you have. She was, what, nine?"<
"Eight." Seems that Naoko is still listening to every word, even if she'd just been sitting there quietly the whole time.
>"Whatever. Point is, she was having a hard time of it. Me, and later Ariel, we did our best to help Naoko get along with people."<
>"That's what I did! You just made her fight with people!"<
>"I was teaching her not to let herself be bullied!"<
The two are interrupted when Naoko starts to suddenly laugh. Just hearing her friends bickering like that appears to have soothed her considerably. It's familiar, comforting. "Okay, okay, that's enough, you two. Thank you... I think I'll be okay from here." Relatively, anyway. She's still feeling far from okay, but... she should be able to handle talking, at least.
"...Thank you all, too, for believing me. I... have no idea how something like this could happen... are there people out there powerful enough to just... change a whole town like that?" When she considers the 'why', though, something readily comes to mind. "...Are there bad people out there who could do that? My parents' employers... I don't know who they are, but I always suspected they were involved with something bad..."
She looks down at the table with a vague smile, and holds out her hands with palms up. Ariel and Uriel take this as a cue to perch on them. "...My friends, they can't really answer any difficult questions. They're just kids, they try their best but they can only do so much to help. But I'll try to answer any questions you may have... anything that might help."
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
It's hard to listen to; it's a difficult situation. And it hits home all right. Eight... is at least familiar, with the idea of tampered memories, just as Rena is familiar with shared secrets. And seeing Nova--Naoko?--like this is not at all encouraging. But the story starts to come together. Some explanation, and--
And why.
Eight looks to Anita, but Enba is already considering the question she brought up, leaning back in their chair as they think about it.
Eight, this time, just directly repeats Ariel's words, and then Uriel's, and so on. It's simpler than paraphrasing. Except that Naoko talks to her, and--
"Well..." Powerful enough to change a town? She considers. "There are," Enba speaks for Eight. "There absolutely are. It takes resources, of course. It would have to be a very powerful reason, to expend so many. But it is certainly possible."
Eight nods. "'Who' is... hard to say. But it could be linked with the people who were following you before in the first place."
Enba adds for Eight, "We should consider the possibility that they were watching the town, and saw our inquiries."
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Rena frowns a little, when Anita confirms she can't hear anything. It means there is some sort of psychic phenomenon occurring. She nods, though, at Anita's point.
"Yeah," she says. "It is a lot of trouble to go through. There must have been some reason, but..."
She can only scarcely imagine why.
She looks between the two butterflies -- watching them fight, perhaps -- and her eyes widen a little bit. Then, she looks back at Naoko, then at Enba. "Yeah. I saw some of what was happening in Tsutsujidai. And..."
She frowns. "I guess my point is, there's a lot we don't know," Rena says. "And that means we're not in a position to rule out some possibilities."
She frowns, though, when Enba mentions their inquiries might have been seen. Rena's eyes drift downward for a moment. Then, she looks back up at Naoko.
"Can you tell us about your friends?" Rena says. "How you met them, maybe? Only the Newtypes can hear them. But... Annie can see them." She glances at Anita. "Right?"
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
From Anita's perspective, Nova says 'Eight' out of nowhere. She looks between Nova and Eight for a moment, a puzzled expression crossing her face before she realises it must be due to something she was unable to hear.
"No problem." Anita offers with a smile, as she thanks them for believing her. ...She doesn't have any idea either, though. Are there bad people?
...Well, there are a lot of people she wouldn't put it past. She nods quietly.
"...Yeah, it's pretty reasonable to say they might be aware that someone's looking into it. We should probably move forward with that in mind." Anita agrees.
Rena asks about Nova's friends, and Anita nods.
"You mean the... little butterfly head-dealies, right? You said they were Ariel and Uriel? Yeah, I saw 'em start flying, so... I can see 'em just fine." She confirms with a nod. "I just can't hear anything when they talk."
She offers an apologetic shrug to the butterflies.
"Sorry 'bout that." She adds.
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Naoko looks very uncomfortable when Enba says people might have seen the inquiry. That's what she was afraid of, that if she went back there she'd be walking into a trap. She could never have expected everything to have changed so drastically, but that could still have been true. Thankfully, if they were indeed being watched, it doesn't seem like anybody acted upon it... yet, anyway.
"The reason I'm saying this is... well, we lived in a pretty big house, there was a hangar below it and everything. My parents have a lot of money, is what I mean. And yeah, they're pretty much always at work somewhere or other, and there's probably a lot of money you can make in mechanical engineering. It just... something felt off, you know? Like why all the secrecy, why wouldn't they ever tell me who they worked for? And now they just... vanished, after that weird phone call. I don't have any proof, but... well, I've learned to trust my instincts."
If only she had more than just that. She has nothing to go on to follow up on all this. Which... maybe was the point of all this. She's right back where she started, only able to turn to others for help. Which is why she asks Eight, and by extension Enba, "...Is there anything else we can do, at this point?"
Rena asks after her friends, and Naoko rubs her chin. "I can tell you what I know... but it's not much. I've had these hairclips forever, but it wasn't until I was eight years old that Uriel awakened. That's how he described it, anyway."
>"Dunno how else to put it. I don't remember anything from before, if there even was a 'before'. 'Waking up' feels like what happened."<
Naoko nods. "Like he was saying before, I was being bullied real bad... he gave me advice, helped me be more assertive. Though um, that didn't really help me make friends... until about two years later, when Ariel woke up as well and helped me with that." With a helpless shrug, she adds, "I couldn't tell you what they are, exactly. They don't exactly know, either. But they've been with me ever since, doing their best to help me whenever I need it." She looks down at the twin butterflies resting on her palms with a fond smile. "Don't know what I'd do without them, at this point."
One can imagine that most people not being able to hear them has had its advantages in the past. When Anita apologizes for it, it's Uriel who responds, >"I wish nobody else could hear me, like before. How am I supposed to insult people behind their backs like this?"<
The white butterfly suddenly flies up, and slams into the side of the black one. >"Ow! Hey!"< >"Muuu... be nice!"<
Naoko chuckles at the usual antics. "Don't worry about it, Anita. If they say anything you need to know, I'll be sure to tell you." She never thought about it before, but... they really don't tend to say much that's important for anybody but her, do they? Makes sense, she supposes... up until recently, she was the only one they knew who could hear them. Which brings her to an important point.
"...You probably realize, but... we're trying to keep my friends a secret, as much as possible. I understand that it's not really... well, normal. People would ask questions, maybe try to take them away, or worse. I'd rather avoid any trouble like that. So since we don't know who can hear them, we've decided it's best if they keep quiet in public places. Now that you know... I hope you'll keep this a secret, too."
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
Enba felt the need to state it--it's unpleasant, but they all need to be aware that it's possible.
It's nice to get to know who 'they' are at least, for Eight. It's been a mystery for a while. But clearly, they are indeed 'friends'.
"We watch," Eight says, "And we wait. We look into it." She gestures for Enba, who says, "Now that we know that there's something more under the surface, I can do more digging in the city--the records may have been doctored, but they might've missed a step somewhere that would give us clues. You can remove a house, but removing an entire under-structure is harder."
Eight listens about Nova's friends... and then nods.
'Right," Eight says. "I don't see any reason that information about your friends needs to leave this room."
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Rena nods at Anita, and then she looks back at Ariel and Uriel. "Yeah," she says. Which makes her wonder, in turn; clearly, there is something more to them.
She looks back to Naoko, her eyes widening as she explains more. A house with a hangar under it -- and more than a few secrets. She looks at Uriel, then back at Naoko. "That's... I'm glad you had the support. And that you found each other." Then, she wrinkles her nose.
"Hey, if Annie could hear you insulting people, you might get in trouble," she tells Uriel with a slight smile. Then, she glances at Anita. "I'm wondering about that, though. I think the fact only some people can hear them might be significant." Then, her brown eyes flicker back to Naoko. "But... okay," she says. "We'll keep them secret."
Rena glances sideways at Eight then, and nods. "Yeah," she agrees. "We can keep looking into it. And... I feel like an underground hangar could be hard to, uh, make disappear entirely."
Rena glances at Anita, then. "A few of us could probably go look into it, at some point?" she says. "If we posed as tourists, it might not stand out that much."
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"A big house with a hangar beneath it, huh..." Anita considers. She nods, though, massaging the back of her neck. "...Yeah, I can see how that'd give you some weird feelings about the whole thing."
She listens as Nova asks Eight and Enba if there's anything else they can do. And, Eight makes a good point.
"Yeah, that's a whole other thing. It's worth a shot, I figure." She agrees with a nod, then listens as Nova goes into Rena's question. Uriel was first, and Ariel came later...
"...Yeah. It's tough, goin' through life on your own. I'm glad you had someone." Anita agrees with Rena. She can't tell which is which or why, but she does smirk, just slightly, when one of the butterflies bonks the other, presumably in response to her comment from what Rena says.
Rena does raise a good point, though... there's probably something significant about that.
"Cool." Anita replies with a nod, as Nova assures her that she'll let her know if they say anything she needs to know.
But, Nova wants to keep it a secret, so Anita nods.
"Yeah, I'm with Eight. If you wanna keep them a secret, that's your right. I'm not gonna go around tellin' everyone." She assures with a smile, then looks toward Rena.
"There's an idea. I'd be willing to give it a shot." She agrees with a nod. She can be pretty good at blending in, when she wants to be.
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
As the others talk, Naoko gently flicks back her hands, the motion enough for her friends to get the hint and return to their usual spots, on either side of the girl's head, attaching to her braids. ...they sure are big for hair ornaments. Still, no reason to think them anything but a fashion statement, so long as they remain immobile. Of course, once you know, it's going to be hard to look at them the same way again. And when you pause to think that this has been Naoko's life since she was eight, and put it together with the other things she's said today... that's already enough information to imagine that her life probably wasn't quite as ordinary as she always made it sound.
She does genuinely feel fortunate though, in spite of everything. And the support of her friends has a great deal to do with that. She hasn't made it fully explicit yet, but it's not hard to infer that her parents were rarely there for her. Anita gets it - it's tough to go through life on your own, indeed. "What people don't know won't hurt them," she replies to Rena with a grin, implying the great amount of enjoyment she's had out of Uriel and Ariel's color commentary over the years.
She openly gapes at that final suggestion though. "T-tourists? You really think that would work?" Giving it a moment's thought, she has to admit, "Well, I suppose it's true that there's a lot of tourism during ski season... but only weirdos go to Akaigawa for summer, there's not much there in the way of sightseeing."
She mulls it over for a moment, then nods. "Though, if you go... I need to be there, too. I'm afraid to go alone, but, hearing all this... I need to see it for myself." She looks to Enba, as the obvious person to direct the statement to: "I'll leave it you. I sure don't know what the best approach or time would be. I don't mind if it takes a while."
With a chuckle that lacks genuine amusement, she directs herself to the room in general. "Is it weird that I feel calm about my parents' disappearance? I guess I'm just that used to them not being around. Not knowing where they are. They always came back, eventually."
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
There must be more to them! Eight laughs a little at he matter of Anita hearing them insulting people. But it seems like they agree on this much... "Right, tourists!" Eight says. "That's a thought!"
Enba nods, at that. "It could work," they say. "A good cover story goes a long way. Most of the way I'll help is by prompting records, checking into buyers, that sort of thing. But they haven't seen you all before..."
Ski season. That's approaching...
"It's wise for you to go. We can confirm that their memories have been altered if they don't recognize you--and if they do, that something else is the case. I'll put together a project, and a plan."
Eight then says, "I'm not sure I can go for this one; it might be dangerous for me, or I might just get in the way, depending. But I'll be supporting you all regardless."
Eight... already figures Nova's life isn't entirely normal...
Then Eight considers. "Honestly?" she says. "It does seem a little strange. No judgement, but there's a lot we don't know here, and that includes where they are and how they're doing."
"It's a data point," Enba decides. "Perhaps your instincts are correct, and it's normal for them. Or maybe there's another reason. I won't rule anything out, yet."
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Rena glances at Anita, then nods. She wouldn't want to go alone -- not that it was on the table -- and having Anita there would make her feel a lot better. She looks back to Naoko, then, and she smiles. "Yeah," she says. "We might need to work on the story... but we can."
She tilts her head for a second. "I understand that, too. And... we're your friends. We'll be there with you."
Rena looks to Enba, then nods. "Thanks, Enba. And... yeah, that's for the best, Eight," she says, with a glance at her. "This hopefully won't be dangerous. But just in case."
She looks back at Naoko, then -- and she is quiet for a moment, before she shakes her head. "It's... um. Everyone has the right to decide how they feel about their parents," she says. "So... don't feel like it's strange or wrong to feel the way you do."
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"We'll figure something out." Anita says. "We just need to come up with something simple and stick to it, I figure."
She smiles, though, as Nova insists on going too.
"If you wanna go, I'm sure not going to stop you. This is all for you, after all." She says, and nods, as Rena assures her that they're her friends - that they'll be there with her. "Yeah, what Rena says."
Eight says she's not sure she can go and Anita pauses for a moment before nodding.
"...Yeah." Anita agrees, then smiles. "Still, we'll be counting on you."
Still, Nova raises a good question. Is it weird...? Anita thinks it over. She's not sure she's really in the position to say whether it's weird or not. So, ultimately... she nods, in agreement with Rena.
"...Yeah. And who knows - maybe your feelings'll change later on. Different people handle this sorta thing in different ways, you know?" Anita says. "...For what it's worth, though, I'm hopin' for the best for you."
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Huh. They're even understanding of her wanting to go herself. These things continue to surprise Naoko, even now. This may also have something to do with her previous circumstances. She bows her head, deciding to keep her words simple this time. "Thank you again, for everything you're doing on my behalf." She's more ready to just accept it now at least, rather than try to protest whether she's worthy of it.
She listens to everyone's viewpoint regarding the way she views the situation with her parents. In her estimation, they all think it's weird to some degree, even if they don't outright say it. Except maybe Enba. They put it in a way that sounds close to her own viewpoint. It's a data point. Something she's factually aware of, and emotions don't factor into.
Of course it's natural to have trouble relating to that when it's about one's parents. Naoko can only shrug. "Well... I suppose that's just how it is. It's not that I don't care. It's just... another unplanned absence. I felt like, even with the unusual circumstances, it's not something they're unprepared to deal with. Only reason I'm worried now is that my house is apparently no longer there, I doubt they meant for that to happen. Though who knows, I wouldn't put it past them."
She sure said all of that with a straight face. What an incredibly normal parent-child relationship, isn't it? And has she somehow already managed to accept her house being gone as part of her new normal??
With that, she lets out a long breath. "Phew... this was a lot to take in, but... it's good to know a little more. I think I'll take it easy for the rest of today... but don't worry, starting tomorrow, Nova Stellar will be back on duty!"
Even though she said her real name, looks like she's still gonna keep going by that other one... that's something she's just gonna gloss over. Also, what duty?? (Miracle Working, obviously)