2023-09-26: Heal Together
- Cast: Seolla Schweizer, Rikka Takarada
- Where: Tsutsujidai - Junk Shop 'Aya'
- Date: U.C. 0097 09 26
- Summary: Seolla, who really ought to be concerned a little more with her own recovery, is much more worried about what Rikka's been going through.
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
...In the wake of the crisis at Azadistan, Seolla Schweizer...should be in the hospital right now. If she were a normal person, she'd be in one of those for weeks and weeks.
Instead, Seolla, rather un normal on both her physical ability to get back into activity and her personal intensity on hating sitting around, has taken her allotted medical leave to go visit Tsutsujidai! After all - she wants to see it. How this place that turned her life upside down has been moving. Or maybe it hasn't?
The place as a whole looks...mostly like when she last saw it. Just not as wet and rainy. She does pass by one of the now somewhat obsolete water collection tanks she helped make on that fateful day - it brings a pang of recollection to her, especially...well, especially considering who she came to see.
[VERTEX] ss19238572: Hey, it's Seolla
[VERTEX] ss19238572: I realize I never checked up on you after...all of that happened
[VERTEX] ss19238572: You're back in Tsutsujidai by now if I remember right, right?
[VERTEX] ss19238572: I feel like going back to Tsutsujidai now that I'm on leave
[VERTEX] ss19238572: Can we meet up there?
And so Seolla stands in front of Junk Shop Aya, a place whose name...doesn't lie! Stepping into the shop with a brief text of "I'm here, just looking around, take your time", Seolla marvels at the junk-iness of what's here. Ever so cynicaly musing, "...does anyone really buy any of this stuff?" under her breath, giving a few indecipherable old gadgets a prod.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
[VERTEX] Rikka: Hey, Seolla!
[VERTEX] Rikka: It's okay. There was... a lot happening.
[VERTEX] Rikka: That's right. And, sure - we can meet up at my place.
And so, the meeting is set. Junk Shop Aya is easy to find, and looks about the same as ever. Fortunately, today isn't a Cafe Aya day - that would be a lot to explain.
Rikka receives Seolla's next text and shoots off a quick 'okay'. And so eventually, as Seolla is musing on exactly how successful a place like this can actually be... Rikka emerges from the curtain leading into the Takarada residence proper, smirking slightly at her comment.
"Right? But it does sell. I chalk it up to the staff's charming personality, honestly." Rikka comments - and then her expression softs into a smile. "...Hey, Seolla. It's good to see you again."
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
Seolla can't help but bolt upright and let out a little 'GWAH'- type sound when she hears Rikka comment on what she thought nobody was hearing! Aaaaand that- in turn-
Induces a light staggering and reaching for a table for support, clutching her middle in the process, her eyes tightly closed. She's dressed pretty autumnly and plainly, jeans and jacket and all, but her shirt has the telling signs of awkward, lumpy padding around the middle, and well - it's not hard to put two and two together.
"S-sorry about that. You sorta. Surprised me. ...Still recovering from injury. It's gonna be fine. I'll be fine! Don't worry about it. Ahahaha..." A deep breath sucked in from clenched teeth. She has that extremely worrying way of saying she'll be fine!
With a stabilizing of her footing, Seolla firms herself up, and does her best to lock eyes much more firmly on Rikka's! It's still a little difficult. She can't help, on her part, associating Rikka with just exceedingly firm willpower. Even if she knows it's a faulty way to put someone on a pedestal! Besides...she's here because-
"...I'm so glad you're doing okay after all that. ...Nnn. I think when I found out what happened to you, that was the angriest I'd ever felt. Especially when I figured out that...a lot of what they did, was pretty similar to what I've been through. ...mm. If it's...been tough, if something's been weighing you about it all...I've had to learn the hard way a lot of means of getting over that kind of experience just to make it through each day, so I'm here for you." She's talking in circles about the actual subject...but of course she is. Even now, Seolla feels carefully avoidant around directly bringing up specifics. ...Besides, it's not like she's talking about that ambiguous an incident.
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
The moment she sees Seolla start to stagger, Rikka immediately moves to her side, ready to catch her if necessary. Fortunately, Seolla catches herself, but Rikka's there, just in case.
"Sorry about that..." Rikka replies, feeling just a bit sheepish. Seolla insists she's fine and Rikka nods, stepping back just a bit. "Do you need anything? ...Do you want to sit down?"
She indicates the sofa, facing the front counter - but before she can move to sit down, Seolla continues.
She's glad she's okay... She does remember that anger, from their brief meeting when she was hoping to see Leina. Seolla's talking in circles, but indeed, it's not hard to figure out.
"...Thank you. And... it's okay. You don't have to be too careful around me." Rikka replies with a small smile. If it's been tough, if there's been anything weighing over her... Rikka moves over to the couch, settling in to give herself time to think.
"I've... had a lot of support, thankfully. There were a lot of people who were there for me. So I've been able to go back to living a... relatively normal life, for the most part." She replies. "But... I'd be lying if I said I didn't still... think about to it, every now and then. Even knowing that Doctor Murasame and Martha Vist are in custody..."
She goes quiet for a moment.
"It always feels like a piece of you is still there, doesn't it?" She says. Akane had said something similar. Rikka has to agree.
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
Seolla does join Rikka on that couch - she's not about to pretend she's exceptionally strong around now, and somewhere to rest is just what she needed, even though the dull pain in her abdomen's flaring up. "I don't think I...mm, I knew this would happen, and the medics did send me off with some decent pain medication, so I'll...maybe I could just use a glass of water to get that down, if you wouldn't mind?"
Elbow resting on the arm of the couch, sort of nestled into the corner to face Rikka at least partially, Seolla swirls one shoe in slightly anxious little circles upon the shop's floor. "...It'd be a lot harder if either of us were on our own. Thankfully I have a few people who always tell me to count on them, and while they have their own problems...it just means sometimes I'm the one propping them up too, ehehe."
A murky and evasive little look, Seolla staring out the door to Aya a little listlessly. "...I think...early on, I was actually doing okay at feeling like nothing was 'left behind' there. I was always really good at forgetting hard things. But...now I'm getting better at remembering. It's a little like...the more healing that happens...the more it uncovers something else that's needing to heal."
A slightly pained look crosses Seolla's face. "...I wasn't able to get a clear read on how she handled it, especially with how we're not in the same circles, but Akane...I was right when I heard about her, huh? That she was the one struggling to keep it together and make sure it didn't get worse for the two of you. Her being able to do that so soon after everything difficult happening here in Tsutsujidai..."
"...You're amazing. Both of you are. So many of you are. It's honestly blinding, and it has been ever since I met you all, but...I'm never running away from that light as long as I live."
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"No problem at all." Rikka assures. She stands up, moving to step behind the counter for a moment. Before long, she returns, offering Seolla a glass as she sits back down.
Rikka turns to face Seolla, too, listening to what she has to say.
"Yeah. ...Honestly, if I'd been on my own... I wouldn't be here right now. I'd... still be there, or... I would've locked myself in my room, too afraid to go out." She replies - and then smiles, chuckling slightly. "I'm glad that you have people like that. It's easier when you're all propping each other up, right?"
She notices that evasive look, but Rikka doesn't call her out. She lets her get her thought out at her own pace - and she does. Rikka nods quietly.
"...Yeah. There's always something that needs to be addressed. Even if you haven't uncovered it yet." She agrees. She nods, then, and smiles slightly as Seolla brings up Akane. "...You were."
She leans back a little, looking up at the ceiling for a moment.
"It was difficult for her. She had to act in a way that must've been difficult for her, and she had to bring us all together without anyone catching on... But she did it." She says. She's taken aback a bit, though, when Seolla calls her amazing - both of them, and so many people... She looks back at her
"Ah... thanks." She says with a sheepish laugh, then smiles. "...I'm glad. I think... you're pretty amazing too, you know? Look at how far you've come. It says a lot that you're still willing to keep moving forward."
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
It's all a little painful to hear from Rikka, who she looked up to in such a way. Plainly, Seolla's gotten teary-eyed thinking of it - though the water helps, with a duo of pretty strong pain meds swallowed down along with a gulp. (The glass stays pretty close to her face ongoing.)
"Honestly, it's not just that it's 'easier'...I don't even know if it's possible alone. You saw me at the worst there. Khh...so even someone as strong as you would be in really dire condition if you couldn't count on anyone..."
Pushing her fingers together, Seolla shivers a little at just what she's been trying to achieve lately. Just how many moves have been something she's burdened herself with. The way it makes her heart race to realize she's keeping secrets, she's trying to maneuver around the ones she 'trusts', she's taking it all on her own to keep them intact.
...And that they're probably doing something the same themselves.
"...Rikka, I've really gotta let you know." Worrying her lower lip with the edge of her glass, Seolla breathes in - looking around almost worried at onlookers hearing.
"...I'm concerned that our...support network. The people that keep us connected. I'm scared of it crumbling right in front of my eyes. And all because...too many people are trying to take on every problem themselves."
The glass is clutched in both hands now. "...Sousuke's been running off on his own from time to time and is saying some really worrying stuff...Tessa and Doctor M- ...Sayla...have been really tense around each other. Leina's been busy with a whole lot of really complicated problems around those Psychoframes - the Benerit Group, weren't they called? Obviously Gridman left us too - but we're also struggling to stay in contact with a few other people who've been close..."
"...And with all that going on, I'm terrified to - I saved someone really important to me, but I was worried he'd be in trouble if he got involved with all that, so I not only tried to keep him out of it, I...hid that I did so from Tessa..."
The wateriness in Seolla's eyes is only growing. "...We both know we need everyone else in our lives to keep moving forward, but - am I just paranoid and worried every little conflict is going to send everyone in our lives far away from us, Rikka? ...I don't want to lose them all, so soon after I owed everything to them..."
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"...Yeah." Rikka agrees with a nod. She's not so sure it'd be possible alone, either. And her next point... she can't deny that, even if she can see how difficult the thought is for Seolla.
And, there's something she has to let her know.
"...What's up?" Rikka asks. She can tell how worried Seolla. And... it's about their support network. Rikka reads between the lines, frowning slightly as she listens.
...So much has happened. She can't really blame Seolla for being worried. So much is changing. With things as turbulent as they are now... who's to say what'll happen? And hiding something from someone really important to her...
...It's not like Rikka's in any position to judge, for how long she kept Hass and Namiko in the dark.
Rikka shifts a little, resting a gentle hand on Seolla's shoulder.
"I can't... say that nothing's going to happen." Rikka admits. "Sometimes... people have to part ways. Sometimes that choice is made for them."
She knows Gridman would've stayed, if he could. But he couldn't - for Yuta, for the Neon Genesis High School Students...
"It's... normal, I think, to be afraid of losing the people you care about." Rikka says. After all... that was, and still is, one of her biggest fears. "For now... let them know how you feel. What you're afraid of. Even if something happens, I don't think... I don't think any one of them would want to lose you, either. In times like this... that's when it's most important to hold on."
<Pose Tracker> Seolla Schweizer has posed.
"...I just don't want it to be...everyone going way." Seolla's breathless at the idea, tugging her legs up a little further. "...If the people who pulled me into their lives leave me behind, then what? I...I really don't want to think about that, but I have to."
The ache of fear adds to the ache of injury, and Seolla whispers pointedly to Rikka, "...I can't even imagine deciding to part ways from you. So no matter what - please rely on me, if the worst comes to pass. It's never something I would decide is outside of my reach."
Head lolling over the rear cushions of the couch, braid falling over her cheek, Seolla clutches the pillows as tight as she can, her head spinning at the idea of confessing this worry to others more involved in the thick of it. "...Maybe I'll need your help on thinking up exactly what to tell them. It's not easy, and I've never done it - though maybe you never have too. ...to that end, uhm."
"...can I crash on this couch for the night, before I head back? I can help clean up around the shop if you like, need me to pay you back with a little part time work..."
<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.
"I understand that." Rikka replies with a nod. "I know what that fear feels like, so... you're not alone."
Seolla whispers to her then. No matter what, please rely on her, if the worst comes to pass.
"Definitely." Rikka assures. "...And you're always welcome to reach out to me, too."
Seolla says she'll need to think on it though, and Rikka nods.
"Yeah, that's... a lot. Don't worry, I can help. ...I'll try, anyway." She says... and then smiles. "I'm okay with that."
She laughs a little.
"I think mama would have a fit if I tried to make you work when you're in that kind of state. It's fine - you can pay me back by resting up and making sure you heal up right." Rikka replies. "You're welcome to join us for dinner, too, if you want."