2022-04-21: Vessel ~RECOVERY~
- Log: 2022-04-21: Vessel ~RECOVERY~
- Cast: Lamia, Akane Shinjo
- Where: Tsutsujidai Bus Stop
- OOC - IC Date: 0096-04-21
- Summary: Heading home from school, Lord Monster meets Betterman... and Betterman. They discuss the week's returns.
<Pose Tracker> Lamia has posed.
It hasn't been that long since the Ruin Apostle has 'fallen', and yet as far as the city of Tsutsujidai is concerned, the event never happened to begin with. The footsteps of iron giants, the blood of massive monsters, and the lingering wills of personalities that were larger than life, all disappearing in the next morning like a forgotten dream.
Or perhaps more accurately, a mostly forgotten dream, as two Somnium from that day remain behind.
At a bus stop, the two outsiders sit on a bench. A male, hunched over and seemingly lifeless, supported by thin, hair-like strains attached to the walls of the bus stop's shelter, and a woman, dressed in a translucent yellow dress, eyes closed as if patiently waiting for something.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Akane needed a few days to recover. Her original plan was to skip the whole week of school -- but one, it's too early in the year, and two, it's gonna get weird if she doesn't put her thumb on the scale for picking out a class rep. She might get volunteered for it again, and she can't... handle that, anymore, really.
It's on her bus ride home that she spots a familiar outsider -- and someone else? ... Almost certainly not one of hers, if she's fussing over an outsider. She mashes the stop button on the spot, even though this is still a couple stops away from her place, and gets off.
Akane's brow furrows a little bit as she looks between the pair. "... You... rrreeeeeally don't look super great." Akane is good at observing the obvious.
<Pose Tracker> Lamia has posed.
"He is fine. If you have any worries, feel free to discard them."
The woman doesn't open her mouth, but Akane hears her voice in the back of her head anyway, it's a deep serious tone, much like the previous Somnium she had the pleasure(?) of talking to.
"He will wake up in a moment. If you are too impatient to wait until then, you may feel free to speak to me... That is, assuming you are hear to speak."
The woman now opens her eyes to look at Akane, a pair of bright red orbs peering right into her.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
It's... hard for Akane to say if she has worries. Lately her feelings are such a mess -- actually figuring them out is a little bit beyond her. Being reassured that Lamia is fine does seem to attenuate... whatever feelings are going on in her brain, though, and she settles for taking a seat.
... Those red eyes again... "Oh -- GGG told me you guys... fused? So you must have been another one of the guys in... 'Cataphract'?" The topic piques her curiosity, so she actually starts asking the questions she's had.
"If so, uh..." ... does she really need to thank a monster that opposes the Dawn for opposing it? Kaiju just do what their instincts tell them to do without any kind of consideration, right? That's what she's always taken away from Tarabaman -- but even so...
"Kinda weird if I thank you before I even catch your name, if so," Akane eventually settles for.
<Pose Tracker> Lamia has posed.
"Yewya."
The Somnium doesn't hesitate to provide a name, but the thanks seemingly causes her to pause. The concept of gratefulness isn't lost on her in the slightest, but it doesn't feel deserved. Not for her anyway.
"Save your thanks for Lamia. He is the one who cares enough to keep his eye on here. "
As if in response to his name, Lamia's fingers twitch, and his back ever so slowly begins to straighten. The thin, silk-like strains holding him in place begin to stretch and snap, their mysterious job now done.
With a sudden and sharp inhale, The Somnium's eyes shoot wide open, crimson sclera hastily scanning their surroundings in a desperate attempt to gather as much visual information as possible.
Lamia's body is seemingly trying to catch up on lost time, but eventually it's gotten everything it can, and the only thing left is to respond to the people around him...
There is no response, he doesn't know what the conversation is or what he should say. Instead, he simply fishes in his jacket for his pair of sunglasses, slipping them on to his face as he waits to be spoken to instead.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Huh, Akane reflects. 'Yewya'... seems to have, if not the same take, at least a similar one. Maybe her first instinct was right. Akane doesn't have too long to think about that, though, as she starts to get herself settled on the bench -- as Lamia, in turn, starts to awaken.
"... So does getting big like that just take a ton out of you, or what?" she asks, as Lamia starts to take in the situation. She doesn't do him the courtesy of easing him into it -- she just launches the question raw.
... It's still kind of hard to believe that Alexis classifies *this* -- this strange kaiju-like creature wrapped in humanlike skin -- as a Vessel of Light. Gridman, Ultraman -- these make sense. Light, from the arm. But why 'Betterman'? Surely it's not just that all things named like that...
... "And, uh --" She was going to ask how Lamia knew to show up, but Yewya answered that... so instead, "Why'd you show up and take that big a risk, anyway? It looks like... doing whatever you did messed you up pretty bad. The Aura of Dawn is a huge deal, but..."
<Pose Tracker> Lamia has posed.
Lamia lets the first question sit for a bit, not because he doesn't know how to answer this time. He does, but rather, if it's a question he should answer. It's information that could be potentially dangerous in the wrong hands... Though, it's not like humans haven't figured it out before. And if they can figure it out once, they'll be sure to figure it out again.
With that conclusion in mind, Lamia figures there's no harm.
"The fruit of Animus takes its toll on even the greatest warriors. Combining the power of several is even more taxing. A day's rest"
The second question thrown at Lamia, however, is almost immediately answered, though rather frustratingly it's...
"For the Age of Patria. The Conqueror King draws ever closer, and the Ruin Apostles must be defeated before the path to victory is cleared..."
Full of keywords that mean nothing.
Yewya's brow furrows in minor frustration at Lamia's explanation. It's not wrong or a lie, but he's... Leaving something out. Again. There's no benefit in doing so either, other than to hide oneself.
She closes her eyes once more and exhales. Well, he may not be fully forthcoming, but at the very least she can see him for what he truly is, and that's good enough for her.
"I'll be leaving. Be sure to not say things you will regret later... Or I suppose for some, be sure to say things that you will regret not saying later."
Sitting up, Yewya dismisses herself, making her way down the sidewalk until she straight up vanishes from view.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
Once again, Akane hears an unfamiliar word from Lamia and starts picking it apart. "Patria, patrimoine... heritage, legacy, fatherland...?" she mumbles to herself, brow furrowing a little bit. She doesn't really draw any very strong conclusions yet, though she does still spin her brain on it a bit.
As Yewya gets up, Akane glances to her and gives her a nod. "See you around, maybe. I, uh... I'd offer to let you hang out here but that's... more complicated than I thought it was."
Back to Lamia. Akane's brain is still spinning on what she's been presented. "You... hrm." Her head cants to one side a bit as she takes it all in. "Well, first, thanks. I worked pretty hard to get all that up and running, and I dunno if Alexis would've had enough time to act if you didn't do your thing."
She considers Yewya's warning, and then: "... Any thoughts on the guy who showed up to stab the Aura out of Renais?" This time, Akane's clear-headed enough to remember Juggler's lesson: Present a specific prompt and see what they say. Don't lead them to the right conclusion -- or the wrong one.
<Pose Tracker> Lamia has posed.
"The Man in Black? He is..."
Lamia meanders a bit. He doesn't have a strong opinion himself, and the opinions of those with him differ. A being that can access the Limpid Channel in the way he did is generally dangerous, and his general vibe was off. If most living things give an aura that's convex, his would be concave. His power to deal with the Dawn Aura in the way he did is also something he should scrutinize, but...
"He is dangerous. Objectively. However, that is all I can say at the moment, and it means very little. Being dangerous is not bad in and of itself."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
... It's still kind of disorienting to be 'talked to' in the way Lamia talks to people. Akane's... getting used to it, but having a conversation that simultaneously is and isn't happening is sort of a trip.
"Hm, dangerous... veeeeeeeery interesting~." That gives Akane a little pause, though. It's not confirmation enough on its own about whether it was Alexis leading Renais around or the Aura of Dawn leading Akane around, but... she's working through it.
"Hrrrmm... so Bettermen intervene for the sake of the Age of Patria, to seize victory for... who? Humans?" The girl likes puzzles -- no, honestly, it's better to say she *needs* puzzles, lately. "I dunno how much more help I can be on the Aura of Dawn thing. Once I kill Gridman and some of the other Vessels of Light, this place might close up even to you!"
... that doesn't quite seem possible, actually -- or at least, it'd take a tremendous amount of power to lock the space down permanently, in that way, tight enough that even a Somnium couldn't access it. And there's no known... mechanism, by which this would occur.
<Pose Tracker> Lamia has posed.
"The answer to that question is not that simple. What the Somnium fights for changes depending on the individual. I could give you my reason, but it would only apply to me. You could ask Yewya, and it would only apply to Yewya. Much like humans, we are varied."
Surprisingly, Lamia doesn't seem too phased about Akane openly expressing the want to murder. Wishing ill on those who inconvenience you is natural for humans, especially for a girl her age. Still... Vessels of Light and Gridman, these are things he should look into. If anything, it might give more context for this place.
"Close off? You would live in this dream forever rather than see it end... It is understandable for a human to want to do so, but a dream that goes on for too long might become a nightmare. Perhaps this is what Gridman and these Vessels of Light are. A beginning to an end..."
Lamia lets what he said sit for a bit, before peeling himself off the bench to stand up.
"It is not my place to tell you what to do, however. Though, while this dream is still open to me... I am going to seek out Gridman."
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
A rare case where Akane's usual thinking on humanity inverts is kaiju -- so the answer Lamia gives actually throws Akane a bit. She blinks in obvious confusion. (She's actually not surprised about meeting her talking about murder so blandly... but again -- the things she'll give a 'monster' but not a 'human.')
"... Well, then, we're just gonna see, huh," Akane answers, at the beginning of the end. "If you wanna talk to Gridman, hey, be my guest, though. ... don't tell him we're enemies, okay? ... I'm pretty sure we go to the same school, and it's gonna ruin the vibe."
Evidently, she thinks it's her place to tell *him* what to do, at least here.
<Pose Tracker> Lamia has posed.
"The same school? I will start there then, though it will take some time. Convincing the rest on an unrelated matter will be... Difficult."
Something about the way Lamia talks about how he plans to meet with Gridman seems somewhat off, even for an oddly cryptic fellow such as him.
Unfortunately, he doesn't stay around for Akane to question what he's exactly up to, as his legs carry him off, long strides taking him down the same path that Yewya took. A path that, if followed, apparently leads to the same alleyway he left from before, though this time he's rather quick to leave.
<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.
... Well, it's not like it's the first time Tsutsujidai High School has dealt with a weirdo outsider on campus. Akane can't really *stop* him, God or no. "Good luck with the rest of the Dawn stuff," Akane says, following Lamia until he approaches that alleyway. "I think I'm done after that one, myself. She probably won't come back, anyway!"
... She's definitely going to need to ask Alexis a little more pointedly about Somniums, she thinks, after this. She's given Lamia a lot of latitude, but it's looking like maybe that was the wrong call... he'll probably have some ideas.
Akane gets back to the bus stop, ultimately, and waits. She'll... think of something, at any rate.