2023-11-08: Full-Ride

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  • Log: 2023-11-08: Full-Ride
  • Cast: Sayla Mass, Akane Shinjo's friend Ramo Marusa
  • Where: Tsutsujidai, Side 4
  • OOC - IC Date: 7 November 0097
  • Summary: Sayla makes a visit to check in on one of the Yumi Foundation's finest interns- and to maybe make an investment in her future, as well as the Foundation's.


<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.


        It's become rarer and rarer that Sayla's in Tsutsujidai of late- the office has been running smoothly and there's been no crises in a while- and other vectors have demanded her attention. Today, however, she's in town for one specific employee (or intern, as the books say. No after school jobs, after all).

        This means afternoon tea is on the house.

        Sayla's picked a little cafe known for it's desserts- a decent bit upmarket from Aya or Starbows. She has an indoor table, a little ways back from the window, where Sayla sits, idly monitoring things on her phone while she waits- though she hardly expects to be kept waiting for long.

        So for now she's just browsing the news, and avoiding digging into meaty reports or detailed breakdowns of the latest fundraiser.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Tsutsujidai's been an eventful office -- and while Marusan's only in for a couple hours a day to avoid running too far afoul of employment rules, she's kind of enjoyed it. Obviously the situations themselves are horrible, but an OCU colony is a place you can do a lot of good right now!

She's perfectly punctual, of course. "It's good to see you, Miss Mass," Marusan says, when she arrives. "It's been a little while." She doesn't begrudge her that in the least.

She taps at her own phone, too; giving it a small frown, she murmurs, "She really needs to learn to just ask." A few more taps, and then she's ready to focus on Sayla for now.

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.


        As Marusan arrives, Sayla sets her phone aside and stands to greet her. "Ramo, it's good to see you again." She sits when her guest does, giving Ramo a soft smile. "How have things been?"

        She does raise an eyebrow at that frown. "Something wrong?" She asks, casually, but prying no further than that for now. It's up to Ramo how much she discloses. Apart from, you know, however much Sayla gets coming off her emotions.

        Still, she decides top ease into the topic before raising the reason she came here. "How are things going with juggling school and work? Have you made any plans for after graduation yet?"

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"I'm studying for the U-FITS... I know it's still a couple of months off, but I'm a little anxious about it." No sense in keeping that one from Sayla. "Otherwise... pretty okay. It's good things are less crazy here, at least, even if they're kind of... more crazy everywhere else."

She puts her phone away in her purse now, deciding to answer Sayla's question. She's only playfully irritated, it seems, not genuinely annoyed. "Ako seems like she really wants another date, but she's doing the walk-around-the-thing... thing. I don't mind calling her bluff, but I don't really want to initiate everything..."

... just normal relationship friction, then. "Otherwise, though, things are going okay. I'm looking at a few schools. I'm still not quite sure what program I want to start in..."

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.


        Sayla nods. "Understandable. I know Leina's been preparing too. I'm pretty sure Akane and Rikka took the study materials with them as well..." She seems to think briefly. "Still, the added cost is going to be a burden for a lot of people too..." Still, Sayla gets back on track pretty quickly. "...That's unfortunately the nature of the Earth Sphere. We have years of peace, and years of trouble. That... might take some getting used to."

        Sayla does smirk a little at the current 'problem' facing Marusan. "Ah, young love." She says, jokingly. "I'm sure the two of you will work out the balance. If she really doesn't get it, though, it might be worth just telling her to ask." She sighs. "My first boyfriend could be kind of... dense about that sort of thing sometimes."

        Sayla nods at that. "So you're still working out what you want to do then?" Well. That's good. It would be a shame to totally derail Marusan's plans by speaking up too late. "Well, I was hoping to talk to you about that, actually."

        She reaches down and opens the briefcase, pulling out a folder. "I'd like to offer you a scholarship from the foundation, with admittance to the Yumi Foundation's graduate program upon completion." She slides the folder across the table to Marusan.

        "There's a lot there, so I'll summarize for now. A full-ride scholarship to the school of your choosing, accomodation, transport, tuition, textbooks, cost of living, the works." She takes a second. "However, in terms of what sort of degree, we would be asking that you look at a degree in either non-profit management, social work, law, administration, healthcare, accounting, business or communications- with a minor in contemporary history." Sayla seems very set on that last point.

        She leans back in her chair a little. "Please take your time to think about it, it can easily wait until you finish the U-FITS, or if you want to take a gap year first. It's a big commitment and a big decision, so I don't think you should rush into it."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Akane has the last six years of test questions," Marusan says, with a little snicker as she adds, "A couple days before she left she freaked out and downloaded everything. And I mean... everything." The topic turns a little more serious, and Marusan nods. "... I think I'll be okay."

Marusan's a tough girl -- and getting closer to Ako has gotten her slightly better at opening up. ... For that matter, so has work.

The comment about not getting it gets her to nod. "Maybe I do need to give her a couple more nudges."

It's at this point that Marusan turns her attention to the folder, at Sayla's direction -- and her eyes widen as she's told that she has a potential full ride scholarship in the offing. It takes her a few seconds to even figure out what to say; she'd already mentally planned for loans. ... It's a little weird to think about? Marusan is someone who prefers to work for her own things... but then, isn't this just part of that sort of work? It's compensation, even if it's not strictly monetary.

"I assume this comes with, what, a three year commitment? Five? To working for you guys," Marusan starts, deciding to stick to brass tacks. "... I'll think about it." That's all Sayla seems to want from her, and she can definitely give her that much for now.

... She was already looking at non-profit management or pre-law, so she's winning for free, but she's not going to mention that part.

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.


        "Sounds like her..." Sayla says, easing a little in her chair. "Hopefully things are calm enough that they at least get to study." They're still a few months away, certainly, but the actual trip to Jupiter was expected to be quiet... "I'm glad to hear it. You've certainly risen to challenges before."

        "Sometimes it helps to be direct, if your partner doesn't realize they're being indirect." Not that Sayla knows anything about being indirect or cagey or evasive or anything like that.

        "Two years- just completion of the graduate program." She can appreciate Ramo's directness, here and now. "There are grounds for changing paths or release if you find yourself unable to handle the workload, or for health or compassionate reasons. I don't want to trap anyone in a position unsuited to them or that they hate, after all. That's good for neither the Foundation or you."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Marusan nods, as the remark that that sounds like Akane comes. "Yeah, it does," she says, with a lean forward and a little giggle. "I think she's more ready for this stuff than she lets on, but..." She wobbles a hand. "... She really needs to learn to prioritize her time a little better." Marusan can't really bag on her for that too much, though...

"... Maybe, yeah," she agrees. It would be nice if it were always that simple -- but Ako's not a bad partner for her by any stretch. They'll figure it out.

"Only two? You guys are generous," Ramo remarks, and it's a nice feeling -- generosity. Then again, they've always been really generous with compensation... "I'll have an answer for you by the time we get scores back," she agrees, eventually. That gets her to pivot to a secondary work topic, though.

"... How do you look at all this stuff and not feel like you're going crazy? I'm getting a pretty small slice and it's still..." She gestures with a hand. "... heavy," she finishes.

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        "That's probably true, but sometimes I think her middle name is 'overpreparation'." Sayla smirks at the talk about Akane priroritizing her time. "Heh. I'm sure she'll pick it up eventually." A pause. "Though, that could be a while."

        "What can I say, historically I've looked at what Anaheim does with their scholarships and gone 'hmm, let's not.'" She shrugs a bit. "Maybe that will change but I can't say I have high hopes, even with their new Chair." Sayla simply nods. "Alright. Don't feel you need to rush."

%Still, Marusan asks a weighty question, and even Sayla falls silent for a while. "Honestly it wasn't always like this for everyone." She says, after a while. "When I was growing up, things were... more peaceful. I think for a while they thought the Zentradi war would be the end of it, with our first contact with aliens ending peacefully." She takes a few seconds. "I... kind of tend to think that the One Year War was the end of 'peaceful' though. I think eventually we just got... used to it. And it was either adapt or... well, go crazy." Another pause. "Though... maybe that's just my own experience."

        Sayla lets out a sigh. "It's probably not what you want to hear, but poeople can adapt to all sorts of terrible situation, because the alternative is worse. Not everyone can, though." A heavy question merits a heavy, earnest answer.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"There's worse coping mechanisms for..." ... well, Marusan probably shouldn't diagnose her friend if she can avoid it. "... anyway, I guess we'll just have to lean on her to figure it out." She shrugs, moving right along. She doesn't offer too much comment on Anaheim; that's out of her expertise at best.

The heavy stuff is better to talk about; that's just the two of them, no one else's complicated feelings involved. "I guess that makes sense," she says, a little lamely. "I was hoping there'd be some way to make it easier, but... I guess that's just life." She taps her fingers against the table thoughtfully -- once, twice, and then... Marusan realizes she ought to order something. She conveniently does have a preference here -- miso butter cookies, and coffee with milk.

"Things have really changed a lot over the last few years..." she muses. She's changed, too... "I hope I can handle everything that's coming."

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        Sayla raises an eyebrow, but given that Marusan doesn't want to dig into it, Sayla just nods. "Right."

        Sayla pauses for a moment. "...I found it was hardest when I didn't have anyone around me." Another earnest answer. "It's easier when you have people to lean on, who you can share your troubles with." That was a hard learned lesson for Sayla... learned twice, in truth. "And for the people of Tsutsujidai, it's going to be a hard adjustment. So being able to support each other through it is going to be important."

        Once Marusan orders, Sayla makes an order for herself- Tiramisu and black tea, no milk. "I think you can. You've handled something frankly foundation shaking already." Sayla says. "Especially if you don't try to handle it all yourself."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

It takes her a few seconds to wrap her head around this one; she's always been inclined toward the idea that she needs to solve her own problems, but... maybe that's not where next steps for her lie. Things have always gone better when she took a chance on other people -- or if not better...

... at least, how they needed to go.

"I guess that's true," she agrees. She's got a lot to think about even just this far into the conversation... the idea that anything that's happened to her is 'foundation-shaking' is a little strange, though. To her, this is just... what life looks like as you go from child to adult.

Then again -- maybe that's exactly what Sayla was saying earlier.

She glances out the window, then back toward Sayla. "... Thanks for being here for me, the last year and a half." It's important to show that kind of gratitude, she thinks.

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.

        "If it helps any, it took me a long time to fully grasp it." It's important for adults to acknowledge to children that they can make mistakes too. Especially to children becoming adults.

        It's also very hard for some adults to do, Sayla.

        "You're welcome." Sayla says, with an easy smile. "I've been glad to get to know you, and see how you've grown." There's a pause. "Even if I did pick a rather creepy way to introduce myself," Sayla admits, a little embarrassed.

        "Still, I'm glad that we met." She stops, when a waiter arrives with their orders, and she waits for them to leave again. "And that isn't conditional on that offer, either. If you need a reference or help getting where you want to go from here, it's yours, if you want it."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Nodding to Sayla, Marusan agrees, "That means I've got some time. That's good." She breathes in and out, easy -- and then laughs when Sayla mentions she picked a creepy way to introduce herself. "Eehh... I don't think you had alternatives. At least you introduced yourself where other people would have an eye on both of us. That's something." Least bad option, as far as she's concerned.

"Thank you, Miss Mass," she says, again, at the mention that her help isn't conditional. Just because she has a very attractive option doesn't mean she lacks other ones... that's nice, at least.

She settles in, and once they've ordered, she seems enthused to talk about work -- and then about dating, a bit. (She didn't forget about Sayla's remarks about her first boyfriend.)