trans_9 | The Crestfallen D/Back to Square One

Who: Shoutarou and anyone.
Where: Various places
Summary: After the events of SHODAN have passed by, Shou tries to deal with the personal fallout, once the majority of the shipwide fallout has passed..
Warnings: Depressed detective, boozing, angst in general.

The Precinct, mid-morning:
The door to the building opens, and Shoutarou enters with a briefcase and a box in-hand. He's set out to go to the armory - after that scientist guy ran loose in Hydroponics, not keeping the extra Gaia Memories under lock and key was no longer an option - the same with the extra drivers and what of Philip's research into the Memories he could find.

The City, common Stacy areas in general; mid-day through late afternoon:
The rest of the daytime period, Shoutarou can be found in various areas of the ship, either cruising on his motorcycle for patrols, doing so on foot, checking up on the various businesses to make sure everything's going okay, or hitting the cafeteria for lunch. Anyone who encounters him will more than likely be able to tell it's aimless wandering more than anything.

The Drunken Dragon; evening:
At one of the side tables, Shoutarou sits, nursing a mug of the tavern's hard cider, with his chin in one hand, elbow on the table. His hat lays on the middle of the table, and a periodic sigh comes from him, though it's quiet.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ellyn didn't need an invitation to go take a seat at Shoutarou's table. She'd just invite herself, plopping down in a flurry of red robes and the faint scent of cigar smoke.

Without preamble, she speaks. "Ya look like hell. Ya been sleepin' at all?" And grunts, which is really continuing her statement, assuming one is fluent in Gruntese, something about working his behind off.

Shoutarou straightened up a bit in surprise, then slowly blinked at Ellyn.

"Uh... Little bit," he answered. He wasn't fluent in Gruntese, but he'd been the target of enough poking like that back home to get the general idea of what the pyromancer was getting at. "It's been too quiet to sleep, if that makes any sense."

Ellyn grunted and grumbled--it was less coherent than her previous statements, but conveyed a bit of dissatisfaction nonetheless. "I get it, yeah. I thought ya had people ya stayed with, though? Or stayed with you? Close friends."

Something she wouldn't know that much about, being her usual charming, social butterfly of a self. But then Ellyn made another face.

"Wait, they get sent back t' the pods'r somethin'?" She knew that well enough from when her father had had to make that trip.

Ellyn's comment was met with quiet - until she put two and two together, and he nods, taking a moment to nurse the mug again. "That's looking like the case. Haven't seen or heard from them since that robot stuff happened."

Sometimes, the spark just lit right. Something in her face changed when Shoutarou mentioned the robot attack, and she turned her head away with a grunt.

"Well, ya seemed close-knit, so I think ya would've found out by now if they'd been hurt." Not even Ellyn was callous enough to mention anything worse. Most of the cleanup had been done by that point, hadn't it?

"Ain't gonna tell ya not ta worry, 'cuz that's how ya are, but they might'a jus' needed a rest. An' that means they'll be back at some point, ya know? Ya got a right ta feel like ya do, jus'...I dunno. They'd expect ya ta do yer best whether they were here or not, mebbe?"

Ellyn grimaced, and knocked back some of her whiskey.

That change in the facial expression was missed, but he caught the turn of her head from the corner of an eye, as well as heard the grunt. "Not a fan of robots? Granted, after all that, I doubt anyone is..."

He nods. "I figure no news is good news," he answers. Philip, at least, was alright. The connection was still there when he tried to use the Double Driver, it just didn't work right.

"I know that, that's just all easier said than done." He paused, and slipped from the mug. "Even when you've got experience."

"Yeah," Ellyn grunted. "Never even had robots where I'm from." At least, not in the conventional sense. While her mother had the ability to create golems, they'd never been in vogue in the Aerie. "Guess tech's always gonna be weird ta me."

She fixed the detective with something less than a glare. "Ya ain't alone, even if yer besties are gone. Plenty of folks care." Which was as close as Ellyn was going to get to saying that she cared, too.

"I'm kind of the same about magic," he answers with a slight hint of a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

That bit of a grin parts momentarily at the look, but returns. If anything, Shoutarou is a stubborn man who has trouble wording those pesky feeling things - and thus, can recognize someone else's attempt to do so. "Thanks," he replies, sipping again. "Means a lot." He reaches over, taking his hat and looking at it idly. "If Philip were here, he'd be giving me grief for being 'half-boiled'..."

"Could fix that, y'know." Ellyn quipped. "Find a vat, fill it with water, ya sit in it, an' I heat it 'til yer done. Ya'd be hard-boiled then, right?"

Though the look on her face, there, hopefully gave indication that she didn't mean it. Sort of smirking, a little, mischief dancing in yellow eyes.

"Anyway, yer welcome," she grunted. "Yer a good sort. Don't like seein' ya down, even if ya got the right, ya know? Prolly why that jus' came outta my mouth. Boilin'." Ellyn snorted, downing the rest of her whiskey and raking a hand through her hair.

That comment got a look of faux shock from Shou, though he chuckled. "Not quite how it works..."

He nods, grinning a bit from the previous joke. "Hey, it worked. Can't argue with results."

"'Zactly," Ellyn said, grinning. "Learned a couple'a things along th' way, even if it ain't obvious they stuck."

"My ma was allus' real big on not ever givin' up hope, even when things looked real bad. Prolly a good thing she's like that. Dad prolly never would'a gotten over himself if she weren't. But things worked out. They'll work out here too, 'm sure, even if it ain't right away. Right? An' ya still got folk ta lean on."

She made a face. "An' I think if I said things could be worse I'd be shootin' myself in the foot, so 'm gonna shut up now."

He nods. "Your mom sounds like a stand-up lady - and yeah, things will work out, one way or another. I seem to always find a way to make things work out."

The last comment gets an actual chuckle, though.

Ellyn grinned. "Ya got that, then. If ya allus' find a way, then ya will this time too, right?"

She heaved a sigh, then. "Yeah, Mama is real stand-up. She was closer ta m'brother than me, though. Think I might try an' change that, if'n I 'member any o' this when I get back ta my world, ya know?"

There's a smirk. "Well, fate's not let me down before. We'll see what happens."

The smirk fades into a neutral expression as he nods. "Hopefully we'll be able to remember it. I've met too many good people here to forget about."

"I hope so. Got a lotta things I learned here. It'd suck if I forgot all'a that, an' th' people who taught me it."

She gave another grunt, then grinned. "'Least ya don't seem as down now as ya were when I firs' planted m'bony ass down here."

He nods. "Yeah, same here. A lot of unpleasant things about this place, but it'd be a shame to lose all we got out of it."

He grins back, then leans back to rest an elbow on the back of his seat. "Guess so - thanks for that."

The Crestfallen D/Back to Square One

Evening at the Dragon

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject