Description: Another airport, another meeting with Zach. But this one was different: Less indirectness, less misdirection, and... less Honoka.
Again, the international airport servicing Southtown is a complete madhouse. People want in, people want out.... nothing different from an average day at the airport except for the sheer volume of travelers. Something about this 'end of the world' or some such.
Again, Zach has a message waiting for him at the ticket counter.
And again, there is a young woman slinging a yo-yo back and forth. She's standing with her back to the wall, near a travel poster -- a tall man in black sunglasses stands at a fair distance, and an armed guard just a little bit further away, both making obvious effort to look like they're not minding the young woman with the slight build. Her similarities to the woman known as Honoka are... strong, in fact -- but her face is significantly different. Features sharper, more Japanese.
She is also terrible at the yo-yo, having only been throwing it, unwinding the yo-yo to maximum length, and retrieving it.
Zach's eyes narrow when he sees the note. He's still tired; international flights take it out of just about anyone, moreso after dealing with hellscapes and would-be mad demigods. He leans over the counter slowly, his face getting close the attendanet. "This," he says slowly, quietly. "Had better not be some kind of joke." Zach Glen is not really in the mood for such things. The woman's response is predictable; Zach is angry, clearly not quite back to level, only has one hand, and is getting in her face a little bit. She nervously points the weary psion to the young lady with the yo-yo.
Zach turns and sees... Honoka? Glen's eyes go wide. No, that's not possible. The would-be empress is dead, according to pretty much every news source ever. He is bringing his left arm up to a ready position, which may look like someone readying a gun, when he stops. Pays attention. Listens to the senses that have paid him in good stead over the last few years. The arm lowers.
"Hello," he says hoarsely after he gets himself together enough to speak.
The armed guard doesn't make any sudden movements -- he's nervous, but he's more nervous about what the girl might give to Zach, rather than about what Zach himself might do to her. The sunglasses-wearing man, on the other hand, seems much more pleased by the arrival of the young man, giving him a brief nod, but otherwise keeping his distance.
"Hello, Mister Glen, my n-name is Reika." She looks down at the yo-yo, seeing that it's served its purpose, and shoves it into a pocket. "I... " She glances back to the sunglasses man for a moment, then back to Zach, her brown eyes on the verge of welling up. "Taka and I worked with Honoka. We... had something to tell you. Do you have a few moments?"
Zach's eyes take in the trio, especially the man in the glasses. The armed guard's impressive, but Zach's money is that Taka is the more dangerous of the pair. But for all of that, there's not a sense of threat here. Zach leans back on his heels a bit, shoving his right hand in his pocket. He lets out a deep sigh after glancing around with tired eyes.
He nods to a food stand. "Sure," he says after a moment. "Let's get some food. I'll treat," he says.
"Really?!" blurts out Reika, losing herself in the moment as she pushes away from the wall. "That... that's a great idea, sure!" She readily walks alongside Zach.
"Taka" notes, "We'll be around if you need us, Reika, don't worry." He then shares a bemused glance with the armed guard, with whom he goes over to converse as the two younger individuals move on ahead to the food stand.
"Okay!" she responds, before turning back to Zach. "Taka's sweet, he's... heh. You know, with Honoka gone... " She laughs, leaning conspiratorially towards Zach. More quietly, she adds, "She's been in our heads for so long, it's... it's been a bit rough. We never stopped being who we were, but there was always that... sense, you know? She'd told us you were good at working with people's minds too." With Honoka gone, and her abilities widely known, Reika doesn't see the need to beat around the bush.
She glances up at the menu. "... Aggh... this was one thing Honoka could never help me with -- figuring out what I want to eat!"
Zach looks over the menu, and then looks sharply at Reika when she mentions, well, pretty much everything. He looks a little embarrassed, glancing up at the menu again before ordering a burger, fries, and drink. Things that can be handled without tools, and fairly easily with one hand. He takes a deep breath, one suspicion confirmed.
"I... don't really... I don't really get into people's minds. I can help them get someone else out, but I don't do it by myself and it's the only thing like that I can do." Zach frowns a bit, "And even that's closer to the line than I really like to be." His tone is soft, quiet, even humble. He waits patiently for Reika to order. He's not really had any experience with the after-effects of long term mental manipulation, so he sets in for a bit of a learning experience.
Reika hmms, nodding slowly at Zach's words. Tapping her chin for a moment, she eventually decides on a chicken sandwich and a diet drink. Something light!
"Oh... I guess she walked away with a different impression, with how much you were able to undo what she was trying. I guess your words were enough!"
Reika steps over to the wait-for-your-food area, twiddling her fingers as she talks. "It's... you may know, then, Honoka put thoughts in our heads. We know -now- that she was, but it was always like... suggestions. Like, 'Honoka sure would like it if we did this.' Things we did to be -nice- to her. But... I guess it's easier to tell now, but we also got to hear what she was thinking sometimes. Like, I could just look at her when she's frustrated and know you were on her mind -- weird, y'know, like it was not something you normally just 'get' from looking at someone who isn't expressing anything." Her cheeks darken, and she looks down. "You know, it was like that the day she last used this... ticket counter trick. She really had to talk to you, that day."
"No," Zach answers, "I helped. It's... I lent that man some of my strength that day. I can't really /do/ anything if they don't want to be helped." The psion mulls things over. "For all some people talk about how humanity just wants to be led, at the end of the day, they want to be /themselves/, you know? When someone else gets in their head, part of them might be going along with it. Like that day in Osaka. They were angry, and wanted to do something, so they went along with what Honoka was nudging them to do." Zach takes a deep breath, forcing down the shudder. He's seen more malevolent "nudgings," Honoka's work as a subtle thing. It was something that, from a purely technical standpoint. "But they also just wanted to get the help they needed. I just... let that man reassert himself. It bought me a little time to get everyone else talked down." Zach shrugs. "It... wasn't as much as people might make it out to be.
The food is ready. Zach takes the tray in his right hand, and places his left forearm under it to keep the thing steady. "I'm sorry," he finally says tiredly, "That she's gone. It's... She didn't need to die.""
"... Yes... that makes sense. It's... it's like that, yes. She doesn't -make- us do anything, really... I don't think." Reika purses her lips, thinking. "... Maybe she does. It's really hard to know the difference. I guess that's why we have to have armed guards follow us around everywhere, just in case we -do- turn out to be the bad guys." A mirthless laugh follows -- maybe Honoka left her dark humor with the young dancer after all.
Reika picks up her tray. If she notices anything odd about the way Zach is carrying his, she's tactful enough to not draw attention to it. She finds a quiet, out-of-the-way booth to sit at, and slides into the seat. Unwrapping her sandwich, she nods, her expression becoming a bit more strained. It's still hard for her to admit that Honoka's gone, after all. "I know. And... th... thank you. I... I don't know if you know, but I... pretended to be her. So that she wouldn't have to..." She shakes her head, closing her eyes as she continues. "She came back for me, though... like she'd finally realized what a terrible thing she'd... I guess, /asked/ me to do."
Pausing to stare at the sandwich for a moment, she considers her words before speaking. "She wasn't a nice person, really."
And after another moment, she looks up to Zach. "But from what I could tell, you were nice to her in spite of all she'd done. -You- saw the good in her, you know... the good -we- saw in her."
Zach smiles faintly, gently setting the tray down. Not knowing the difference can be hard; it's one of the things that he /hates/ about mental manipulation. People have to question whether the thoughts in their heads are there because it's theirs, or if those thoughts were put there. His left arm stays under the table; missing body parts can be unsettling for some. He opens the burger box, dumps the fries in the empty half of the shell, and starts with those.
"There aren't too many people who are all bad or all good," Zach says quietly. "Most people don't cleave to such extremes." Zach chuckles. "It's always a surprise to people when they hear I don't really like /fighting/. They see the career, the flashy displays I put on. They hear some of the stories, and they think that... well it surprises them."
"I'd much rather solve a problem by talking it through than swinging my fist at it," he finally says. "I thought, when I saw her at the airport, that she... I think she knew that she'd gone too far, even then." He shrugs. "I saw someone who needed some help. I wish I could have given it," Zach shakes his head, scowling, "But I had something that I had to do." He frowns, looking at Reika. "You..." Zach stops, frowning. He feels like he should apologize, but in all honesty, if he had to make that choice again, he'd have gone to Metro City anyway.
"She knew," Reika nods, the smile she's forcing managing to keep the tears from bursting forth from her swelling eyes. "Metro City was important. Not just to you, but to everyone. And not just -anyone- could do it."
She takes a tentative bite of her chicken sandwich, thinking poignantly for a moment. "I think it's like you say, not everyone's all bad or all good. Honoka didn't like fighting either, just... sometimes it was the quickest way to get something over with, I guess?" She laughs faintly.
"But really, you -did- help her. The nation of /Japan/ thanks you. I guess that's what we wanted to tell you -- if... if it weren't for talking with you, a lot more people would have died. You see... after talking with you, it all became clear to her. Honoka wasn't just... in charge of a circus, full of people who thought like her -- she then had a whole country of people who =didn't= think like her. So she had to stop shouting... and listen."
Taking a sip of her drink, she continues, "It's kind of like being on stage. She really was different then... when the spotlight's on her, she's in charge, directing people's eyes... but off stage, you know, she's different. She listens." Frowning faintly, she jabs the straw with her finger. "Listened, I guess. Hard to get used to her not being here."
Zach nods, taking another deep breath. It's the first time Zach's had a message from beyond the grave, really. He sets the burger down, and tries to get himself recentered before he can speak. This whole thing is kind of hard to think about. "I had hoped," he said, "That I'd have been able to come back and... I don't know." Zach takes another breath. "Get her out of here, or something. I... I couldn't let myself come up with a plan. I wasn't even sure I'd make it through Metro City. But I thought that if I could get her out of the situation she was in, that..."
Zach slumps a bit. "That maybe if she had been able to get a step back from things she'd be able to stop what she was doing. That maybe she'd get out of the mess she'd made alive."
Reika nods slowly. She can understand where Zach is coming from there. Here she is... telling about all the things that could have been. "Well, sorry -- I'm not trying to help you beat yourself up over it or anything, it's... it's something she started. She wanted to change the world, well... she got that wish." She laughs faintly, gripping her tray and nudging it into Zach's, like a bumper car. "Hey, you did what you had to do, alright? I'm really glad you did what you did. Meant a lot to me and Taka. Not -everyone- knew about..."
She blinks for a moment, cheeks staining dark once more. "... Hee. Oh, what's the harm -- she had us play Irish drinking songs in the office for like the whole day after she talked with you here last time." She takes a few bites of her chicken sandwich while that sets in.
Zach looks up sharply when the trays collide. He grins a bit at the telling of the story. He thinks for a moment, before reaching into a coat pocket. He brings a clenched hand up and sets it on the table, opening it to reveal a shining sphere, barely larger than a ping pong ball. But for all of that, it has a... presence to it. A swelling of power, of uplifting energy. It's a heady thing, and one Zach has been all but crushing down since he took it from Duke. Athena had showed him the technique: in the presence of cheer, think of something that made him sad. The technique worked, but it may have made him a bit vulnerable emotionally speaking.
"This is what I left for," Zach says. "It's supposed to have the power to change the world." Zach takes the sphere, and repockets it. There are people who definitely want this thing. Want the power it represents. "It's... /dangerous/ doesn't even begin to cover it."
Reika's eyes glitter as the sphere is presented to view. Aside from being a victim, she has no true experience with chi, or Soul Power, or whatever otherworldly forces that be -- but it does not take a particular skill to realize the sheer -magnitude- of the power stored within such a deceptively small package. Mystified by the orb, she doesn't realize she's entranced by the powerful artifact until it's stowed away. So easily distracted, so easily led astray... and so disappointed in herself, she slaps herself lightly in the cheeks to snap herself out of the spell the orb had placed her under. "I... I'm sorry, what were you saying? Dangerous?" She glances down for a moment, and then finally recalls, pounding a fist into her open palm. "Oh! This was in Metro City? So maybe you -are- the hero after all! Are you going to the Ise Grand Shrine...?" she asks tenatively, explaining, "Honoka ran into a man named Howard Rust, and... he seemed to think that the spheres could stop the craziness going on there, I think...?"
Ise Grand Shrine rings a bell in Zach's mind. And then she drops the name. Zach's eyes go wide. "Rust's here?" Zach says, excitement clear in his voice as he starts to stand up, restraining himself only barely. The Yang Sphere hammers at his thoughts, almost causing the psion to wobble. Zach places his left on the table to try and steady himself.
A wide grin spreads across Zach's face for the first time since entering Metro City. It had worried his parents, though his father understood what was going on when the psion returned from Metro all battered and bloodied. "We may not be out of this yet," he says.
"... Hm?" Reika seems a bit surprised that Zach not only knows Mr. Rust, but seems thrilled at the prospect of meeting him. Eyes wide, she nods her head. "I... I'm pretty sure he is? I'll have to ask Taka, but if he's in the country we probably know the city." She smiles faintly, adding, "Honoka had us... kind of running things when she was Empress, and it... made sense for us to continue until this crisis settles down. So if you need information, we'll do what we can..."
Reika pulls out a business card from her jacket pocket, presenting it to Zach with both hands at first, per tradition... but she then decides it'd be mean to force him to accept with only one hand, and sets it on the table before him. "Taka said we should have these printed up -- I thought he was crazy, but whatever, right?" She laughs musically, "Just call us when you get settled here, we'll share whatever we know."
"I'm really glad you're so nice, Mr. Glen, I know Honoka was really glad she met you." Rocking forward on her shoulders, she narrows her eyes in a teasing fashion, adding, " Even if she didn't ever actually /say/ so."
Zach notes the slight confusion; nodding. "Rust and I, we're pretty tight," he says by way of explaination. He pockets the sphere, accepting the card before looking it over, "Taka seems to be pretty sharp," Zach says agreeably. He looks around. That positive, upbeat excitement is visible not only in his face but also posture. He pockets the card, nodding once.
"She kind of did, though," Zach says with a large smile. "The music, I mean."
"I guess she did, at that!" agrees Reika, leaning back. Maybe in another time, another place...
Reika blinks, and spares a moment for another bite of her chicken sandwich. Despite Zach's status as a relative stranger, their mutual connection with Honoka makes it easier for the chatty girl to continue talking as she would -- and often does -- with her friends from the circus. "And yeah. Taka's always been more or less running the circus, so it just makes a weird kind of sense!"
She takes another pause to consider, and notes, "Oh! I almost forgot." She reaches into her pocket and brings out a small length of ribbon, and . "Honoka came up with this idea after you left for Metro, but... if you get stopped in the country, for any reason, just show this. Free pass! I mean, should save you from having to call us and have us explain or whatnot. The world's at stake, we can't afford to let you get thrown in prison or anything, haha."
She takes another bite of her sandwich. Chew. "Mm. Don't think I've ever eaten here before, it's pretty tasty! Thanks so much for the meal, this is great!"
Zach accepts the ribbon with a touch of reverence, taking it in his hand before looking at it. He frowns slightly, but governmental logistics are beyond his ken. He slides it into his pocket with a nod, before sliding his own card across to Reika. He doesn't do the two handed offering for obvious reasons.
"If you guys find anything I could use," he says. "Or even if you just want to talk. I'm betting Rust's at Ise Shrine." He starts to push away from the table, leaving more than enough money to handle the tab. "I'll meet him there."
Reika nods cheerily, sliding the card back to her so that she can accept it properly, and places it into her jacket pocket. "I'll be sure to do that, then! And... um... best of luck to you at the Shrine! We'll do everything we can."
If Honoka were here, she'd have something poignant to say. But it's Reika, so she stands up and gives an honorable bow. "I... I'm really glad to have met you! We'll talk again soon!"
Zach gives a little half bow, with a wave of the good hand. The young man is grinning widely, determination sparkling in his eyes as he makes his way to Ise. To his destiny.
Log created on 11:20:51 10/19/2014 by Honoka, and last modified on 23:11:53 10/19/2014.