2026-06-18: Waiting
- Log: Waiting
- Cast: Ichika Kawase, Tsubasa Seki
- Where: Yumezaki Ward, Sumaru City
- OOC Date: June 18, 2026
- IC Date: November 26, 2012
- Summary: Ichika waits out for Tsubasa after an outing to check on Futaba. Tsubasa comes back to report that Futaba is still sleeping; the two of them and Lance hang out and talk for a little while about Futaba and other things.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
It's a lovely afternoon in Yumezaki, and Ichika Kawase hasn't been here all that long. She is currently sitting in a parking lot with Lance on a leash. In her long-skirted Kasu High uniform, Ichika is petting the dog. "Aww, we get to see them again soon," she tells Lance. "I know! And then we'll go find some treats for you..."
Pet pet pet.
The lot is not more or less crowded than usual for a Monday, which is to say: there's a lot of people around but not here in this place, and Ichika's being careful of Lance and other cars.
It's clear and cool out. November air...
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Lance can make the trip into central Tokyo, but, like... it's a big trip for a little pup, y'know?
(Lance is pretty big, but she's small for a tosa inu.)
The leash, though, serves an important purpose today: just in case Tsubasa needed to call Ichika out to the back alleys with a dog. Tragically, Futaba is still face down and dead to the world, and so there will be no dog therapy today...
She says a concerned 'aroo?', at Ichika's reassurance, because she knows they're waiting for them. Obviously, her head tilts, too.
But there, coming out of the crowd... it's Tsubasa! Crimson and white hair, today, screaming against the Kasugayama boy's uniform. (Couldn't be arsed changing before headout out there, huh.) Their hands are jammed in their pockets, and they slouch, a little, as they bull past the crowds.
"Yo, Boss," they call, lifting a hand from one of those pockets in greeting.
But of course, the first girl they crouch down and give a hug is Lance. How could they not? Look at that little dance she's doing with her pawsies! "Were you a good girl, huh?" They ask, as she borks with gleeful affirmation.
(Tsubasa came back, this is the best day ever!)
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika could have driven out to meet Tsubasa with Lance--but there was little point in spending all that money in gas and finding a parking place if Futaba wasn't awake...
So she waited! And instead, she eagerly awaits the return of her partner.
"Tsubasa," Ichika answers warmly to the talk of 'Boss', perhaps a little too warmly for her cool image. She's very happy to see them.
"She was very good," Ichika answers firmly. "So," she says, "No go?"
Bork!
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Even if it's a little too warm, they're at least not going to ruin Ichika's rep if anyone sees them out here.
"Cool," Tsubasa says, with one more thump-rub-scritch-scritch-scritch to Lance's chest before they rise back up.
"Ch... she's still out of it," is their report on the front, rubbing at the back of their neck. "That Coffee Shop Boss is on it, tho... guess it's jus' more waitin'."
Tsubasa, personally, thinks the solution is to just stop feeding her and force her to get out of bed.
But then, 'it worked for them' is usually the end to a sentence that makes everyone around them grimace with discomfort.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Anyone who takes issue with Ichika's affection for Tsubasa needs issue taken with them anyway. That's what Ichika thinks. ...Well, in different words. She wouldn't use a phrase like 'take issue'.
"Mm," Ichika says. "Guess it was a lot of strain," she says. "Though... I mean, he said this was kinda normal for her, right...?"
That's weird.
But Ichika would not do that. "Well, we can wait. Her loss for not seeing Lance today." She smiles at Lance, and then moves to stand up.
"How was the train?"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Mm," Tsubasa frowns, when Ichika points out what Sojiro's said about Futaba's habits. "Too bad."
They start loping on down the street, waving a hand at Ichika's question. "Ass."
That's apparently their whole evaluation, as they jag into an alleyway to get away from the crowds. (Trains, as it happens, are just as crowded...)
They sit down on a stairwell, leading up to a locked door; it's like a place to sit down, and it's not like anyone is here to yell at them about it right now.
It's wide enough that Ichika can sit down, too!!
"... dunno how a chick goes talkin' to her own fuckin' Shadow," Tsubasa admits, but only once they're sitting down.
"Weirds me out."
You can't lie to your Shadow, after all.
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ass! "Sucks," Ichika says, but she's not that invested; the train's the train.
Ichika follows along, sitting down on the stairwell with Tsubasa and handing over Lance's leash to do with what they will. She reaches out to scritch Lance again though in the process. Scritch scritch.
"It was a pretty weird situation," Ichika points out. "Might be easier since... she was all weird-dressed-up and all."
A look at Tsubasa, and then a look out into nothing in particular. "...I can kinda imagine it, though."
Talking to her own.
"Makes me more impressed with her, that she could do it."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Dunno..." Tsubasa trails off, contemplating her weird dress. "Might make it worse." Like, wouldn't they just fucking die on the spot if they found out their innermost soul was some kind of... Egyptian otaku?!
(Don't throw stones in glass houses, Tsubasa.)
"... yeah," they agree, when Ichika says she's impressed. ('Bork!', Lance adds, helpfully, and Tsubasa reaches out to rub at her ears sidelong. They've looped her leash around the arm closest to the stairwell bars, it's fine.) "Had a lot ridin' on not seein' that shit... still." Still, she figured it out.
"... hope she'll be okay."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
"Hm," Ichika contemplatess. She remembers; she saw the Cognition of herself, after all... but that's not quite the same thing, is it? "I guess," she allows. "Depends on..."
"I guess, it depends on whether that makes it more personal or less."
But then, glass houses aside, Ichika turns her head back to Tsubasa. "She did. But she came through and saw it anyway. Came through, and after that, helped us all out. ...She's an amazing girl."
A shakes of her head, then. "We don't have to just hope," ichika says. "We're her friends, I think. I hope, anyway. So we can help out."
"...Well, once she wakes up. Can't do much til then..."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa knows there was a Shadow of themself, out there, in Mementos, at one point. Akechi told them as much.
"Yeah," they agree, laconic as ever, though they do appreciate Futaba's greatness.
Indeed --
"... think 'bout what oughta happened if she hadn't got in th' way sometimes," Tsubasa gets to saying, eventually. "With that fuckin'... mess a guardians divin' down... was 'bout ready to stab 'em."
Another pause, and they admit: "... prolly woulda ate shit."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika has never met a Shadow that was Ichika, as far as she knows. But Tsubasa... well, they never met them, but...
It's different.
Anyway, though, "Mm."
Ichika looks over at Tsubasa and says, "You'd definitely have eaten shit. Might've died."
"...Fucked up, awful kinda thing, that was. But I wish..."
"Well, you are how you are. I'm not gonna tell you how to be."
"But you make it a workout keeping you up on your feet sometimes, you know?"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"... mm," Tsubasa hums, one hand still petting Lance idly to keep her from worrying about the mood in the alley.
They're looking at the World's Goodest Dog, but their other hand sneaks over, to try and take Ichika's, too.
"... yeah. I'm a lot."
Their breath pulls in, a touch jagged; it's not an easy thing to get into, but they're talking to Ichika, so... "I don't... like... set out to do it that way. Jus'... get inta shit, an'... someone comes at me, I come at them. Like... auto-play. I don't think 'bout it... it's jus' what happens."
Their other hand scratches at Lance's ear, as they scowl.
"Might be I'm jus'... fucked in th' head or some shit. Dunno."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
Ichika accepts the gesture, curling her fingers under Tsubasa's. It's a bit of a relief, really--knowing Tsubasa still wants to hold her hand. "...Mm," she says, when they explain. Auto-play...
"I figured," she says. "If you were thinking clearly, you'd... like, act more... you know, strategic about it. Instead you just kinda roll. And that's legit--that works--but... it worries me, too."
She shakes her head. "No," Ichika says. "It's OK. That's my job, you know? Keeping you up. ...Keeping everybody up. It's what i'm best at, in that kind of a situation."
"...Feels good, to know I'm helping like that."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Sometimes Tsubasa gets in their own head about things like this; it's easy for them to close themself off. Even now, Ichika probably gets the feeling that there's things they're dealing with which they're not voicing.
But... it's not like they want to ice her out, either.
"... yeah. Stupid, right? Like... I do all this schemin'... tryin' to figure those pricks out. Then I get in Mementos an' it's like... I ain't put two thoughts together in me life. Brings out th' worst... well, guess I can't even say that, since I'm th' fuck pushin' people to defend it."
There's a certain correlation to that.
"But... weren't for you, I'd eat shit, no question." Tsubasa squeezes Ichika's hand, gently, their fingers weaving around hers. "When I'm on me own, it's like a fuckin' race to th' bottom, man... an' that only works 'til some asshole fairies take advantage of me crushin' some fuckin' Jack Frost or some shit." Of course Tsubasa murders Jack Frost. They care! "Like... I jus' do one thing. All I got's attack, attack, attack... be real fucked if you weren't there."
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
It's hard to talk about things like this.
"I don't think it's stupid," Ichika says. "Something you're figuring out, a puzzle or some shit, it's not the same as a problem right in front of you. ...I get kinda tempted to do the same thing. Bites me sometimes, when I forget to think it through."
She squeezes Tsubasa's hand back, bringing out her other to settle over the two of theirs together.
Of course they murder Jack Frost. That's as it should be.
"Then it's a good thing I plan to be there a lot, right?" Ichika offers, her voice softer. "Besides, one of us has to actually hit the other guy, or I'll run out of juice."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Yeah..." Tsubasa mulls, as they look down to Ichika's hands. "... guess it jus' kinda freaks me out how I ain't even tempted. Jus'... do it. Takes a lot to, like... get in there, think it through... dunno."
They do, at least, crack a grin for a moment when Ichika points out that someone has to hit the other guy. "Guess so."
They take a moment to evaluate the situation... and then lean over, to sink their weight into her space. (They've put some on, recently, though it's not all fat. Turns out it's a lot easier to put muscle on with those injections.) "Countin' on ya," they say, quietly.
Especially when it's hard to talk about.