2026-09-11: Opening A Door
- Log: Opening A Door
- Cast: Hana Fukami, Shinobu Shimizu
- Where: Red Light District - Main
- OOC Date: September 11, 2026
- IC Date: January 08, 2013
- Summary: Shinobu drops in to see Hana while she's still stuck in the Kingdom. A little more hope is planted...
(|======================== Red Light District - Main =========================|)
-===================================================== Tokyo/Shinjuku Ward ====-
It's said if you go out the wrong side of Shinjuku Station, you lose a whole
day. Go out the correct side though, and you still might find yourself on the
wrong side of town. Even walking into Shinjuku's Red Light District subjects you
to endless barkers and touts, looking for opportunities to pull tourists and
young women alike into places where they might get scammed and exploited by the
predators of this place.
Neon signs glare offering disorienting guidance to businesses stacked upon one
another. All the vices of the city are available in smoky bars where one might
forget their dreams at the bottom of a glass, or take offers of companionship in
shady host or hostesses clubs.
Be careful. As smart as you are, wiser people than you have lost everything
here.
<Pose Tracker> Hana Fukami has posed.
The Kingdom is still here, still reachable by going through the door at the TV Station. And out here, at a nice little cafe for the workers, is one Hana Fukami, seated at a booth with a cup of coffee looking into nothing in particular. She looks kind of down, but that may not be much of a surprise. She at least isn't in that ill-fitting suit anymore; she's in a simple pink dress gotten out of wardrobe from one of the smaller studios.
The weather remains nonexistent; the Producer's Studio 4 is still in the center, towering above the rest. And there are Cognitions all over, in other booths.
"Can I get you another cup, hon?" says a Cognition to Hana, and she shakes her head. "No, it's fine."
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
Shinobu has been in and out of the Kingdom whenever she can spare the time. She hasn't made it inside the Producer's Studio yet, but the other day she took on a scouting mission with Belle to get a better idea of the Legionnaires' movements outside of it.
And she's back again today!
She makes the cafe her first stop, deciding to gather information and see where she'd be most useful before heading out... And she arrives to find that Hana is here as well, seated in one of the booths.
"Hey, Fukami-san." Shinobu greets with a casual wave, diverting to head over her way. She takes a moment to assess her. She looks down... but that is, indeed, not a surprise. The dress, however, is a pleasant one.
"Mind if I join you?" She asks. She pauses - and then offers her a nod. "Like the dress, by the way."
<Pose Tracker> Hana Fukami has posed.
Hana looks up when she detects Shinobu by her booth, blinking once--and then waving back. "Hi, Shimizu-san."
She's being assessed! Hana looks down at herself, and back up at Shinobu. "Oh, sure..." She looks to the Cognition, who says, "Anything for you?" to Shinobu.
Then, "Thank you," she says. "We were able to go through wardrobe and find something other than that... business suit." Pause. "It's nice to see you. I'm sorry, though... i still don't remember you."
"Or much."
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
"I'll have some coffee, thanks. Whatever you've got." Shinobu replies with a nod to the Cognition. She doesn't know what the supply situation is looking like, so she doesn't want to put any stress on them by asking for anything impossible.
She nods her thanks to Hana too, though, sliding into a seat at the booth.
She listens as Hana explains - how they went through the wardrobe and were able to find something other than that business suit.
"That's good to hear. Being stuck in that stuffy suit all the time sounds like hell." Shinobu sympathises. Hana says it's nice to see you - and apologizes, for still not remembering much. Shinobu shakes her head. "Hey, it's cool. We'll work on it. Don't gotta force it, y'know?"
She offers her a smile.
"But, it's nice to see you, too." She says.
<Pose Tracker> Hana Fukami has posed.
"Comin' right up."
Hana smiles faintly as Shinobu sits down, but it doesn't last. Instead, she accepts a little sympathy. "Thank you," she says. "There was a time when I felt comfortable enough in a suit... But that one was especially uncomfortable. I think they made it out of polyester..."
But Shinobu says it's all right. "Thanks. I appreciate that. Not remembering so much... Apparently I've met many of you. It's really frustrating."
She smiles back. "Right. ...So how are you doing? It hasn't been too dangerous, coming back here?"
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
"Thanks." Shinobu offers the Cognition. She catches Hana's faint smile, however brief, and offers a wince.
"Sucks. They could at least make it nice." She replies.
The frustration of not being able to remember much... Shinobu nods.
"I bet. If I were in your shoes... don't think I'd be doing much better." She replies with a shake of her head. Hana asks how she's doing, then.
"I'm doing alright. And nah, it hasn't. I know my way around situations like this. I know how to stay out of trouble - and how to get out of it, if it finds me anyway." She gestures to herself with her thumb. "Don't worry. I'm tough."
<Pose Tracker> Hana Fukami has posed.
"I guess 'nice' isn't on their list of priorities. They wanted me to put aside all this... 'frivolous preference.'"
Shinobu at least is gracious about it; Hana appreciates what she says. But...
"Oh, good. ...But really? How can you know your way around something so... strange?" she wonders.
"You do seem tough, though. ...Not like me," she says with a sigh. "I've never been good at that kind of thing--jumping, running... fighting."
"..."
"In my line of work," she says, "There's really only one place for a woman like me: comedy. But that's not what I want..."
"Still, be careful, all right?"
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
'Frivolous preference'. Like they're using it to make a point. Shinobu makes a face at that.
"Assholes." She mutters with a shake of her head. Hana asks how she can know her way around something so strange.
"Experience, I guess?" Shinobu considers. "I stumbled into it, survived... then I started picking stuff up along the way. ...Not to say I did it all alone, of course. We figure it out together - help each other out."
She 'hm's as Hana says that she isn't tough herself.
"Well... there's more to bein' tough than running, jumping, and fighting." Shinobu says with a shrug. "That's all physical stuff. We've all got things we're good at."
She considers her, then, as she comments how there's only one place for a woman like her in her line of work...
"...And I think that's pretty shitty. You've got more chops than that." Shinobu replies. "What do you really want, Fukami-san?"
She nods, though.
"Don't worry, I will be. I've got some pretty reliable back-up on the way." She assures.
<Pose Tracker> Hana Fukami has posed.
Assholes indeed. Hana nods along--but Shinobu speaks from experience. "I see... So all these monsters around here, this isn't unique?" she wonders. This might be the first time she's acknowledged something strange is going on at all. "Mm. Doing it together... That makes sense. Nobody's alone if they can help it."
More to being tough? Hana considers that. "I mean, I'm good at things," Hana allows. "Just not... those things."
But it is pretty shitty. Hana smiles faintly. "Thanks," she says. "I want... Well, for my acting career, I want to do dramas. I want to take roles and give performances that affect people--that make them feel, or think, or both."
"...Other than that, I want a lot of things. But... I don't know if I can get it. The Producer's really set on ending my career..."
"...All right, good. I don't know what you all can do. I couldn't take it if you all got hurt on my account."
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
Shinobu does wonder how she's seen all this - did she think it was normal, or did she recognize something was off...? It seems like it was the latter.
"They're not all like this," Shinobu says. "...But yeah. People like me, and the other folks you met here, we work together to try and figure these things out. And help out anyone who gets caught up in 'em who can't fight back."
Nobody's alone if they can help it...
"...Yeah. Being alone... it's awful. Doesn't matter who you are. Everyone needs someone." She agrees.
She listens as Hana considers her words, about there being more to being tough.
"That's another reason we work together. Me, I am good at those things, so I can cover for those who aren't. ...But I've got things that I'm not so great at, too." She says. "It's all about... figuring out what you can do to help, then giving it your all."
Hana smiles faintly, and Shinobu smiles back. She nods as she explains. Hana told her before, outside, that she wanted to get into more acting... but it's nice to hear that ambition from her right now, too - to hear what she wants to do with it.
"I think that sounds great. I wanna see that some day." She replies. As for the Producer... she shakes her head. "...Don't worry. We'll give him a talking to. It ain't over 'til it's over."
...She doesn't tell her that it's definitely going to involve a fight - especially with what she says next.
"Don't worry. We'll be alright." Shinobu assures. "Everyone's gonna make it out of this."
<Pose Tracker> Hana Fukami has posed.
"Oh..." So other things, not quite like this one. "I see. Like some kind of... heroes," she reflects. "But people who can't fight back... I guess that's me."
Being alone, and needing someone. Hana nods. "That's right," she says. "...That 'leader', Kato... he tells me I'm not alone here. But there's something missing. I know there is."
But as Shinobu explains, Hana considers. "But... what can I do...?" She doesn't know. She doesn't have any idea.
"I'd love to show you," she says instead. "...I hope you really can. You all seem so confident. I just... have a hard time believing."
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
"I don't know if I'd put it that way," Shinobu admits, on 'heroes'. "But yeah."
Hana agrees with her. Kato... Shinobu thinks back. Just who is he...?
"Do you think it might be something you forgot?" Shinobu asks. "If you can figure it out... that might be a good start."
But as for what she can do...
"...That's the hard part." Shinobu admits. "It's not always easy to figure out. Sometimes the only way to figure it out, is... just to try new things out and see how it goes."
But for now, Shinobu smiles and nods as Hana says she'd love to show her. She admits her hope... but also how she has a hard time believing.
"...And that's fine. You've been through a lot." Shinobu says. "If you're having a hard time believing... then just hold onto that hope for now, until you're ready. We'll do our best not to let you down."
<Pose Tracker> Hana Fukami has posed.
Hana, of course, couldn't be that kind of person. She thinks it's maybe good that people like that are trying, though. She just... still doesn't think she can be any help.
"Oh..." Something she forgot. "That might be," Hana says. "I've forgotten so much. It's like I'm floating in some kind of void, without most of my memories."
But it's the hard part, is it? "Mmm... Try things, huh? ...I wonder what I could try? ...No, you don't have to answer that. It's not your responsibility. But I'll think about it."
She smiles back, but only briefly. "...All right," she says. "Come see me again sometime, all right? Just... to tell me how it's going."
<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.
A void...
"...That sounds hard." Shinobu sympathises. "Not having anything to draw on..."
One's memories make up so much of who they are. To have lost that... She can only imagine what Hana must be growing thing.
Hana wonders what she could try... and Shinobu nods, when she says she doesn't have to answer that.
"Yeah... It's the kinda thing you've gotta figure out on your own." She replies.
She nods, then.
"Of course." She assures with a smile. "We'll keep you updated. Hang in there, alright?"