Scene #8601: Tsubasa finally gets fed up of waiting

Owner	Pose
Hibiki Tachibana	When Ishirou receives a request to meet within Hibiki's world, it is - strangely enough - not from any of the obvious first assumptions as to the sender. Not from Miku, whom knows him fairly well for someone who isn't an Elite. Not from Genjuro, whom got on with him during that meet-up some time ago. And it's not even from Ogawa Shinji, who would likely be deployed to handle any official S.O.N.G. business requiring a professional hand. It's from one Kazanari Tsubasa, the one and only other Symphogear user in the world. The locale is also not a formal one, speaking to the nature of the meeting as something a bit more personal. The rolling hills and cliffs that border a large portion of the cityscape hold numerous parks and watching posts so that one might enjoy the sights of the urban sprawl below, and the open ocean beyond - and it's exactly one of these high-placed parks, lush with greenery and trees and interspersed with benches, that she's requested him to visit. Not that she's sitting on any of them. Tsubasa, dressed in a simple dark blue turtleneck with a matching ankle-length skirt and boots, is standing at the railing running along the cliff's edge, looking past the metropolis below and focusing beyond, to past where the sea disappears over the horizon. Doubtless to say, she probably has plenty of things on her mind. Hopefully, Ishirou won't mind the considerable walk up stairway after stairway to get here. It can be more than a little tiring without any breaks on the way up.
Ishirou	Ishirou is surprised to see a request from Tsubasa of all people. While they got along just fine, and there wasn't any bad blood between them... there wasn't any good blood either. They knew each other, and were friendly with each other, but didn't know each other particularly well beyond what Ishirou knew about her family due to his investigation. Ishirou, at least, responds to it with an indication he'll be there. He could have used the RESCUE to get there faster... but that draws attention. So he took the Warp Gate, and then public transportation. That somehow felt only slightly more attention-focused for him. He walks up the stairs, and by the time he reaches the top where Tsubasa is, Ishirou reveals that he is in an oversized hoodie, a surgical mask on his face to cover his mouth and nose, gloves on his hands with bandages farther up covering his skin. Long jeans and combat boots to cover his legs up. Slowly he walked up to the other Symphogear user and leaned against the railing. It was... a sight at least, though different from the rooftop of his apartment building. "If we're here it's not about the alchemists, is it?" he asks, though knowing it would likely be about HER. He has his own... feelings on Hibiki right now.
Hibiki Tachibana	It's very true that they've never had any particular sort of interpersonal moments - although it's unlikely that she doesn't have an appreciation for the efforts both with their current issue and in the past, during the concert that a certain roidmude had interrupted. "Although my uncle has been working to allow us to offer more direct aid in the battles to soon come," Tsubasa starts briskly, with 'uncle' likely referring to Genjuro. "You are correct. This is about Tachibana." Tsubasa glances away from the far-off sea and towards Ishirou instead, taking a brief moment to appraise his appearance. If she has thoughts on his clear intent on hiding as much of his body away as possible, she keeps them to herself in favor of the subject at hand. "All of us - save for Kohinata - are well aware of the situation, so there's no need to explain. I suppose Ogawa-san must have implied as much when you last spoke to the girl from the Illuminati. We have also been putting forth our own attempts to locate her to the best of our ability...with little success." It's probably a fair assumption she's also aware of Ishirou's involvement in the incident, and that he placed the warrant. Her level expression has a small frown come to it. "By this point, you've known Tachibana for several years. In some senses, given her life out there and her life here, better than some of us." "So, I wanted to hear your personal thoughts on this, and what exactly your ideal outcome to all of it is."
Ishirou	'By this point, you've known Tachibana for several years. In some senses, given her life out there and her life here, better than some of us.' He thought that was true, he thinks to himself. He really thought he knew her, or that she was a friend. Even if they had different ideas... were they really? Was it really friendship, or their own different problems that caused them to parasocially leach from each other? He takes a breath, he would say it was to think about it, but... his heart isn't sure. 'So, I wanted to hear your personal thoughts on this, and what exactly your ideal outcome to all of it is.' His personal thoughts..? He could barely figure out what he was to her, and vice versa... but now she wants what they want to do about this, what he wants to do about this..? "Seventeen deaths. Far more injured... more critically so. That monster of a robot is on the loose in the hands of a woman who is more attached to the idea of her friend using her than her own independence... and another woman who seems bent on making the lives of everyone around her more difficult... including herself." "She knew what they were up to, she walked with them into the facility. She... didn't do anything but get in the way of Futaba. We couldn't stop them from pulling the trigger, nor did we have any idea there were infiltrators until Nephra went full gravity sicko mode on everything." "More than that, I offered her chances to turn herself in. To try and pay off her debt... to convince her to leave that place before she's brought down with them. Lilian reached her and had to give her a very easy way to get out of what was going on... and she slapped that away too." "She left you guys behind too," Ishirou says, taking a breath. "My ideal outcome, at this point, is to take her in for her part in those deaths and injuries. If I can't do that, make it so that she can never do it again... if that means doing something to block her connection with her Symphogear..." It's clear in all of this, Ishirou feels... well awful for thinking this way. He doesn't /want/ to... but there is also something beneath the surface. Something he doesn't want to admit to himself about his feelings for Hibiki.
Hibiki Tachibana	Throughout Ishirou's explanation, Tsubasa's expression doesn't change very much--as the more experienced of the two Symphogear users, and a much longer-time member of the organization, she must also have a much more stable head on her shoulders than her counterpart in Hibiki. It's only near the end that she once again looks back off into the distance. "...Less than a year beore we Unified, Tachibana was not the person you're likely used to knowing. She didn't cooperate nor work with us at all, actually. I suppose much like now with you, she knocked aside all of the hands we offered to her, even when they were only intended to help her and ease her burdens. She did so time and time again, refusing to even say a word before turning her back and leaving." "She needed no one, trusted no one, cared for no one, and lived only to fight the Noise, rejecting everything else. Not so different from another girl, once," Tsubasa mentions with a wistful tone, before returning to speaking straightforwardly. "Even when it wasn't what she truly wanted for herself. Even then, in that state, she held the desire to save others. But she closed herself off, snuffing out her own desperate cries to be the one saved." A pause hangs in the air, as Tsubasa gently closes her eyes. "I don't say this as part of some plan to convince you to ease her sentencing through sympathy, nor sweep what has happened under the rug. Tachibana is more than able to take responsibility for her own actions. She was the moment she stepped outside of our world to influence others. When you hold the balance of lives in your hand, whatever happens to them is a weight you must bear for the rest of your life." "This, I believe, she knows well. And I also have a suspicion it's why she's doing similar to what she once did. Tachibana is harder on herself than anyone. Her emotions are her greatest strength, and her worst enemy. A double-edged blade that can slice apart their wielder as well as anyone else." Her eyes open, shifting towards Ishirou as she turns her head to him. And she looks past all of his layers of excessive clothing to look at his eyes and hold her gaze steady. "...And they so often prevent her from doing what her heart truly wishes for." That sits for a second, before she closes in towards her actual point. "I say all of this because you know her, and you have been affected by her. Is the Tachibana you know one that would repeat this again? Do you believe in that answer enough to try and sever her ties with Gungnir--Kanade's legacy entrusted to her, and something she holds as dearly as her own life?" "Can you confidently say it is your 'ideal outcome'?" It sounds like a genuine and earnest question, at least ostensibly free of her own personal judgement. Whether it gets a genuine and earnest response back is up in the air.
Ishirou	"Before I answer that, can you answer something for me? Something I've been rolling around in my head for a long time. Something I pretended to ignore and pretend I didn't know it. I also want you to consider this knowledge and see if it changes the question you just asked me.." Ishirou says, sinking into himself a little. He hates drawing things out of himself. He hates sharing his pain with others because he doesn't want them to suffer. Nevermind that not sharing it, and suffering in silence might cause them harm too. He takes a breath, working through his emotions on Hibiki. Not Tachibana, because Petra is right... he can't be cold with people, not easily. Eggman? Sure. Eggman's earned it. So has Petra. "When Petra killed me, I detected Hibiki on the edge of my awareness. POD scanned her and indicated to me once I came back that they'd talked. She left me there. With Petra. She didn't try to bury me, she didn't try to take me out of there... she talked with Petra and she left me there to rot." "Is it wrong of me to hold that against her? That she valued Petra's friendship over me? Over my friendship? Over my dignity as a human being? In what reality... is this acceptable? I ignored it, I tried to pretend it didn't happen..." "...But it did."
Hibiki Tachibana	Of course, having that dropped would bring a moment of pause to almost anyone, even a stoic sentinel. Not just for the obvious, but also for the clear effort that Ishirou took to work that out of himself. Even someone who hardly knows him on a personal level could tell that, really. Rather than replying immediately, Tsubasa furrows her brow in silence, arms folding over her chest as her eyes shut once more, briefly. The wheel-turning going on is also something that's not terribly hard to tell, although neither does he have to wait very long. "...I do not think it's not wrong to hold such feelings, as much as one's own emotions can ever be wrong," she says back, with a bit more measured slowness to each word, and an undercurrent of sympathy. "Nor would I ever pretend to be in the position to tell you the proper way to feel. Tachibana is... ...her relationship with you all has been...painfully complex for a long time, hasn't it?" Kazanari Fudo, for one, certainly seemed to be aware of these 'complexities' dating back some time. "Indeed, what has happened has happened...no matter how much anyone involved might wish for a different outcome or try to convince themselves it's not true. The only thing that one can do is confront the truth of things, and choose their path forward from there." "...If this reality and what has transpired in it is unacceptable to you, then it can only be reconciled between you and Tachibana. Just as we, here, must find our own ways to do the same when we're able to see her once more. It's a painful and arduous thing, and like many things...it would have been better had it never needed to happen." "But," she continues carefully, holding eye contact. "I do not think it changes my question. The purpose I called you here for. I cannot resolve your pain for you, Ishirou. But I will again ask--is what you had said your 'ideal outcome' was truly so? Is the pain she has inflicted on you irreconcilable, and placed her beyond redemption in your eyes?" "...The burden of that knowledge may not be a pain she's aware you are carrying. Or she may also be running away from and trying to ignore that she caused it, as she does. Only she could tell you those truths. But it did happen. And now that it has, what do you want to see, at the end of it all?"
Ishirou	Ishirou tries to make eye contact with Tsubasa, but eventually, he drops it, letting his head drop. That should reveal that it isn't what he wants despite everything. He /feels/ he should feel that way, he should be angry, he should want her to be punished... but really he just wants his friend back. He's lost too much, hurt too much and he knows that she's hurt too. Even if they've both made mistakes. Finally, he slumps down and pulls his arms around his knees. "I hate this.." he finally admits. "I hate that I feel like this, I hate that this situation is here..." he says with a near sob. "I don't want this... I don't want to hurt her, or anyone. I don't want to have to deal with this..." he says, and lowers his head to his knees. "If I were stronger, like Lilian, I could separate my feelings like this. I could do what needs to be done, I could give those people some justice..." he says mumbling into his legs. "I know what people think about me throughout all of this. That I'm mad about something, or something about my authority..." "I don't know what to do.."
Hibiki Tachibana	Despite Tsubasa's equitable aura during the course of this conversation, and their own lack of any kind of personal relationship, Tsubasa is plenty aware of the friendship between him and Hibiki. She also knows he has always put in his best efforts in assisting them as best as he can. It's impossible for her sympathies to not show on her face, shoulders slacking along with her crossed arms. "...'If I were stronger' are words that are too easy to say, a goal too simple to desperately yearn for. Envy for the strength of others, both in battle and in emotional fortitude...is something I know well." Tsubasa speaks gently, taking a step to stand in front of him. "When the path is unclear, I believe there is one thing you can always attempt to do, even when that road is unfairly difficult and painful. It is not something you need to emulate the power that others hold to try." Leaning over somewhat, a hand comes to rest on Ishirou's shoulder. The kind of reassuring gesture a friend would offer - although she might not particularly fit that bill, it's the closest he can get at the moment. "Whatever you do to take your steps forward, make sure they are not ones that you'll regret. If you do not know what is right, then listen to what your heart tells you is wrong, and unyieldingly hold fast to that, no matter what others think of you." "Hold onto the courage to keep standing and moving ahead through your tears. And at the end of it all, you will find that you have precious friends to help dry them, no matter how many have been shed. The hurt you have experienced, the suffering you might go through--is more than just mere pain. They are important memories that cannot be forgotten, and that you grow from." "Whether or not Tachibana is one of those precious friends, if you will be able to become individuals who can set one another on the right path when you stray...is up to you and her, and you and her only."
Ishirou	Ishirou looks up at Tsubasa and speaks to him. It's... been a lot on him lately. Well not lately, for the last year almost. For a moment he wonders if it's 'alright' to not be stronger, or better... or more capable. Everyone kept telling him to be him... but when he was they told him it wasn't enough. They wanted to assign things to him. 'The smart one'. Tsubasa was right, though... he could always put off what he needs to do because he wants to be like others or put off what he should do now. He takes a breath, steadying himself, and rises to his feet again. His hands move to wipe the tears from his eyes, and he takes another steading breath. "Right... your right. It... just feels like I haven't been me in so long. But..." "Maybe it's time to be me for once and try and reach her. I don't know what can be done for the people who have lost, but I know what I want, I think," he says. "Thank you... but I think I need to go," he pauses. "...And I'll be bringing her home."
Hibiki Tachibana	With Ishirou rising back up to his full height, Tsubasa allows her hand to fall back away to her side. In its place, the look on her face has shifted to that of a small smile of satisfaction. Really, giving advice like this isn't her forte in the least. But it is heartening to see it attempted to be taken. And even moreso, seeing him pick himself back up. "'You' is something that is constantly changing every second, shaped by your encounters and your bonds. It does not need to be something set in stone. So long as you are working towards the one you wish to be, you are on your right path." She seems to find this resolution of his plenty enough, for now. It's far from a perfect solution, that solves everything. But really, what would be? And it also has to prove to work out in the end, but that's something only time will tell. "I'll wish you luck. I'll be waiting expectantly to see you both again, as well. The difference between the Tachibana of the past and the Tachibana of the now is that she has experienced the kindness of others - so I'd like to believe you'll succeed." "She has much to make up for. And while I'm sure she's been trying her best to do so in her own way, she should know well by now that it's not something easily done all by herself."