Scene #8603: The Lowdown

Owner	Pose
Hibiki Tachibana	Another day, and another trip home. In the weekday evening, as Lydian's curriculum once again comes to an end, students are equally once again free to retire to their homes. Whether that's at the on-campus dorms or otherwise changes from person to person, of course, and Miku is one of those who has somewhere else to return to, waiting for her. There's ordinarily another girl who'd be taking this same exact route home, the long way down the towering hill that the school resides on top of, but... ...Well, you know. "Make sure these are all in order, and..." Keeping her hands and mind busy on the walk, Miku is arranging the schoolwork meant for that 'other girl' she's taking home today as she goes, sifting through the small stack of papers and poring over their contents with a frown on her face. The shuffling of papers is the only sound for a ways around, other than her own murmurs to herself without anybody to hear them. "Some of these look a little hard...should I just do these ahead of time for her...? Any more, and it'll take a week just to get through half of it when she..." Everyday and mundane concerns like this make it easier to stomach and deal with ones that aren't quite as mundane, after all.
Angela	Rose will look like a delinquent no matter what she does, really. And so that's probably just what Rose looks like when she appears along the walk that Miku is taking, her instrument case slung over her shoulder. She is wearing the Lydian school uniform, as if a sign of the weakening grasp Lobotomy Corp even has on her though that crimson scar across the lower side of her face and her lips is a sign that she'll never really entirely be free of it. "Doin' her schoolwork too?" Rose asks. "You are really close." She has, of course, met Miku before--she goes to the same school and has been joining lunches and the like, but Rose hasn't really caught Miku alone before now. "She should be coming back soon. Sorry about..." Rose trails off, awkwardly. The apology is a bit reflexive because she certainly isn't responsible for much of anything that happened, but she's still sorry. "Dunno what you heard." Rose adds.
Hibiki Tachibana	"...Ah! Rose..." Miku is naturally startled by the other girl intercepting her walk home, although that's more from how stuck in her own thoughts she is and the unexpectedness of it more than anything. They've certainly met plenty, especially when Hibiki was around more, but... ...right, she actually doesn't think they've talked one-on-one before. If she's doing that now, it must be important. And there's only so many important things one can imagine it might be. Miku almost starts with one of her practiced smiles to seem as if nothing is amiss, tinged with a little bit of genuine fluster at the first comment, although both fade away nigh-instantly when she mentions Hibiki coming back soon. Miku looks a bit surprised, a bit hopeful, and then shifts to a more subdued expression, glancing down to the papers she's holding. "...Not a lot," she admits, with a hint of difficulty at keeping her voice even, even with a small and sad smile on her face. "I've gotten the idea that Tsubasa-san and the others would have a hard time talking about it, so I've tried not to press them too hard. But it's because Hibiki is in some kind of trouble out there, isn't she?" She takes in a breath, then looks back up at Rose. "And if she's not here...it must be something bigger than every other time she's had any. That's the feeling I get. I..." Miku seems to take a second to find her words. "...Is she really, or are you just trying to make me feel better? You don't have to, really."
Angela	"Well she said she'd be back soon." Rose says. She doesn't know if that means she WILL. It isn't like with Lupinus, really it is more like the inverse but... it is hard to entirely shake the feeling... Maybe it is that EGO talking to her more than her own thoughts. Rose pushes it out of mind for now. If Hibiki didn't actually go home she'd be surprised but she also wouldn't need to give too much time. Soon is soon right? She doesn't like thinking like this but it comes too easy. Rose says, "It...was rough. She asked me not to say anything but I can give the Lowdown just cause you deserve to know, but if you'd rather hear it from the horse's mouth..." But Hibiki is--or at least was--in trouble wasn't she. "Not trying to offer platitudes but I s'pose I'm not NOT trying to help you feel better, Ma'am." The ma'am slips out because Miku just kinda gives her that vibe right now.
Hibiki Tachibana	At 'it was rough', Miku gives a simple nod. In a situation like this, it's hard to imagine it wasn't. "If she asked you not to say anything...it must have been for a good reason. Hibiki isn't the kind of person to do something like this otherwise." Even if those are the words that come out of her mouth, it's not hard to tell that there's an undercurrent of unhappiness about her when she says that. And really, she can't pretend otherwise for very long. Especially not when Rose brings out the 'ma'am', which seems to genuinely catch her off-guard for a moment - and inspire a bit of a realization. "O-Oh, Rose..." Miku grimaces some, mostly at herself. "You don't need to be...formal with me, really. We both care about her, don't we?" She takes the time to take the stacked papers in her hand and move them into her bag. No point busying herself with these right now, and it's another second of distraction. Her tone does, however, get a little more serious, a little more somber, as she does so. "...It's hard, though. Being the one who knows the least. Can help the least. Even before this..." Even once she's done the deed, her eyes remain off somewhere else for a few heartbeats before she faces Rose again, hands clasped at her waist. "I'm just...afraid of making assumptions, I suppose. To whatever she's thinking and feeling, during all of this, to do all of this. That's why I told myself I was fine waiting for her to get back, to tell me everything in her own words. ...That's what I told myself." Telling oneself that it's fine is certainly different than truly being fine. "If... ...I'll listen, to anything you want to tell me. But most importantly--is she...doing alright?"
Angela	"You're..." Rose begins, at a loss for a moment. "You're somethin' else, Miku. I couldn't reckon if its a good reason or not, but I know she's been wrassling some pretty tough stuff. I've been in a similar position before, when you put your trust in the wrong folk and you catch some of the burn." She rubs at her neck awkwardly at her ma'am being called out, a faint pinkish ripple across her cheeks despite everything. "S..sorry ma--Miku. Sometimes the trainin' slips out. I don't mean nothin' by it. ... I do care about 'er yeah. It hasn't been that great bein' in the know and bein' all hogtied either." She quiets down as Miku tells her all the things she told herself but nobody who finds a lady precious to them is gonna be able to really rely on that in times like these. "She ain't physically hurt, but it doesn't mean she hasn't been wounded. Speakin' from experience, sometimes the pains you take on that you can't catch with your peepers are the hardest to walk away from." She exhales, wishing she had a cig right about now. "I wasn't there but the details got passed around. A bunch of folks didn't walk away from it. And.m. I don't figure that was the whole story neither." "Personally I think everyone was bein' too hard on 'er, eager to draw out the knives to get their pound of flesh. But Bikki's a good gal. She'd never see it quite the way I do."
Hibiki Tachibana	At the compliment, Miku's sad little smile becomes a little bigger, and a little more genuine. "I'm not anything special. I just...want to believe in her, really." Said smile dims down a bit afterwards, however, at Rose's own plight. "Knowing and being unable to do a thing...I know how that feels, too. I'm sorry, Rose." Not that she has anything to apologize for herself, but much like the other girl, it's something she feels like she needs to do. Her not being physically hurt seems to be a small comfort, but still very much a comfort. If Hibiki were out of touch against her will completely, that would be another story entirely. Miku listens intently, although despite her best efforts to keep a neutral expression... ...she can't help a wince, when Rose's explanation comes out. "...Oh, Hibiki..." Her clasped hands tighten up against one another, fingers taut. She understands the meaning behind 'not walking away' there. "People...died. And she must have had--something to do with it. I see." Her eyes drift down to the sidewalk pavement. It takes several seconds before she speaks again, closing her eyes without lifting her head. "No, she wouldn't, would she? She always blames herself even more than anyone else. For not being strong enough, smart enough, doing the wrong thing, not knowing what to say..." Her tone is solemn and maybe a little helpless, coming from someone who knows how she is at all her most vulnerable moments. "...And for not being able to save people. If something she did hurt them instead--...being alone isn't going to make any of it any better at all, and it never was...Hibiki, you big dummy..." Rather than even the smallest amount of anger, it sounds like undirected frustration more than anything.
Angela	Angela says, "Yeah," Rose can say to, really, everything Miku says. "It do be like that." ...She do be like that." A hint of a tear wells up in an eye and Rose looks away. "Big dummy " She mumbles. She bites at her lip and breathes out through her nose, trying not to look directly at Miku. She hopes Hibiki doesn't mind but the truth is... Hibiki's friends have become Rose's friends too. She can't only listen to Bikki anymore."
Hibiki Tachibana	Miku doesn't start tearing up herself, but that might only be because of how good she is at hiding away how she feels. The fact she's being this openly downcast at all says a lot. After a few seconds of silence pass between the both of them, the black-haired girl breathes in again. "...If...she said she's coming home soon..." She starts saying, slowly. Her voice is a little more hoarse than it was before. Only a little bit, though. "...Then I'll believe her. But only if she doesn't keep me...and everyone waiting even a second longer than she has to." "And that means you too, Rose. If you know she said that...you spoke to her at least once, didn't you? She trusts you a lot. And that really has to be hard, in a different way." Although she can't really even pretend to have her usual composure right now, Miku still manages to give her a tiny smile packed full of sympathy. "You don't deserve to have her running off all on her own, either. When she comes home...let's make sure she knows she doesn't have to do anything like this again. Especially not alone, when she has people who care about her."
Angela	Rose is still, ultimately, a teenager. She may be an agent but she is pretty young for the business. Her hope hadn't entirely been ground away yet. "Yeah. I'm sure she'll be back soon." It's the closest thing to faith that she has but--she has already had her big fight--surely she won't keep them waiting for so long. ''you spoke to her at least once, didn't you?'' "Yeah... We ran to each other a bit with the Belial stuff and she did sit me down eventually." And she trusts her... "I think she knows I don't want the best for her, but I dunno if she trusts my judgment." ''And that really has to be hard, in a different way'' "I'm really happy I got to become y'all's pals. I just... don't want us hurtin' each other." Rose mumbles before rubbing at her eyes with a wrist. "G..geeze, you're comforting me when I was s'pposed to be comforting you." She wheezes out a faint hiccupy breath. "...Yeah. She doesn't have to deal with anything on her own." Rose manages a smile that can never quite look kind until you know her. "I'll be your ally in that, Miku, for sure. Thanks Miku. For understandin'."
Hibiki Tachibana	Comforting Rose, when she was supposed to be the one comforted? Somehow, that seems to be a running theme when Kohinata Miku is involved... But, seeing the other girl manage a smile makes it entirely worth it. "It'd be wonderful...if we could all live in a world where nobody had to hurt anyone else. On accident, because of misunderstandings, or any other reason..." Her voice takes on a wistful tone, trailing off before she exhales. And then breathes back in a little calmer than before, giving Rose a singlular nod and a smile back. "You're more than welcome, Rose. And thank you, for worrying about me enough to come talk to me. I'm really happy you're here, too. I'm not the only one who thinks so either." Whether Miku means Hibiki specifically or perhaps other Lydian students, she doesn't elaborate on. Or maybe it's both. "...There are some things I can't help Hibiki with, no matter how much I wish I could. Things that only her friends like you are able to, because you're out there with her. I'm glad you're one of the ones that can be there for her, even when I can't be. Even if all of this has been...hard, and I wish it didn't happen...and I'm not really sure if it'll get much easier, even after she comes home..." "...I hope you'll be with us for a long time to come!"