Scene #8805:

Owner	Pose
Timespace Riders	Hey, it's Sougo. I don't think we've ever 'just talked.' I'd like to change that. There are some things on my mind that I'd like to get your read on. Maybe that Woz would, too. Sougo includes a link most navigation apps can read, leading to a campsite in Hokkaido. A small clearing of trees, branches still bare from the ravage of winter, is reflected in the calm, still waters of a lake. The air is cool and crisp, made milder for the oncoming approach of spring. A dirt road leads to the clearing, should Haru care to take a conventional way in. Should he have some other means of arriving, it's not as if Sougo and Woz don't utilize unconventional travel themselves. No matter the way he takes, Haru arrives to find a trio of folding chairs arranged near a recently extinguished firepit, with the aroma of cooked and well-seasoned fish hanging in the air. A plate of fish skewers rests on a folding table nearby. Woz, dressed as he always is, and Sougo, in a navy peacoat over a patchwork pastel pink-blue button-up, both stand to greet Haru.
Hamada Haru	It's the second time in so many days that Haru has just been messaged out of the blue to 'come hang out at this place'. He's drinking tea in one of the oldest tea shops in the world at the time that he receives it, glancing down at his phone in vague irritation. There were, he supposes, disadvantages to being open, even if grumpily. That's fine. That's how 'Kamen Rider' is, and receding the way that he would sometimes like to would be absolutely unacceptable. He finishes his tea, pays his bill, and heads back out onto the street. It is a shockingly short amount of time later that the rumble of his motorcycle emerges into the clearing, the motorcycle angling up out of the earth and leveling out bizarrely as it does so. Haru cuts the ignition, tugs his helmet off, tosses it in the sidecar, and immediately pulls a thermos out of it and starts sipping on its contents. His appearance is unchanged, from boots to white fur-collared jacket and grey jeans with decorative dark-and-light splatter patterns on them. "Speak," he says, lowering the thermos from his lips. Definitely just more tea. Evidently his recent outing with Touta set his expectations to 'some kind of business', despite the cordiality of the messages. Or it might just be that he's being a bit awkward, it's hard to make the distinction with Haru.
Timespace Riders	Speak. "Ah," Woz 'exults' facetiously. "What a keen wit you have, Hamada Haru." His hand even dips towards Haru, a gesture one might make at a party when gassing up a friend. "Your overpowering charisma aside, it is good that you have taken my Demon King's invitation." Sougo shakes his head, gently chiding. "Come on, Woz. If his past two weeks have been anything like ours, he's probably tired and fed up." Woz pauses, giving Haru an appraising look, and then inclines his head. "Of course. Please," he says, stepping aside and gesturing towards the skewers, "Help yourself, if you wish." The retainer takes a seat, evidently having eaten already, folding one leg over the other. Sougo follows, taking the one beside him. "I've... had a lot of time, to think about what you told me in Twin Peaks. About people spending themselves until there's nothing left. And I'm trying not to do that, now." "It's... harder than I thought, but also easier." He frowns, seemingly uncomfortable with the latter part of that statement, hands folded in his lap, as he leans forward in his seat. "Where's the cutoff, for you?"
Hamada Haru	"Charisma? Wit? You are the second this week to call me to a camp ground. Herald of the Time-King, why should I expend the energy for presentation that you did not?" Haru answers Woz, coolly. He doesn't seem mad, just familiar enough with who he's talking to that he can smack the ball back in his direction. On the whole though, he doesn't have the weariness necessary to match either of them in obvious recently-expended effort. When he's offered food, his eyes flick towards it and then down towards his drink. "I might take some with me when I go," he says, "but this is a very sweet green tea. If I eat something like that with it I'll gag. But... thanks." And he means it when he offers thanks. Given what he thinks of 'spending one's self', he doesn't underestimate the effort of... well, effort of any kind, really. On the subject of 'spending one's self', Haru nods once in acknowledgment, but is otherwise silent until asked a question. He sits on the edge of his sidecar and looks at the ground. "Depends. In the moment, ultimately I... will throw away even my power if it doesn't suit the existence I've chosen to lead. It is better to be ordinary than to bring harm unwillingly. In the face of unknown parameters... it's hard to say. I've walked away from those who are wildly ungrateful. I argue whenever somebody pretends that I'm taking the situation hostage. There needs to be some reciprocity, some... give. Expecting everything for nothing is cruel." "Doing nothing is sometimes more cruel even than that," he cedes, folding his arms over his chest and kicking at the dirt beneath him. "So I suppose I try to do what is least cruel for everyone. That 'everyone' just happens to include myself."
Timespace Riders	Herald of the Time-King, why should I expend the energy for presentation that you did not? Woz's eye twitches, and the corner of his mouth twitches downwards in annoyance, but something gets the better of him, and he remains quiet. But... thanks. "You are welcome." He does seem to mean that, as much as Haru meant his offer of thanks. It is better to be ordinary than to bring harm unwillingly. The Demon King frowns thoughtfully, listening intently. I suppose I try to do what is least cruel for everyone. That 'everyone' just happens to include myself. Sougo nods, as Woz briefly stands up to wrap some tin foil over the plate of fish skewers. Somehow, he manages to do it with an eye for presentation, because of course he does. As the retainer sits down, Sougo speaks his mind. "Yeah... including 'myself' in it was something I really needed to do. You and Angela have helped, with that." "What do you do," asks Woz, resting his chin on one hand as he shifts in his seat, "When faced with incontrivertible proof that however far you have come is not enough? For Kamen Riders, there are only so many avenues to strength, and even the most honest among them are not without cost. When one's power comes from within, becoming stronger is not so simple as devising a training regimen to observe in the deep wilderness."
Hamada Haru	To Woz's straightforward reply, Haru simply smiles faintly, and then takes a long sip of his tea. He assumes it'll take a minute for one of these two to further compose their thoughts on the subject matter at hand. He tries not to look at all amused about Woz fancily wrapping tinfoil of all things, but more-or-less fails at it, because his grin hasn't quite gone away by the time the thermos rests against his leg again. He nods at Sougo's affirmation. "Good." //When faced with incontrivertible proof that however far you have come...// "There is a notion in Shintoism that to speak something brings it closer to reality. In summary, so far as I am concerned there is no such thing. If fate will not yield I will break its bones and suck out the marrow," he says, beginning to talk over Woz before he manages to get the sentence out completely.
Timespace Riders	If fate will not yield I will break its bones and suck out the marrow. Woz smiles faintly, after pausing in his utterance to hear Haru. The notion amuses him, or else strikes his sensibilities favorably. "Tempting," he says. "And admirable. I have felt much the same, and many within the Concord would likely agree, besides." "However," says Woz, lifting his chin to make a dismissive gesture with his hand, "Some adversaries will not be budged by an 'even so,' no matter how spirited one's delivery." Sougo nods. "There was an Abnormality--a kind of kaijin that Angela deals with. They're like living, breathing stories, and they generate power for the Company. Sometimes, they break out, though--and just beating them up isn't always enough." "This one, the Jester of Nihil..." Sougo frowns, to remember it. "It's a story about hopelessness. About clinging to routine, to try and put your mind off of how bad things are, and the futility of doing that." "Most who were present could scarcely touch it," Woz unkindly observes. "This is to be expected--I am sure that you have observed the lax attitude most Elites take, when it comes to their own emotional depth. Even I could not answer the simple question of 'who Kamen Rider Woz is Kamen Rider to,' until relatively recently." "Woz and I could chip at it, but only just. If Lilian hadn't been there, I don't... know, if the three of us would be sitting here right now." Woz nods, slowly. "What you have described, Hamada Haru, is the triumph found when one's inner strength and spirit are enough; when one has drawn deeper from the well than they might have imagined. What I and my Demon King wish to know is what happens when that well is dry, or else overdrawn in vain."
Hamada Haru	//However,// "No," Haru says, pushing away from his sidecar and moving to collect the tinfoil-wrapped fish skewers, depositing them in the floorboard of his sidecar. He settles again on the side of it, listening to Sougo. He only knows about LobCorp secondhand, and by speaking to Angela, but he doesn't really have a reason to disbelieve what's being described. Dark eyes flick from one man to the other as they trade telling the story and details, and when Lilian's name rises he inclines his head in acknowledgment. "Lilian, too, is one who does not acknowledge 'however'," he says. At the question that Woz asks on both their behalfs, he turns around and moves to the handlebars of the motorcycle. Time to start leaving, it seems. Snagging his helmet, he tucks it under an arm. Best to answer unmasked, for the moment, he supposes. "Nothing extraordinary. Same as before you were born. Same as a bank account overdrawn," he answers, donning his helmet and securing its strap. Grunting and climbing onto his motorcycle properly, he hovers a thumb over the ignition. "Honestly... you need to stare at nothing and think some more. Maybe most people do. I am not some all-knowing sage. Sometimes you just have to think, and people are the only ones who can do that."
Timespace Riders	Lilian, too, is one who does not acknowledge 'however.' The Demon King's attention is on Haru--but in the back of his mind, a conversation from the aftermath of the Jester's breakout lurks. <Q-Conversation> Sougo Tokiwa says, "I'm staring down miles more of this marathon and wondering why Lilian is so far ahead of me. If it had just been the three of us, I don't know if I would have made it." <Q-Conversation> Lilian Rook says to Sougo, "I've said it a number of times. I don't know if you were there." <Q-Conversation> Lilian Rook says, "It's because everyone gets one second per second forever. There's no give for anyone who needs it and no punishment for anyone who doesn't deserve it." Sometimes you just have to think, and people are the only ones who can do that. <Q-Conversation> Lilian Rook says, "No matter how hard-working you are, someone hard-working and with talent, or hard-working and with a better start, or talented and with an easy, unfair start, will stay ahead of you forever." <Q-Conversation> Lilian Rook says, "I'm older than you. While you were in highschool, I was scraping to catch up. I've had to be stronger, longer. That's all." <Q-Conversation> Lilian Rook repeats something she said to Angela already, "It's normal to be weak at the start. Needing to be rescued in the first chapter or two is fine." <Q-Conversation> Lilian Rook says, "I don't blame you for being behind. I'm honestly just satisfied that you're moving." <Q-Conversation> Sougo Tokiwa says, "Is it always this frustrating and sad?" <Q-Conversation> Lilian Rook to Sougo, "Yeah." "Okay," says Sougo, sighing. "More wouldn't hurt. I just hope that I have the answer before I have to worry about another 'overdraft.' Not having it, and thinking you do, hurts worse than just not having it. Or it does for me, anyway."
Hamada Haru	"There's no point in marinating in the absence of something. You aren't ever going to find yourself to be infinite, and failure does not live solely in your own ability or lack thereof," Hamada Haru says, rolling his neck with a series of pronounced pops. "Itsuro Takuma was a disgusting person who came up short in power, character, and time. I am sure that... now and again, that tormented him. I am also sure that he made up for two out of three of those, by the time he ran out of the third." "That's all," he says, thumbing the ignition on. "Thanks for the food." Throwing up a plume of mist, the rider machine angles itself back into the earth and vanishes from sight.
Timespace Riders	"Thank you, Hamada Haru, for your time," says Woz, standing, with one hand over his heart. He offers a little bow at the waist. After Haru is gone, Woz turns to Sougo. "His example was well-chosen," states the retainer, familiar by now with Takuma's story. Familiar enough to have told it, in fact. "Yeah," says Sougo. "It was. You and I, we have a lot more time than him, don't we? A lot less to make up for." Woz nods. "Indeed. The day after the Meltdown, you referred to the Game of Kings, to becoming the Sougo you wish to be, as a 'marathon.'" Woz takes a knee, head bowed. "I am sorry, truly, for my earlier insistence that it be a sprint." Sougo stands from his seat and places a hand on Woz's head, his thumb gently stroking the retainer's hair. "I forgive you," he says softly. "And I'm proud of you. Let's go home, okay? I think we both have some more thinking to do." The quiet of the campgrounds is disturbed only briefly by the rustle of Woz's scarf.