perfectmatch | week two

Oh, true. The camerapeople might fall asleep, and the waitstaff probably wanna go home eventually.

[Alas...]

Alright, I guess we can't stay that long, but let's at least get a good few hours outta it! That mean you spend time at places like this a lot?

Hmm... The night doesn't have to end when we leave here anyway, does it?

[ They can always keep it going at home! (Suggestive) (No) (Unless?) ]

But... I guess you could say that. Usually if my colleagues invited me out. Our schedules don't usually line up, but it's happened enough times over the years.

[... Yeah, is that suggestive? Ringo pauses, trying to figure it out, but.

... Huh.

She'll have to ask at the end of the date.]

Oh yeah? That's usually when I'd go out drinking too. With my Devil Summoning team, whenever they were available! You can learn a lot about someone through something like this, right?

[ hol up ]

...

Devil Summoning team.

[ she could wrap her head around Ringo being an artificial being when it had come up in last week's group discussions, but, uh, "devil summoning" is not what she would imagine an artificial being would do... ]

[Brightly:]

Yep! Freelance, to be exact!

... What, is that weird?

[ She waves her hand dismissively... ]

Not necessarily, it's just... mm, different.

[ Staring very intently into Ringo's eyes: ]

You'll have to tell me what exactly you mean by "devil" here, since it might mean something different for you than for me.

Whoa. Looking intense there, Shoko!

[Ringo doesn't seem bothered, though; instead, she meets Shoko's eyes steadily, smiling a little.]

"Devil", "demon", we use the words interchangeably back home. They're creatures you can make a contract with and then summon to help you fight.

[ She's hot when she looks intense though right. ]

Mm. So a little bit like shikigami, then. Interesting...

[ And she does mean that genuinely; she's fascinated. She wouldn't have accomplished all that she has in her career if she hadn't been possessed by her very own curse of wanting knowledge. ]

So what are you fighting, then?

[Hell yeah she does. Ringo's noting that, too, of course.]

The looming apocalypse, of course.

[Casually. Their food and drinks have since arrived, and Ringo reaches for her beer to take a nice gulp of it.]

Aion wouldn't ever have made something like me if not for the potential end of the human race. It's an unbiased collection of eons of data. It doesn't care one way or another about anything.

But humanity dying out would've been a big loss objectively, soooo. Here I am!

[ The looming apocalypse. Of course. It's funny to hear her speak of such a thing in that easy, breezy tone of hers, but that's better than the alternative, isn't it? Shoko finds that as refreshing as their beer.

While she listens dutifully, she also reaches for her chopsticks so she can get at that karaage... ]

So, an artificial being made in the form of a young woman who can summon spirits to stop the end of the world. And what was the reason for the looming apocalypse, exactly..?

Yeah, yeah, you got it!

[She's really not surprised that Shoko takes it in stride, though. She's seemingly taken everything in stride, after all.]

It was kind of complicated, but basically boiled down to this thing called the Great One. Sort of god-like. A series of events would set its summoning into motion, and Figue and I were sent to try to avert those events.

[ Ah, yes, the summoning of some ancient, powerful asshole........ ]

Ehh... I hate to say it, but I can kind of relate. Wish we'd had someone like you on our side, though.

[ Or maybe not. We should not wish JJK upon Ringo she wouldn't end up doing anything. ]

And who's Figue? Companion of yours?

[2real, Ringo could've never been a protagonist in jjk.]

Oh yeah? You gotta tell me some of your stories too then!

But yeah, she's my sister. We're two peas in a pod! The only two AI in the whooole world back home.

Two...?

[ TWO!? ]

Wow, it's kind of hard to imagine two of you. [ She's definitely just picturing Figue as Ringo's twin. ] I bet you two were unstoppable, hm?

[... She is, isn't she? Ringo laughs at that, amused, as she lifts her chopsticks to go for some of the pickled vegetables.]

Yeah, you could say that. Figue's pretty different from me, though. We were made that way, you know? For balance.

She's the calm and measured one. Very sensitive, always worrying about other peoples' feelings.

Hm. So it's like that. Like you're two halves of a whole.

[ Though Shoko tips her head to one side, curious. ]

You've seemed pretty thoughtful to me too, though, Ringo-chan.

Yeah, exactly!

[Ringo beams at that, taking another swig of her beer.]

Aw thanks! If you ever meet Figue, please tell her that. I wanna see her face.

[A laugh, and she leans back on her hand.]

I just like learning about people. Humans are so interesting. Making friends and bonds and connections... it's pretty special.

I wanna learn more about you, too, Shoko.

[ Oh? What an interesting dynamic she must have with her sister, for her to react that way. At Ringo's latter remark, though, Shoko grins. ]

Yeah? Go for it. What do you want to learn?

So you're not a normal human, yeah? What's going on with you and your world?

[Of course that's the natural starting point.]

Oh, you know. This and that. Like shoooom and dandannnn.

[ . . . . . .

Fine. She'll actually explain, since she did tell Ringo to go for it. ]

Negative human emotions build up and cursed spirits are born with it. People like me who can see into that supernatural layer of our world have the ability to train and fight them using cursed energy in our own bodies. Those are sorcerers, and there aren't a lot of us. In my case, though, I convert mine into a healing energy, which is rare. I can also use it to heal other people, which is even more rare. Anyway, recently a lot of bad guys popped up that wanted to turn the world upside down, so it was pretty stressful, but the students and sorcerers at my school worked really hard to beat them.

Oh, hey! Not too different from my world, then. At least, not in the ways that matter.

[Ringo laughs, beaming.]

Not surprised you're all kinds of special, though. It just feels right for someone like you. Healing, huh... bet you've saved lots of lives.

[ Shoko did have a feeling, from what Ringo's described so far, that their worlds aren't all that different. She's not sure if that's a good thing or not, but as long as there's someone like Ringo fighting for her world... it's probably going to be fine. ]

Hoh? That feels like a big compliment. [ She smiles a little. ] But, yeah. I have. I've honestly lost track, at this point.

[Ah, there! A smile from Shoko! Ringo's deeply pleased by this.]

That's how it should be, I think.

[For healers, anyway.]

Maybe I should come give you a hand sometime. In your world.

week two | dates

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