2022-05-07: She's really won the popularity contest
- Cutscene: She's really won the popularity contest
- Cast: Yuliana Dispersal
- Where: The Distant Mountains (Japan)
- Date: 2022-05-07 (0096) -- ICly, shortly after 2022-05-06: Given infinite possibilities, you chose kindness. I did not. (Prologue)
- Summary: Retreating after her battle, Yuliana tells her friends at Celestial Being that Athrusa is still at large, and reflects on the good Doctor.
Yuliana brings her Desmatz N to a brief halt, in the woods. It's smoking something awful, but it has enough structural stability not to explode; even so, she's taken cares to avoid any notice, in her escape.
She picks a few bits of monitor out of her hand, and shortly gives up on the venture. Someone else can handle it; she has enough range of motion to poke at her burner phone, in any case.
Because... there's a message.
> Did you capture unit CB-00X Impermanence and its pilot?
Of course that's what they want to know. With a scowl, Yuliana types out:
> She got away.
She puts the phone back down, and continues on her way. Thank God for quad-legs, she supposes; even with the snapped belt on the third one which loses her all motion on the end-claws, and the crushed and leaking hydraulics on the first where Impermanence tried to hitch a ride, she still has astounding mobility in this thing.
Between the flashing of alarm-lights in the cockpit, she catches a glance of the screen displaying a new message -- there's no vibration or ringtone or flashing lights, because she can't be seen getting these messages. She finds a safe place to pause, and checks again.
> It's of utmost importance. We've trusted you to do this. If you're not capable, someone else will.
"Oh, great," Yuliana grumbles, leaning back in her seat and staring up at the tortured readings of the Desmatz. She thinks over the people she knows -- for certain measures of the word -- connected to their mutual friends. Good old Nena Trinity, of course, as savage as she is and over a decade her junior... Skel Heroic, who would surely make a bombastic showing of anything she tried... there's Regina Everhart, though anyone that quiet is automatically worth suspicion, and...
... her dear, sweet Elisa, of course. She'd make short work of Doctor Baihe's complaints, Yuliana is sure; really, it's a pleasure to watch her work. But... if 'Athrusa' values choice as much as she says she does, these days...
Yuliana's gaze slips off, to the side of the cockpit. It wasn't damaged, despite the remarkable amount of holes in the rest of her wanzer. Well -- not damaged by anyone other than her, anyway.
She's a seasoned operative; she's been in the business going on nine years, at this point. She can recognise when she's compromised. Really, whether she's measuring from the REA or from Celestial Being -- the most logical solution either way is to take herself off this case, Yuliana thinks. She knows Elisa would be the more effective choice to bring Athrusa in, for precisely the reason Yuliana looks away.
But... she has her pride, and...
> I can handle it.
Calling 'pride' the only reason why Yuliana responds so confidently is the simple explanation.
She just... wants to see a satisfying narrative conclusion to Doctor Baihe's new story arc. If she's at all attached, it's just because she was so compelling, back then.
Putting her phone down, that hand less given to flinching reaches up, to brush down the left side of her face. She buries her face there, fingers tangling in her dark fascinator; the green crystal at its centre is terribly dark, too. It's thanks to Athrusa's knife that she can still smile at all, still cry; even if the Doctor had a shallow existence, it still... had an effect, on her.
It's not fair, she thinks. If the good Doctor hadn't left her, and decided to become this Athrusa character, instead...
"Who cares if it's rigged?" Yuliana asks empty air, her voice joining the rest of her as it carves a wound in her surrounds. "We're all playing our games... but we could've played together, Doc." They were playing together; even when they were on the front lines, beside each other. If Yuliana hadn't defended her back quite so well -- she wouldn't have this headache now, would she? What a waste of effort!, she thinks, to herself, with great force; it's not like she even REMEMBERS any more!
But... why did Athrusa forget, anyway?
And why are Celestial Being trying to retrieve things from her Republic, now, anyway?
"Who cares," Yuliana grumbles, again, insistently. It's all just a headache for her.
She lowers her hand, and types out another message -- to a different person on her very disposable contacts list, this time.
> I'm heading to the safehouse by Mount Nagi. Bring your pet mechanic, would you?
Even if she didn't manage to get her hands on Athrusa today, she at least managed to strike a savage blow on one sensitive soul -- and she's about to ruin a second one's day. The thought of that, at least, makes her smile.
It's all about the little things in life.