2023-01-29: VERTEX (Roux/Asciel) - The Sound Your Bell Makes, Encore
- Cast: Asciel Colette, Roux Louka
- Where: VERTEX
- Date: U.C. 0097 01 29
- Summary: Asciel texts Roux in part because she's very very stressed out about GENESIS.
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: Hmhmhm...so you really wish to hear from me in this sort of format, even when I think I speak so clearly out in the field...
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: *after almost sending, and then backspacing, 'who is this' and 'how did you get this number':* Atrytone? Wow, hey, glad you contacted me. How are you?
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: Thaaaat's me! Well I'm not /great/ considering the very near brush with complete planetary obliteration the other day. That's a downer! I'm very upset about that!
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: Yes that has also bothered me a lot
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: Nukes and so forth
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: I suppose by the time I heard about it I had no way to do anything about it...
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: I've been tracking potential large scale disasters for so very many years. It's, like, basically my job! I've assessed the world countless times over for every major threat, so to have one sneak up on me and suddenly take the number one slot is! It's! things are moving too fast for me to even have any clue what to do so I have to just HOPE others take care of it, except that's super unreliable so I have to pace around thinking of what I even /could/ do if they fail because that's SO not staying intact on my watch
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: Is it? That must be... interesting and also horrible. Do you think a lot of people are relying on you?
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: Everyone is relying on me.
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: Oh, yes?
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: I know what it's like to have to carry a team, it sucks
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: More than just a team. Everyone. Every single person. It is my promise to ensure that mass annihilation events no longer are possible to come to pass so this is NOT GOING OVER WELL FOR ME and I think I very personally will try to turn Patrick Zala's residence into a smoldering crater at this point!
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: hahahahahaha that'll annihilate HIS mass
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: It's really awful feeling trapped into this. I joined a political movement when I was younger but now they're just like "the spicier party" i guess
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: ghgh you know what's even more awful. reading that GENESIS was something repurposed from some kind of solar sail propulsion. amazing that the same stuff which seems so useful for deep space nonsense is also always really capable of causing extreme amounts of harm
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: they had a name for that in my practical physics class
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: i forget what it was but it was basically anything that can put out the energy to go fast can also be a weapon. except the fold drive! :tombstone: the fold drive inspector police
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: I am pretty sure a Fold Drive can be weaponized. Of course it can. Shoot it the wrong way and it probably makes a black hole or something. I don't trust those things!
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: why not? they seemed super safe, the zentradi had them for like. ever?
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: still this is just horrible. why make a weapon like that? a nuclear superbomb is bad enough
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: Because the entire doctrine of mutually assured destruction turns international competition into a game where the meaningful threat of everyone everywhere dying is the only 'shield' some people have. because getting what you want means taking everyone hostage
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: huh
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: that's kind of accurate but i meant more emotionally, I guess
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: ugh that gave me a really bleak thought...
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: anyway, are you really all alone?
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: the world has been constructed into a horribly dangerous engine that would view emotion as a troublesome byproduct. the bleak thought is un-needed though, because it's my purpose to purge the cancerous things which would induce them. ...define 'all alone', in the heat of the moment I often do have to stand as a single point
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: haha! i mean like do you feel like nobody understands you? like even if there are people, you're not "with" them, even if they're repairing your MS or something?
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: Of course they don't understand me, but that's fine. There are things they don't need to understand. ...I usually prefer to do my own repairs, but sometimes that is impractical, and it's not really comfortable leaving it in others hands.
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: Yeah I get you.
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: I'd say something like "you just need to open up to others" and maybe sometimes that's true, but sometimes it just makes you look pathetic. If you're lucky they'll treat you with pity. If you're not, they'll take advantage of you.
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: But...
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: It can happen, you know? You have to be open to it happening
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: The entire problem is that most people inherently find themselves needing others - and that binds them to the world's demands. Binds them to the structures that hurt them. It's my entire duty to avoid that.
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: what do you mean? I don't understand. Didn't you say you're trying to like
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: > tracking potential large scale disasters
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: It's harder to do that if I make myself instrumental in the mechanisms that produce those disasters. They're inherently collaborative efforts.
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: collaborative... you mean that even charles britannia or something can't just wave his hand and build a city like a wizard or something?
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: (Or something :laff:)
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: I'm sure they spared no expense in Pendragon...
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: i'm sure, but it's collaborative, right? like millions of people spent their lives building the colony
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: colonies*
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: but I doubt they were ALL friends with EACH OTHER
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: I suppose what I mean is that you don't have to be friendly with EVERYone. I was in a team of like six people and one of them I hope he fell out an airlock
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: I mean I'd probably rescue him if he did and I was there but I'd complain
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: But now you're in far more than just a small team. Indeed, quite a lot of Londo Bell has basically been entrusted with the safety of all mankind.
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: haha
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: that's pretty funny but it's not like i put it on my resume page.
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: if you thought I'm a londo bell hero you're unfortunately wrong... I'm a contractor and I'm not re-upping
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: Surely not a sign that the weight of expectations has been too much for you to bear!
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: Haha. What, can you guess why I'm leaving?
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: There is only so much I know about you, and about your affiliation, so any guesses would be less than fully accurate...
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: Well, that's life! But
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: I don't want to be in a position to have to take their orders. I know a lot of them are good people. But the EFF were good people too.
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: Few desire that position. It's amusing (i.e. awful) that nonetheless the world revolves entirely around it.
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: what position, taking LB orders?
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: Being part of some massive chain of command just in general.
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: anyway, i was making dinner so i'm a little scattered.
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: Hm
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: Independence is a hard ideal yeah
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: Not just an ideal. Something that must take place to prevent suffering. People should not be part of massive engines solely meant to destroy other such engines.
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: well
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: yeah i mean though not everything is one?
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: like you're not going to get me defending the federation but a lot of it is welfare payments and data routing and stuff!
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: The medical supplies and measuring tape should not be bolted onto the sides of assault rifles.
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: i agree with your very vivid illustration
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: But maybe that's any system, I don't know
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: Fortunately, I'm now here and I've determined to never give up until I change that!
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: heehee
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: so, you've felt it too, i knew it
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: The things I feel are but simple observations. If I feel them, countless more do - and they are simply not given liberty to express their feelings. But I see them. Peeking through the cracks.
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: heh. it's weird, isn't it? but i felt it too
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: People try to use it as a weapon.
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: Unfortunately weapons have long since outclassed the strength of those pulling the trigger, so I have to work extra hard to dismantle them!
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: you know, you're really creative with these analogies
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: The pen being mightier than the sword is a saying I take to heart. But I also make sure my sword is very sharp!~
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: I think the pen is better though. do you write?
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: I mean you were there for when I was singing! ...I suppose I'm starting to write my own tunes in the interim...
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: yeah, you're really talented! all I can do is pilot spaceframes and look hot
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: Everyone should sing!
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: You think so? But I don't know, you were really nailing it
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: I guess there's karaoke but that's different you know?
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: It wasn't long ago that I couldn't really sing much at all. But I strove to do it, and did it as much as I could, and thus achieved it!
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: hee, and you're encouraging, too
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: anyway, part of why I wanted to speak with you is... I don't know, anxiety, even I kind of know I'm one major mechanical malfunction from being tomato roux
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: If only more people realized how close they are to that. We sure did forge a world in which we stuff squishy people into unyieldingly titanic bodies of war. Naturally, my wisdom and understanding is here to ease anxiety and provide paths forward!
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: pffff. do you do fortunetelling too???
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: Something like that...!
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: well then do mine ;)
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: It's a bit more complicated, hmph hmph! And I won't be able to keep online for much longer!
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: i have to go too. i hope we can meet sometime and it's, you know, not fighting in a colony lab zone or against robot santa theft
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: i still sort of go 'did that happen or was it drugs' how about you?
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: That was clearly a kikaiju developed from one seen before! Exorbitant crimelords favor esoteric machine designs, you know.
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: i mean koji told me about it but
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: singing maybe. anyway! have a good night, ok??
[VERTEX] Asciel Colette: Hehehe. Resting well is imperative!
[VERTEX] Roux Louka: so toity! ttyl~