2023-03-13: Poking Porcupines
- Log: Poking Porcupines
- Cast: Lucine Azul, Angelo Sauper
- Where: A Vending Machine Corner, Ra Mari II
- OOC - IC Date: U.C. 0097-03-13
- Summary: Angelo just wants a SOYJOY. Lucine just wants to understand Angelo. Neither of them really get what they want. Thanks, Char(??).
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
Who knew that publicly declaring yourself as a protector of the Gundam Phenex while piloting a distinctive suit that you (and technically someone else once) could be such a bad idea when it came to laying low?
Thankfully, it's not as if the Dianthus was some experimental Gundam; the Dianthus would be notable only in circles of fans of a late charismatic Martian bounty hunter/mechanic from the 70's, and even then, as a sad last build from a man responsible for some of the fastest and flashiest racers and units of the era. Which means, outside of Mars enthusiasts, it's just a black and magenta femme-looking robot. Neither did Lucine even identify herself by name; she opted for 'Harrier-1' instead and then, on an unfortunate burst of inspiration, the 'Shadow of Azure'.
Yeah, it's all going to be just finnnne. If she just lays low, people will soon forget. After all, the BANSHEE WAS THERE, who is going to even care? Especially on the Ra Mari?
Sitting in one of the many lounges aboard the Ra Mari, Lucine struggles with a decision over what to get from the vending machine. ".... Ah..." She punches in a number, and the bag of sea chips is nearly released from the metal grip of the spring.... but gets stuck.
"..." She screws her face up in determination, and gently bangs on the glass.
Would someone care enough to bother her because she was just right there, annoyingly?
<Pose Tracker> Angelo Sauper has posed.
Would someone care enough to bother her because she was just right there, annoyingly?
Normally? Probably not. The crew of the Ra Mari II might feel disparate but in generaly certainly don't seem so petty. Then again...
"Move."
... the crew of the Ra Mari II aren't the only people currently taking up residence on this impressively large Zentradi vessel, are they?
Angelo Sauper has mostly kept to the areas assigned to him and the other Sleeves by Captain York since arriving aboard the ship; and even then, he has mostly kept to himself where possible. There are exceptions, of course, as there often are: recently, the Lieutenant has been seen in various areas of the ship, pitting Banagher Links of all people against a grueling training regimen; little training exercises in mobile suits can be seen taking place just outside the ship itself, every now and then, complete with a few practice skirmishes between what looks like a modified Geara Doga and members of the Sleeves' Royal Guard.
Besides this, it's been rumored that the pale-haired spacenoid could be found at the ship's gardens exactly once every week. Sometimes, he checks the soil. Sometimes, he inspects the grounds. Not often.
Every time, he cuts a single rose from the bushes, and leaves.
The other exception, of course:
"Put more money into the worthless machine or get out of the way."
Is the simple fact that even anger elementals like Angelo Sauper are still human, and still need to eat.
This is what brings him a fair distance from Lucine and her personal space today, as if he couldn't bear to get any closer than that more-than-healthy remove. Arms: crossed over his chest. Head: tilt, expectantly. Frown: intense. Stare: annoyed.
Foot: definitely tapping impatiently.
So yes.
Someone would.
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
It's like a challenge, those chips. She bangs on the glass again.
She'll get it out, *without* using money. She has enough of course, but she knows she can angle it out if she just--
"...." Oh, for goodness's sake. It's that young man."
Tapping his foot.
She pauses.
".... I've noticed you've been tending to the roses in the garden." She doesn't give Angelo the benefit of looking towards him, but the small spike of anger cools as she verbally remembers. Angelo's interest in the roses are likely the only reason Lucine is taking out her wallet, instead of insisting on banging the glass until that hot ball of anger behind her morphs into a proper star. ".... They've been looking much better." Roses were hardly Lucine's field of expertise, though their ornamental status would mean she'd have to convince the Nadesico staff the value of having a proper ornamental garden before she could even begin to try them. "... You should talk with the gardeners on staff."
Counting out the necessary change, she begins putting the coins in.
".... Does the man you follow appreciate such things?" She can't remove the anger from her voice completely, especially as the question is halfway rhetorical. But it also serves a purpose.
'Why do you follow him?'
<Pose Tracker> Angelo Sauper has posed.
.... I've noticed you've been tending to the roses in the garden.
It's a sentiment that might help Lucine restrain her own anger. But for Angelo...
"..."
Violet eyes narrow as if Lucine just decided to kick over the lieutenant's entire sand castle, bald-faced.
"-You- should mind your own business, and yet here we are," is Angelo's bite of a rebuke to Lucine's attempt to reach out, as if the very attempt was an insult. That narrowed gaze tilts towards the left, in the direction of the Sleeves' assigned area on the ship. Angelo's fingers curl a bit more tightly to his biceps. And then, finally...
"Your Captain and I have an agreement. I don't have any interest in helping you people any more than what I'm given."
What he's given apparently being... roses?
But if that - albeit dismissive - answer is like a concession, it withers on the vine the second that Lucine asks that second question. Angelo's gaze immediately snaps back on her. He can read between the lines well enough.
"You people," he begins, amusement tinging his tone in a way that is less 'light and jovial' and more 'laden with contempt,' "always have the same, ignorant question. One you wouldn't have to ask if you -actually- understood what the Colonel is. But you don't; you'd rather reject him to feel cozier about your place in this world. So you keep asking it, over and over again."
Does he appreciate such things? Angelo's lips pull into a tight-lipped sneer.
"People who serve at the pleasure of traitors and stupidly, blatantly defend the abominations of Anaheim don't get to know."
It -does- turn out publicly declaring yourself defender of the Phenex in a distinctive suit gets you noticed.
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
The first comment doesn't get a response of anger; Angelo's anger that Lucine had observed him in the garden in a way that could sound like an invasion of privacy is... fair. The realm of plants is a personal one, for many.
The coins lightly jingle as they fall into the vending machine, save for the last.
.... Which Lucine withholds as Angelo says the next two words: 'You people'.
It takes her a moment to realize that the group Angelo was placing her in *wasn't* 'Martians', with how he started. "All I know is... when I came here, the only talk of conflict and war has been betwen the Spacenoids and Earthnoids, as if nothing existed beyond it." Is Earthnoids a word? Lucine doesn't care. "... I'm not the sort to believe in blind allegiance, especially to someone who claims to speak for the dead." She still looks at the forlorn bag of kelp chips, suspended between the glass and the metal holder.
Angelo then clarifies exactly what he means, and Lucine finally turns around.
".... Abominations of Anaheim?" Her yellow eyes widen slightly in stark, naked curiosity. "As in... the Earth City? Or... that one company?"
It's going to get a lot more annoying for Angelo, now. ".... Could you explain, what you mean? Is this something to do with Ra Mari, or the Nadesico?"
Because Lucine seems to have no idea what he's talking actually about.
She hasn't even picked up that he was referring directly to her, this time.
<Pose Tracker> Angelo Sauper has posed.
If there's any sort of clear indicator of the tiers of importance in Angelo Sauper's life, it's what he first chooses to immediately rebuke against the sum whole of everything Lucine says to him:
"The Colonel only -claims- exactly what he -is-."
And that his most severe of frowns is reserved exclusively for when Lucine questions that fact.
"He is a vessel. -Our- vessel."
He waits. How patiently is an open question, considering the tapping of his foot has become an irritable tapping of his index finger against his bicep. The rest of what she has to say - especially that wide-eyed confusion and interest - that earns, of all things, an amused scoff.
Don't get the wrong idea; it's still slathered in annoyance.
Only now there's that layer of scornful amusement, too.
"You don't know...? ... Ha. You don't believe in blind allegiance, and yet here you are, judging us without knowing the first thing about any of us." If Lucine is expecting an explanation, she's certainly not getting it from Angelo -- not yet, anyway. Instead, Angelo regards her with the guarded suspicion of one who has learned caution from a wealth of experience.
"... Where are you from?"
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
Angelo's anger feels delightful, almost, on par with teasing Alto, though the latter is always done in the spirit that she respects him as a fellow pilot. Angelo...
'Our- vessel.'
If only Angelo had stuck with that first angry comment. Lucine can't bear to take any amount of joy from this poking now. ".... I see."
"...." She asked him questions, and now he asks her one.
But the way she guards herself, almost on impulse, even if she relents, may say some things by itself. ".... I'm from Mars." She turns back to the vending machine. "So you're correct, in a way. I'm bringing things to this conversation that have nothing to do with this conflict."
She places the final coin in.
".... Where are you from, then? If you care to say."
<Pose Tracker> Angelo Sauper has posed.
.... I'm from Mars.
"Hmp."
Mars. That distant, red planet. A number of Zeon's old guard fled there, Angelo knows; they're just one of several who have thrown their support behind the Sleeves, seeing them as the last desperate gambit for a revived Zeon.
The thought makes the Lieutenant's expression curdle mildly.
"And you've chosen to side with them. The people who'd rather let the forgotten rot because maybe someday a miracle will save us all."
He'd spit, but he's not so crude. Instead, he just waves a pale hand through the air dismissively.
He'd have more to say -- but then she asks that question. Where is he from? If he cares to say. Violet eyes narrow, watching her feed the machine that last coin.
"I don't," he answers, bluntly. But she answered him. He lingers in silence, stewing over that fact, before he ultimately answers:
"... Side 3." The birthplace of Zeon. Looking at him, it'd be easy to see him as another lost aristocrat's son from the old guard, too.
"Why did you try to defend the gold Unicorn?"
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
".....!" Anger flashes in those yellow eyes as she pivots around, shoulder-length hair fanning outwards with the violence of the motion.
A second later and Lucine stops herself from advancing into Angelo's personal space. .... Are the two of them actually thinking of the same things, with these 'them's and 'the people'?
"...... Better that I'm here, and to have another reason the powers that be can't pretend that Mars no longer exists. The Nadesico was the only one who came; as far as I'm concerned, my loyalty is to them." Her eyes narrow. "... If that's what you meant, by 'them'."
Side 3. Lucine nods, her tone soft in thought. "... Side 3... I see." While she doesn't comment, she draws her own conclusions. The young man is well-dressed and with an air of someone of class; perhaps he had connections to certain elements from there.
She passes no judgement on this.
'Why did you try to defend the gold Unicorn?'
The Nadesico gardener's eyes widen slightly. ".... Ah, so that's..." She peers at him, owl-like in her open curiosity. "... I think I'm beginning to understand a little... Is that what you meant, by me siding 'with them'? Is... the Anaheim thing connected to that, as well?" She punches in a code for the item above the kelp chips.
"It was for the pilot's soul trapped inside. I realized there was something odd in how the Phenex was acting, but I felt that, if the Phenex was captured, it may make things worse. I felt vindicated in this when the party coming after her complicated things further by sending one of the Phenex's sisters in, throwing everyone's lives in danger." Her eyes narrow. "And now, the Banshee is flying around unchained, and even more dangerous, all as a means to an end."
The candy bar above the kelp chips comes down, knocking both.
".... That is my reason.... since you asked." She grins slyly, and steps aside. "It's all yours."
<Pose Tracker> Angelo Sauper has posed.
"..."
For several seconds, violet eyes regard the furious flash of yellow counterparts with an unreadable intensity. Annoyance and scorn fold inwards in place of something else, something harder to place, as if Angelo Sauper were trying to decide what the source of that anger is.
Anger towards him is easy enough to deal with; he deals with annoyance and dislike every day. It's his lens through which he best views the world.
This isn't, necessarily, directed at him, and he isn't sure if he should trust it.
But as Lucine reins herself in -- as she explains -- that expression shifts; violet eyes hood in dispassion and look aside as she starts to put things together. Pale lips pull into a frown. And as Lucine expresses compassion...
"Tt."
A single sound of displeasure clicks off Angelo's tongue in perfect sync to the Martian's sly smile.
Angelo still hasn't answered, as he steps forward towards the vending machine. He hasn't said a word as he produces his gilla coins, and feeds them to the vending machine with crisp, straight-backed efficiency. And then--
"... You clearly have no idea how things work here, so I'll do you a favor and explain to you what's going to happen."
Angelo doesn't look Lucine's way; he scans that machine's with a controlled neutrality, even as he speaks.
"The Ra Mari II struck out on its own, deciding the Earth Federation has finally gone too far. Brave young soldiers rallied to their cause, full of ideals and hopes and knowledge they'll certainly make things better this time, because they're the future." A pale finger presses against the buttons of the vending machine only when Angelo is certain of what he wants -- as if he has no interest in touching anything here any longer than he has to.
"But first, they need to deal with the problem in space. So they'll turn their attention to us, first. Because we're the -true- threat."
He presses the buttons. The machine starts to whirr with life.
"They'll attack us, shouting about ideals and possibility and hope. If they persevere, they'll call it a real miracle. But they'll be exhausted. Worn down."
A bar wrapped in tinfoil labeled 'SOYJOY COSMIC!' begins to push forward as Angelo crouches down in front of the machine.
"So they'll let attrition win; the governments of Earth will have to be dealt with later. Maybe they'll give the Federation a stern speech in lieu of a show of arms against a larger, far better armed military force."
thmp
"And then they'll all pat themselves on the back, decide the next generation will fix everything, and let all the invisible people of space continue to -rot-, unnoticed and uncared for."
And Angelo takes his soy bar and rises, stepping away from the machine with a calm motion that belies the way his jaw clenches tight.
"Just for a -little- bit longer."
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
Angelo is a strange person-- certainly not someone she could dismiss as easily as she did under her first impression of him. She isn't sure what to make of him, but she feels more at ease than if she was in a room with Full Frontal.
To Angelo's credit, Lucine listens. The fact that he's opening up at all is something not to be wasted, if she wanted to have some understanding of how anyone would follow a man so willingly.
Tucking her candy bar into a pocket for later, she quietly opens her bag of chips halfway. ".... So your theory is that the Alliance will deal with you first-- that is, anyone that gathers under Full Frontal's banner, because of the threat he represents..." she states, softly. "Being he is drawing people to his side, as a vessel for the Spacenoids'... future." 'Hope' would have been her first choice, but that exposes the latent bias she has. "And perhaps, because of the means he uses to reach his ends."
But that is besides the point, as he continues. Her eyelids lower. ".... I see. So... a repeat of what happened, after Axis Shock, in other words." ... If one took a dim view of the events afterwards. ".... does your leader feel he would break the cycle in some way, rather than be a mirror image of that same?"
A tone issues from her pocket; a tinny rendition of an old Martian song. Lucine takes it out and skims over the title summary. ".... Mm." Her expression tightens, and she opens the message, reading Kamille's post.
"..." Silence. She frowns, pondering if she should share.
Then again, it wasn't as if Amuro's appearance was secret. Char's would be even less so, especially if he is a Disciple.
Lucine locks her phone back up and slips it back into a pocket. "It is not my place to divulge information, but I imagine your leader may likely already know. A ghost claiming to be Char Aznable has appeared, as a Disciple."
<Pose Tracker> Angelo Sauper has posed.
So... a repeat of what happened, after Axis Shock, in other words.
"What happened after the Second Neo Zeon War," confirms Angelo, simply. "And the First Neo Zeon War before it. The Federation must love the spacenoids still clinging desperately to Zeon's tattered corpse. They make for a wonderful buffer against people turning more than a disapproving eye on -their- filth."
Angelo pinches the foil top of his SOYJOY wrapper with an aluminum crinkle as he prepares to open it. His expression remains affixed at a point of bland annoyance, hooded eyes downcast as he tears that wrapper open with excruciating exactness. Does his leader think he would break the cycle in some way? Angelo scoffs at the very idea, even as he opens it.
"He's the only one who's capable of it," he states, firmly, resolutely, as if there could be no room to argue with that fact in his mind.
"Every single one of the rest of you will just fall into the same pitfalls of corruption and weakness that every single one of you have before. If you really want to know what it's like to live in a world where you're no longer ignored and left to rot, it isn't the Ra Mari you should be fighting for."
Angelo looks up as he says this final line -- only to pause, as he stares at Lucine, apparently more occupied frowning at her phone. Irritation flares in those violet eyes, but there's something else there in Lucine's expression. Hesitation.
"-What-?" is his charitable prompt for her. "Spit it out."
It is not my place to divulge information...
That disclaimer inspires suspicion to narrow Angelo's stare like a reflexive, survival mechanism. And then she continues. And his eyes narrow all the more.
Char Aznable. The Red Comet. The would-be savior of spacenoids--
*crnkl* goes the SOYJOY as he snaps the still-wrapped snack with the iron clench of his hand.
"-What- did you just say?"
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
".... I cannot disagree with that," Lucine replies, her eyes lidding. "A common enemy can mean the difference between a bloody conflict and a peace agreement between two eager parties."
It's still so strange, to find herself having tumbled into a history book that's still being written. All of these conflicts still wrote the culture that washed onto Mars' shores, sometimes in the form of Zeon remnants, but it was always something that happened 'over there' to Lucine, growing up. Important to know, crucial to learn, but Mars was Mars.
'He's the only one who's capable of it.' And now, Lucine's in the middle of it all, seeing the ghosts of it still coming out to mingle like a space-age Danse Macabre.
"... I see," she says, before Angelo expands on his point.
The final line would have been something that would have hit home a little too sharply if she wasn't occupied by the news on her phone.
"I said what I said. ... With some caveats," Lucine says calmly, yellow eyes centered on the clenched remains of Angelo's SOYJOY bar. "It is likely not the Char Aznable *we* know, if this is a case similar to the Amuro Ray incident. In that one, if I am correct, it was an Amuro Ray from... another dimension? Or something to that effect. In short, another version of Amuro Ray, somehow brought over here." She pauses. "Or, the dimension thing is simply my misunderstanding. Either way, this is a Disciple. Everything they do is in the service of that end, and it would be better to treat them as a walking logic virus. He has Char's abilities, his knowledge, his memories, his biases, but everything is tailored towards spreading Triple Zero's creed: the destruction of everything."
She should be more worried. She knows she should. The idea of an infected Char Aznable is worse than an infected Amuro, because Amuro didn't think to drop a colony on Earth.
"Mr. Sauper...." Her gaze locks onto Angelo's, matching the directness of her next words. "If you want to remain true to the ideals you hold close to your heart... treat this Char not only as your enemy..." Which he already seems to do, judging by the poor SOYBOY bar, "... but someone infected with something that can spread from person to person, overwriting who they are."
<Pose Tracker> Angelo Sauper has posed.
And just like that, so close to a turning point, -he- shows up.
Like he -always- does.
Angelo Sauper is stock still after snapping that SOYJOY bar in half; he might as well be a statue for how little he moves as Lucine addresses him, and explains the situation. He knows of the Ruin Disciples, of Triple Zero, of Amuro Ray -- it's his job to know of these things, now, for all someone like Amuro Ray was nothing more than some distant, unknowable figure to him not even half a decade ago. But everything Lucine says comes out muffled to his ears. The world around him numbs as his pale fingers tremble around that foil wrapping, its shiny shivers the only semblance of motion from the tightly wound coil that has become Angelo Sauper.
... auper.... ... you want ... true to the ideals ... close to your heart...
... treat this Char not only as your enemy...
They're so close. There were complications, but they were -so close-. And now-- and now-- it's almost like...
"Hah!"
... like some sick joke.
That single bark of a laugh comes from a deeply contemptuous place. It signals the sudden motion of the once stock-still lieutenant as he sweeps his hand outward, tossing that ruined SOYJOY to the side. He doesn't even look as it bounces twice across the rim of the garbage before falling neatly within.
"-Should I-?" he wonders, and the amusement that drips off his tone isn't a happy one, so much as -burning- with scorn. "-Thank you- for your advice. But I already KNOW what -Char Aznable- is."
That scarcely contained anger of Angelo's once more rears itself after such a period of -- at least -unpleasant- calm. His eyes, widened with frustration and anger, blink once. The lieutenant slowly draws in on himself; his back straightens to rigid perfection as he lifts his freshly-freed hand to his hair, fingers pushing through white locks to meticulously return it towards its perfectly coifed state. He takes in a slow breath. His eyes gradually hood, as if he could hide the complex cocktail of emotions roiling within them.
"... Where was he spotted?"
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
The young man's stillness draws a delayed sort of caution from Lucine. At first, it seemed like a natural reaction to the news of the Red Comet coming from the dead. But, the longer she's around him, the easier it is for her to pick up on those twists of emotion, separating them out like telling his voice apart from the hum of the vending machine.
It's not shock, anymore than someone could call a tightening spring a cautious coil. And Lucine is right there, ready to watch the release.
The snarl of a laugh draws Lucine back one step, her own face motionless as if she was watching a forest animal backed into a corner. She doesn't even chance a look to see how perfect that toss was.
This is the result of her gamble. She must see it out properly.
...... by withholding information.
".... I... didn't remember that part." In truth, Lucine hadn't paid attention. "Would it even matter? He was in a modified version of the Sazabi, I believe, so he could be anywhere, at this point." She takes a moment take a sip from her drink, wetting her lips as Angelo draws his fingers through his hair.
There'd be those who'd say sending Angelo Sauper off to meet his possible death would be the preferable option, but that's assuming Angelo wasn't a good enough pilot to get close enough to the Red Comet. But then, Angelo would get infected, and possibly spread it to Full Frontal. She can't guess if he even knows what the danger is.
".... I imagine you can find news reports of the attack within the hour."
<Pose Tracker> Angelo Sauper has posed.
There are many things that the stereotypical member of Sleeves clings to. The former glories of Zeon. The awe and respect of the dwindling remnants of the Zabi bloodline. Char Aznable, the Red Comet, the would be heroes of all spacenoids everywhere.
Angelo Sauper is not one of these people.
It's clear as day in the disgust that curdles at his lips as Lucine denies him an answer to his crucial question. It smears its way across his expression from the spasm of his brow to the squinting of his gaze.
There's an unmistakable air of violent anger to him for a few moments that says one thing to a certainty:
He does not glorify Char Aznable. If anything... it's the opposite.
So why does he so fervently follow the man claiming to be his second coming--?
Ultimately no answer to that comes; Angelo merely looks on at Lucine with disdain for a few seconds longer before an irritable "tt" escapes his lips.
"Useless," is his charitable, deadpan assessment of this exchange. His right hand lifts to wave through the air dismissively as he turns sharply sharply away from the Martian.
"Thank you for -all- your help, but I have business I'd rather tend to than wait with baited breath for whatever useless regurgitations the news might offer."
And with that, he moves to walk away unless stopped, deprived of his SOYJOY and frown lingering deeply-set on his lips as his thoughts churn relentlessly.
"How fortunate that we likely won't have to wait long before we see what new ways Char Aznable decides to ruin things, now that he's proven himself so good at it he has been given -eminent domain-."
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
Indeed, Lucine spots the contradictions in Angelo.
It make have something to do with what Angelo sees with Full Frontal as an individual, rather than what ghosts might drive the man. break from a vicious cycle that may have claimed his former life. He's just obstinate, stubborn, angry, snobby, and a lot of other things Lucine doesn't care to tread further down. He also likes roses.
... It smells like blood in the water, and Lucine can't tell whose blood it is; only that she'd like to tease it out just a little more.
Lucine tilts her head, letting her shoulder-length hair drape to one shoulder, a small half-smirk curling the left side of her lips. ".... You are an interesting person, Mr. Sauper."
She does not move to obstruct him; the sudden need to poke him one last time was risky enough. They have rules to follow here, and Lucine would likely not look any less at fault if the two of them were hauled in front of Eight York for some brief fight.
".... I doubt your leader would see it as anything less than a chance to put the past back where it belongs, but... you know him better than I do." She moves back another step, and takes another kelp chip from her bag. ".... this man is a common enemy. You just might find a rose in the thorns in front of you."
She stops herself with a drink of her water bottle, realizing the need to push was a little too heady to resist.
But the idea of breaking the cycle is too tempting to resist.