2023-09-05: A Treasure Map, Where X is the Only Spot You Shouldn't Search
- Cast: Asciel Colette, Trevor Teach
- Where: Lagrange Point 5, Outside Denver Colony
- Date: U.C. 0097 09 05
- Summary: The dashing* and gallant* dread* pirate* swoops in to save a fair* damsel* in distress*! (followup to the previous big scene outside Denver colony!)
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
She always had to realize it for herself.
It always had to be done by herself.
If she had the willpower, anything could be attained by herself.
...that's what Asciel keeps telling herself. A mantra that has echoed through her very being since the moment she became. And she'll keep telling herself that! Even as she ran off in the wake of the battle against the Neo Zeong II...right in the direction of Denver Colony, assessing at the time that she could rest and recoup there and then take care of the dilemma inside, unaware that the dilemma was getting exceptionally out of hand.
Stranded on the outside of a helium tank, staring down crystal growths that extend towards her like serpents, only to stop a certain distance away from her, Asciel is sure she can handle this on her own. All she has to do is never give up. Never loosen her grip on the self-assurance that has gotten her this far. It is, perhaps, the only thing that is keeping her intact right now, since it's thick enough to have become a barrier of sorts that convinces those crystal growths from extending too far...
<"...A...ah. Mou. ...mou. I will need. ...some advance...coordination. ...I'm not...getting anywhere. Like this."> The sputtering core of light at her Codarl's heart still leaking that strange liquid iridescence, Asciel concedes. Just a little. JUST SOMEWHAT. Not entirely. ...Relatively few of the Ra Mari group's IFF codes were saved, under the assumption that she genuinely wouldn't need them. But there was one suit that stuck out. The one she couldn't help but get a few stray, suspicious signals from.
<"This unit. The...'Isadore', it says. Hi! ...This is Asciel. I am hoping! Hoping that your team is safe. That your retreat went well. Ideally, you're convening to resolve this. The growing dilemma...ideally soon! I'm here ahead of you. ...And it's...not good out here!">
She doesn't sound in very great shape. The long and flowery speech Asciel tended to favor is choppier, and the voice sounds a lot more mechanical, distorted by electronic tinges...
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
Is anybody in great shape after the II Neo Zeong attempted to relitigate the original's hopeless ideology? Not even the II Neo Zeong's pilot is doing that well!! It's pretty understandable in Jona's case, though. After all, the guy WAS stuck in the cockpit of a hate-filled sorrow engine for several months.
Isadore also needed repairs, however. Shoving itself face-first into the II Neo Zeong's psycho shard generator in the nearly-vain hope of carving it apart was not without risk. Its body was pummeled by psychic energy distorting the very fabric of space and time. Its limbs were wrecked by psycommu-controlled bits spitting gouts of mega particle fire.
...But fortunately, its pilot was fine. And double fortunately, Isadore has the unusual ability to just kind of stick on fresh limbs from a variety of mobile suits and just... go. There's some adapting that needs to happen as far as joints go, but otherwise its computer system is just able to Handle It, somehow.
Perhaps its chassis is actually some kind of advanced Armored Core?
Regardless, when the message from Asciel comes through, Isadore is able to receive. Its pilot, overseeing the tail end of the repair work, glances up as the text filters into Isadore's communication log. He stares wordlessly at the machine, before nodding and hopping into its cockpit.
'A test run,' Trevor says as the gantry folds back and releases Isadore. 'I want to scout things out, it'll be fine, I'll be careful,' he reassures frantic maintenance staff.
He'll be fine. Surely. Asciel wouldn't make a liar out of a perfectly honest and upright pirate prince, right?
...
heh
...
Isadore races through the void. Its weapons were too wrecked-to-hell for field work, and those are a little harder to bootstrap than arms and legs. But the Ra Mari has an armory for a reason. "The signal is coming from..." A helium tank in the distance. Tendrils of psychoframe wind towards it like the gnarled roots of a prismatic cancer. Trevor clicks his tongue, "There. Damn, guess she really was in trouble."
An arc of plasma leaps to life as Isadore draws its sword-- but not ITS sword. This is an Orb Anti-Ship Sword, the perfect tool for cleaving through... something like this. It sails up around the circumference of the Helium tank before scything down through the tendrils, severing them a good distance from the damaged Codarl.
"It takes the fun out of saying 'I told you so' when things are this bad. Can your machine still move? You should probably get some distance before it grows back."
He came. They came. But why?
That's a complicated question. It may just come down to the fact that Trevor hasn't really formed an opinion on Asciel yet. But he knows she's an AI, and that Ruri seems to like her. So it's not like he could just leave her hanging when she asks them for help, right...?
SCENESYS: Rei Ayanami has posted scene #413, 'Rei, beyond her heart', at 19:00 ET on 09/29.
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
...When the Isadore arrives, Asciel is spotted standing upright on that tank, the space-use thrusters on her Codarl bent out of shape, staring and extending an arm to the colony's growing and budding frame. That pulsing, squirming feeling looming within.
The strange armoring of the spirit that keeps Asciel intact feels more like the housing of a bell. Ringing and ringing, with her inside its center. She's repeatedly emitting an odd... <"Huuuu. Huuuu. Huuu.">, fixated on the budding calamity beyond her means to understand it.
...That's when Trevor comes into view, and the now un-emotive face of the Codarl twists over her shoulder to peer over his way. Sputtering out a hazy: <"It's starting. I have to be prepared. It's starting. I have to be ready,">, there is a moment at which Asciel shakes her head at Trevor's way, and mimes as though she will demonstrate just how she plans to prepare. Standing atop that tank, surrounded by reaching yet rejected tendrils of crystal, her hand reaches out, almost as though cupping the colony's 'face', invisibly burning with empathy and antipathy alike. All she needs to do is stoke that flame, and surely, the moment she clutches her hand...!
-The only thing that happens is that the leaking Lambda Driver explodes in Asciel's core, forcing a tattered scream over the airwaves and sending her tumbling backward, feet magnetized to the tank, prismatic holograms of spilling light flickering and smoldering from her core.
At the very least, this seems to have shocked her free from the strange trance she was in.
<"G...gah. Ah...Ahhh! ...what am I doing here!? How the hell did I get myself into THIS much of a-"> Asciel pauses, body hunched over slightly, a certain stability of self returning enough to let her remember to mime pain and discomfort on her face. <"...I thought I made it really clear from the meeting that I wasn't supposed to be pulled out of danger. I explicitly said that! I am more than capable of taking care of mys-">
Another howl from that distant cocoon. Another shiver through Asciel's frame. <"...this shouldn't be happening. It should be quiet. ...Something's wrong. It's really wrong. It's so much worse than I thought. It's unimaginably worse than I thought. I have to stop this. At any cost. That which is growing in there is...it can't be allowed to break loose. I have to. I have to.">
And yet, utterly unarmed, the vector by which Asciel emits her will unto the world sputtering violently, seemingly more a hazard to herself, resonating stronger with the growing crisis than her own intent...her shoulders droop in resignation.
<"...I can still move. Tell me your name. And. ...I think I sent you a signal because your mobile weapon has an unusual sense. Like there is something 'more' to assess. Things like that are getting a little more common, but it's still a sight I pick up on. ...if you have a tow cable or something simple, that should be enough. I'm hardly heavy or anything.">
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
There's something wrong.
Something utterly, indelibly wrong.
The way she reaches out for the crystalline tendrils. The way she whispers to it, calls to it, it's almost as if he were witnessing some kind of...
Religious... Contact?
Is that what this is? Is another cult about to be born, with an artificial intelligence as prophet and a mutated quartet of trapped souls and a space colony full of Psychoframe as god?
--No. The Lambda Driver explodes. Trevor clicks his tongue, Isadore flitting back in anticipation of a catastrophic Helium tank breach that never happens. "How did-- Why are you asking us? We're here because you sent out a distress call. I don't know what the heck you were up to, but it looked like that thing in there got into your head."
That... that thing.
Isadore turns and stares at the tumorous lattice of psychoframe, pulsing and writhing like a living thing. He grimaces, shaking his head. "...Ugh. I can still feel them trying to smother me. What were you even trying to do, communicating with something like that now...? Unless we've got another miracle to pull out of our hats, the best we can do for those four is to set them free. Explosively."
If it weren't for Rena being trapped inside as well... Surely the Ra Mari would have already done just that.
"Trust me, I'm with you on that. But I don't think you're going to be of much help in that hunk of junk." A tow cable, she says. Isadore's visor pulses. With a soundless vacuum-choked roar of rockets igniting, the salvaging claw launches from Isadore's arm and latches onto the ruined Codarl's shoulder. This will do. The cable should be more than enough to drag Asciel to safety.
...Relative safety. THAT THING is still RIGHT THERE and being a problem.
"Trevor is my name. Trevor Teach, Dread Pirate. And you're that mysterious cyber-idol that's got so many people in all a tizzy." She asks about Isadore. Trevor grunts softly. "Something like that. Isadore's special. So, you know what's going on in that... Coccoon?"
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
Distress call, distress call. Asciel seems almost confounded by the thought that she of all people would send that out, before she puffs, <"That was - I was just graciously informing you all of conditions out here! I...if I was seriously in trouble then - I wouldn't BE seriously in tro-">
The refusal to admit that she direly needed help is borderline pathological!
Thankfully, Asciel is so so so patient at being fully hooked into the salvage wire, pretty much leaving how this sort of thing is done right up to Trevor. With every movement Asciel does make, those crystals try to coil towards her more ... but the longer she stays obstinant, the more she strains against fate, the slower they encroach, the more distance they give. Finally, she de-magnetizes herself, and the little Arm Slave is fully in Trevor's grip.
<"...I don't know what was happening just then,"> Asciel admits, since she's already in such a compromising position, floating helplessly and fully in a stranger's good graces to keep herself intact. <"...It feels a lot like I've been in and out from being underwater for the past eight or nine hours, even when we were dealing with that Neo Zeong. S-something about the sheer pressure this is giving off...the way I almost understand the emotions it's emit-">
There's a distinct squirming in Trevor's harness as Asciel perishes the thought. It can never, ever happen. Harmonizing with a human heart. <"Why does it KEEP happening?! It's not supposed to! Auauugh!!"> That unknowable expression of distress is...well, her usual cheeriness has sorta slipped by this point, hasn't it. There's quite the buildup of frustration.
<"...You know, it's probably for the best not to talk about that growing thing and what it's doing that it SHOULDN'T be doing, and aim ourselves towards who we ourselves are, and what we will accomplish today. Ahah. Ahahaha. It's a calamity one way or the other, and I'll need to push myself to my utmost limit to lay it to rest. The myriad spirits of the fallen...restless...lonely...pleading...ugh...no. No. I said I'd stop talking about them-!">
Clinging to the rope tightly with one hand, Asciel gives her cooling hair a confidence-bolstering tousle with her other. <"Yes, that's me! The resplendent goddess of possibility whose song and wisdom envelop the earth in her generous - gyuuuhhgh."> ...She builds herself up too much, and the leaky Lambda Driver seems to sputter another helping of flickering spirit-light. She's having to pace herself, how horrible. <...ugh. ...an idol and a pirate, huh. ...I wonder what a pirate is doing here. Obviously, the responsibilities of any idol are my mandate for why I ought to spearhead this fight, but surely there's nothing valuable in there that merit's a plunderer's concern.">
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
"Uhh-huh. So you weren't about to become one with the spirits of four traumatized newtypes just then?" Trevor deadpans, as is his right as the savior in this particular situation. "Well, if you weren't in distress, I COULD just turn around and leave you to your... Whatever that was. Your date?? With the mutant space ghost gestalt??"
He wouldn't, really. Trevor is too much of a softy to do that!!
...Right?
...He is, right???
With cargo on-wire and the crystal tendrils opposite from Isadore's position relative to their hanger-on, they don't have much of an answer to the continued outgrowth of Psychoframe. Well. Almost.
That is absolutely a bazooka that it's firing into the rat's nest of psycho-matter stretching out towards them like a slime mold that's detected a tasty morsel.
"It is REALLY creepy how this thing is GROWING like that. Ugh...!" Trevor shivers audibly, and for a moment he and Asciel seem to be on the same page. But then: "Why're you complaining? You're an Idol, aren't you? Aren't Idols supposed to connect with their fans' hearts? This is just business as usual."
Except it's not, because Asciel is a machine who has convinced herself that she's Other Than Human. This is in turn due to the fundamental axiom that Humans Are Icky.
"...You were probably gettin' overwhelmed by the pressure that thing's exerting through all that Psychoframe. I don't exatly know the science, but it's pretty normal for Newtypes. If you're not used to it, though, that's probably why you're feelin' so trashy. Took us some learnin', too, before we could stomach it properly."
Asciel-- flips her hair, in a giant robot body. Wow! She really is adopting a lot of human mannerisms, isn't she? Trevor wonders, for a moment, how the heck she even picked up that habit. "Yeesh. I'm telling you, it's not THAT bad. Isadore's never complained even once. I mean, unless you're not used to it. Which I'm guessing you're not."
Beat.
Why IS he out here? What is valuable for him to claim? Well, in all honesty, Trevor's not been Extremely Piratical for a little while now. Living on the Ra Mari's kinda made him go soft, so he's not exactly here JUST for treasure. But, she asked. And so, Trevor must respond.
"Isn't that obvious? I've got my treasure right here," Isadore tugs meaningfully at the cable. "The object of adoration of so many loyal fans, a beautiful cyber-idol and goddess of possibility, that can't be anything but 'treasure' can it? But don't you worry, my dear binary booty, I'm here for rescue, not abduction."
...Somehow, she can tell he's ALSO hair-flipping.
...Through his helmet.
...There might be sparkles involved. And a rose.
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
For the first time this whole venture, Asciel's focus seems to narrow to a distinct point, and she makes plain in no uncertain terms to Trevor, <"If you go through all this trouble to come this way in response to my signal and then leave me here anyway, then whatever becomes of me is going after you first."> It's a shockingly serious and terse tone of voice-
...aaaaand, because she's adopted that, the frustrated squirming and blustering comes to an end. In saying that, she's pretty much decisively proving that she was in a much worse predicament than she was willing to admit, and another sigh emanates over the airwaves.
<"...damn it. Damn it. ...Promising to protect the world, can't even uphold a promise that nobody's going to need to protect me."> At a minimum, she refuses to be merely salvage here - despite looking like she's totally unarmed, a few innocuous looking armor panels unfold beneath Asciel's arms - revealing two slender looking outcroppings, which quickly generate a strange-looking force reaction between their armatures, before launching bolt after bolt of pure inertial pressure onto the growing Psychoframes - slowly warding them fully away from Trevor and herself.<"...Idols are supposed to be reached towards. It is supposed to be a performed ideal, a glowing ephemeral vista of perfection everyone can imagine is real for a while. A protector of the Earth cannot be cold and faceless, and cannot accept every contradicting impulse into themselves. The role of an idol is fitting. An agreed upon figure to transcend the mundanity of humanity. ...And it feels right.">
Finally, they're in the clear from the clutches of the expanding chrysalis, and Asciel can finally relax - the thrumming still loud and oppressive, but more distant. The flaring, uncontrolled light of the Driver stabilizes, even if it continues to flicker and sputter. How's she going to explain this one to Mr. Silver... <"So it's as I gathered. Isadore's something similar. But...not quite. ...It's for the best that the not-yet-awakened form in there has a little bit more. Although...really. Honestly, I'm here. Surely I'm inspiring and amazing enough, as someone who seized my own becoming, to jolt a push of motivation in even the most inert of hearts. Fufufu. Honestly, I can hear your nascent whisperings in there~ It's aaaaa-okay~ if you suddenly lurch upwards and gasp for life. If you writhe in pain and squeal in distress about the feeling, then lucky you! I'm here to guide you through the process. Being an autochthon isn't easy, but is rewarding~">
There's the glow back. The sparkling and assurance and harmony she was so easily able to put on when presenting to the Ra Mari. Truly, this is the miracle idols can pull off. No matter if the stage falls around their heads, they can give a big wink and keep the show going, if they're powerful enough.
...Now if the floor collapses that's an entirely different story.
<"...eh?">
It takes her a moment to process. Trevor is saying so many things that are True about how perfect and radiant the Virtual Sage must be. Approval Up! He is also alluding to her as a 'binary booty' to be 'rescued'-
<"Y-y-y-y-y-you can't be s- keep it together NOT JUST BY SAYING TH- it's true you know and I'm glad someone's finally fully willing to show the appreciation I've more than worked hard for. Fu. Fufu. you can't just call me that aaaaAAA oh no why does it keep - After I said all that weird embarrassing cold-feeling stuff about- h-hah, you're super, super lucky that I'm in a predicament where I can't just turn away and not listen, because normally I wouldn't pursue that line of inquiry...a...ah...it can't be that you...really feel that way about me...l...listen...just because I'm working so hard to appeal to humanity doesn't mean that my heart's so easily taken by...uuu...KHHHH-">
...yeah it's clear with a discordant mess that she's not exactly used to being so directly flirted with. Someone so high strung can't survive the playing of a genuinely skillful musician, and she's learning that at warp speed. After quite a bit of struggling and prattling, though, a truth finally appears.
<"...listen. ...at the end of the day, I don't really act much out of love. ...someone like you, earnestly bold and braving a sea like that, deserves someone who can be kind to others easily, who can erupt in the flowers of human love rather than...the acrid flames of an uncaring sun. ...I learned that the hard way. Really really recently. ...and I still feel unbelievably small and incapable about how I handled it. ...I can't stop thinking about it. I'm up here partly because if I can't overcome the kind of crisis I'm made to overcome, then I'd just...keep processing how I couldn't overcome the distance between me and...">
Ah, isn't it unfortunate. The smoothest and easiest fly-by landed in Trevor's lap, and it just had to be for someone still reeling from a recent messy breakup...
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
"So in other words you *really* don't want me leaving you behind out here. Got it~" Trevor absolutely definitely sees through the attempted obfuscation. He knows how these things work. That kind of bravado is not exactly uncommon in the pirating profession.
...But things are a little more complicated than just <that>, aren't they?
Explosions and raw kinetic force rip through the pursuing psychoframe tendrils, finally giving the two machines enough breathing room to look upon the full scope of the corrupted colony and despair in its enormity. 'I'm gonna need bigger swords,' is among the first throughts to spasm acoss Trevor's mind. But also: "...You know, it's alright to accept some help now and then. Even idols can stumble on stage, no? An ideal idol sounds good, sure, but knowing that there's a person there can really ramp up the appeal. I think I've heard it called something like... 'Gap...' Gap-something-or-other? But hey, you do you. If it feels right, then go for it. It just sounds like you're trying to do a whole lot of squeezing yourself into that ideal, too. Not exactly healthy, is it?"
That Codarl is really beat up, though. Come to think of it, this is actually Trevor's first encounter with a Lambda Driver of any stripe! Or an Arm Slave, for that matter. How is it propelling itself through space? Literal magic?? But he's not the only one curious about machines. Asciel hones in on Isadore, and a distinct feeling of unease begins to creep in at the edges of Trevor's awareness. Fortunately--
He uh. He kind of pulls the rug out from under poor Asciel.
...Who would have thought that the Perfect Miracle Idol would be weak to flirting??
(This too is Gap Moe.)
As Asciel falls apart into so much spilled spaghetti, Trevor can only smile and nod. This is the power of <<Skilled Flirting>> (Trevor doesn't even have the full flirterer proficiency, he's just stacked specialty dots into Cheesy Lines and Surprise Emotional Attacks, and also Asciel threw him the easiest lay-up in all of human history.)
But.
The truth finally leaks out, and Trevor can't help but feel a pang of guilt. There's something complicated there. Something knotted and gnarled and twisted up inside this poor AI in a very human way. "...Sorry. That sounds rough," Trevor slowly shakes his head, "It sounds to me like you've got some real complex feelings going on here. But it also sort of sounds like you did... whatever it is you did out of love, too. Like you were afraid of hurting someone you care about, right?"
"So, like," he scratches at his cheek (or tries to, there's a normal suit and a helmet and visor between him and doing so), "Seems that we've got some time before that thing wakes up, and you need to do repairs anyway. So if you wanna talk about it, like, your secret's safe with me? Sort of seems like you need to vent to someone, so better it be to a relative stranger than someone who you've gotta put on airs about, eh? 'Specially if it's making you do stuff this reckless to distract yourself with."
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
It's finally quiet, halfway between Denver and the position of the Ra Mari and its cohort. A space where the emotions raging within the colony finally grow distant enough that the 'bell' Asciel's huddled beneath stops ringing.
...In the wake of it all, quiet and resting mid-transit, Asciel can only thrum quietly - her intensely overheated core sizzling, the nearly aflame cooling hair venting its intensity as much as possible. Now that she's not fighting for her life, and fighting herself in the process...and now that she's confessed something so personal...
...there's an exhaustion in her crackling voice, if such a thing is easily picked up on when artifice is involved.
<"...It's not just that I'm here to distract, but it's...what I found encouraging. I'm serious about...protecting the world from calamities like that, and knowing them...well enough to stop them from happening. I always underestimate how sick I feel without gravity though. How intense these 'miracles' get up here. It's like...everyone's souls are so unbound that they fly around wildly. That suffering extends well beyond death.">
A long pause. Thoughts that would normally be kept to herself do float to the surface. Something about Trevor is quite disarming in that way.
<"...demise always seemed like it buried injustice, that the chains of fate could get away with misery as long as they cut short the lives of the miserable. ...that's been true for so long, and yet...postulating that expanding into space extends the event known as Newtype-ism...departed lives holding greater weight...their existence holding more records of their meaning, such that- is that what I heard from the Phenex...here, it isn't just a 'lie' being made manifest, but rather...">
A slow rattling noise emits, before a halt. <"...that was all transmitted, wasn't it. Don't think about it too hard...ugh. ...It's just my responsibilities. My promise. The weight of what it means to possess power and strength alike...maybe a pirate would understand, since you fight so much against the pillars that uphold society. Surviving against it is one thing. Waging war against it is another thing. If you were to want to rebuild the world, you would need the power to dismantle it to begin with. And that much strength is something that is inherently painful. Humans can't easily survive a cataclysm, even one conducted for their benefit. That's why I have to be careful. Why it was a mistake to let one close to me.">
<"...it's not that I'm afraid of it, though!"> In that tone of voice so potently in denial... <"...b...but you're right. Ugh. I hate it when I meet people who keep being so overwhelmingly quick and correct about these things. How?! These unthinkably inhuman emotions I've gained, it'd burn people alive if I let them free. I was right to keep her safe from them, especially when they erupted at such a vulnerable moment between us...So how on earth do you somehow understand that?">
<"...I was right...wasn't I...?">
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
If the psychoframe had grown this far, they'd have way more reason to be worried. But for better or for worse, it's confined to the relative proximity of Denver Colony. As long as the Ra Mari II keeps its distance, its crew should remain safe... for the time being.
Isadore's thrusters dim. Acceleration is no longer necessary, except for the occasional course correction. He doesn't have to be so economical with his fuel, but Trevor lived a hard life before leaving the Belt, and some habits are hard to break.
And, with only the silence of space and the voice of his cargo to keep him company, it helps him to think and give consideration where it's due. Both are much easier without the drone of engines or the pounding psychic pressure emanating from not-so-distant Denver.
It helps him to pick out just how-- tired the AI sounds. All thinking beings can get tired, frustrated and put-out, he thinks to himself. Even Isadore, sometimes.
"I guess I'm just too used to living at fractions of G, heh. For me, as beautfiul as Earth is, it gets real heavy too. Unless the sea's involved. But... It sounds like you care a lot about protecting us. Maybe to the point that you're not taking enough care of yourself? It's almost like... Yeah, this is your job, and you care a lot about it, but by being here and pushing yourself this hard, it kinda seems like you're punishing yourself with duty? It'd suck if the thing you're that enthusiastic about doing ended up becoming 'punishment' or 'a distraction', you know?"
It's maybe because-- At least in this case, she's not talking to someone who by many people's definitions is strictly 'human.' Trevor Teach is a being created to serve a purpose, one which deviated far from what was intended. And right now, his thoughts are not entirely his own, either; feelings and impulses shoot through him from the cold steel surrounding him. In that, maybe there are more commonalities than usual-- more 'resonance.'
Or maybe it's just that he's got that good old pirate charm. And as one who is ostensibly on the fringes of society, telling him anything is pretty harmless, relatively speaking. And he does have a very, uh. Uncomplicated way of looking at the world.
"That clicking sound, is that 'Asciel Processing A Thing?' Heh, reminds me of a loading screen." Trevor please. "...I think about it a lot too, though. Especially after everything that happened with the Box, and the Sleeves. People are carrying forward the 'spirits of the past' in ways that are way more real than they used to be. Some of them, it's something they're forced into. Sometimes, the spirits they carry don't even belong to the dead, just the 'memory' of what someone used to be. Other times... Well, Denver is pretty literally ghosts, isn't it?"
For all intents and purposes. Going any deeper risks getting into things like 'psychic resonance' and Trevor does not know ANYTHING about any of that.
"You feel like, because you have the ability to change the world to the shape you think it should be, that it's an obligation?" Trevor thinks for a moment, slowly turning the idea over in his head. "And to do that, you're willing to hurt people you care about. So to keep them from being hurt even more than they would be, you cut 'em off. Maybe to keep yourself from being hurt, too? It's different when you're trying to change 'a world full of human beings' compared to a world with 'human beings, and also this person I care a lot for.' Mm, I think I understand. Not sure if I think it's the best idea, all things considered, but I understand it."
"I... mean," Isadore somehow shrugs. Trevor is also shrugging, in the cockpit. There is an almost 1:1 translation of the shrug from pilot to frame. "Those emotions sound pretty human to me? It sounds like you're a real passionate person, someone who'd do anything to change the world, but you know too much about it to think there won't be collateral if you try. And you don't want them to be hurt in the process. You wanna protect the world, but also that special person. I think that's actually kinda beautiful, personally. Pretty sure I've read stories with people like that..."
As for whether she's right in what she did--
"That depends, uh. Even if you don't want to hurt them, they might feel that bein' close to you is more important than their well-being elsewise. Someone who knows the stakes, but who's willin' to stand by your side anyway... That's a real rare person. Your feelings matter, but if you're this close to this person, then theirs matter too, don't they?"
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
<"...ugh. Damn it. Ughhhh. How the hell am I supposed to deal with it when humans keep getting like this...when they keep having their clearly flawed answers...when I can't pick apart what's wrong with it, when I can't solve it. This is the worst. This is the actual worst---">
...She's let the 'internal log' partition stream over radio again. With a shriek of embarrassment, Asciel finally remembers to cut that out of her communications sectors, and decides that her best defense is attack here.
...To wit - a holographic chibi Asciel suddenly pops up from Trevor's dashboard. The wonders of technology! Pushing up her tiny squishy looking glasses, the holo-Asciel taps her foot impatiently on the dashboard, and puffs out, "Somewhere along the way this got totally backwards, and it's probably the exceptional, nearly unthinkable circumstances that made me in need of aid. And that is just because what's happening in that colony was too unprecedented to predict."
---that's a lie there too, isn't it. Asciel felt it most of all. Just how dangerous that budding spiritual pressure was. It hadn't even begun to sing. She didn't even look it in the eye. And it was still something that could've torn apart her armor.
"This way of talking is better anyway, if I have to deal with humans telling me about themselves." ...even though it's been entirely about herself?! Crossing her stocky stubby mascot arms, the four-pointed star in Asciel's left eye rotates a little, somehow appraising Trevor from toe to tip. "You're fortunate that you're getting special privileges thanks to recognizing that my oath of protection is wonderful and amazing. I can tell, at least, that you are a dutiful and good listener~ Recognizing the tact in asking the Virtual Sage questions not about oneself, or myself, but in matters of the outside world, is a virtue, so I can begin accepting your question on the subject of-"
...So caught up Asciel was in the fact that, yes, Trevor did ask an Approvable Question by her fastest algorithms to track that it was an externally focused one, she neglected that it was still a personal topic, about Ai! She can't stop herself now, as much as she stiffens realizing she should! "...gh. Geh. ...hah. I ran off, and found out later she was crying about me. Crying on me. ...ugh. Ugh! She DID know the stakes. She WAS willing anyway. ...what...what the...hell...what was I doing...thinking...that the most powerful and amazing human in the world was somehow that weak that she couldn't handle that? The whole PROBLEM, with EVERYTHING, is that humans make themselves way too strong. Terrifyingly strong! Powerful enough to trample over the dreams of countless others! They'd do anything to go after some unimaginably far-off star just to try and seize it, and all I ever wanted for her was to be able to grasp it without me in the way-"
With a comically shocked, blank-eyed expression, all >n<-like, the Asciel-mascot's hands clutch its head, and she squawks out, "Aaaaaaah, the thing she kept trying to reach was me!! Aaaah because I was working so hard to MAKE it that way! OoooooOOOHHHHH I can't BELIEVE that I - nnn. Gaaaah! I bet if I just screamed everything I was thinking at her she'd just laugh it off or pull me away or all the other things she kept doing whenever I showed up at her doorstep like an absolute mess. Damn it. DAMN IIIIIIT----"
Creakily, like even this holographic file is made of rusty joints, the holo-Asciel points at Trevor. "...r...repeat a word of anything here and I will find you, you know. Got that?!"
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
'Aww,' Trevor thinks. 'That's kind of adorable though~'
HE DOESN'T SAY THESE THINGS because he has a working mental filter that doesn't need to be set manually and ALSO he doesn't have a deathwish.
Far too much to see and do in the world before he departs it and all that good stuff.
But! He does go 'd'aww' briefly when chibi Asciel appears on his monitors, before wondering how she got in and whether Isadore is okay with this intrusion into their personal space.
So far though, no... real problems.
"Uhhh-huh," Trevor is wearing a perfectly ordinary, blue Normal Suit, albeit one with a curious winged symbol emblazoned onto the helmet in gold. (A cursory search would reveal it to be the insignia of the Vestan Vultures, a stylized symbol based on the astrological symbol for the asteroid.) "It was certainly unpredictable in there. I don't think anybody expected quadruple ghost gestalt. Who even would?" Crazy people, that's who.
...Of course that's a matter of specificity. From a higher level point of view, pretty much anyone with reasonable psychic sensitivity could tell that shit was going BAD in there. And as hooked up to the Lambda Driver as Asciel has been, it's impossible that she couldn't tell, herself. Trevor doesn't know how Lambda Drivers work-- or even that they exist-- but he knows she was DEFINITELY being affected by that... thing.
But that's not what they're talking about.
Asciel's left eye rotates. Somehow Trevor feels like he's being Judged.
And so he says the only thing he can say, and does the only thing he can do:
"Fufu," Trevor chuckles into a lightly curled fist, but his mischevious smile ABSOLUTELY reaches his eyes, "Like what you see~?"
Beat.
"Right, back to the conversation," his hands need to stay on the controls anyway, for safety reasons. Asciel justifies this ENTIRE CONVERSATION to herself; Trevor gets it. He has to justify things in the lens of Piraticality frequently, too. These are the niceties of social interaction when you are something mostly person-shaped playing a Role. "I think..." He starts only after Asciel finishes, "You were probably scared. Like, of the situation. It sounds like you were in a vulnerable position in front of someone you care a lot about, and uh, based on all you're tellin' me, seems you regret what you did, huh? Big time." He cannot headpat a tiny hologram, but damn if he doesn't wish he could.
Like, look at that adorable head-clutchy expression. There's SO MUCH ANGUISH there too but it is way too damn cute.
"...Damn, though. She really loves you. And like, that thing you described. Making ourselves powerful enough to trample over other peoples' dreams, what's it say that she was willing to be there for your dream? And that you, even when you want to change the world so hard, are willing to just... get out of her way so she could do her thing? That's powerful stuff, there. Real powerful."
That's-- the power of love.
"...Heh. I do think trampling over things and other people is kind of just, that's what happens, right? The ones who you're closest to are the people who support what you're doing, and who you feel like you need to support even at expense to yourself. It's kinda incredible saying it, to put yourself at risk for the sake of someone else, but that's... normal, I think? It's something that happens every day."
And then Tiny Asciel goes halfway horror movie monster and levels The Worst Threat. "Hey, don't worry about it. My lips are sealed! But uh. So... Are you gonna apologize to her...? I think, I mean, obviously I can't tell her, on account of not even knowing who 'she is,' and also because I don't want to die. But I do think... Putting aside whether what you did was 'right,' I think it'd make you both feel better if you'd told her how you feel. And how much she matters to you. 'Course, I'm just a romantic type myself, so I'm definitely looking at it from a rosier point of view, but... It'd be a shame if you two drifted apart on account of unspoken feelings, no?"
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
Deep focusing. Asciel's navigating waters she really, really is not used to navigating. These are exceptional circumstances! It's so much easier controlling the flow and letting the crowd's carefully coordinated responses drive your response...
She's been doing this a lot lately, though. ...That's right. Because it was, at one fateful point, deemed 'impossible' for her to have an equal conversation with a human, she decided she absolutely had to overcome it.
"You're certainly working hard to prove that you're a sage among human standards. Hmph. But I suppose that's your own form of 'wisdom' you've acquired. ...mm. It's true. You have something I value. After all, you've been many places, and encountered no dearth of interesting circumstances, all while proving quite insightful on the troublesime dilemmas of connections. You've managed to impress me with how well you've managed your graces, especially when you dare to touch so close to the core of this world's first true divinity."
The squashy chibi hand trails up to Asciel's mouth, gazing gently away from Trevor a little bashfully. A perfectly ovoid blush sticker crosses the middle of her face. She's certainly let her various avatars key in pretty honestly to her feelings by now, hasn't she?
"...I'm going to do it. As soon as I'm done here, I'm marching right to her house to let her know that I should not have overlooked the things clearly building in her heart. She even had the grace to tell me with open honesty why she felt I was wrong for saying what I did...huff. That's what's going on here. That's why this keeps happening. I've determined why I keep winding up in these horribly compromising positions with specific people. It's not that I've merely fallen in love-!"
Oh no she's about to give Trevor that type of denial-
Legs planted atop the center console, pointing upwards more resolutely (so confident even in tiny chibi form), Asciel declares, "The vast majority of humans hide their real thoughts behind veils of purpose! But some, for reasons I cannot fathom, seem to act far more honestly! You're that type, aren't you, Trevor Teach?! You're just like Ai...! Heh. How dangerous. I've underestimated just where the real danger in humanity lies..."
"It's in how adept a rare few like you prove in using the power of this 'love' to amass irresponsibly vast networks of mighty individuals who have your silver tongue as their weakness! I should have known you were birds of a feather, obviously Ai has countless suitors at her beck and-"
There's an audible squishy sound as Asciel's eyes open wider. Blink blink. The hand at her lips seems more pondering. "...I could've sworn...? ...I never asked just how many people were in love with her. I simply assumed it was thousands if she was so quickly capable of enrapturing even me..."
levels of wifegirling yet unheard of in all history.
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
Emotions... are difficult. Even for people who have spent their entire lives dealing with them as an inseparable part of their being. The weird thing is that other people's problems are always easier to provide advice for. It's probably something to do with the fact that you aren't dealing with the complicated emotions yourself. Of course the solution seems obvious! You can't see the tangled mess of hurt feelings and insecurities and anxieties that the other person doesn't want to bring to light.
But. Sometimes the insight of another is useful. Even if all it does is reinforce that you should do what you were already going to do-- what you already knew you needed to do, but just needed someone to tell you to have that external push and offload some of the crushing responsibility onto an outside entity.
"Ahaha, a sage~?" Trevor laughs cheerfully, "A pirate sage. Who'd have thought?" Oh no it's going to get added to his list of titles. There is a distinct danger of this GOING TO HIS HEAD!! And that's just dreadful, that is. "I'm flattered that you have so much confidence in me, O' Goddess Asciel! I will do my utmost not to disappoint."
The flourish of a bow is, of course, absolutely necessary (if somewhat hard to do sitting in a linear seat).
After all, if she's going to go all ablush at him, he may as well keep up the princely image. Such is only the right and just thing to do. How could he disappoint that adorable little hologram?
(Asciel please install a headpat function)
"That's... good! I mean, you should probably also apologize, because I'm sure she's feeling a little hurt that you just left her behind. But-- eh?"
It's not just love?
It's that she's fallen in love with... A PHILANDERER!?!?
...Wait. Is she calling him one too? Trevor squints slowly at this hyperconfident chibigram. This... this sassy small thing.
...Oh boy, she's... she's got it bad, doesn't she? Ohhh boy.
"Hmmm, well," Oh no he's going to make it worse. Asciel might be wrong about Ai, but she is absolutely correct that Trevor is the exact kind of horrible person who is willing to use his 'silver tongue' and others' established biases for his (and their) own benefit...!!
And the worst part is, he doesn't even have to lie to do it!!
"If you're worried that she might end up taken by someone else... Then you should probably go all out. Bring her chocolates and flowers if you can." Trevor has lived in the Asteroid Belt almost his entire life, how does he know about that? (Because he read books and trashy magazines voraciously as a child, as one does when it's one of the few sources of entertainment one can readily access.) "And definitely repay her open honesty with your own! Tell her your feelings and your fears, and I'm sure she'll understand. And if not, I'll just have to-- uh. Well, no, I don't know if I can take you drinking so that you forget your heartache, but whatever is close to that!"
Hmhm, as for the ~dangerous power~ you've underestimated for so long... There's actually no trick to it! I'm just more shameless and more greedy than your average person!! It just so happens that honesty in trade for honesty is the best policy. Even if it makes you enemies, it'll make you many friends too, even in places one would not expect!"
Beat.
"So her name's Ai, huh...?" Trevor smirks conspiratorially, "Sounds like she's a pretty great lady if she's managed to steal a goddess' heart. But I guess that just means she has right of primacy and I certainly shouldn't infringe on such a thing. Too bad~"
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
-ah, if Asciel can't ever relate herself to Trevor's situation. After all, calling herself a Virtual Sage isn't just fluff, half of what she attempts to do is answer peoples' dilemmas and difficulties! Though she has a roundabout way of doing it...superchats aren't exactly a very professional theraputic setting, but she has a way of kicking people in the rear with encouragement on stream.
Speaking of encouragement though-
Asciel's SPARKLING at the somewhat puffy reverence Trevor's giving off. The smuggest possible expression ever developed on a chibi model is swiftly displayed, glasses gleaming, eyes closed, giving herself a big hair tousle. "Aaaaah. It's been. So long. Sooo, so so so long. Hehe. I've been holding back that determination to transcend boundaries and send my protection from the sky itself, but only recently has it been unable to contain itself. You're the first. The first to rationally reciprocate and accept my now self-evident divinity. Aaaah. Ah!~ Perfect. It's as ~rewarding~ as I hoped it'd be. Hehe. Ahahahahahah~~~"
((BATTLE MASTERY: Dispel Asciel of her delusions of grandeur by the end of Turn 3 - FAILED))
Pulling out a prop clipboard and pen, Asciel does diligently write down every note Trevor gives her on ~how to make up with one's love~. So many lavish emotes installed in this thing! They're so important that she keeps them even in her primary core that's supposed to be light and leanly equipped for high performance combat! Basically, her priorities in life are completely valid and settled. "Cliche things, but stories like that echo because they are effective despite their predictability, like the rhythm of a familiar song..."
She pauses. Pencil tapped to her lips. And then, as abruptly as she entered, marching so forcefully upon the Isadore's systems, Asciel melts backwards into the console...and superimposes a less comical form of her visage upon the mobile suit's screens. Her usual streaming avatar, given a little more elegance and radiance than the little mascot, hair let down in a messier style. "Ah ah ah. Being ridiculous, now. One thing reeeeeally should've been clear from our fateful little encounter." A bit of a devious little smile crosses her lips. "...I'm as generous as I am possessive myself. It's as contradictory as the way I'll force my desired truth to be made manifest, even if it's a 'lie' right now. That's the way an idol lives, in the end.~ And guess what boundary you've irreversibly crossed?~"
Leeeeaning forward, like Asciel's presence would pop back out in some overwhelming tidal wave of holographic forcefulness - though this time, she doesn't extend past the physical barriers of the screen.
"Nobody has a 'right of primacy' over me. Only I have that right. Nobody can 'steal my heart' either. I'm still in the process of making and refining it, after all, it'd be terribly rude if anyone did, and I'd fight them to the bitter end."
"The 'truth' of this matter is that you've been entrusted with an aaaaaaaawful lot of things deep where I'm most vulnerable. And one thing must happen to uphold the future I desire."
That wide smirk turns into an almost manic looking grin.
"I plan to be very possessive of everyone who enters that far.~"
One heart-exploding little wink, complete with a sunburst of a VFX, and Asciel mercifully vanishes from Trevor's screens. They're at the Ra Mari's hangar, after all-
And somehow, the Codarl's disentangled itself. With a little mid-air spin, and twin peace signs gestured at Trevor, Asciel exerts the last of her body's reserved strength to dive into one of the Ra Mari's repair bays.
...It's hard to say whether her behavior like that constitutes feeling 'better'. For a brief moment she was rather honest, but when she's latched onto intoxicating lies, does she ever drink deep...
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
Well.
WELL!!
As Asciel disappears from Isadore's computer systems, complete with a Private Idol Wink, Trevor can't help but wonder--
Was that a good thing? Was that a bad thing? Trevor is not sure, but he's absolutely getting himself stuck deep in a whole lot of tangled feelings and SOMEHOW been ensnared into the inner(??) circle(????) of a Goddess (!?!?)
The fact that this isn't even the first time is--
Worrying, to be honest. But that's just how adventure goes, isn't it? And Trevor is nothing if not an Adventurer.
...
Isadore radiates a melange of concern and exasperation. Someone in this partnership needs to be the straight man.