2023-09-21: Burdens of the Past and Future
- Cast: Casval rem Deikun, Leina Ashta
- Where: Magallanica - Comms Room
- Date: U.C. 0097 09 21
- Summary: A misdial places Leina Ashta and the man once known as Char Aznable face-to-face... and an opportunity is seized for, if not forgiveness, better understanding.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
It's a strange thing working with Magallanica's technology, hardly even knowing how it's working. Even when unmediated by a Psycho-Field, it seems far above anything else of its era.
And yet Leina wasn't a tech specialist, certainly not. She knew the basics? The things her mother taught her. The things required of her to use Shuffle equipment.
Sometimes however her inexperience beyond the basics... working with said technology... it caused mishaps...
One of said mishaps started simple. An unknown number input into the systems, labeled as 'private', but entered into the logs by one Mineva Lao Zabi.
A knob turned a little too far, a misclick down the list of 'recents'.
"Hola Elena, buenas tardes! Es tarde ahi-" And a familiar face on the call that /usually/ comes through with Mineva's face. One Leina Ashta.
She looks so normal right now, in a Sheryl Nome T-Shirt, and with a butterfly barrette clipped in her curly short brown hair.
"-Oh."
Awkward silence trails, as she notes after a moment, "Wrong number? I, hm." Her seagreen eyes blink, as she looks upon him.
It's perhaps such a normal error, a normal mistake for such cutting edge technology...
... and yet there they are, face to face.
<Pose Tracker> Casval rem Deikun has posed.
It's been a fascinating, but grueling half a year for the man known to most of the world as Char Aznable. Thrown back into the world by the vagaries of the Oath Over Omega and set again on the apocalyptic course he left it by - only to be thwarted again and again, by heroes from all across the world... and inexorably dragged back into the tragedy of Gundam.
That story - of the RX-0 'Unicorn Gundams' and their connection to the ancient conspiracy that has strangled the Universal Century since before he was even a twinkle in Zeon zum Deikun's eye - has come to a close for now - and so he's back on Earth, in a safehouse provided to him by the Shuffle Alliance, with regular calls to Magallanica so he can talk to the girl he took in.
To have her voice not be what's coming out of the communication screen, and to make eye contact with someone who, the last time they were face to face, shot him?
... Well, it wouldn't be the first time.
Char's been growing out his hair and letting it fall loose compared to his immaculately coiffed 'leader of Zeon' appearance.
It suits him better.
Crystal-blue eyes (so much like his sister's) regard the screen with a sort of surprise at the disruption to his routine. He pauses. "... You can hang up if you like, miss Ashta. I won't hold it against you."
Would she care if he did, he wonders idly - but then again, if she were going to hang up, surely she would have by now?
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
For a time, Leina sits there in silence, as if weighing, evaluating. After all, this was a private line set up by her girlfriend to talk to this man.
The very act of using it, mistake or not, feels like an intrusion. And yet-
... what he says...
He looks so much like Quattro Bajeena, on the video feeds of the speech he gave at the Assembly, at least before the rise of a second Neo-Zeon.
She didn't see it when he gave it, her concerns were different then. /She/ was different then. It was homework, and making certain they had enough milk for the week. Keeping her brother out of trouble and weighing it against their need for the wages he brought home.
Mostly she knew him as the Supreme Leader of Neo-Zeon, and what she learned before then.
- she's about to say 'My apologies, wrong number.' when he speaks first. 'You can hang up if you like, miss Ashta. I won't hold it against you.'
The fingertip hovering over the button to disconnect suddenly freezes, and there's a touch of a smirk on her lips. "Hold it against me? That's rich, coming from you."
But when in her life has she ever avoided a confrontation like this one?
"No. No I think I won't. It's past time the two of us had a real talk."
As she folds her hands in front of herself, "I suppose I should ask first, are you well? Is the Shuffle Alliance treating you right? Is it against the rules for us to talk? As well... obviously this hasn't been cleared."
And then...
"And if it isn't then... I feel I have you at a disadvantage from everything Mom has told me about you... and what's public record. So... if it's not too troublesome, I'd like to ask, what has she told you about me?"
Her eyes seem to search his, "If you know something beyond that from your own digging, I'd like to know that too. I just think it's important before... we go into this."
Despite it all, she doesn't want to entrap him into some angry back and forth just from his own ignorance of her personal circumstances, so, she simply asks.
<Pose Tracker> Casval rem Deikun has posed.
Leina refuses to hang up on him, and he makes a non-committal noise. "Fair enough."
She asks after his health, first, which is another surprise. "Well enough, considering," he answers after a moment's thought. "The after-effects of the procedure to cleanse my body of Orange Site's energy are finally starting to abate. I must admit some envy of those who went through the Green Planet's purification instead. Now I'm more tired than I am aching. Still... given that by rights I ought to be dead... I'll take it."
"... I doubt my 'bodyguards' will object to our talking," he concludes. "I'm not doing much to have them wary of me - mostly thinking and writing."
The important question: What has Artesia told him of Leina? "... Very little, actually. I only really know that the two of you are very important to each other - and I managed to find some reference to a 'young lady' on Axis during Haman Karn's war that I eventually concluded was a reference to you or someone like you. Other than that, you're something of a cipher to me."
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"I would too."
Leina offers succinctly, not entirely without sympathy, but in a certain manner of speaking, she's not exactly sad that the procedure hurt either.
Her feelings are complicated when it comes to the matter of him.
There's a quiet nod when he says it'll be allowed. "Alright, if anything changes in that regard, let me know."
Her fingers drum upon the console as he spells it out what he knows, and there's a soft hum as he says that, "Hm."
It's something of a debate for a moment, because the likely answers as to why that's all he knows is 'There wasn't enough time' and 'Sayla is quite protective of her.'
"I'll give you the short version then... Mom took me in as her ward when I was eleven. Before then I grew up on Shangri-La, on Side 1. I'm... not quite a War Orphan? Both my parents are alive just-"
There's a soft shrug, "-it's just how it is for Spacenoids. My mother left a few years before Gryps, saying she'd send money. She never did. My father left during - and never sent enough."
It is a common enough story in that regard, far too common.
"After the battle of Gryps, the Argama limped into port for repairs. My older brother, Judau. You know-"
She does a small swinging motion as if with a phantom pipe, "- he tried to steal the Zeta Gundam for a quick payday. That's how we ran across that crew. Kamille, Fa, Bright."
In other words 'you just missed us' because 'you ran off to do your own thing.' but she doesn't actually say that.
"Long story short, I encouraged my brother to join up, and for a while we were a part of the AEUG, but-"
She makes a motion to the screen, "-I got taken prisoner, by one Glemy Toto as his ... favorite doll, which put me in Haman Karn's orbit. It's... a long story, but he decided that grooming a girl from the slums to be a Lady of Neo-Zeon was the best thing he could do for me."
She then makes eye contact with him, "My brother never stopped coming to try and save me, during all of that. And then on the night of Haman's victory celebration in Dakar, he finally got to me. ... So did Haman, who shot me in the struggle."
She takes a deep breath, and leans back, closing her eyes, "Sayla - Mom - saved my life. She's raised me ever since. We went through... everything, during those years to follow, together, including-"
Her eyes open slowly, to look upon him, "-the Axis Shock." She says pointedly, "I doubt she told you how bad she got after that. It took nearly three months for me to get her functional again."
Is she trying to guilt him? Perhaps a little, but perhaps she simply feels he genuinely deserves to know. "Really her recovery only truly began once she got you both back." She offers quietly with a sigh.
<Pose Tracker> Casval rem Deikun has posed.
He listens, as Leina recounts the cliff notes of who she is.
"... Well. That explains your feelings about me on multiple levels." Not only did her brother fight tooth and nail to get her back, his actions as the leader of Neo Zeon and the cause of the Axis Shock ruined the life of someone they both care deeply for. Leina's hatred is entirely comprehensible based on those details.
"... I don't know what to say. An apology is - " he shakes his head. "Worthless. Woefully inadequate... but I am glad she's beginning to recover now."
After another long moment of quietly looking at the screen, he blinks and leans off to the side. "Excuse me." He comes back wearing a pair of sunglasses identical to the ones Sayla usually wears - but evidently not for affectation, as lines of tension in his face soften. "Sometimes it's still... hard to deal with light."
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"Well all that and you dropping Fifth Luna on Lhasa on my sixteenth birthday."
Leina adds, almost absently. She certainly knows it wasn't personal, just as it wasn't personal for any of the people who died in Tibet.
"It was an... unhappy reminder."
But it feels personal, especially to someone who has suffered in Neo-Zeon.
"I wouldn't accept one anyway. Not on her behalf. Not to just... some summary."
Her hand absently rubs at her opposite arm, "She didn't tell me who she was, to protect me. So I never realized she was mourning you too after that. I guess it's..."
Her eyes just wander, abstracted, "... I don't know. I'd like to say that's why my hatred for you festered, but learning you were her older brother only, made it worse?"
A small shrug, "It's not fair, I realize, but I find I'm not a very fair person when it comes to such things."
As he asks to be excused, she nods, and when he returns, there's a slow blink of her eyes, "Ah. Kamille always..."
She stops. Starts. A shake of her head, "... you look so like her. The family resemblance is pretty uncanny." That's not a feeling unknown to her either. Judau and her look... rather alike.
A deep breath is taken, as she closes her eyes. She rather expected herself to start yelling by now, but what he showed her...
"... where do you plan to go from here? If Shuffle were to loosen restrictions further?"
Leina asks quietly as she continues, eyes opening, "... Mineva and Mom. They both mean the world to me. And I know both of them want to be a part of your life again, no matter how messy a prospect that might be. Which means - whatever I might think of it, its past time for me to accept that I'm a part of yours too."
A beat pause...
"I expect you to let them down, to hurt them both again." She says severely, but... "I challenge you to prove me wrong."
<Pose Tracker> Casval rem Deikun has posed.
Char just shakes his head when Leina points out the Tibet drop. There's a flicker of... a strange mix of both frustration and regret - guilt, in fact, over all of that.
"... When the Ral homestead burned... I think both of us realised, consciously or otherwise, that the Zabi loyalists would never stop hunting for us. She chose to make herself as hard to track down as possible; I..."
... chose war.
"I wonder how different our lives would be if I hadn't left. I wonder if either of us would still be alive today."
He shakes his head. "And now we know what that was all about - the hidden charter, the Vist Foundation... did they sponsor the Zabi coup? Was the One Year War all part of their design?" He sighs. "Realising that one has been a puppet all one's life has a... harsh impact on one's perspective - especially after coming out of an even more potent controlling power."
He gives her a wry smile. "It's strange - while I was in its power, I couldn't notice anything wrong. Now it's gone... I can't not notice how wrong it all felt."
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
There is, a moment of frustration there, it's felt so clearly despite the distance, but eventually it all gives way to this sense of sorrow.
"I can't know how awful that must have been for you both. Having even heard it first hand from her."
Leina rubs a hand across her opposite elbow, "Almost certainly you thought you were doing the responsible thing. Avenging your family - the loss of two homes - keeping your sister away from it all."
Leina eyes him severely, "I think you made the wrong choice, that your priorities were all wrong. But did you?"
That severe look fades, into something more distant, "I can't know that. Certainly most people would judge that choice as an understandable one - as compared to so many decisions that came after."
After a moment's thought, there's her weighing it, and- "It's hard to say. We've looked around Magallanica and despite it all, there's no secret records or files of everything he did, everything his sponsored. How many small decisions spun out of control."
There's a prolonged sigh though, "If I had to guess? ... I think that he did sponsor Degwin's coup. The man was a Newtype. Certainly he saw, something to your father's philosophy. And after the advent of Coordinators and 'Gund' he decided to get ahead of what he saw as a potential threat to the very concept of humanity."
There's this small, sharp, broken laugh, and a hand against her face, "What an unusual deathbed conversion. The man who did more than anyone else to destroy humanity's relationship with Newtypes - eulogizing the Newtype."
It's a strange kinship she feels with the man and that statement, certainly after being raised as a Lady of Neo-Zeon and Haman's Newtype Supremacy - next to the Cyber Newtype Labs of Glemy Toto, a puppet of the Vist Foundation and victim of the labs herself.
She just sounds, extremely tired in this moment, "Yeah? Well, I can't say I've ever been controlled by Triple Zero... but even before Vist..."
The hand drops, and she gives him a more sympathetic look, "... I can certainly relate. I guess in a sense, we're all puppets to the cruelty, and apathy that these decisions wrought."
In this moment, she hears the hollow tinnitus, of applause in an empty room.
<Pose Tracker> Casval rem Deikun has posed.
"It wasn't even anything so noble as vengeance," Char admits. "I just knew that the next time someone came hunting they would tear Artesia and I apart, and I was so... blinded by refusing to let that happen that I ended up doing exactly that myself. Perhaps I did make the wrong decision."
Why is all this coming out now? Shouldn't Sayla hear it first?
Perhaps she already knows, somewhere deep within.
Leina describes Syam Vist's deathbed conversation and Char sighs. "Guilt and paranoia combined make irrational actors of us all, I suppose."
He cocks his head as he 'hears' the applause in a room full of hollow souls. "... I've told Mineva this already, but... since you're dating her, and you're my sister's daughter to boot - I think you deserve to know why I agreed to become Neo-Zeon's leader."
"... I noticed them first when she was twelve - watching her playing in one of what passes for Sweetwater's playgrounds. Too professional for the usual child snatchers who prey on colonies like that - too subtle, but at the same time all too obvious. I confronted them, and they made it very clear - they wanted a new war with the Federation, and a new figurehead to lead the charge. Either I volunteered, or..."
"... or they'd take her."
He removes his sunglasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose, before putting them back on. "It doesn't excuse my actions - the whole strategy of the war - but with every escalation that was proposed, they saw their place as the people in charge of humanity's prosperity grow more and more certain and the greed took hold. I realised that they were just as rotten as the Federation politicians who accepted briefcases full of gold for Axis, even though my intentions couldn't have been more obvious."
"... Apathy. Yes. Even with the destruction and suffering so plain, the prospect of lining their pockets even more dulled their ability to care about the consequences." Anger crosses his face. "At that meeting on Londinium - not a single person even bothered to ask for any assurances that I would be satisfied with not dropping Axis? The promise of the gold was too much for them. Only Amuro wasn't fooled - he challenged me after I'd made the deal, he knew I was still going to go through with it."
I'm doing something extremely wicked. If you're here, feel my presence.
(Come and stop me.)
He clears his throat. "... My apologies. That was... more than I'd intended to divulge."
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Leina's eyes look at him tiredly for a long moment, as she closes them and just... not quite lets go but... "That you're able to admit that... perhaps I did misjudge you some, certainly."
It comes out, grudgingly, but it does come out. She's not one to forgive him certainly for the things he's done but...
"I've always thought that it's always an unfair thing who gets a second chance, and who doesn't. For the longest time I thought it was unfair that I did."
She has come to terms with that somewhat at least, "When others who... went through much the same as what I did... and didn't. It's certainly feels more unfair than ever that you did but..."
...
"... I suppose I can accept that... for all the wrong you've done - it's... not a matter of deserving it or not. Since I've accepted the same for yourself, I can offer you the same grace."
She knows she'd be the world's biggest hypocrite if she didn't.
Yet she settles in to listen to what he says about Mineva, some of this she knows before, she'd seen it. He'd showed her, what he was like in that state. And Leina does offer him a look of sympathy.
She only interjects once, softly, "It doesn't." When it comes to excusing his actions, but it doesn't stop her from hearing him out.
After all she'd done so before. Her expression becomes distant, as she hears it, feels it. And...
"No it's fine..." She says as she snaps out of it, with a subtle blink of her eyes. "... Likely even back then it was Bakharov behind the scenes. Re-prosecuting the One Year War as an economic opportunity."
A hand again across her face, a sigh - "I... awakened as a Newtype at Haman's victory celebration in Dakar, so it's apathy I've... known since I was child. Hollow hearts, doing everything without the smallest speck of feeling. Kissing her hand, applauding - signing away the lives of billions... and feeling nothing during any of it."
That might explain to Casval at least the recurring image of the gloved hands clapping, a feeling, a vision that scarred a young Newtype. "... It's what the Vist Foundation used against me. My... despair over the seeming immutability of the status quo and all of its cruelty and apathy."
It's more than any child should have to bear, that depth of understanding of the people in power. And yet...
"I, appreciate, that you were doing what you thought was best to protect Mineva." Leina says after a time, though her eyes fall upon him, "Another poor decision, I feel - but if I told you I didn't understand making one poor decision after another when you're being crushed by the weight of that kind of knowledge..."
There's a glimmer of something, perhaps faint amusement in her eyes, "... well, there's not space enough on Magallanica for that level of hypocrisy."
<Pose Tracker> Casval rem Deikun has posed.
"I suppose we can find something to agree on there," Char says, quietly. "And... yes. As I said, I've been writing. Getting my thoughts in order - for my own sake, at least. I don't expect anyone else who reads these to believe them, let alone understand them, but... it helps, to look back on everything. Put everything in perspective, now all the layers of... self-justification are eroded."
He nods as Leina calls his decision to leave Mineva in others' hands another poor decision. "In hindsight, it was the same logic as after losing the Rals - if they found us in Sweetwater, they would find us again. The desires of the surviving Zeon nobility would catch up to us again and again - and after losing Kamille, well... I was already worn out."
Another person who he's glad recovered - though he'd be loathe to openly admit it.
He shakes his head. "You asked what was next for me, and truthfully: I don't know. I want to be part of your mother and Mineva's lives, even though I feel as though I don't deserve to be. Perhaps I'll just..." He smiles wryly. "Keep writing. I'm sure there's a market for tragic melodramas still."
His attention turns back to Leina, now. "What about you? What's next for Leina Ashta?"
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Leina does hesitantly nod as he he explains why he's been writing, "Well, for what it's worth..." There's a faint smile at least, "... I think there are two people at least that very much want to read what you have to say, to try and understand."
Will there be more than two? She doesn't know, but in this moment at least...
"I don't think there's anything wrong with putting your thoughts in order. Your priorities were... forcibly shifted for so long."
And when he describes that... Leina blinks her eyes and... "You really didn't know, back then?" There's... a long moment of surprise, before...
"... Kamille when I first met him, he was - catatonic but -"
There's a prolonged pause, is it really her right to tell him? "- by the end of the war he was up on his feet again, and mostly functional. He had a long road of recovery to get where he is now, but."
It's... hard to know how to put this... "You never lost him. Kamille I think... he never stopped fighting. Even though I wasn't there, I got told of incidents where even when he couldn't even talk, he'd try to climb into the cockpit. Where he'd reach out to my brother - to..."
Her eyes slowly drift down, as he hasn't cited her, "... to Elpeo, to try and help them." She looks at him, "He's my primary care Doctor now, or at least - was - um." A small laugh, "The two of us, we get into it a lot at our appointments. He's still got the same anger he had as a teenager, the two of us - ah, get along too well.
However, the subject shifts to- "Oh always, my expert opinion as a consummate theater kid is that there's always room for such things." She allows a tiny grin, "But you better do more than just /write/ to the two of them if you know what's good for you, Mister." There's a whimsy even when she's taking on a scolding tone, "I expect regular phone calls at least."
And as he asks what's next for her, "Ah." Leina chuckles softly, "Well. Actually." She rubs the back of her head, and looks away.
After a short pause, "No use sugarcoating it. Mineva and I... worked out a deal with the Federation, or more accurately, with Cathedra. In order that Magallanica can continue to exist peacefully, we had to negotiate and offer some concessions."
She takes a deep breath, then looks him in the eye, "Me, and the Norn. We're going to be part of a deterrence plan between Cathedra and Magallanica. A kind of Psycho-field defense, so to speak. Magallanica will keep the Unicorn. But as a result of this..."
As she gives him a knowing look, "You may have seen the news, 'The Fall of Anaheim'? Well... the Assembly was only hours away from voting for them to create new Full Psycho-frame suits. Instead... they're becoming a subsidiary of the Benerit Group under a government mandate, and all of their manufacturing equipment for Psycommu and Psycho-frame has been seized by Cathedra."
A small amount of smugness, certainly he already knew she could be vicious in this way, "My own kind of revenge against them - for how they helped Vist, and ran the AEUG into the ground until it became a soulless corporate political wing after the radicals left."
Her eyes wander sideways, "And all I had to do was become a corporate 'cop' myself." It's clear she understands she cannot truly trust corporations like the Benerit Group but - she's weighed it as a pragmatic decision, far better than the alternative, "I suppose in a sense... the mask has been taken off of the men that made you their puppet in Neo-Zeon, in this new era."
<Pose Tracker> Casval rem Deikun has posed.
Char shakes his head. "The first I knew of Kamille's recovery was of fighting him at Kowloon. After what happened to him... I closed off, focused on trying to raise Mineva, and then... Well." He waves his hand. "Everything else happened. I'm... truly glad he and Fa are doing well."
He tried to destroy them. Multiple times. Forget asking for forgiveness from others; he may very well never forgive himself.
"I don't intend to just disappear from their lives again. Perhaps eventually the Alliance will allow me to visit, but... long-distance calls to Magallanica will have to suffice."
Then Leina explains - about the fall of Anaheim, and the price she had to pay to ensure it happened. Char... looks thoughtful. "... I suppose it is the best option of a selection of bad ones - you're the only one who can pilot the Banshee effectively, after all, so if they wanted a proper deterrence against the Unicorn it would have to be you. The morale advantage is obvious, too - Banagher is certainly not going to want to use the Unicorn if it means fighting against you." It's a cruel way to put it, perhaps, but - that's the reality of the situation's cold strategy, isn't it?
"I would say I hope you're not making a mistake, but I think that... after everything you've been through, if it does turn out to be a mistake, you know that you have people you can turn to to help you."
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
There is certainly sympathy to him trying to close himself off, after all, Sayla did similar with the White Base crew after the Axis Shock...
"Well, perhaps it is past time to open yourself back up to the possibility of seeing him again. Even if the only response you get is a punch to the face."
It is still, in her eyes, worth the attempt, as for disappearing, or rather not. "Good." If it had been up to her, so many months ago, she would have had them write him off.
In a sense she was trying to write him off herself, for their sake. Just another turn of the cycle of more pain he's causing them... but...
... even if she weren't in a state of her feelings being the plaything of the Murasame institute, it was a misguided impulse. Leina is many things, but she has not ever been someone who truly wants to kill anyone.
"It is. The alternative is that, I never go home again. The Earth Federation sees us as an existential threat to humanity... forever, and a Newtype arms race begins."
She rubs her arm, and there's an absent nod, "They're counting on that. Certainly. The deal they're offering is... well. They want me to feel as if I'm making the moral choice." It's a sort of thing that might cause incredulity, but, "For example, I can refuse any mission without consequence. Including ones where they deem the Norn is necessary."
..."
She trails off before shifting to the matter of the Unicorn and Banagher, "... Hm. And Rita for that matter in Celestial Being, with the Phenex. Honestly I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a strategy we utilized ourselves in our negotiations. They want these kinds of weapons to never be used strategically, for mass destruction on a scale that could change the course of human history."
She looks then upon him, at the screen, "And honestly, neither do I. It's too much power for anyone to have, myself included. Which is why I don't mind being a check against others using it."
His final comment, there's a sorta wry smile, "Well, I might be. I can't say that I'm definitely not. I think at least that we can safely say they're not planning to abscond with me to some lab, too many eyes upon them - that I know I can turn to."
She stretches her arms out in that moment, "I suppose it's... naive in a sense, trusting a corporation like this, but - as part of the new Psycho-frame regulation, they do appear to fully intend to work towards closing down all Newtype labs in the Earthsphere, including government sponsored ones."
It's a statement that feels difficult to believe on its face, but Leina smiles at him, "I was thinking, perhaps the reason the good will after Axis didn't spread is because you and Amuro were taken away, and not enough people put in the hard work after."
Leina tells him, not blaming him certainly, "At the time I resented it, that people called it a miracle then left it at that - as there weren't enough people keeping the message alive.
"So, despite all of our prior experiences telling us the people in power are going to let us down, that putting our faith in humanity is a hopeless proposition..."
There's a smile, "...we'd like to give it another try writing our own script - with Mineva's message of good will. And if this is what I can do towards nurturing that message going forward, then I'd like to do it too."
<Pose Tracker> Casval rem Deikun has posed.
"A Newtype arms race..." Char shudders. "The very thing I was trying to push back against in the AEUG. ... I do agree. The power demonstrated by psychoframe... It is a thing that is as terrifying as it is beautiful. Trying to hold the desire of the powerful to weaponise it to maintain their control back..." He lets out a breath. "It's a worthy endeavour, even if you have to trust other elites like a megacorporation conglomerate to handle governing that."
"... I'm sure my sister has already voiced plenty of concerns," he says, wryly.
"... I don't believe putting faith in humanity is hopeless," he manages, after some thought. "Axis proved that... there is something there. At the time, I didn't understand it. I probably still don't... but I would like to encourage the warmth I felt then to blossom."
He clears his throat again. "... Thank you, miss Ashta. Even though this was an accident, I appreciate you staying to talk. If you'd like to do this again... I wouldn't be opposed."
He's leaving it as her call to make.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"And the very thing Anaheim ended up enabling." Leina says quietly, as a comment. It does suck, no matter how one looks at it that a good intentioned group like that ended up as it did...
... for all the good it did, it's coopted legacy only continued to do ongoing harm. "Oh plenty. She was upset because Mineva and I gave guarantees on my involvement in this plan to Cathedra before she was informed."
Perhaps not so surprising, she is a willful young woman after all.
And then, she winks at him, "Well neither do I. Before Vist worked its 'magic' upon me I was... saying I was an activist would be putting it mildly. I truly did - and do believe that despite all evidence to the contrary... humanity can get there, little by little."
As for what Axis proved, she gives Char this, momentarily intrigued look, before slowly closing her eyes, a thin curve of a smile, "Heh."
And to his final offer...
"We'll see." She says airily, with a sense of a feigned non-committal as she gives him a small wave. "Call Mom and Mineva sometime soon - and depending on those calls go? ... Maybe I won't be opposed either."
She reserves the right to chew him out any time perhaps, that is simply how it has to go, but today at least, he was suitably contrite, and she had enough empathy for his reasons - if not his actions - that she let this one go without harsh words.
"... Also if I ever hear about you manipulating any underage girls once you're off Shuffle probation, I'll shoot you again - and neither Mom or Mineva will complain."
Well... mostly without harsh words. Is she gonna stay on the line long enough to hear him discuss his reasons for that?
Nope!